Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Spirit in the Sky

I want to start off by saying I am not sure I believe in G-d. I happen to be a Reform Jew who attends services regularly and I get involved in many events for my temple and the community at large.

If I am not sure I believe in G-d then why do I go to temple? The answer is simple, most religions offer much more then just a faith based system of worship. Reform Judaism, like many other religions, provides me with a process of looking back on my week and/year to see if did the best I could to make the world better. This is a good exercise whether or not you believe in G-d.

On one occasion that I mentioned my uncertainty with there being a G-d I was told "then you don't believe that abortion is wrong". I tried to get the reasoning behind this assumption, but it came down to typical opinion that if you don't believe in G-d then you don't believe life is special. Not only do I disagree with this, I actually believe the opposite.

If there is a G-d, heaven, hell, etc. then an aborted baby's soul would be embraced by a loving G-d. On the other hand, if there is no G-d and death is an end to that life. To me that makes the latter more of a tragedy then the former.

So does this mean I am against abortion. Simple answer is yes, but I am still pro-choice. For many reasons, which I don't want to go into on this post, a woman should have the right to control their own body.

So, what is the point of this post? Religion does not make you someone who values life or even a good person. Religion can give you some tools to help you make yourself a good person. With that said, I just want to mention that many of the "most" moral people I know do not believe in G-d.