Several years ago I saw a guy walking along the interstate carrying a large cross on his back. By reading the signs that he had attached to himself and to his cross I gathered that he was walking from coast to coast to promote Christianity.
Regardless of his purpose, his actions seemed very self-indulgent. I wonder if he ever considered using his time and resources to actually contribute to society in some productive way.
Consider how much time people spend "practicing" their religions. For example, most of the Christians that I know spend at least one or two hours per week at church, although many of the Baptists that I grew up with spent closer to six hours every week at church. The Orthodox Jewish families that I know spend countless hours each week at the synagogue and at home, involving themselves in the rituals associated with the Jewish faith.
Now consider what it would be like if those same people spent even a fraction of that time helping someone in some meaningful way.
I know that there are a lot of very religious people that do volunteer their time to help others, but there are also a lot of individuals who take time to worship but rarely, if ever, do anything to actually help another person.
I don't consider tithing to be necessarily helpful, since much of the money that is offered up each week is diverted back to the congregation via operational expenses of the church, temple, etc. I also don't consider prosthelytizing to be necessarily helpful or charitable, since it involves trying to sway opinions so that they are in-line with one's own, and may or may not actually be about helping the other people better themselves or their situation.
I often wonder what the purpose of religion is? - to make sure that you go to the right place after you die; to teach people moral values; to make people feel better about their situation here on Earth; to bring people together for a common good; to pit people with different beliefs against one another?
Just something that I think about and hope that others do too.
