Being Too Religious

I was born into family where religion plays a big part. My Mother a practicing Roman Catholic, my Father an Agnostic, both sets of Grandparents were church-goers. Up until I was 16 my Mother made me go to Mass every week. I attended Sunday School, did my Holy Communion and my Conformation and was sent to a Catholic Secondary school. All round a 'good Catholic girl'. However I lost my faith when I was 10 (for a number of reasons), so this caused a lot of arguments, but my Mother was adamant that I was not old enough to decided for myself until my 16th birthday. So since then the only times I have been are at Christmas. Sometimes I feel that it is disrespectful, even mocking, of those who do believe that I sat there for 6 years wanting to be somewhere else.

This is where being too religious comes in. Could you say that my Mother was being too religious forcing me to attend Mass every week? She was convinced that I was just being a normal teenager and that I'd soon be wanting to go, but now I have similar feelings to my Father and see things in more of a Spiritual way. I was always taught that it is wrong to force your own beliefs onto others, and therefore my Mother was being too religious. In this same light, Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, may also be considered too religious.

However, if you say that those who preach are being too religious what about those who devote their lives to their religion. Monks, Priests and Nuns devote their lives to the religion they believe in, are they too being too religious? This then bring up the question of whether being religious is healthy at all. Are those without religion really the ones who are weak? Or is it the people who have a need for something greater who are in fact weak?

Is religion just a fashionable thing? Nowadays the people of my generation are not that bothered about religion, many even dislike it as they see it as the cause of many wars and hate among people, with acceptable brainwashing and cult-like ideas, but for our parents and grandparents generations religion is more than acceptable.

Who knows, some day I may experience something which makes me re-gain faith, but for now I'm perfectly happy believing what I believe.

BBC: Religion & Ethics - Features and articles about various religions and ethical considerations