Copyrights reserved by the author. If you are in doubt, please click on 'Copyrights' and read the details.Give me faith, but none of that old-time religion. by J. G. Fabiano The death of Pope John Paul II brought the concept of religion back to many people across our nation. We watched in awe as tens of thousands of people walked by the Pope's body in a final tribute to a man who truly changed the course of history. World leaders were brought to their knees in honor of a man whose primary philosophy of life was defined by the philosophy that actions spoke louder than words. For the past 26 years his actions often eclipsed the words of the political leaders of our world. In the past eight years alone it seems our nation has become more religious, or at least it feels as though it has. We now have a President whose election was made possible because of a need by many people for religion with an emphasis on family values. More and more people are professing they are born again into the Christian faith and work hard to convert their family and friends to that belief. I know this because I have many family members whose primary purpose in life is making me a believer. The fact is, the bloodiest wars of our history have involved religion. The Crusades were conducted by people who believed in the teachings of the Bible and attempted to destroy people who believed in the teachings of the Koran. The basic problem here is both religions came from the same source, just different brothers. In fact, the basis of their religions is very similar, if not totally misunderstood. As everyone knows this religious conflict did not go away with the Crusades. Today we are still in a battle over which religion is the true religion or which God is the true God. I personally don't think there is any difference in the Gods. It has everything to do with the differences between people. Before the death of Pope John Paul II, there were other times in my life when religion tried to take control. When I was a young man on my way to becoming educated, I decided to attend The College of the Holy Cross and before I started studying there I thought it would be a place of serenity mixed with theology. Boy, was I wrong! Going to school in the late 1960's and early 1970's the atmosphere was inflamed with political ideologies and rebellion. In fact, my school was the second school in the nation to go on strike in protest against the Viet Nam War. The Pope never feared religious arguments. In fact, he took so many different sides on conflicts few understood whether he was a conservative or a liberal. I guess this meant that John Paul II was simply himself. I smile when I imagine him wearing one of my favorite T-shirts that read in bright red letters "My purpose is to piss off the entire Universe one person at a time." I think John Paul II would also smile because during his reign as leader of the Catholic Church this is exactly what he did. After I left school many religious thoughts were left behind. I married and we had our first child and the primary thought in my mind at this point in my life was how I was going to protect and provide for my new family. Things started to go well when my wife and I decided to have our second child. I did not want to have an only child. This never made any sense to me. What made less sense was my second child never lived. In fact, I almost lost my wife during those terrible times. For days I watched my wife fight for her life. I knew in my mind she was really fighting for both of our lives. I was in fear I would be left alone when a short stout man walked into the hospital room wearing a rather tattered off-white suit that did not fit him well. His name was Reverend Sheppard. I know his first name wasn't Reverend but no other title will ever fit him as well. At first I didn't trust him or what he was saying to me. He never mentioned the word 'God,' but he did tell me I should find an inner strength so I could help both my wife and me. He visited us every day and we sat by her bed and watched my wife get stronger. Reverend Sheppard showed me how to find my inner strength. He even visited us at our home. At the time I thought we finally found the type of religion we wanted to practice. When my wife was strong enough we decided to visit his church. It was a run-down small white church in a little town in western Massachusetts. I smile every time I think about the church because it reminded me of the rumpled suit Reverend Sheppard wore. I guess things like that are supposed to fit. We enjoyed going there for a while but then too many people asked us to do too many things. Maybe we were too lazy to go, but after my wife got better we couldn't think of a reason to go. Another nice part about the Reverend was he never forced us to go or made us feel guilty about not going. I assume this happens to many people. I can't say this was a mistake but I also can't say this was the right move. I can say it was part of our lives. A few years later the Christians of our family talked us into going to an Evangelical Christian service. They told us everyone else was going and we shouldn't take the chance to be left alone after The Rapture. I have yet to figure out what "The Rapture" was supposed to mean. This was a much larger, newly painted white church and, now that my daughter was old enough to understand what religion was, we decided to give it another try. At first the service went pretty well with a lot of singing and people raising their arms and praising the Lord but, then it got very intense. At first I couldn't understand why the pew I was in started to shake until I realized that the person next to me was shaking in her seat. Not you’re ordinary shaking, this person was shaking like she was doing an aerobic exercise routine. Seeing this I slid closer to my daughter only to find she was being mesmerized by another young lady seemingly having the same fit as the person beside me. Needless to say, for the next 30 minutes, my daughter and I held on to each other for dear life with my wife sandwiched between us. I think she was just relieved not to be sitting next to a person who was attempting to levitate. Our newest of religious experiences was finished almost as soon as it arrived. For the next couple of decades we tried different churches, theologies, and even some different Gods. We visited our local Catholic Church a couple of times only to feel like outsiders. I assumed the same people had been worshipping at the church for years and they had little time to welcome new people. The different Christian faiths were quite boring and the Jewish faith was much too difficult to join. So here we are. My daughter is now on her own, working to become a lawyer in Boston. My wife has her own aesthetic business and I am teaching and writing. The death of Pope John Paul II brought the concept of religion back to many people across our nation. I figure we never stopped believing in God, we just stopped believing in people. The End.
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