Aaron Brooks has a viewpoint from Hell and my message shall smite his with the power of the Lord.

Sike!

I do not believe that, but I still consider myself religious. Unfortunately, condescending, guilt-inducing attitudes turn people away from religion, and I blame uneducated extremists who get publicity that really polarize the non-religious and religious.

“I don’t believe in organized religion,” said Erik Bangia, a sophomore finance major who said Hinduism is the religion he claims, if any. “[Organized religion] tells you to show your faith in the ways that religious leaders tell you to show your faith.”

The same could be said of those who denounce religion. Sadly, outspoken atheists like Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins are no different from religious fanatics like Terry Jones or Pat Robertson. While I have more respect for the works of Maher and Dawkins than the other two, they cause more ruckus than they do good with their evangelistic atheism.

“Religion gets a bad [reputation] because one or two things or people,” said Jessica Silvester, a junior painting and Spanish major at the Lutheran Campus Ministry.

Because it is the negativity that is usually hyped up in the media, most people pick sides. No matter where you stand, you should not stereotype religions as crazy, unforgiving cults that will cut your toe-webbings with pages of the Bible, Quran, Torah, or some other religious document for every sin you commit.

“Our pastor says she pictures God as her best friend, and you don’t always agree with our best friend, but you love and trust them,” said Devin Redmond, senior finance major at the Lutheran Campus Ministry.

Take my experience for example, my mother is the daughter of an evangelical Christian preacher, and my father is ironically a combination of a wildlife biologist/environmental educator. I grew up going to church every single Sunday morning, evening and Wednesday nights.

Still, I would ask challenging questions like how did dinosaurs exist if Adam and Eve were created in the beginning? But if the point of my religion was to debate such intricacies, rather than its overall purpose, I think Christianity would be a load of crap. It would be like memorizing a vocabulary word for a U.S. history exam without understanding the context around it.

I stopped attending church consistently around the age of 17. I could say it’s because there was condescending judgment present and blind faith at practice, which there was, but in all honesty, I got lazy.

Instead, I found more time to go out drinking and smoking pot with friends, rather than spending two weeks on a mission trip building houses for the less fortunate, practicing my faith the right way, and not just sitting around comparing my morals against another’s.

But even still, I recognize that religion has a positive purpose, and although it can be misused for certain individuals’ selfish reasons, much like government, it does more good than harm.

“[Religion] can unite people,” Bangia said.

Religion can have its downfalls, but where there is one fanatic who utilizes fear to get their message across, there are at least 30 members of that congregation who simply want to spread good will, regardless of your beliefs.