Choosing a Religion in a World of Options

In a world made up of nearly seven billion individuals and over 230 countries, each with unique cultures and each culture consisting of seemingly countless subcultures, organizing spirituality, faith, and views (or lack thereof) of God into religions is only natural. As humans, we have a natural tendency to categorize anything and everything, and modern psychology continues to search for concrete answers as to why by studying the various cognitive functions involved. Yet matters of faith often go beyond what answers can be found through human sciences limited by human minds and available resources. Choosing a religion that accurately fits the seeking individual's beliefs and values, then, cannot rely on a purely scientific approach. Rather, it requires a bit of soul searching, years or more of dedicated study into the vast religions of the world, and a willingness to accept that you may get it wrong at least once along the way.

When we first begin to study any topic, we almost always go straight to the history. Knowing where and how a particular country, philosophy, science, or any number of other areas of interest got its start gives the student a strong foundation to the material he or she will learn along the way. So what is the foundation of religion? Truth of the matter is, no one seems to agree. According to Wiccan mythology, the first religion was the Old Religion that recognized a God and Goddess. The peaceful, matriarchal societies were then over-run by patriarchal societies bent on war and conquering. (Depending on the source of the story, those patriarchal societies were Christian. That version, of course, would require we forget about the many polytheistic civilizations that existed more than two thousand years ago.) Unfortunately, this theory (originally made famous by Margaret Murray and only mildly supported by the known data at the time) has been thoroughly debunked over the past fifty years.

Many of the world religions have similar stories that imply their religion either was or is deeply rooted in the first religion. For those who truly believe the mythological histories of where religion began, no historian or other subject-matter expert can change their mind. Fact of the matter is, even the most educated and intelligent of subject-matter experts can only provide possibilities based upon the current information we have. Take for example the age of the earth. In the late 1800s, the known data suggested the earth to be only a matter of millions of years old. Less than 200 years later we now have data that provides a considerably more accurate age of roughly 4.5 billion years. In the case of religion, we can study as far back as we can into ancient civilizations, yet as advanced structures are found underwater they are dated to be older than any others on land. This suggests the possibility of complete civilizations we have no knowledge of. In any ancient history question, we can only guess the answers based on what data we have available and stand ready for those answers to change with every new discovery.

If we take what knowledge we have of the way human minds work and consider what it would be like to live in a world devoid of any human advancements (including civilizations of any sort), we can paint a possible picture of how religion came to be. Matters of faith, beliefs, and superstitions were purely individual. They likely were also very simplistic; making communication of them quite easy. As human minds evolved to include more complex cognitive abilities, so did the spiritual understandings of the world. In time, bands and tribes of humans would have shared beliefs and the first stirrings of religion. As humans built communities and then larger civilizations, the religions would have become fine-tuned and became an integral part of daily life. Those civilizations are the ancient civilizations we recognize.

Religions, then and now, continue to evolve and grow in number. The same religion within multiple cultures can lead to the creation of several, distinctly different denominations of the same religion. By the time a single individual has learned all there is to learn about one major religion with multiple denominations, at least a dozen new denominations of other religions and even new religions have formed. How can any one person expect to learn about all the religions? Well, if simply for the sake of learning, then by a lifetime of study. However, the individual studying to find what is right for him or her will benefit considerably more from generalized study. One does not have to study every religion in detail to know whether or not it resonates with him or her. A seeker would benefit more from looking within and researching his or her soul. Once you know yourself, you will better recognize what is and is not right for you. A religion that does not resonate with the core of your soul is not the path for you.

Through the acceptance that we do not have all the answers and armed with a decent level of self-awareness, a seeker can readily research the multitude of organized faiths the world over. He or she may find a religion that fits, or the seeker may come to the realization that religion is not as important as individual faith and spirituality. More common, we find a religion that resembles our faith only to find years later down the road that we no longer fit in or, perhaps, that we did not belong there in the first place. The only advice anyone needs is to be true to themselves. Never feel ashamed to question. The path that is right for you will make itself available so long as you remain honest with yourself.