There are hundreds of long established religions in this world. All with different rituals, chants, and deities to do and worship.

Some religions require their followers to “strive in the way of God” by completing The Five Pillars of Faith.

While other religions only require you to show up once a week and sing.

Some religions can prosper together and link a community, while still others rip nations apart.

Everyone has a different view on religion. They also have a different view on faith. I would like to share mine.

When I was a little girl I remember having to wear a big poofy pink dress and have my bangs curled in a way I absolutely hated. I would be dragged into church faithfully every Sunday and dreaded every moment of it. I hated sitting in Sunday school classes, hated never being able to get the bible names right or answer the questions correctly.

Being the child I was, I didn’t understand why I was going to church. Why was my mother taking me to see all these strange people and why were they singing?

Sure, I listened in and tried to understand. I participated in the plays and activities that the Sunday school teacher had me in. But as a child, I just didn’t get it.

I always found it strange to see people giving complete credit to some “All knowing being,” when really they overcame an obstacle on their own. They avoid a red light and they say “Thank you Jesus!” when in reality it was just a light.

So what is faith? When some people hear that the first thing their brain turns to is religion.

To me faith is a form of trust. Like “I have faith that Timmy Turner will pay me back the hundred bucks he owes me.”

How does faith affect my religion? Truth is my family and music is my religion. I believe there might be some higher being that created this world and made it the way that it is.

But, I don’t believe in having so much faith or trust in something or someone else that I let it have complete control over my life.

I don’t base every decision in my life on a book, or the writings of another. Because that’s what The Bible really is, a storybook based on another person’s beliefs.

To have a thing like religion separate nations and cause torment and heartache is pathetic. For a community to join up every Friday and preach the word and discuss their God is one thing, but to judge and mistreat people that don’t believe in what you do is wrong.

Religion to me is what you make it. Does that mean I’m going to hell? Well, based on the “Be good little kiddies, believe in Jesus Christ, and you’ll go to heaven” bedtime story you preach to your kids then maybe.

What’s wrong with believing in oneself? Surely a human being can be able to at least function without an act of God.

People need to learn to have faith in themselves before anything else. Having faith or holding on to this crutch that “God will make everything ok if I pray about it” should be considered a wrong way to look at life.

You make things happen. The atmosphere and the things around you are created by you alone. There are not the work of some all powerful being. You control you. So, I highly recommend you start writing a Bible about your own life.