Non-religious people's positive view of religion

♧ Non-religious people's positive view of religion

* the childhood of attending the cathedral

I am not a natural believer, but when my mother became a Catholic around the age of four, I was baptized with my younger brother. After that, it became a natural obligation for my family except my father to go to the cathedral on weekends. From the third grade of elementary school, when my hair was slightly thick, having to go to the child's mass on a honey Saturday afternoon began to conflict with my desire to play with my friends, but until then, I was a good child, so I went to the cathedral steadily.

The cathedral also distributes the talents one by one after the catechism class after the weekend Mass, as in the church. The cathedral I went to used to refer to it as the 'silver gunpyo'. There is a day when I collect these and turn them into toys later, which was also one of the devices that made the cathedral go steadily. In front of the cathedral, there was a playground and a lawn, where I played soccer with Bangakkebi and cicadas while sleeping. It's something I shouldn't do, but I remember playing with fire.

When I was in the 3rd and 4th grades of elementary school, I took the Eucharist one step closer to the depth of my faith. Don't children often look at adults and older sisters as objects of admiration? From my point of view, the worship of the saint looked wonderful, and I was curious about what that was in my childhood. The feeling of having a special ritual that I felt when I first received the spirit is still clear. My activities in the cathedral as a child remain warm memories.
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* Youth Copy Experience

I even made copies. 'Copying' is a term that refers to a person who helps a priest gather mass. There was an attempt to rename it as 'volunteer', but it failed, saying that the religious meaning was tarnished. In the case of large cathedrals such as Myeongdong Cathedral, adults are said to copy, but in the case of local cathedrals, teenagers copy most of the time. My younger brother and sister also made copies. My mother was very proud at that time. There are experiences that I remember while copying.

It had not been long since it had been copied. During the mass, there is a sequence in which the copy has to kneel and ring the bell. The problem is that I forgot when to get up because I was a newbie. I kept kneeling even though I had to stand up earlier, and then looked sideways for a moment, and the adults laughed and said, "Wake up" in the shape of their mouths. Now that I think about it, it was a pretty cute mistake, but I wanted to hide through a mouse hole at that time. After the mass was over, my senior copycat scolded me.

Copying the dawn mass was difficult. I think there were once or twice when I couldn't go while sleeping. Copying requires preparation in advance, so I have to go earlier. The dawn mass is much quieter than the mass in other times, but one day, I was on my knees in a quiet atmosphere, probably too sleepy, and fell asleep as it was. The adults laughed because the little child fell asleep on the altar, and the priest woke them up because they didn't wake up so much. After the Mass, I was scolded by my senior copy.

I was physically tired but proud of myself when I copied the history of Damisa on Sunday. I remember that the mental burden of not making mistakes was very high because the celebration of the feast such as the Christmas feast or the feast of the Holy Father was held in a sacred atmosphere. There were many mistakes and difficulties while copying, but this experience gave me a sense of responsibility and reward. The reason I copied it is because there is only one reason: it is cool.
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* a religious doubt

I often fell in love with mass after becoming a middle school student and gradually stopped leaving the cathedral. The question of God's existence and my existence grew. The obligation to dedicate the weekend to the cathedral is also becoming increasingly jarring. During puberty, my mother and I had quite a conflict, one of which was the cathedral problem. I naturally distanced myself from my life of faith as I went to high school and started living in a dormitory. That's how I became a non-religious person.

After working in science and engineering for a long time, I came to think that it would be irrational and illogical to believe in unproven claims. Even now, when asked about God's existence, I still think, "God does not exist, or even if he does, at least not what each religion describes." Scientific thinking has instilled in me physicalistic values, and through this, I understand the world, and I will never abandon it.

At least since the 2000s, as far as I can remember, the media has often taught and reported only the harm and ugliness of religion. And by accepting it without doubt, I confess that I have looked at the religions from a negative perspective for years. Come to think of it now, I think the media has deliberately encouraged this. At least for now, I would like to focus more on the positive aspects of religion. People living in the present age need to restore community.
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* a new look at religion

Anthropologically, humans cannot live without forming a conscious system to establish their existence and identity. Wasn't it a means for humans with developed reason to recognize their imperfections and overcome their fears? Religion was the product of mankind's ability to imagine and believe fictional concepts, and it was one of the most powerful forces to unite communities, and it still has enormous power.

In other words, I am confident that as long as human history persists, religion will not disappear, and even if modern religion disappears, new ideologies or beliefs will surely emerge to replace it. If religion is bound to exist, it will be humanity's task to lead it in a way that benefits the community. Therefore, I believe that the responsibility of religion in this era is to help those in need and to resolve social conflicts.

My view of religion and faith has turned positively because I have experienced being hurt or in a bad situation. I came to understand the role of religion's comfort through a series of experiences, even though I did not receive the help of religion. I did not understand why people relied on religion in my childhood, but now I realize how imperfect, weak, and small human beings are. Religion uses love and solidarity to comfort and hope when people struggle with anxiety and pain