I'm Not Religious, I Just Believe.

Today was Easter Sunday, and I went with my girlfriend to her mothers where we had a wonderful meal with her and some of her close friends. There at this meal I was asked about my beliefs. I paused for a while before answering this because I had to think about this question myself.

I was raised and educated by the Catholic denomination. I attended a Dominican Order grade school where I learned my basic subjects along with arts and religion. Religion was the least important factor to the school it seemed by the end of my time there. The people nor the school were really concerned with upholding the Catholic traditions or even just general Christian morals it seemed. The school was simply just a business front for the Church. The Church, itself, was constantly under question for usage of funding and allotment. Now besides the financial center of disfunction within this whole establishment, the doctrine taught and interpreted during my time was lost a bit by the way of observation. By this, I mean that what I was taught I would later find to be incorrect in accordance to traditional Catholic teachings. One such, example may be the fact that Catholic Church is supposed to be the most rigid in its word, so it will never be made relatable by modern society. This is supposed to protect the ideals of the denomination from constant warping due to new translation. However, in recent years the need for younger members of the Church has grown so vastly that they seem to have to join the 21st century in taking to social media and developing a modern day adaptation to the Holy Bible for younger generations. This alone has happened in the past few years with the new influx of leaders to the Church including the newest Pope. He himself has a Twitter among other social mediums. So needless to say I have faith based trust issues. 

So through this adverse exposure to religion I have developed a central idea of spirituality with a higher power that I just assume to be "God" and that assumption is the extent of my faith. I know that something/someone is there so I tend to think in Christian ways. 

The only problem with this is that some people, especially in the South, will not accept or understand this. So I typically generalize and label myself a Christian, but with a more Catholic faced upbringing. I have seen Atheists and Agnostics more accepted than some who label themselves as Spiritualists and Deists. This is atrocious to me; not because I think Atheists/Agnostics are wrong but because they are typically quicker to put faith down. Meanwhile, I just believe in a different way that is nearly the same as the average man..