IN THE BEGINNING...

The past couple of weeks have been strange. Not strange in a bad way, just peculiar and maybe slightly out of the ordinary. Daily life has remained fairly the same, it’s just that the element of religion (so well ignored over the past few years) seems to have felt the need to make itself known. Now don’t get me wrong, I do believe in the fact that there is something bigger than us out there, I’m just not sure if it’s an old bearded man (be he in a Catholic Robe, Jewish kippah or Muslim jubba).

I do believe that any form of belief in any religion does give those believers a sense of community in what is often a very chaotic and terrifying world. I appreciate that and am more than happy to sit on the fence in any discussion surrounding the topic, or in fact play (a bad) Devils Advocate to the best of my ability (which is consciously limited lest I get trapped in a conversation with a fervent believer!). My general feeling towards religion is that it is a personal choice and as long as it is not pressed upon me, I’m happy as Larry. I have obvious concerns surrounding the more fervent believers and do think that religion in these kinds of circles causes more trouble in the world than in necessary; however we all have brains to think and mostly I believe that is what we should do.

The reason for these meanderings was initially triggered by The Chef (wonderfully religious in every sense and a joy to be around), re-iterated by The Grandmother (years of knowledge on the subject and forever committed) and finally pushed home by The Cyclist. The Cyclist’s religious beliefs run along the same lines as mine and have never had a hugely significant impact on his life… or so I thought. My mind was recently changed when I saw him with a book depicting the religious journey of a Jewish man. Now the fact that he was carrying a religious book was not what shocked me the most, it was the fact that he was returning said book to it’s original owner after having read it from cover to cover in 2 days! The Cyclist does not read books. Not because he is lazy, but purely because he enjoys the ramblings of magazines and online publications far more. Now I am an avid reader and go through books faster than I can eat a pizza (which is saying something) so I have always been an advocate for the wonderful gems of fiction that can take me away from reality for a long as I care to concentrate. Needless to say, he had finished this book, a religious book, and found it wonderful…

So maybe, just maybe, there might be a place for religion in this crazy world... it did get the Cyclist to read a book after all :-)