Religious Intolerance Sucks

Why must people be so intolerant when it comes to spirituality? If the motivation one has actually comes from the Divine, from Spirit, from God, then it wouldn't be cold and evil, would it? The Goddess/God knows no religion, as religion and church are man-made and Spirit is natural and pure. When one follows a religion that follows Spirit in name only, but is in fact merely a group of people who are more concerned with self-gratification and personal gain (including amassing untold riches), in controlling those below them and coercing others into doing their bidding and blindly following their dogma, then one ceases to be spiritual even if one appears to still be "religious." There is a big difference between the two.

A great many people who purport to be good, God-fearing Christians are the single most close-minded, condescending, shallow and mean people I have ever met. They will tell you that by not accepting Jesus Christ as your savior that you are going to go to hell for all eternity. They fear anything different and they really fear anyone of the Pagan/Wiccan persuasion. Any amount of explaining that these gentle earth-based religious belief systems have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with devil worship, and that the pentacle is not a symbol of Satanism or anything similar will fall on deaf ears. And all you get instead is someone with their fingers stuck in their fearful ears saying "badbadbadbadbadbadbad." Pagans are not atheists nor satan worshippers and they don't feel that those who choose other spiritual paths are evil, or inferior to them, nor do they spend their time attempting to convert folks to a Wiccan path because they believe that's the one true path to God. Not everyone who is a member of a mainstream religion is this obnoxious, but the majority of them sure seem to be and that's truly sad.

I can't think of any building more spiritual than a church or a temple, but fill it up with the parishioners and it usually becomes the least spiritual place on earth, with human nature ruining a simply perfect thing. People are inherently selfish, petty, rude and childish and a group of churchgoers is no exception. A Christian flock is really not so different than a group of social-climbing, intolerant third graders out on the playground at recess. To me, the Divine is most found in the wild where earth is at her most primal and her most untouched and there is no one there to ruin the purity of what nature has made. Spirit is in every leaf, every rock and on every breeze. The Goddess and the God are peace and gentleness and compassion. And that's the way spirituality should be felt: in one's soul and with love for everyone, regardless of who or what they are. You have your beliefs and I will respect them with my whole heart, so why can't you respect mine? Oh yeah, that's right: because I'm different from you.