Religion is for People Who Don't Believe in God

---Sorry about the blunt beginning. I don't know how to start out any other way--- Organized religion is not spirituality. Religion is a business which brings its patrons to faith. Both serve their purpose and have their place but connecting the dots of 'the church' and 'faith' or spirituality, is a mistake. Unlike spirituality, religion does not foster personal growth, it fosters dependence. If you need a leg brace and shackles to fix your crippled leg then so be it. It's worth the time restricted for the resulting healthy leg. But you would think that once the leg is healed, the shackles could come off. This however, is not how a hierarchal power- based institution like organized religion works. Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day (and come back begging for more). Teach him how to fish and he'll feed himself for a lifetime (and no longer patronize the fisherman). The church is a successful institution because it creates a framework around faith which brings spirituality (a very desirable and marketable product) down to the unspiritual, whose faith is only maintainable within the shackles of rules, stories and dogmatic ritual. This constant need for spiritual upkeep, unnecessary for those who find their own path to faith, creates a dependence on the church which defies the basis of "faith". Yet the dependence it instills has kept the church around and in power since it was created to justify the power hungry crusades of early governments. The word faith means believing or trusting something not based on proof or reason. This however, is incredibly difficult to wholeheartedly do and maintain. So religion took the manifested concepts of faith, whatever your version of it is, its all the same really, and gave it a name- God. Now that is had a name, even a face for some, it was already more attainable and easier to comprehend. And then, the church came up with a series of stories and a biased interpretation of history to justify and explain the unexplainable for those of us who are afraid of what's beyond our comprehension and lacks reason. Those who base their belief in God on (and try to inflict it on others with) the proven evidence of his existence (Jesus lived! What about these miracles??) are thereby deprived of the growing process of finding their own spirituality- trusting in something unfounded in anything but ones own true faith. This process creates such a strong foundation for the few true believers because the journey there is unaided by external support or even rational thought. And in my opinion (as if this whole thing hasn't been a bombardment of my opinions), living amongst the uncertainty and impermanence which religion denies, and being present and accepting it, is the most powerful thing one could do for oneself. Last night, my very Christian friend who I adore asked me what I think it takes for someone to be truly happy. And I think it's releasing control. We're not in control, or at least we're in control of much less than our minds would like. So striving for that control (partially by attempting to explain and justify every time a puppy dies or a hurricane hits) will unquestionable lead to a life of fighting everything that comes and goes. And that's kind of silly, isn't it.