I've been thinking recently. Just what exactly drove me away from religion? I'm sure I didn't know it at the time; to be honest, I stopped going to mass because I was always working Saturday evenings and I didn't want to get up early enough on Sunday mornings during the summer. But there's a whole legion of people who only go to church on the "important" dates, being Christmas and Easter. I could have easily been a "twice a year Catholic."
No; the reason is more deeply rooted in something far removed from everything. I've noticed that I treat any large flocking to anything, be it a musical artist, be it the iPod, or be it the wash of religious contexts I have been steeped in during my school career, as a lemming migration. I tend to shy away from it, and if I approach it, it is only after I evaluate it for myself, free from others that could try to taint my opinion. I also tend to think that if I am supposed to be the prime example of my religion, I should really think through just what I'm supposed to do. Otherwise, I'd be blindly following orders. (Though the cynics say that's just what I'm supposed to do.)
There's another, more related reason. When you know of multiple religions, parallels seem to develop in a few. I've decided I cannot tolerate a religion that promotes evangelism. A couple ideas are necessary for a religion to promote the spreading of itself. First, the religion in question must promote a general spreading of goodwill. This tends to be the basis of most religions that are generally accepted in a large region. Second, the religion has a "good afterlife," and a "bad afterlife." This is crucial. Finally, and most importantly, the specified religion claims that it is the true faith, and that all other doctrines are wrong. I've discussed this point with a few of my Christian friends (though not directly, I must say) to receive blank stares when I explained it my way.
(Actual conversation, somewhat paraphrased:
"Imagine that I live my life for other people, never thinking of myself. I do all the goodwill that a human is capable of. However, I don't do this in the name of Jesus. I just do it for the sake of goodwill. Where do I go when I die?"
"You will go to hell for not following Jesus, since the Bible says that he is 'the Way, the Truth, and the Life.'"
In his defense, he took a rather fundamentalist view, taking the Bible as law. I respect him for this, since I surely don't have the patience to study it to the extent he has. And he studied it thoroughly.)
These ideas combine to create the following situation: You, having been enlightened with the "True Faith©," begin to feel a tinge of pity for your friends, who have some kind of "Poseur Faith©" instead. They're surely going to "The Bad Afterlife" you've been told about. You take matters into your own hands and tell your friends about the "True Faith©" so that they can join you in "The Good Afterlife."
That's happened to me too. I've also been told to join the youth group at my church so that I could hang out with one of my friends. She told me that they don't even go into the "religious stuff" that deeply. Pardon me, but isn't that the purpose of a youth group in the first place? Isn't the point to learn about your faith in a "hip" setting so that you, too, can understand the "True Faith©" more?
In any case, this concern for the souls around you is fine; if you reach this stage, you are actually following the religion properly. But the fact that the religion promotes this in the first place sickens me. I think if a person is being generally good, he should be treated generally well. None of this "You believe in me, only me" crap. Isn't a god that requires a citizen to center his faith around that certain god being narcisstic? Is the total neglect of the other faiths around the world a necessary evil? I don't think so.
How about this: Being with your god feels good. But these experiences on Earth are few and far between. By reaching the requirements for your "Good Afterlife," you get to spend the rest of time (or the equivalent in your faith) with your god. However, by not reaching these requirements, you are not cast in "fire and brimstone," as some Christian preachers would have you believe. You instead are not accepted into the community of that certain God. Other, less exclusive, communities may take you, since you followed their criteria.
(And as an aside, I would totally love to be an afterlife diplomat. You'd get to travel to the differing spiritual worlds with full diplomatic immunity! Think of the hijinks!)