After The Fallen Leader

last Saturday, the Pope died. I have heard of his name a lot. However, I do not know his life that well. Many people praise him for his goodwill and achievement. But what does he really achieve? World Peace? Convertion of all pagans? I am really not sure.

Let's start with world peace. Speaking of such term, religion should not be involved at all. Humans do fight for survivial, but in many times, people fight for their belief. The Crusade is an example. Even though politics (defeating the Muslims) was the main reason, religion was used as a way to rally knights and Christians to embark on odyessy to conquer the evils.... Another example would be the Reformation. Christians fought against Christians. People called others Heretics when they believed in the same God, supposed there is a God. If you don't like my talking about history, let's talk about something more recent. The glodal terrorism fueled by Islamic extremism has confused the Church. The Church has no idea what to do with many innocent Muslims and how to deal with the terrorists. 9/11 is a terrorist act clearly fueled by religious fanaticism. The Church, for centuries, has not helped World Peace. Rather, it has created tragedies and causalties.

I have to question if convertion of the pagans is such a good idea. In World History class, I was taught how the priests tried to spread Christianity. They used force to bring Christianity the natives. They colonized the natives' lands, "convert" the natives, and exploited their labor. Sometimes, the good Christians shipped the natives from one continent to another continent and put the natives into perpetual slavery. I sometimes wonder if Christianity meant anything at all in their heart.

Nowaday, the Church does trading with the pagans. This is evident in some less well-off countries. The Christians don't invade them militarily anymore. Rather they give the natives food and help in exchange for their allegiance to the Christian God. When one is dying of hungar, of course one would say yes for food. It is good that they are doing goodwill, but at the end, the convertion is based on material trade. It might comfort those who work so hard to convert the natives. However, at the end, those new converts will die not knowing what they believe. Is it good?

I am not committed to any religion. However, I acknowledge the existence of God. In fact, I don't have to commit to any religion after I know he exists. Contact to Him should be direct from me to Him, not through ministers, rabbis, or priests. Organized religion can be dangerous and misleading. Hilter, during his reign, had created a religion called Nazism which still presists today. There are still hatreds between Muslims and Christian or between Muslims and Jewish or Jewish to Christians. Should there be religious institutions, which promotes one thing and means the other. Peace is one good example.

Many people mourn for the Pope's death. For the sake of his death, I believe I will mourn too. However, for the sake of the Church, why? Why do we believe in some institutions that is marred by hypocricy, conflicts, and politics? Shouldn't we get religion through one's contact with God rather than believing in an institution?