Religion

Religion does not play a huge role in my life. I'm Jewish but not really strict about it. For instance, the holiday Yom Kippur was this weekend and you're supposed to fast for the whole day. I did not fast at all nor did I have any intention to. I probably would not have even realized it was Yom Kippur if my dad hadn't gone to temple. I dropped out of Hebrew School right after my Bat Mitzvah, which I had a year earlier than most people do. It's not that I'm opposed to religion, and I wouldn't by any means call myself an atheist, but religion just doesn't play that big a role in my life. I guess a big part of it is that I'm very aware that I'm Jewish not because I want to be but because my dad is. I have always celebrated Christmas and Easter with my mom's side of the family. They are also not very religious. You will never see a cross in my grandma's house at the Christmas Eve party or hear the word "Jesus" spoken at any time, but there are a lot of Santa/reindeer related decorations and a freakish amount of presents under the tree.

As for the role that religion should play in government/society/schools, I don't think that it should play much of a role at all. It just makes people upset, like with the whole "one nature under God" commotion. I have always thought that a lot of people use religion and politics to hide behind their own problems and to find excuses to argue with other people. What religion we are has nothing to do with our education; if you want that kind of situation than go to Sunday School or whatever. I remember being in like, second grade singing the songs and saying the Lord's Prayer in Chapel and wondering vaguely if I shouldn't be. It never really upset me or anything, but it probably does upset some people. Nothing good ever comes from bringing religion issues into things because there is no way that everyone will agree about it. On the other hand, it's impossible to separate religion out of other aspects of our lives, no matter how much we want to. I remember years ago there was some politician who was Jewish, and my dad talking about how he was definitely going to vote for him. I asked my dad what if the Jewish guy was trying to corrupt our society or was incredibly stupid or something, would he still vote for him and my dad said yes, only partially joking. Even though I was probably like eight when this happened, I remember getting kind of mad about this. Religion should have nothing to do with why you would vote for someone, but it probably always will to some people.