Jason Tanamor is a jack of all trades
when it comes to writing, able to pen an opinion about everything from
women's rights to a complete lack thereof, or something like that...
Also having won an award for the
short play, Four People on the Couch, Jason spends much of his free
time with Habitat for Humanity,
which benefits from the proceeds of his latest book - available below!
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Everything you ever wanted to know about Jason
Tanamor, but were afraid to ask can be found at his website:
Jason
Tanamor Online
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| Jason's work can also be found at the following websites: |
| The NetWits |
Show Jason your true appreciation by purchasing
one
(or more!) of his books!
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Random Acts of Nonsense
(2003)
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For All the Wrong Reasons
(2001)
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Whose Child is This?
(2000)
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Religion - Now That's Another Set of Rules I Have
to Learn
by: Jason Tanamor
Having grown up Catholic for most of my life has enabled me to understand
the importance of having a religion. Sure I was brought up Catholic;
I was Baptized, Confirmed, and I went through First Communion, but I haven’t
been to church for years. And since then I’ve slowly adopted Buddhism
as my choice of religious beliefs. I now feel comfortable about my
life and where I want it to go.
My parents, who are still Catholic, convinced me to go to church on
Christmas this year. It was
the first time since high school that I’ve seen the inside of one.
I had no idea what to do, guessing that the majority of the time we would
spend sitting, standing, and then kneeling. And I
was correct, except it was in a different order. I had no problem
with this, because as I said,
I’m now comfortable with my life and not with this moment, because
the pews are very wood and very hard on my butt.
The only problem when dealing with religion is that I find that if someone
is involved in a
religion other than Catholicism, or even Buddhism for that matter,
he/she tends to believe that
his/her’s is better. Very often, a person of a different denomination
will snicker when he hears
that I meditate, and regularly do Yoga. I don’t criticize this
person because he’s, let’s say, a
Jehovah’s Witness. I’d like to, but every time he comes over,
I hide behind the couch. I whisper to myself, “Be quiet. Maybe
he’ll go away.” This, as if I’m hiding from trick-or-treaters, another
group of people that others seem to snicker at. Or at least, throw
snickers at.
Traditionally, religion only mainly consisted of the five major ones;
Catholicism, Judaism,
Hinduism, Muslim, and Buddhism. I suppose we can add Protestant
also. And it seemed that so much had to been gone through to be a
part of one of these religions.
Now, a religion is classified as (using the standard dictionary definition),
a specific system of belief or worship, built around God, a code of ethics,
a philosophy of life, and most recently, a comet called Hale Bop, where
almost anyone can take part. And anyone does take part.
Just a few years ago, a religious cult named Heaven’s Gate, flooded
the newspapers. These
people were convinced that a comet was their ticket to the land that’s
very much sought.
Unfortunately, these people were out of their freaking minds.
Not so much about believing what they did about a comet, but the requirements
that this cult consisted of. How would you have liked to been approached
by the recruiter for this cult?
“Okay Jason, you said you like Mark Twain. Did you know
that he was born and he died on the night of a Halley’s comet?”
“Interesting,” I’d say.
“Speaking of comets, we are very impressed with this comet, Hale Bop.
And you also get a brand new pair of Nike’s.”
“That’s great,” I’ll reply.
“And when you’re castrated, you’ll... hey where you going?”
“I have to go do something,” I’d interrupt nervously and haul out of
there.
This wasn’t the only group of insane people out there. Before this
one, there were the people of David Koresh. Now I’m sorry, I can’t
be part of a religion that consists of impregnating a
12-year-old girl (as in the case with the Branch Davidians) or castration.
I mean, that’s just me.
But I commend these folks for trying to improve their lives, by joining
a religion to satisfy
themselves and to take them away from the craziness they’re subjected
to, obviously worse
than what these cults offered. Maybe, these people were both
castrated and pregnant before
they joined.
Sometimes, we see people finding religion, or in better words, religion
finding them. This usually
takes place with criminals, and other people involved in violent acts,
the minute they’re
caught by the authorities. We see it all the time. An alleged
murderer would be sitting in the
back of a police car, indicating that he’s okay because he just found
Jesus. Apparently, Jesus is
sitting next to him in the squad car. This man thinks he found
the Son of God, but really, he
found the Son of Sam, his future cellmate. He, too, thinks that
joining a religion will benefit
his life, and maybe instead of getting three life terms, he’ll only
receive two terms for his
beliefs.
I don’t care about people joining cults, switching religions, or even
finding religion every once in a while. The thing that bothers me
is the people that shove their beliefs down your throat to the point that
you step back and utter, “Where do you get off saying that your religion
is better than anybody else’s?”, until they finally leave your front doorstep
and continue on to your next door neighbor’s.
It almost seems that people like this join religions because someone
else shoved it down their throats, so they feel they should do the same.
That’s what I think happened to Heaven’s Gate, because Do (pronounced Do)
approached them and the new pair of retro Nike’s was too much to turn down.
This gift was worth listening to hours of beliefs about a comet that didn’t
make sense anyway. Because if the shoes weren’t employed, a sane
person would have jumped to the occasion to ask, “Isn’t this comet really
hot? And doesn’t it go faster than the speed of light? If this
is the case, where will we sit down? And does this comet have appropriate
seat belts and air bags? And, by the way, isn’t Do a deer, a female
deer?”
Because that’s an important issue when joining a religion, at least
for me it is. I want to know
that this will improve my life, and not add more risk to my already
existing one. Isn’t that what
religion is for? To improve your life?
So in conclusion, if there are people out there interested in improving
their lives, sit down and
really think about where you want to go and what’s the best path to
get there. Either that or
buy a membership to the local YMCA, because after a few months at the
gym, you’ll feel much better, which in effect does improve your life.
And who knows, you might meet a cute girl or guy there. I have, unfortunately
she’s one of those crazy cult chicks.
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