Religion vs Reason

I performed my show last night at the Crescent Fort Rouge United church in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was a really receptive crowd. They seemed to have had a great time. I certainly did. Just before the show started I was chatting with the church member who had booked me to do the show and he said, "Have you changed anything in the script?" I was a little worried. Was he asking me to change the swear words. I had been assured that that was not going to be a problem. I said, "Um, do I need to?" He replied, "Absolutely not. In fact, I just wanted to make sure that you hadn't." There was something really satisfying about doing the show in a church. It felt like I had brought it full circle. To perform a show about leaving Christianity and then to have a church invite you to perform it uncensored is something that I would never have expected to have happen. The performance was followed by a panel discussion addressing the question, "Given the reality of fundamentalism, is good religion possible?" In being forced to ask myself the question I came up with a summary of my thoughts on good religion. I don't think that a religion should ask you to check your common sense at the church/mosque/temple door and I don't think that a religion that makes it more difficult to live in a society with others is a good religion. Why would God (if there is one) demand that we follow a religion that divides us or forces us to violence against our fellow humans. And if God gave us minds and the ability to reason, surely he would want us to exercise that capacity and not turn it off simply because we follow a certain faith. A religion that holds itself up as the final word on how to live life to the exclusion of all other beliefs and to one's own common sense is not a good religion. Is good religion possible? I hope so. And the work that they do at the United Church I performed at sure seems to be full of a whole lot of people who hold both religion AND reason in high regard.