There are two types of people, religious and non-religious. It is extremely difficult to be both. However, being a member of a religion does not qualify one as being religious and not being a member of an organized religion does not necessarily mean you are not religious. It is a matter of trends. Religious people are those that tend to move toward religion as they grow older, non-religious people tend to move away. It does not seem to matter how you are raised. Your upbringing seems only to influence how long it will take to get where you are headed.
It is difficult to write about religion without offending someone, so I will not attempt to avoid it. Religion has two sides, real and spiritual (or more accurately non-real). I must warn you that this essay will downplay the role of the spiritual, thus offending the religious readers. But, I shall demonstrate the importance of real religion, to the dismay of the non-religious readers. I will not favor or profess any specific religions, for fear of offending myself as well. If you are not religious and you do not even want to read about religion feel free to skip ahead a couple of sections, though I think you will be missing out.
So what do I mean by real religion and spiritual religion. I mean that for its members, religious doctrines serve two purposes: Overcoming the fear of death and teaching and encouraging morality. Doctrines concerning the fear of death are those that have to do with what happens after we die, whether it be living as disembodied spirits, or heaven and hell, or a resurrection, or reincarnation. The purpose of these beliefs is to reassure us that we have nothing to fear from death, and to assure ourselves that even though life is not fair in this life it will be in the next. This is what ...