Being in Europe has left me with a lot of free time to think, and my recent topic is organized religion. A month ago, the Pope came to Barcelona to consecrate La Sagrada Familia and a lot of news surrounded religion in Spain. Some 70-80% of Spaniards were raised or consider themselves Catholic, but less that 10% attend Mass. More astonishingly, I learned that about 99% of Danes (people from Denmark) don't believe in a religion.
Most of you know that I was raised Muslim, but I consider my belief more by chance than by choice. I say that because I was raised to believe in this religion by my parents, just as they were raised to believe Islam because of their parents. This isn't a bad thing...most people believe what they are taught. Of course we learn religions for ourself, but very few take time to learn the detail behind other religions and convert to something else (I'm getting to a point, I promise...).
This past weekend, I visited Rome and we made a trip to Vatican City to check it out. I will say I was in awe by the sheer grandiousness of it all. To get to the Sistine Chapel, you have to navigate through 4km of art and exhibits from around the world. You have entire rooms that were paitned by Raphael during the Renaissance. And then finally, you get to Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel, which honestly, looked about the same as all the other art you find inside basilicas across Europe.
This made me think more of my religion. The only art you see is mainly caligraphy of scriptures from the Quran. While my Arabic is rusty, I like that I can make out words and read sentences when I see the writings on books, walls, or carvings. These pieces of art are valuable, but they in no way match in comparison to what the Vatican has.
It is estimated that the Vatican is worth over 2 billion euros...no one actually knows the true number. Regardless, this money, if donated, would be enough to virtually end world hunger. I know what you're thinking, and I think it too...if we donated the money we spend on war to charity, we, too, could end world hunger. That's not my point.
I find it hard not to criticize the Vatican for it's emphasis on money. I may be slightly bitter after spending 20euro in entrance fees, but I just don't get it (the hajj, or pilgrimage for Muslims does not have an entrance fee...). With an organization as strong and powerful as the Vatican, I find it irresponsible not to leverage your influence and help better the world we live in.
My friend Sam and I got to talking and he comes from a long line of Catholics, but he doesn't associate himself with the church. A few qualms he mentioned...one being the ambivalence of using the holdings of money to feed the world, and two, the Catholic church's view on the use of contraception. Recently, the Pope alluded it's kinda sorta okay to use it to prevent the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS. What about the unnecessary abortions that could be avoided if Catholocism endorsed realist responsibility? What are the lesser of the two evils? Just something to think about...
I hope this doesn't offend anyone and I assure you that it was not my intent. Here's my kvetch for the year...you know where to send your thoughts.
On a related note, my parents are in the process of booking their pilgrimage trip and offered to take me with them in April. Out of all the places I am planning to go to, this has immediately become the one I'm most anticipating. Happy holidays all...talk soon.
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