Thanks for writing! BTW, love your blog!

“. . . It is not necessary for being with God to be always at church. We may make an oratory of our heart.”

Without a doubt.

I believe in God, and since He is omnipresent, one should not be made to feel guilty for not going to church regularly (by whomever would have the gall to MAKE someone feel guilty about that). Sure, going to church can be a spiritually-uplifting and calming experience, but it’s definitely not a ‘prerequisite’ for an overall sense of spirtuality/religiosity.

Speaking from experience, for three years I’ve been a soprano-soloist in the Serbian Orthodox Church chorale (led by a professional conductor with over 20yrs experience) – my fiance (who sings bass) and I go every second Sunday to sing at liturgy.

Thing is, I KNOW (we BOTH know, rather) that if we weren’t part of the choir, we would only go church maybe once, twice a year…the ‘obligatory’ Christmas/Easter attendance(s). And I’m okay with that, I feel no guilt whatsoever.

My fiance, for e.g., is one of the most spiritually enlightened and fulfilled people I have the pleasure of knowing…it’s something that’s so innate to him, something pure, and he feels no need to boast about it to anyone. He is honest, warm, understanding, objective, intelligent…a wonderful man with a good heart.

I regard myself a fairly spiritual person but not to the extent that he is.
I mean, spirituality in and of itself is a very private thing, and one that every individual has to come to terms with on their own, and in their own way.

I know that there are, sadly, plenty of people who go to church (mostly older, set-in-their-ways people) only to be ‘seen’, so that the community can say ‘oh, look at so-and-so, he/she ALWAYS comes to church’. As if that MEANS anything. But those sorts of people spent the time of the liturgy keeping tabs on others, i.e. checking to see whether ‘rookies’ make the sign of the cross at the correct time, and other such bullshit.

I mean, are they kidding me?!

I suppose the trick is not to pay attention to them, and to hope that they become enlightened to their shitty, judgmental thoughts.

That’s the unfortunate part of religion: how judgmental and, crazily enough, hateful people can be when it comes to their religion. “Judge not lest ye be judged” does not seem to signify for those people. Just look at those Westboro Baptist people who said they’d protest at Heath Ledger’s memorial because he portrayed a gay man in a movie.

I truly feel sorry for such people.

Religion and spirituality are, at their core, about God, about fostering a sense of peace, love and serenity… But when you get people who take things at face-value, who literally interpret things (oftentimes to suit their own agendas), that’s when it gets ugly. And it starts to look like– well, it doesn’t resemble spirituality in the slightest.

We-ell, I’ve written WAY more than I thought I would…!