I'm taking a summer course, Western Civilization 1. We're learning about ancient civilization, something I had always seen as useless. Yet now I realize that on the contrary, learning about ancient history can help guide us in modern times. The problems we're facing today are no different than those people faced thousands of years ago--the rise and fall of economies, war, religious persecution, power-hungry leaders. I've come to realize that our lives are nothing but a blip on the never-ending radar of existence; our descendants shall study us and wonder when they'll ever use the information in their lifetimes. And I've also come to conclusion that organized religion is a sham, a bunch of stories concocted to explain the unknown. I've suspected this for quite some time but never had any fact to back my hunch. Now I know for sure: people in ancient times were mostly all polytheistic, even the Hebrews. It was only when the Hebrews were conquered by the Babylonians did they resort to monotheism, thus shaping modern day religion as we know it. The Jews believed in Yahweh, the equivalent of today's God, but they also believed in other gods as well. Each god was tied to a city and gods were not omnipotent. When they were invaded by the Assyrians they kept worshiping Yahweh to differentiate themselves from their invaders; it was only when the Babylonians forced the Jews into exile did they become monotheists, because they needed a god whom they could worship after they'd been removed from their homeland.

The basic tenets of Christianity were conceived of by a Persian holy man named Zoroaster. He experienced revelations while living in solitude and proposed that there was only one god, Ahura-Mazda, who represented righteousness, truth and piety. To explain the evil in the world there was a force named Ahriman. Instead of being subject to the fate of the gods like other people believed, Zoroaster said that humans were given the will to choose between good and evil, and that upon death our souls would be judged and sent to heaven or hell. He also said that there would be a final judgment where a savior would return to earth.

As I sat in class listening to my professor talk about ancient religion, I began remembering all the times I'd sat through Sunday school, children's Bible in hand, soaking up the stories presented to us through brightly colored handouts. I always wondered why God never came down from the mountains to talk to anyone anymore and why there weren't plagues and angels and miracles. I guess I've always been a skeptic; I would always wonder why things happened and no religious figure ever had the answer. It would always be because God wanted it that way. Well, why did he want it that way? Sister Mary told us that Jesus would return when the world was just. When I was 11 my mother took us to another church, one that was not Roman Catholic. Our teacher asked us when Jesus would return, and I answered that he'd come back when the world was just. "The world will never be just," she said. Oh, I thought. I guess Sister Mary had been wrong. But if she was wrong, and I'd always thought she'd been right, what made this lady right? What made anyone right? How were we supposed to know what to do when no one had an answer?

As I've grown older, I've distanced myself from religion. I was raised with it and I still find it permeating certain aspects of my life. Religion is a serious matter; people are willing to die for it, and they become very offended if you question or insult their religion. Do I believe in God? Yes. I believe there is a higher being. I believe we go somewhere when we die; I don't believe that we as humans have the right to judge the beliefs of others, to convert anyone or to call another religion wrong. There is a mystique and necessity to religion. We need to believe there is a purpose to our lives, we need to know that there are some things we can't explain. We're afraid to die, we're afraid of the unknown, and we need religion to comfort us. Without it, our lives would be lived in vain; we'd be worth nothing. But the people of a thousand years ago already knew that.