City of Angels

I was robbed twice in one month!!

It's not like somebody has pointed a gun to my head, it's not my bag, my purse or my mobile phone that was stolen, its my food!! Yes my food was stolen twice at the office. First time my toast and chicken lancheon and second it was my brown beans sandwich.

I know its not a big deal, but the idealist residing in my mind still considers it a robbery. Someone opens the refrigerator (the company's refregirator in which all employees keep their stuff), takes some food (which he/she knows for sure it is not his/her food) and eats it does not sound normal to me.

I started acting like Lieutenant Columbo (which I usually do whenever I get the chance) and began to analyze the robbery and search for suspects. But since all my colleagues at the office are known to be good, religious people I got puzzled and could not accuse anyone of stealing my food.

Then I started to ask myself if being religious means that one should have ethics and morals that prevent one from stealing. But according to my case the answer was No.

Then I started to look at the bigger picture and realized that what happened at the office is just a sample of what is happening all around me. I look at the mosques and churches all round me and find them crowded with people as If I live in the "City of Angels". Then I read the newspapers or watch TV and feel shocked with all the briberies, roberries, rapes and domestic violence commited everyday. If I live in the "City of Angels" then who comit these crimes everyday?

I have reached the conclusion that religion is no more responsible for setting people's moral standards. But this conclusion made me ask myself some questions; If religion no more shapes people's values and ethics then what's the use of religion? What's the point behind reading the holy books if people never practice what they read? Are people aware that being religious and being good can not be separated?

Wikipedia defines religion as follows:

The term "religion" refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction.

I guess this is not the case in our society nowadays; people ignore the "personal practices related to communal faith" part and only concentrate on the "group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction", which resulted in a society of pretenders.

I don't know whose fault is this, but I guess our society is suffering and will suffer a lot from such pretenders; those who have limited religion to some rituals, those who have separated religion from our daily life, those who take religion as a camouflage to hide their evil doings.