Religion and The Grand Inquisitor

“I have a longing for life, and I go on living in spite of logic. Though I may not believe in the order of the universe, yet I love the sticky little leaves as they open in the spring. I love the blue sky, I love some people, whom one loves, you know, sometimes without knowing why. I love some great deeds done by men, though I’ve longed ceased perhaps to have faith in them, yet from old habit one’s heart prizes them.” (page 2)

When reading Dostoevsky’s The Grand Inquisitor I thought a lot about my feelings on religion and the people around me. I was not raised religious. My father is an Atheist and my mother is a Catholic. My father’s parents are Methodists and have always been a bit disapproving of our, none religious upbringing. My brother is an Atheist (he has a very over rational science brain) and my sister, as well as myself are Agnostic. We celebrate holidays (Christmas, and Easter) and because my mother is Catholic we celebrate Lint. My view on religion has always been a bit different than the people around me. My friends growing up went to church so I have had that in my life, but I never really could get into the whole concept. I believe in being a good person and that you should just want to be a good person and not have fear make you do it. Growing up a few of my friend’s parent thought I was a bad influence on their kids. Later in life when their kids started getting into bad stuff, I was a good kid. My parent taught us that we should have pride in what we do and if we ever did anything bad they never really punished us because we felt so bad for what we had done. Not that I have a problem with religion, I just don’t think it is for me. Reading The Grand Inquisitor I really started thinking about my own views. I love that books and stories can make us think and help us come to new revelations. Religion is something that will always be around us, but we need to figure out our own views.