It seems like every spring, I go on some religious rant. Sometimes, they make it all the way to my website. Usually, I just forget about them in the haste to get research papers done. This time, though, I'm actually writing it down for once.

It started last Wednesday. I was lucky enough to attend a Buddhist ceremony on campus. All week, Tibetan monks had been building a sand mandala and on Wednesday, they held the ceremony to destroy it. It was incredible, very moving.

Anyway, I only had heard about it because some classmates of mine were going to go. One guy in our class is very Christian and was asking about it. Now, understand, I have never talked to him. Now, the tone of his voice when he asked about the ceremony bothered me, but I shrugged it off. His friends tell me he's very open-minded. He didn't come with us and I didn't think too much about it. After the ceremony, one of the guys mentioned he'd seen him outside the lounge and invited him to come in and watch. He declined. I said it was probably his religious beliefs and my classmate nodded. "I think so." "He's supposed to be open..." I said, but trailed off. We were both thinking the same thing.

It bugged me, it really did. Because, this guy wandered all the way to the lounge to snoop, so to speak, but then couldn't come in. Here was a chance to view something inspiring, something culturally unique, a work of art. The sand mandala was built to promote peace and understanding and environmental purity. The monks were there to promote Tibetan freedom. Apparently though, the fear of the devil stealing his soul kept my classmate away.

Now, I could be leaping to conclusions. He may have had a valid reason for not coming. He may have been outside that lounge for a different reason. But my point is...how can you shut yourself off to experiences in the name of religion? And how can you ignore your fellow humans. As they pointed out, if these Tibetan monks had been caught in their robes, performing this ceremony in Tibet, they would be arrested and likely tortured to death. They are prosecuted for their beliefs--how can you be a Christian and not sympathize with that? Christians were once persecuted for their beliefs in Rome--how is this different?

People ask why I don't go to church, or why I don't belong to a specific sect. This is why. I cannot be a part of anything that shuts itself off to humanity, or to human experience. I think to have faith, you have to have experience. What is the point in locking yourself up, refusing to read this book, listen to that song or watch a particular movie, or associate with certain kinds of people. Your faith and morals should be strong enough that you can do anything you want and still believe.

Now, a week later, I get a chain letter. The author tells all "good Christians" to read it and goes on to detail how he wrote ABC to complain against "The Practice" that featured a plot around a gay character. Supposedly, he received a letter insulting his religious beliefs. Now, I find this story highly dubious--they pay someone at ABC to write letters? But the point is, I don't like reading this bigoted crap anyway. And the same thing struck me. People spend more time wringing their hands over a tv show and sending chain letters, then they spend doing something good for the world.

Wouldn't it be *better* to feed the hungry? Build homes for the homeless? Find homes for unwanted children? Rid the world of nuclear weapons? Pick a cause. If that kind of power and religious fervor joined together to do something *truly* productive, we could possibly eradicate the problems in this world. Which is what I replied to the e-mail.

Yeah, maybe it's a typical college student's liberal viewpoint. But it's what I feel. And if you read this...do something charitable.

Elisabeth