With the way the economy is going, what with petrol going up and up and up and causing food to do the same, I have become even more price conscious, choosing the cheapest on the shelf. There are however a few things that I will not compromise such as: my dishwashing liquid, tomato sauce, tinned peaches and cordial to name a few. I gave it some thought and realized that these were brands that my mother never compromised on. In chatting to a few friends, I found that they generally stuck to the same brands that they had grown up with. Is this because it is habit, is it fear of change or is it brainwashing?
I then started comparing this to religion. I was brought up a Christian and so the most obvious thing to do as an adult was to continue on this road. Is this because it is habit, is it fear of change or is it brainwashing?
My husband recently came up for a new company car and had to choose a car within a certain budget. When he told me the options that he was considering (very carefully I might add), I was a little concerned because out of the three he was looking at, two were newish brands. These brands weren’t around when we were kids (not in SA anyway) and so the pro’s and con’s of these were never discussed unlike the many makes of cars my dad swore that he would never buy. So how were we supposed to make this decision with no family track record? I will tell you that this decision entailed many test drives, many conversations with the owners of these brands and of course spreadsheets drawn up with negatives and positives listed and carefully scrutinized. This decision was not taken easily, in fact I think it took a good two months of umming and aahing, let’s face it, when you are going to be relying on this vehicle for your safety, comfort and of course image, one cannot afford to take this decision lightly!
So why then do we gladly accept the religion into which we are born? This is normally not even given a second thought, after all, if our parents believed this, they must know best. We do not weigh up pro’s and con’s of other options, we do not ‘test drive’ these or even speak to others of that religion with an open mind, to get their viewpoint. We gladly and blindly follow the path that those before us followed. We accept this without question and yet this decision, if it is to be believed, will affect our afterlife, which I might mention is apparently infinite. You would think that with this consequence in mind, the religious out there would spend their earthly lives studying and questioning other religion’s to be sure that they are following the correct one.
And so I ask again: Is religion just another name brand?
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