I have learned so much about religion throughout my time in high school, as I learn the effects religion had on Europe in the Middle Ages and Renaissance and more. After taking time to reflect on religion in general and in my life, I have so many thoughts I could write an entire book with. I have grown up Jewish with two Jewish parents, but we really only go to the temple for the holidays and when I was preparing for my Bat Mitzvah. I’d say we are definitely culturally Jewish, but not extremely religious. My friends and I have gotten into several discussions about religion and what it means and I have sometimes said “I hate religion” at the end of those talks. This is because I feel like it makes for so much conflict in the world. Who’s to say there’s even is anything beyond what we can see, so why does it create so much war, death, and fear? I hate feeling that just because I am Jewish that I could be hurt only due to that one part of who I am, especially when I don’t even fully know what I do or don’t believe. My friends who are very religious, Jews and not, tend to just preach their religion rather than discuss the concept of religion, and so it is hard for me to fully form my opinion. I have seen religion do wonders for some people though and that is why I am so conflicted. It has helped friends of mine work through the deaths of people close to them, and that seems positive so I would never want to take that away from them. But the night before my Bat Mitzvah, when my aunt had to call our temple to check if the security was good enough, because there had just been a shooting in a temple, it made me scared. It made me question if I wanted to be Jewish or tell people that I was. All through the preparation for that day, I worked hard towards the goal of accomplishing something major, and the connections that I made with the Torah and my life meant a lot to me. I still though don’t know if I believe in God and I have never really put much thought into whether I do or not. I sort of live my life and then on Jewish holidays I come together with my family. It is always so fun to gather together, but I never really know what my uncle is saying while we’re sitting at the Passover table. I am fascinated by the concepts but have never really delved deep into them. I am so conflicted on this topic because I believe religion is positive, negative, and everything in between. I know that it has done so much damage but also saved so many lives.