The religious the world over, no matter which religion they espouse, are believers.  They are all united even though they believe different things. They are pious, devout, “born again”, fallen away, apostates, heretics or atheists.  And, all of them are alike in that they are believers.

They believe impossible things.  They believe there is a single deity or in many gods.  They believe in an afterlife, not seeing the contradiction.  They believe in a heaven or a hell or both and have never seen evidence of the existence of either.  They do believe in impossible things. 

They believe in miracles. They believe the sun stopped still, that walking on water is possible and that the dead can be brought back to life.  They believe not only in impossible things but in improbable ones at that.  The religion of believers, no matter which religion, is belief and in the power of belief.

Belief sustains us when the day is darkest.  We believe in benevolent spirits protecting us from dark forces and malevolent monsters that we also believe lurk in the shadows at night when sleep fails.

Belief can be equally strong – that the glass is half full or the glass is half empty.  Believers all over the world cast their systems in cement. They create a mold that refuses to accept that any other belief can be right.  They BELIEVE! And, it may be possible that belief of any kind is more powerful than lack of belief.

I see in the paper (NY Times) this morning a report about a film depicting the Irish belief in the rightness of the Church and the government of Ireland in the 19th century to establish workhouses for “fallen” women”.  This was a belief that cost Ireland its soul and the bodies of a great many that fled to more welcoming places.  Workhouses and prayer were the lot of girls who bore children out of wedlock or who simply were rebellious against authority.  Most remained punished in this way for the rest of their lives. The interesting thing about this report is that survivors believed that women who finally died after a lifetime of work and prayer were now free and were better off.

Belief has a strange power over the minds and bodies of all of us, not only the religious. But it is the belief of the religious that has caused most of the wars and disruption of life to the rest of those living in the same world.