Did You Inherit Your Religion?

The vast majority of people in the worldyour religion, which is much more important, you
automatically and unquestioningly inherit their religioninherited from your parents without knowing anything
from their parents. For something as important asabout the alternatives?"
religion, why are we so reluctant to shop around?"Yeah," she replied rather sheepishly, catching my
One Saturday morning I was sipping my coffee anddrift.
reading the newspaper when the doorbell rang. This"I'll tell you what," I said. "Spend the next five years
was an unusual occurrence as we lived in ainvestigating and the other great religions of the
somewhat isolated log cabin in the mountains outsideworld and then if you still want to talk to me about
Denver. At the door stood two attractive college-agebecoming a Jehovah's Witness, we'll talk."
girls who wanted to talk to me about becoming aThe girls, realizing they had a hopeless case on their
Jehovah's Witness.hands, thanked me for my time and left.
Normally I would politely say, "No thanks" and returnThe vast majority of people worldwide inherit their
to my paper, but that morning I decided to engagereligion-one of the most important things in their
with them. After hearing their initial pitch, I asked onelives-unquestioningly from their parents, without ever
of them, "Are your parents Jehovah's Witnesses?"investigating the alternatives. Many arrogantly believe
"Our whole family is," she replied.that their religion is the only way to salvation and
"Do you think religion is an important thing for peoplethat the vast majority who don't share their beliefs
to have in their lives?"will go to hell. Some believe that other religions are
"Very," she replied, and I agreed.heresy, and a few will even fight and die in the name
"How many other religions have you studied andof their religion.
investigated?"However, most people are incurious about religion
"None."and simply want to be told what to believe without
"Is a car an important thing in your life?" I asked.personal investigation. Such investigation is, after all, a
"Well, yes, but not as important as religion."huge task which most people are not cut out for.
Again I agreed. "What kind of car do you drive?"This is OK; there is nothing wrong with inheriting the
"A Toyota."religion of our parents. This is why the Dalai Lama
"Is that what your parents drive?"encourages people to follow the religion of the
"No."culture in which they were raised, as opposed to
"Why not?" I inquired.proselytizing Buddhism.
"Because I like Toyotas better." She was starting toIt seems that those who do inherit their religion
get impatient but politely continued to humor me.would acknowledge their limited understanding of
"How do you know?"other religions and adopt a posture of tolerance, not
"Because I like the way my Toyota looks and drives,dogmatism, toward them. Sadly, it seems that the
plus it was inexpensive and gets good gas mileage."less one knows about other religions, the more likely
I nodded toward my Toyota sitting in the driveways/he is to be intolerant of it, fueling the fires of
and agreed. "How did you know that about your carfundamentalism. Yet Islam has just as much meaning
when you bought it?"and validity for those in the Middle East, and Hinduism
"I test drove different cars and talked to my friendshas just as much meaning and validity for those in
about their cars." she said, increasingly exasperated.India, as Christianity does for those in the West.
"So you checked out lots of different cars beforeDid you inherit your religion?
deciding on your Toyota," I gently summarized, "but