books ...

I'm reading three books at once because I couldn't decide which one I liked the most and now I can't put any of them down.
I'm reading Infidel, God's Callgirl and Bitter Is The New Black. All of the books question faith and Infidel and God's Callgirl are individual accounts of questioning and then losing that faith. I love reading about Islam and Christianity because these books question their individual roles in faith. They also question how people interpret religion and both books are incredibly educating regarding religion and it's no surprise that people lose faith, become infidels because both women lost so much. Bitter Is The New Black is also about a woman who has everything but loses everything and all three books are giving me a good look at what is important.
I've spent a great deal of my time on this blog looking at what is important, not only to me but to people as a whole. Some people do believe in religion but I am very against religion which stifles you or oppresses you or kills you. I think that if people have individual faith that is wonderful and if they feel something is making them whole, benefiting them in some way, making them a better person that that is wonderful.
But if it passes judgement or tells you what to believe in or tells you what to eat, wear, almost feel ... then I don't want to follow it. I've learnt to believe in the goodness of people, to look at strong individuals who have shaped and changed the world through their own convictions and belief like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, John Lennon, my all time hero Nelson Mandela, those are the people who have shaped me and made me believe that there are incredibly wonderful people in the world with an immense capacity to love and that's more important to me than going to a specific place to pray, or eating/not eating certain foods or and this is a sore point being suppressed as a woman.
Bob Marley says this, " the people who are trying to make this world worse are not taking a day off. Why should I?" and I think that is possibly the truest thing I've ever heard.
I believe in love, I believe that there are good people out there. I believe that we see acts of incredible kindness wherever we look, that there are really really good people who give and give and give and this is the world I want to live in. Now I am not exceptionally good or giving but I do strive to be more. I can be exceptionally selfish and moody and self absorbed while I admit that it is a human thing ... I also think that some people give everything of themselves to others.
While I am not sure if I will ever be that kind of person, I look at Ayaan Hirsi Ali who risked everything by writing Infidel. She wants the world to see what Islam was like for her and other women, she wanted to speak out.