Religion ≠ Faith?

Many of my friends are "atheists". Whether they've been taught about religious texts in a way they can't understand or believe, whether they've had a bad experience with religious people, or they've just not had any reason to have faith in something invisible–these very different people have come to this conclusion. But they are different in they the way they define it. Some of them don't have a religion, some say they don't have faith. Many people (religious or not, faith driven or not) don't realize that religion and faith don't go hand in hand.

Religious systems are like political systems in the way that each "party" (religion, denomination, congregation etc.) have ideas about how things should be done for the good of (in religion) humanity. Some may do it in forceful, ugly ways; others may do it through charitable organizations; some do the work of achieving it without involvement of a specific religion (or at least thinking there is none).

One's faith is what they believe in. Someone's faith could say, "I see God when I see beautiful in this world in the crack so human failure." Another's faith could say, "A girl I met with mental health issues has wise soul with strong ideals and shouldn't be labeled with society's stigma."

Religion nor faith has to be defined or organized. Example: Brendon Urie (my favorite frontman 😊) talks in an interview about how he didn't believe in the religion he grew up practicing and follows no organized religion now. People call him an atheist, but I don't believe that at all. He said that music is his religion (a practice in which he has a goal to make the world better–already is), and a faith that music is what keeps him going and will always be there.

Sometimes one's faith isn't always what someone thinks is completely consistent or compliant with what seems like the religion they claim to practice implies. Some Atheists look at Christianity being hypocritical being like, "Why is a gay man Christian when another Christian wants to 'convert' him?" or "You believe in evolution? Isn't that hindering a common Christian creationist point of view?" This stuff gets ugly in itself because hatred of something so complex like theology and refusal to accept each other leads to ignorance. Everyone with or without religious affiliation: don't override someone for a faith they can't explain. It doesn't change it's validity; it affirms it's strength of heart and complexity of mind.

What you believe is your faith, a rock you can build a house upon, whether it's God, music, nature etc. Understand that whatever religious label you decide on, remember that the faith comes from a similar place because we're human. We can't be that different.