A piece of paper does not determine your faith

Religion is a human idea on the relationship between man and the
supreme. There was never an occasion in the history of mankind
where all men and women, worshipped the same God, followed one
doctrine.

This never happened and will never happen. Humans are creatures of
ideas. We have the free will to think and decide what is best for
ourselves. Our ability to imagine can never be governed by any
individual or organisation.

Throughout history, people who shared similar beliefs have
gathered. They introduced rules, rituals and philosophies. This
caused religions to be born.

In this modern world, we are required to state our religion on
official papers. I find it amusing because it does not carry any
weight on an individual's spirituality.

Religion is not similar to race. Religion is about the mind, race
is the physical and cultural characteristic of a human.

Humans have the ability to decide their relationship with God. Just
because someone has stated that he or she follows a particular
religion on official documents, that does not mean that he or she
actualy follows it.

Therefore, in my opinion a piece of paper does not determine your
faith. You may even forcefully change the legal documents of a
person and categorize him under a different religion, but you can
never determine his spirituality. Only an individual knows what
runs in the mind during prayers, chanting of mantra, rituals etc etc
etc. Nobody else will know it except for that particular individual.

Hope the above made some sense. I chose to write my opinion because
there are many organisations out there which are trying to establish
religious rules.

Nobody can determine my spirituality. My way of religion is my
personal choice. It is not necessary for me to follow somebody
elses rules and regulations because this is between me and God.

Regards,

Sharmalan
Seremban.