Op-ed:
What I Believe
by: Diane Sori

So many people have asked me what I believe in regards to what religion I am, how could I so strongly support a Mormon (remember Article 6, paragraph 3 of the Constitution states: The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.)…you know the game and the questions asked of me and yet I wonder why this is so important to so many, for what do my lowly personal beliefs matter in the scope of what we patriots are trying to do.  Well, now that I have my own blog I will tell you, and hopefully put this to rest.  Yes, I do totally and completely believe in the one true living God of the Christians and Jews but I do question the motives behind certain Christian movements of today.  

Through much study, I have come to realize that the actual concept of ‘religion’ per say was invented by man to make himself either closer to God or to force people to follow those who envisioned themselves as God’s so-called right hand men or chosen religion.  I learned that God was quite satisfied in the worship of Him as laid out in the Old Testament for one chose to either believe in Him, follow and heed Him or not.  The consequences of one’s choice, one’s free will if you wish, remained between that person and God and no one else.  This worked quite well for so long and even with the birth of Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, this simple premise still worked well until the advent of the many religious orders, denominations, and movements who all claimed that their way was the ONLY way to an everlasting life with God in Heaven.

Sadly though one concept all Judeo-Christian religions, orders, and denominations had and still have in common to some degree is that all known religious beliefs and dogma have been responsible for more death, war, destruction, and hate than any other concept ever known to man.  We hate, we fight, we kill, we maim, we torture, we try to convert, all the while saying God is on our side and our religion’s side alone.  And BTW, I know fully well the death and destruction the false religion of islam has caused but that is an entirely different perverted ball game for another post.  To continue, today we still pit Christian against Jew, Jew against Christian, Christian against Catholic, Catholic against Protestant, Evangelicals and Fundamentalists against ALL who do not believe their way, the list goes on and on.  We say, and I am using the proverbial we here, only our particular religion is the true way to God, and shun or proselytize to those who do NOT follow our particular way or words.  And this is so sad and so wrong.

Why is this wrong…it’s wrong simply because nothing should ever stand between man and God, and some Christian denominations today, and I only say some, seem to do just that.  Instead of uniting Christians and Jews behind the one and only God the Father, certain denominations seem to divide us, as witnessed by the simple fact that there are over 33,000 Protestant sects alone.  How can we ever be whole if there are so many groups claiming theirs is the only true way to God.  I believe God truly loves us and that He forgives us when we sin, for He knows that we, His creation, are not perfect nor will we ever be, as free will has seen to that. I believe that no religious dogma, ritual, or organizational structure that dictates how one should worship, or how many or what prayers one should say, or how one will go to heaven based on the sole beliefs of any one given denomination, should ever come between one’s personal relationship with God.  

Having FAITH, I believe, is the key to it all.  The relationship between someone and God is personal and no man, nor any religion, nor any dogma, nor any sect or their followers should ever try to come between that most personal of all relationships…that of someone and God the Father, for aren’t ALL we Christians and Jews His children.  I truly believe we are, and I for one am proud to say that I am a Child of God the Most Holy, yet my personal religious beliefs shall remain between me and God, for no one has a right to invade such a personal relationship, nor is there any need for it to be publicized for it does NOT affect what I do.  I do NOT and will NOT ever wear religion on my sleeve for religion and God are in my heart, and in my heart is where it matters and where they shall stay, because I have seen some who profess religion the loudest are the most hypocritical of all..

I hope this puts these questions of what I am and what I believe to rest now that at least you all know I AM a believer.  I just wish we could all unite behind the one true living God of the Christians and Jews, because only through unity will we ever truly accomplish one of our missions, that of turning back our beloved America to God the Creator as laid out in our Declaration of Independence…“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”