"For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us."
Charles Bukowski
Always been a Bukowski fan. Few are more bluntly honest and insightful of human nature.
I have often said that religion -- particularly religious fundamentalism -- rigidly demands that life bend to a desired reality -- one in which god is in his heaven and all is right with the world. Whereas back here in actual reality, functional living requires that WE flex and adapt to what life IS, which, more often than not, isn't what we wish it was.
Religion is a childish demand for easy comprehensibility (dogma, religious faith), unlimited divine largesse (grace), and do-overs plus the promise that one way or the other, everything will be explained TO you without you having to figure it out (heaven). It is in fact a demand that childhood never end.