Religion

Here's part 5 of a blogger community writing exercise started by Mambinki.

I left religion behind in my early 20s, the only one in my immediate family to do so. After studying world religions, I realized that I wanted to set out upon my own spiritual journey, outside of organized religion. Of course, this realization didn't come in a sudden epiphanic moment, but rather over the course of time and experience.

A bit ironic that I'm now living in a majority-Muslim country, surrounded by religion on every side in very visible and tangible ways. And my neighborhood of Istanbul is packed with those who practice a more conservative brand of Islam, which, for one thing, means a mosque every 50 meters or so and that alcohol is pretty much impossible to find.

My interest in Islam and other world religions is on the level of anthropological curiousity. I can't imagine ever practicing one again. I guess my childhood in the Seventh-day Adventist Church wiped that desire right out of me.

to be continued. . .