I just wanted to write you a letter explaining to you how much your music has really helped me. I've
listened to you guys for about two years now and I never really understood your lyrics until about five
months ago. When I met my current boyfriend, he asked what one of my favorite bands was and I told him
Bad Religion. Well it turns out you're one of his favorites also. He told me a lot about you guys. /just
listened to the music and never really got behind it, focusing on how your music deals with disbelief in
faith, the government and other things.
Since I entered high school I have really taken a look at my religious beliefs because there was more
attention drawn to it since high school kids are "more mature" and talked about deeper things. In middle
school nobody ever talked about religion.
In my stupid attempt to become popular I started going to Young Life (it's like a Christian youth club)
my sophomore year. I went so I could meet all the "cool kids" because they went. After about two months
of Young Life I realized most of the kids who went were also the kids who got drunk and high on the
weekend. Then they came and put on their "good religious kid" facade in an attempt to make it seem that
Young Life had a real effect on them. Half of the kids who go to Young Life go for the social time. I was
guilty of that too because I thought I could meet the right people that way. I considered stopping going
because I felt so fake but my boyfriend at the time went, and he was popular, so I figured I should still go.
The one time that I finally realized I had no definite beliefs was at Young Life. The leader was talking
about a wedding where Jesus came and did something to the food and wine so it never ran out, which
makes no sense at all! He was saying that Jesus had the capability to defy the laws of physics and
everything else.
When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come."His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."Nearby stood six stone water jars ... each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water", so they filled them to the brim.Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.John 2:3-9
After hearing this story I had a hard time deciding what I believed. I think I continued to "believe" in
God and everything else because it's the norm and I didn't want to be ostracized.
My mom forced me to go to church with her. In church I never listened and even if I did, I never
believed any of it. I don't understand how people can have such faith in things they've never seen before,
and preach about faith and pleasing God. After a while of thinking about what "beliefs"/ had, I realized/
don't really have any.
I also looked at evolution. It's impossible to look at monkeys and not see the connection from one