Imagine that as soon as you’re born you’re taught about the things of the world and you’re given a slice of Coconut Creme Pie. You love this pie. It fulfills your hunger. It tastes sweet. You enjoy it with everyone you know and your family approves. You’re told this pie is the only pie that exists and you are grateful that it is offered to you.
As you grow older, you still appreciate the taste of the pie and your family offers it up as tradition at each family gathering. It hasn’t lost its flavor but you feel that something is missing, that maybe there’s more.
On a trip to a new city, you wander about fingering the wares for sale and you come across- a bakery. Your mind can’t contain the sight you encounter as you walk through the door. Rows and Rows of pies behind glass cases beckon to you- all different flavors, different textures and colors.
You taste and you see that this is good. You sample and your mouth salivates before and after each bite. Blueberry. Oreo. Banana Creme. Apple.
Who told you that Coconut Creme was the only pie? Why would they do that?
You go back home and you look for answers. Through questioning you realize that your family’s fortune was made through their investment in Coconut Creme pie.
Alone you sit in a cafe, lost in thought and staring out into space. A friend of your stops by and smiles down at you before producing a gift from her satchel.
You open it and smile. “A slice of pie for you,” she says. “It will make you feel better.”
You look at the pie and you take a bite. It tastes misleading.
“I can’t eat this,” you tell her.
“Why not? It’s pie.”
“It’s not the only pie,” you share with her earnestly.
“What do you mean? It’s pie,” she counters. “This is what pie is.”
“It’s not the only type of pie.”
“There is only one pie.”
“This is PIE!”
“There are more pies than this,” you tell her firmly.
“There is only one pie,” she says, gathers her things and walks away, fuming.
You look at your fork, traces of creme line its tip. You know there’s no way you can go back. No one can ever convince you again that there is only one pie. You’ve tasted and seen for yourself. How could you ever even pretend to hold that belief.
And THIS is how I feel about religion. There is not just ONE WAY. I can’t go back to believing that.