Something to believe in

I don't normally go here much, nor do I intend to.  I have no need or desire to impose my personal beliefs on others.  Nor am I inclined to broadcast what I have come to believe.

There are some 'religions' that I think are batshit crazy.  Some I think are better characterized as cults.  In fact, it would probably be most accurate to refer to all of them as 'belief groups' or something as 'religion' IMHO refers to a deity-based belief.  And I don't put trees, goats, fire, or comets into that category.  So that is that.

I know that what I will call 'mainstream' religion, and its churches have done plenty of harm to plenty of people.  But I think the good they have done outweighs the bad.  What strikes me today, and spurred this post, is that I believe that children need to believe in something.  You could even say that they need something to 'blame'.

There is a story making headlines, that highlights this fact for me:

A Missouri mother is outraged after her daughter's school district allegedly suggested the 13-year-old get a breast reduction to stop bullying.  

Tammie Jackson said her daughter, a sixth-grade student at Central Middle School is being sexually harassed because of her breast size, Fox2Now.com reported.

When Jackson called the school district to complain she said a woman suggested to me, "to have my daughter get a breast reduction," she told Fox2Now.com.

While the story focuses on the inappropriate and insensitive way that the school handled a bullying situation, there is a bigger issue at hand.

Jackson's money quote for me, is this:

"Let them know people's bodies are changing, everyone is different, but God made us all great," she told Fox2Now.com.

What is a kid to do - bullied or the bullier - when they have no one or nothing to blame or believe in, when they are personally attacked?  I'm not advocating church twice a week, or daily catechism, but I do think that some belief in a greater power helps kids more than it could harm them.