Leaving NYC, thoughts turn to religon

Well this is exciting! I planned this out perfectly. Not much planning went into it at all. I have just boarded a Chinatown bus heading back home from my first NYC weekend of 2008 to DC in just the nick of time. It took off immediately after I boarded, and only one seat was left -- way in the back, opposite the restroom. I can sleep here as long as I closely guard my guitar, my records and my bag of clothes/overnight stuff. But this will be a fine ride, I'm sure. The luck of just making it, and just having enough money for it (with two dollars to spare), tells me I'll be fine. It'll be 11:30 by the time I get back tonight, and I have work at 9 in the morning. But it should be a slow day, so that's all right.

A friend wrote today with an update on her life. She is going through a breakup after a very brief engagement. A sad situation, and I don't know much about how she got into that except for a difference of opinion between her and her short-lived fiancé over religion. The best she described it was in a mass e-mail, informing her closest friends of the breakup only two weeks after she was engaged. At the time, she said she and the guy differed over their praying styles and it was irreconcilable. Unable to overcome this roadblock, they have since gone their separate ways. Now I have no understanding when it comes to thoughts like that. How could religion, something that is intended to give healing and guidance to people, be the source of an insurmountable quarrel within a couple? Both are religious people, from what I know, and they're similar religions, but they express their religion in different ways. Sounds awfully silly and unreasonable to me, but what do I know?

Most of my friends are non-practicing people with Christian upbringings, or self-proclaimed atheists or agnostics. I have my own religious views, but I keep them to myself. They're mine and my own. Some people may share them, and other people won't. But it's not much of a topic of discussion for me. I'm not so convicted in my particular belief system that I believe I'm right and others are wrong. It's like rooting for a sports team. Many people support a particular team in a particular sport; others hate that team and root for its rival; still other people don't take any interest in the sport, or any sport, whatsoever. It doesn't mean any one category is right and another is wrong. It all depends on personal allegiances. Don't take it too seriously. Why can't religion be looked at the same way, universally? Why does it have to cause wars and tear apart perfectly good couples? What is the big deal?