Organized Religion - Not for Me

I don't buy into organized religion. I haven't for quite some time. I don't think God cares what my religion is, as long as I believe in Him. This is not to say I don't believe in God. I do believe in God. I do believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. I just don't believe in religion.

I was born and raised as a Catholic. And to some extent, I still consider myself as a Catholic. I'm just a non-practicing Catholic. Meaning, I don't go to church every Week. I go on holidays like Easter and Christmas. I only go on those days because those are the sermons I truly want to hear.

I believe organized religion is not about God. It's a business. It's about money. Every week, I receive a packet of envelopes for donations from the Catholic Church. They collect for a wide variety of things, like the Church upkeep fund, the Catholic School tuition fund, the Catholic School upkeep fund, etc. None of these things have anything to do with God. Every three months, we receive a statement listing our donations for that quarter. Ours always has $0.00. We never use the envelopes. It is no one else's business how much we give to the church. And it is certainly less than the percentage the church "suggests" we donate.

I cannot understand why a religion would ask for a percentage of its member's income. It is like they're saying if one doesn't give a certain percentage of their income, they will not get into Heaven. That is ludicrous. God doesn't care how much money one gives to the church. And why should a member of the congregation, such as myself, give money to a tuition fund when my own children go to the public school? If I were going to give money to any school, it would be to the school my kids attend. Why should I donate to send someone else's child to the Catholic School when the only difference between the two is that one has religion classes?