Our characters are formed by the impressions that family, friends, and surroundings make on our newly minted minds. Many believe that our sheets are already covered with bad marks when we are born. A few, like philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, claim that we are all born good. It is our nurture, our upbringing, that makes us into bad people. An influential and growing minority believes that concepts like good and evil are meaningless. Murder and mayhem erupts when the majority uncritically accepts this minority view. 

What is legal and what is not legal is presently defined by secular authorities. What is good and what is evil has traditionally been defined by our belief systems; religious, nonreligious, or possibly antireligious. Christians and Jews both define sin as the transgression of the law. Most every other world religion offers guidelines for proper and improper behavior. Laws that define acceptable and unacceptable actions contribute to the stability of the social and political order. Historically, politics and religion were like two sides of a single coin. In the past few centuries, in most world cultures, they have become two separate coins that are only valued in the realm that minted them. 

A 2020 survey of world belief systems is divided into 21 categories. It represents a noble, yet imperfect attempt to define and categorize the religious and nonreligious beliefs and practices of every human being on earth. At present, religion is no longer seen as essential to everyday life. The third most populated of these 21 catagories (after Christianity and Islam) is named “Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist.” Philosophies that refuse to acknowledge the existence of a God or of gods, or believe that higher powers are too exalted to be comprehended by limited mortal beings, or dismiss the idea that higher power or powers even exist are heterogenously lumped into Category 3.

The number of people who profess a particular religious belief system does not always indicate its authenticity or its usefulness. Well-populated top categories like Christianity (Category 1) encompass a multitude of subcategories (denominations) whose only common attribute is a professed belief in Jesus Christ. Islam (Category 2) is united by a mutual belief in monotheistic Allah, but it s also subdivided into various subgroups and sects. By 2050, it is predicted that Islam will ialmost overtake Christianity as the most populated catagory. 

Trailing the list of the 21 super-categories of world religions is Rastafarianism. Wikipedia notes that, “There is no central authority in control of the movement and much diversity exists among practitioners.” Rastafarianism cannot claim a monopoly on diversity. There may be as many belief systems as there are human beings. At an early age we absorb, and then typically pattern the remainder of our lives based on the secular and religious values of our ancestors, off the shelf and ready to wear.

Some of us, as we mature, become disenchanted with the faith of our fathers and choose to explore alternative, potentially more satisfying belief systems. Adults are free (in most parts of the world) to choose a religion or philosophy that works best for them. Often, divinity directly intrudes itself into the process. Rather than having to choose, we are instead chosen. We retain the freedom, however, to either accept or reject this call.