I am in a rare position of seeing religion through the eyes of my agnostic and atheist parents, who taught me world religions. Our ancestors from Ireland brought our Catholicism with us during the diaspora caused by the potato famine. But those in my family believe in the ways of Christ, not the hatred that has taken over Christianity. Christianity and Islam are dying, rotting from the inside out, (I will leave it to my Islamic sisters and members of the Islamic GBTQIA+ communities to move forward with this idea) because both religions have many within their ranks, who no longer want to proselytize, and no longer believe that their way is the only way. What were once the divinely inspired religions of Jesus, and Muhammad, who believed that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us, have become religions of hate and fear-mongering?

For a long time I thought the Church and Islam would revive themselves. They would shake off the shackles of hundreds of years of judgement and return them both to what they were once meant to be. However, those within the church and temple who still hold to those ideals are afraid to call out those who do not. The leaders of both religions speak of shame, hellfire, violence and hatred of anyone that is not enough like them. They exist side by side with the Christians and Muslims, who still believe in love and kindness towards everyone, who are shameless, sex positive and feminist, and supporters of the GBTQIA+. They try to support all people. And they are allowing the hate within their religions to drown out the peaceful voices. I think it must be too hard to revive either from within, and so perhaps it is time to leave them.

Christians and Muslims might say that no other religions speak to them, that they have been raised in these ways and they can’t see an alternative, and so I’m here to tell you to reach back. Reach back before Christianity and Islam to the spirituality of your ancestors and leave out the ugly human sacrifice. Let your love for those who came before you to lead you back to their strength. These two religions are crippling our world.

I am a child of the Irish diaspora, and when I went looking for my ancestry, I had hopes that it would lead me to ancient times. I had no idea it would take me back to the Tuatha De Danann, the old gods of Ireland. I have always felt a kinship with Ireland. I have travelled there, I feel at home there. My grandmother, Pauline Nolan, always kept the Irish culture alive for us. Before there was Christianity in Ireland there was paganism. Pagan was a word the Romans used for pre-Christian religions; they applied it widely, even though the paganism in one European country was different from others. For years I have been learning about Irish Pagan Reconstruction, which is about recovering the religion in Ireland that was destroyed by Christianity. Some of these teachers are gatekeeping, judgy, and think that the Irish diaspora means only those that live in Ireland are Irish, but if you ignore all that bullshit, you can find a good education.

In all the places, where Christianity or Islam thrive, there was a spirituality that existed before the Holy Roman Empire and Jihad ever sparked to life. Perhaps we should recover those spiritualties. They most often include a love of nature, peace with those around us, more nurturing and caring, less violence. There is reconstruction for every place that Islam and Christianity exist.  In the Americas there are the Indigenous. In Europe there were the Celts, the Gauls, the Vikings. In Russia and the surrounding Baltic countries there was Slavic paganism.

Many other continents have held onto their religions, in Africa, original Indigenous spirituality. Australia and and Aotearoa (New Zealand) can reach back to Europe, while others retain their aboriginal spirituality. In the Pacific Islands they have their Indigenous, Samoan and Maori ways. In Asia there remains Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Shamanism, and Shintō. Many of these religions were/are polytheistic.

Let’s reach back before colonization, and see if this can take us forward. In the end we can do both: those within the Church and Islam can kick out the bigots, the paternalistic, the authoritarian. Others can reach back to ancient spirituality. Together we will move into a more enlightened age where everyone is welcome and feminism reigns. If proselytization ends, in an age in which there is no One Way. We can find a new way. For all my beloved atheists and agnostics, once all are allowed their own path there is no one left to interfere with yours. It’s time to dig deep, think about what we believe most, and take a stand.