Religion.

Before I go any further, I believe in God. I believe sin exists. I believe in Heaven and Hell. What I don’t believe in, though, is religion. I don’t believe in “the church” or those who profess Christ with their mouths, but for most of them, their lives scream something different.

To be honest, I haven’t set foot in a church in months. I’ve come to abhor what the church has become.

Don’t write me off and say that I’m on a warpath against the church. That’s not what I’m doing. I’m pointing out the insincerity behind most organized religions.

It has been my general experience with organized religion that the people are judgmental, condescending and the holier-than-thou type. They talk about wanting to emulate the love and acceptance of Christ to all people, but then in the same breath turn their backs on people of a different sexuality, different denomination/religion, or maybe those who don’t have the prettiest reputations. They look at people who don’t follow God and write them off, calling them damned to Hell for their lifestyles. But they fail to look at themselves and their own sin covering their lives.

I’m not being judgmental—I’m telling the truth. I see it every day, all around me. The people who post Facebook statuses or tweet about loving Jesus and living for Him, but then I hear them talking about how wasted they got Friday night at the frat party, or I get in a car with them and the music they turn on is preaching about a lifestyle full of alcohol, sex and drugs. They watch movies about what they claim to hate. Their lives—and religion—scream hypocrisy to me.

Yes, I know Christianity isn’t about being perfect and never making mistakes. However, James 1:26 talks about how religion without action is worthless. But I only know a handful of people who make an effort to practice what they preach.

I’m tired of Christians who go to church every time the doors are open and sit in the pew with façades of perfection. Jesus reached out to the broken, the lost and the people who everyone else turned their backs on. He didn’t automatically condemn the people with broken pasts or the ones who strayed from Him.

Who gave the church and religion that power? What gives them the right to say that someone’s relationship with God is or isn’t in the right place?

Personally, I see religion as a crutch that most people lean on to make their lives look “holy.” If you’re going to love Christ and try to be more like Him every day, do it. If not, stop being insincere and looking down your nose at everyone else. Practice what you preach, or—for God’s sake—at least preach what you practice.