In my 22 years here (not in Iowa, just here on earth) I have realized that some people are just a little off their rocker, and they take some things a little too seriously. Some people do not understand that you can take things a bit too far.

Most people understand that there are six things you just don’t talk about in mixed company: money, love, sex, race, politics and the ever-popular religion.

So, being the nonconformist that I am, I say to hell with the rules. And with Iowa State being the “mixed” campus that it is, this is the most opportune moment to discuss one of those conversational taboos.

Now, I am as religious as most people. I believe in God, heaven, hell, life and death. But yet I would be called a heathen by most so called deeply religious people.

Why? That is the same question I used to ask until some really cool guy standing in front of the Hub one summer afternoon told me why. And what he told me caused me to laugh as loud as a thousand fat monkeys.

This man told me that I was a heathen and I was going to hell because I didn’t go to church every Sunday to worship the Lord.

Then I told him that I was raised as a Muslim.

Whoops!! Now that was a mistake because then he told me that I was going to burn in more fire, smoke and brimstone than I could imagine because I was the Devil’s spawn since I was a member of a cult that didn’t believe in Jesus.

A cult? I Never realized that an organized religion and way of life for more than 1,000,000,000 members could be characterized as a cult. But that was what he called it.

Right then I realized that the really cool guy in the butterfly collar, double-knit, reversible bell-bottoms and double-wide tie was just a little bit kooky.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing at all wrong with organized religion. After all, this is America; we have more churches than we do schools.

I come from a religious background that is vastly diverse. My mother is a Buddhist, my stepfather is a Muslim, my grandparents are good Christian people, I have an uncle whom I think is a Baptist, and a younger brother who practices Confusionism.

Religion is a great thing and some sort of spirituality is necessary in everyone’s life. I think the point is, and maybe even God would agree with me, not to take the stuff too seriously. Too much religion is not always a good thing, and there are times when it can be taken too far.

Take, for instance, those people who try to recruit you for some Bible study group that will allegedly “save your soul from all the hell in this world.” These are the people who will stop you as you are getting on the bus, pull you by the arm and tell you that the end of the world is coming and ask if are you saved. You know the type. The type that tells you if you don’t give your life to Jesus, your life will be full of nothing but turmoil.

Yeah, whatever.

You see, I don’t really believe in going to church (guess that makes me a heathen) to prove my faith. I don’t feel that I have to push my faith and my beliefs on other people. I don’t believe that my beliefs are better than anyone else’s. However, I do believe that my beliefs are my own and they are what is right for me.

Going to church and practicing your chosen faith are not exactly the same thing.

There is entirely too much hypocrisy in church. Most of the people are so phony they would make Michael Jackson jealous. The same girl you see getting the holy ghost today is the one having seriously intimate relations with her science teacher tomorrow. The minister giving the sermon on Sunday just might be the fool trying to get high in the alley on Monday.

Then there are those fools from “The Church of We are Always Right Association of You Better Choose Jesus or Your Momma and You are Gonna Burn in The Hell of The Upside Down Sinners Fellowship.” Who won’t let you rest until either you tell them to kiss your Devil worshiping behind or you politely cause them severe brain trauma with a .45.

I have no problem with anyone’s choice of religion. That choice is an important one and I respect it.

What I do have a problem with is people who don’t even understand what they are preaching. Don’t get sucked in and think that your way is the only way. Don’t attack me and I won’t attack you.

God understands me. If you are so close to God, why can’t you understand me?

Praise the Lord.

Holla if you hear me!

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Rhaason Mitchell is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Chicago.