Religion has been a hot topic for thousands of years; it’s been the cause of wars, conflict and unity.

Dictionary.com states the definition of religious equality as “Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any.”

Spirituality is a very sacred thing, but it seems like people are turning it into a joke now more than ever.

People like Fred Phelps, Terry Jones and Osama bin Laden take belief systems and turn them into punch lines and controversy.

The problem with religion is people who claim to be affiliated with a religion often do not respect other belief systems.

“We need to coexist and let people do their own thing. We should worship the sun because it’s the real reason we’re all here. But my favorite part of Catholicism is that we’re all part of God. We are all our own God, we control our own destiny,” junior Gabriella Rangel said.

No one can know for sure what religion is right, or even if any religion is right. But why do people so ignorantly profess that their religion is the only way to some sort of spiritual nirvana?

“I believe that in the world people should live among each other without discriminating just based on what’s been told to them in their environment,” senior Matt Epley said.

Is it because they somehow know more than the average person? People tend to dismiss all other possible ‘gods’ or higher powers because they believe their belief system is right, end of story.

Believing in something is great for some people, it gives them closure about the uncertain, but for other people, religion isn’t for them.

“I don’t have a religion; all religions are insane,” junior Keanu Norris said.

Should they be looked down up because they dismiss someone’s god? Absolutely not.

People go to church and decide they are not interested in becoming a part of the faith, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have some sort of belief system. Just because someone isn’t a part of a denomination or religion doesn’t mean they can’t be spiritual.

Religion causes a lot of conflict, but only because humanity lets it because, generally, people don’t accept other religions as valid.

“I went to Catholic school for eight years and religion was shoved down my throat so I kind of resent it, I no longer agree with it. I feel like a God that makes you worship him is a selfish God. I mean, whose Gods God?” Rangel said.

But other people feel as if their religion is the only right way to go.

“There is only one God and his name is Jesus Christ,” senior Lars Dotson said.

As a society we need to understand that no one knows the truth, we can’t denounce an entire religion because we don’t believe it.

The sooner we accept this, the better off we’ll be.

But people are setting back religious equality by hundreds of years by doing stupid stunts that don’t achieve anything.

Like the man behind “Burn a Quran Day,” Terry Jones. What gives him the right to burn another religious group’s holy book? What if someone organized a “Burn the Bible Day”? He would probably be upset, so how does he not comprehend that he’s doing a horrible thing?

Then there is Fred Phelps, Kansas’s very own religious extremist. Phelps uses religion to push his own agenda.

Protesting at soldiers funerals and saying these people who died for his freedom actually died because God hates gay people is how he uses his religion.

Osama bin Laden is another example; he poisons the minds of men by telling them the Quran says they should hate the United States and do all these things.

Some people believe that to live in a better world, we should turn religion back into a sacred practice, while others believe people need to stop looking down on people without a ‘God’ or belief.

“I think that everyone should accept that each religion might believe something different and they shouldn’t put them down or criticize them,” senior Olivia Silvers said.

Equality can change the world; people just have to believe in it.