I overheard my young grandsons talking one night. One had picked something that was the color purple. The other said, “Why did you pick something that’s the color purple? Your favorite color is blue.” The other replied, “Because.” He couldn’t offer any further explanation.

I think many people’s religious preferences are much the same. Why is someone a Christian or a Jew or a Buddhist or a Hindu? Because. Period. Now, many others might be able to cite writings they consider sacred or people they consider holy or experiences they consider spiritual for why they chose the faith tradition they did. But often times I think many people’s religious choice comes down to: Because. (Sometimes the explanation is expanded to: Because that’s what I was raised as.) That’s it. And that’s okay.

If God exists and is the creator of all, if God gave people love and free will and if some people use their free will to worship God one way and other people use their free will to worship God another way and still other people use their free will not to worship God at all, does that matter to God? Does God say: I’ll only listen to the hopes and dreams of this group of people that I love, because they worship me one way; but I won’t listen to the hopes and dreams of that group of people that I love, because they worship me another way; and I certainly won’t listen to the hopes and dreams of that other group of people that I love, because they don’t worship me at all?

My philosophy is that I support people’s religious choice, no matter what it is and I hope that they are the best Christian or Jew or Buddhist or Hindu or Muslim or atheist that ever lived. As for me, I find spiritual wisdom coming from many children of creation and can’t narrow my choice down to just one religious group of people (anymore than I can narrow my choice down to just one grandson). If you wonder why I have such a philosophy, I can sum it up in one word: Because.