Over the weekend, I attended a conference on the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.  Who was Soren Kierkegaard?  He was a Danish philosopher, a Christian, who put forth some intriguing and, for their time, radical views of what it meant to live in a genuinely religious manner.  In contrast to relying on religious dogma, although he recognized its value, Kierkegaard emphasized that true religion is experiential, that we ultimately come into a religious experience with our hearts and not our heads alone.  We discover God not through doctrine (although it is important) but through faith, faith in the reality and value of the divine.
     Whatever else you may think of Kierkegaard's thesis, you should acknowledge that he has a point.  Although we need to be convinced of the historical and intellectual credibility of a religion if we are to invest in or commit ourselves to it, in the end, we come to a religion as a matter of our heart.  We need to feel its truth, not just know it in our brains.  It has to be a story, not a textbook, if we are to really believe it is for us.  For instance, the Hebrews who responded to the Ten Commandments or the Muslims who assented to the truth of the Qur'an did not do so because of the words these documents contained, although these words are important to those who follow them, but rather because they trusted in the God of love and compassion whom they believed had spoken them.
     At its best, religion is not a set of rules we follow, but a relationship we enjoy with a personal and loving divine.  God is not a law; he is a living being.
     Why should we believe a piece of stone?