Oedipus Rex Motifs

Religion was but a spawn of mankind's ignorance. We could not find the answers to our own questions so; we devised a set of beliefs to provide us with these answers. And who created these answers? Was it some divine force? Or was it just a person chronicling random, fictitious stories? Now, don't take me wrong, I am not trying to denounce anybody's beliefs, I am just trying to state my own ideologies and everybody is entitled to his or her own thoughts. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said "The years teach much which the days never knew." The veracity of this statement never fails to provide me with grim amusement. As we age, we learn much, but what use is that knowledge when we cannot use it? When I was 13, I realized that my religion was a fluke. My parents told me it would provide me with a sense of happiness and belonging. All it presented me with was a squandering of my precious time and cramming my head full of useless garbage. Religion is just systematically playing on human fear. Why do we attempt to be "good" people in our lives? So we can go to heaven, right, and avoid that "scary" place known as hell. Religion teaches me to fear being different from others, from standing up from my rights, and to fear being independent. They strive to force upon me the belief that without some sort of divine force, I am worthless and unworthy. They tell me that I am a sinner. That I am of a lower caste. That I am unclean. And the solution to these "problems" is to renounce my old life and to submit to some "divine" authority. AS a child, I have vague memories of me asking my parents for proof that God existed or how can we be sure that there is a heaven for us after we die. Every time I asked these questions, my mom would disregard the question and change the topic. So, as I was saying, when I was 13, I recognized the true nature of religion. This revelation threw me into a period of mental disturbance and unbalance. Without religion, I had nowhere to turn to for emotional and spiritual comfort. I started to look to other practices and beliefs in order to satisfy this necessity. This lack of conviction resulted in the imbalance of my life and I went into a state of utter disarray. I turned to Buddhism as I felt that it would aid me in satisfying my needs. But then, the difficult part arose. I had to talk to my parents about my conversion. The notion was not as "frightening" as it was "awkward". I did not know hot to go about explaining to my parents why I felt that Hinduism did not satisfy my spiritual needs.