Religion-The good, the Bad and the Hypocrite

This particular note consists of my ranting which stems from the fact that I got shouted at for not going to church. My question-Why should I, I have nothing to prove.

Religion to me is like an authoritarian decree. I would like to break free because I have my own point of view and beliefs and forcing me to church every time is not going to make me anymore pious than I already am. It will juts make me repel the church-with its set dogmas. I believe in god but my god is not restricted to a particular religion and with the 'rules' of religion. Do good, but if you don't you get punished-the last I heard, the Catholic god was supposed to be forgiving and patient.

I don't believe host and wine will emancipate me as much as my own beliefs will. And if a human being like me(and only male mostly) blesses the 'body' and 'blood' of Christ, I don't see in which way that 'blessed' communion is going to do me any good than what the belief in my heart can. If going to church, doing good(lets face it, doing good always is not possible) and mugging up a bunch of prayers is going to make me closer to god, then I would rather talk to the god that doesn't believe in an obligatory religion.

I don't see the point in having to wake up early every Sunday for church. Some people like to show that they are pious; some people are pious in their hearts. Sunday morning and/or Saturday evenings; it is obligatory to go to mass on any one of these days according to my family diktats. I am not well acquainted with the working of the church because I rarely go. And if I go I rarely pay attention. My problem with most religions is that the head-priests, pundits, quadi are mostly male, in fact the god's are male too; at least the gods who are most influential are all male.

My rants stem from temper but temper doesn't make me forget the fact that I am what I am and religion will not change me. If there is anything that can change me, it is my set of beliefs which may or may not change with experience. If in a religious squabble, one religion emerges victorious, what does it prove? To me it implies that religion only divides, as much as every religion might preach doing good; they are always at war with each other, which essentially comes to no good. This brings me to my primary question-is religion the hypocrite? I am still figuring this one out in a manner which will not offend any one particular sect-which is why I am still clueless.