I Do Belive In ???

Recently the topic of faith has become popular within my social circles, leaving me on the outside.  My personal belief system is drawn from sources of all kinds (actual religions, fictional faiths, my own mind ect.) and based on believing only the things that truly resonate within me, when I discus matters of faith with people the accepted norm is to name your “camp;” the organized religion that you belong to and that is when those of us who stand alone and away from every camp can see just how alone they are.

One of the most common ways for people to sort themselves is by belief systems: Christian v. Atheist, Pro-war v. Anti-war, Rebublican v. Democrat, Rap v. Metal, Coke v. Pepsi…  The list is endless.  But in the realm of religion (and, for the sake of this article, both Atheism and Agnosticism count as religions)  it isn’t so much a matter of A v. B as it is a matter of hundreds of warring factions demanding that you declare allegiance to one, be it the one you were born into or the one you have chosen.  Why is that?  Why is it that the choice to believe what you truly believe and nothing else cannot be respected and accepted?  Why do so many people choose to take a predetermined set of beliefs rather than create their own?