I was raised in a fairly religious family, had two aunts that were Nuns, and years ago had a conversation with the oldest aunt about heaven and hell, and the concept of "church" generally. A wise woman, and one of, if not the purest soul I have ever met (she took her vow of poverty literally - if you gave her a present within 48 hours she gave it away to someone who might need it) and never had a bad thing to say about anyone - she always looked for, and generally found, goodness in everyone.
Anyways, the conversation was sparked by an incident in my church where the choir director, VERY well thought of in the church, was a deacon, ran the youth group at church, taught religious instruction, always pious and god-blessing everyone he saw, local businessman, shaker and mover, etc., who was revealed to have been keeping several women on the side, including a 16 year old girl for whom he rented an apartment. Divorce ensued, business pressure led him to not pay his sales taxes (liquor store business), and he was shorting his employees on wages and overtime, etc. Quite a mess. I was young (15), and had looked up to the guy, and my faith was shaken. I asked Sister what I should make of this, and she told me the following:
She said that I should not pay much attention to what "leaders" of religion say, or do. They are human, with human frailties, and over time there are very, very few among us that live a consistently upstanding life. She said that all organized religions existed to create a belief system that was culturally consistent with where it was located and that most of these organizations were primarily concerned with increasing attendance and building more churches, so there could be more priests and monseignors and bishops and deacons and choir directors; and that there was too little emphasis upon helping those who are truly in need, which should be the whole point of religion, e.g., folks should organize to do helpful things for their fellow man, not to put on displays, ceremonies and pagents that have the goal of showing everyone else how good and pious they are, or how successful their particular brand of religion is, or how many people belong to their church, etc. She told me not to pay too much attention to what religious leaders told me to do, but to look for goodness in people, and to try and help those who needed the help I could provide - and to give that help with kindness without looking for something in return.
Well, that sounded to me like the golden rule, and pretty much since that discussion that's what I tried to do. I also don't pay much attention to any organized religion, and their myths about heaven, hell, nirvana, reincarnation, be they the myths born of the christian, muslim, jewish, hindi, or whatever faith. I also get a little annoyed when those who think they KNOW start telling me if I don't accept [fill in the blank] as my personal god, savior, or whatever I'll be doomed to the worst myth they believe in. As far as such people are concerned, they can go to heaven, hell, or wherever, as I'm simply not buying the rubbish they are selling.
Now, its entirely possible there is a supreme being. That being said, the question is which of the organized religions have gotten it right and are serving the "correct" being? And even if they are, will this supreme being be really, really happy with some of the things they are saying and doing in his/her name? Somehow, I don't think so. So I take the view that the supreme being has a sense of time, space and perspective, and that he or she will use that understanding to recognize that if folks just try and live their life without cheating, killing, robbing and abusing their fellow man, and use their talents to try and help those around them improve their lives, one will be judged fairly at the final roundup. So that's what I've been doing for the last 38 years, and I sleep real good every night. And if I'm wrong, well I'm sure there will be lots of suffering in hell that I can help folks out with.
Mutt