Who chose your religion?

In most societies, we chose our clothes, our cars, our careers, our mates and our entertainment. Few of us however get a choice when it comes to religion. It generally is part of the entire cultural package that’s handed to us a birth. Like whom our parents and siblings are, we haven’t received many options when it comes to embracing our own set of spiritual beliefs. In looking more closely, religions last as long as they do because of one premise, early childhood indoctrination; if it were not for that, only popular superstitions and beliefs, like astrology, would remain and keep on circulating within the popular culture. Precisely because it's so intertwined with culture, changing religion isn't easy either. For most people, a set of belief is part of every day’s life and is just routine; this fact plays a huge role in keeping believers into their own camp. Desire to change will always be unlikely unless spirituality is at the center of an individual’s preoccupations and the desire for change is either triggered by dissatisfaction with one’s religion or by proselytizing pressures. Unlike picking a career or buying a car, selecting a religion is fraught with subjectivity, lack of evidence, and remains like comparing apples to oranges. Why then switch from an ancient set of ideas to another one that’s almost as old and as lethal? Why not create something new, perhaps a spiritual “hybrid”. There has to be a “middle way” as Buddha would put it, like picking components we like, then mixing them, like Japanese do with Buddhism, Christianity and some other local beliefs. This cocktail of sorts might start making religion a bit more interesting…