A Perfect Circle along with Maynard James Keenan's other band Tool were played quite heavily during my high school years. During those high school years I was beginning to develop my own personal ideas on various topics like many other youths. One such topic was religion.
Seward, my hometown, is like many small towns in the Midwest. It is predominately made up of Christian middle-class families. Now I was confirmed a Methodist but it was during my High School years when I began to ask questions about what I was supposed to believe in. My pension for rock music and black clothes along being the child of a single parent and my association to peoples that were closer in my economic bracket cast a shadow on me. Wearing black and associating with the "poor kids" was just not something you did if you wanted to be popular. Wearing black and listening to rock music was almost like participating in Satanic rituals I think to some people. The ironic aspect of it all was that the people who were active church members and considered themselves Christians were often the first to exclude or pass judgment on people solely because looks or who somebody associated with. I'm not going to lie. I'm not innocent of passing judgment on people, I am making a judgment right now in fact. But things such as clothes, taste in music, hobbies, and economic class have not discouraged me from trying to befriend people. I don't refuse to be friends with someone just because they are poor.
I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that many of the people who claim to be religious and standing on the moral/ethical high ground are in fact on the same level as everyone else. Just because you believe (or don't) in something does not automatically make you a good or bad person. Actions speak louder than words, and they also speak louder than beliefs.
