St. Patrick's Cathedral

Picture from Wikipedia

I identify myself as being somewhere in between spiritualistic and agnostic. Neither is really an organized religion, with spiritualism just being the belief in angels and demons moving around on the world of the living, and agnostic being a belief to not believe in anything. To clarify, I have beliefs, but they aren't especially strong.

While walking around New York City, I found myself face to face with the exterior of an absolutely massive building. I didn't get the name of the building until I was on my way out, nor did I realize that it was such a famous location until I looked it up, but this was St. Patrick's Cathedral. Being non-religious, I decided this would fit perfectly into the stream category of "A religious establishment outside of your own beliefs".

I've always been fascinated with mythology, and to me, religion is just a modern mythology. I've actually read much of the Bible, and am familiar with many of its stories. I've been in a few churches and chapels before, but never anything like this one.

Wow.

This place was massive. I was stunned by the sheer size of the main room of the church. The benches were filled with more people than I expected, because it didn't appear like a service was going on. Many people just appeared to be tourists, walking around, and admiring the many works of art that lined the building. But a good number still were there to pray.

I was able to recognize some of the figures in the statues and pictures and stained glass, though I'm honestly unsure if they serve any purpose in Christianity beyond just decor. I didn't want to interrupt anyone praying to ask questions, but I'm under the impression that they don't pray to the depictions of saints, but rather to their God instead. That said, there was still a lot of detail put into the artwork everywhere.

It costs $2 to pray? Is God short on change?

All around the church were rows of candles set up on tables. Some were lit, but others were not. I asked someone what the candles meant, and they told me that they are lit when people offer prayers. I found this interesting, but was quickly disheartened when I saw a sign saying that it was $2 to light a candle, and thus $2 to pray. Perhaps I'm overreacting, but I don't think that praying is really the kind of thing that should cost money. I realize that a building this large probably needs money for maintenance, but I still felt rubbed the wrong way by this. Similarly, in one corner of the room was a gift shop, featuring different religiously themed items. Again, I'm not a fan of turning religion into a commercial thing. I think religion should stay as an emotional and spiritual concept, not a way of making money.

I never saw a church with a gift shop before.

As I continued to observe, my eyes were drawn to the different structures and setups that lay in the various corners of the room. Many of these miniature shrines had smaller rooms cut out of the long walls for them. I recognized the face of Jesus on one of them, but I wasn't really sure what these were supposed to represent. I believe one of them was a basin for Holy Water, but the rest I could only speculate on.

 The sheer level of detail on these objects was kind of mind blowing. I could tell an amazing amount of care and passion went into the design of each one. These weren't made by some commissioned artist or construction workers - these were testaments made by Christians to demonstrate the love they had for their faith. For that reason, I found them very beautiful. Even the benches were detailed on a level I had not anticipated.

The fine details on the side of the benches.

While a bit commercialized, I see St. Patrick's Cathedral as a very beautiful landmark, standing tall as a monument to someone's faith. I may not have much faith of my own, but faith can provide purpose and hope in others, and I see it as an important part of human culture.