Currently in Greece and Questioning Everything…… Even Religion

It’s hard to explain what it felt like standing in front of the Acropolis. Even harder to put into words how something that old, that real, and that powerful can change the way you see everything, especially things you thought you already understood.

The temples are massive. The stones are carved with detail that people today still can’t replicate. You can feel the history before you even read the plaques. And as I stood there taking it all in, knowing these structures were built over 2,000 years ago, one thought just kept coming back to me: this actually happened. These people really lived. They really built this. It’s not a story, it’s not a legend, it’s not based on faith. It’s sitting right in front of me.

And that’s what made me start questioning the difference between history and religion.

Because if we have all this physical proof that the Greeks were here…… proof in the form of buildings, columns, tools, art, writing, calendars, math, even plumbing 🧐 then why don’t we have the same kind of proof when it comes to religion? Why is our entire calendar based on someone we can’t even trace the same way?

I’ve heard terms like “BC” and “AD” my whole life, but I never really stopped to think about what they meant. BC means “Before Christ.” AD means “in the year of our Lord.” So we literally count time based on the life of Jesus. Not based on science. Not on astronomy. Not on a cultural landmark. On religion.

And I realized how deep that really goes. Everything from the year we write on a form, to the way we schedule holidays, to the days schools and businesses close, it’s all rooted in religion, even for people who don’t practice it. That’s wild when you think about it. It made me feel like I’d been handed a rulebook I never agreed to, and it shaped my whole life.

But in that moment, I also felt myself reach for something familiar. I caught onto my Virgin Mary necklace, the one I’ve been wearing throughout this trip. I wear it often, but it felt especially present that day. It wasn’t about worship. It wasn’t about making a statement. It was something quiet. Something feminine. Something that reminded me of who I am.

People might assume I wear it because I’m religious, but for me, it’s more personal than that. My name is Mary. And I’ve always felt a connection to the Virgin Mary, not just as a religious figure, but as a symbol of womanhood, grace, strength, and stillness. That necklace doesn’t say “I believe everything I was taught.” It says “I see myself in this. And I hold onto what feels beautiful.” There’s a difference.

That’s the space I’m in right now. Not rejecting, but reflecting. Not angry, just aware. I don’t know what I believe anymore, and honestly, I think that’s okay. What I do know is that being in Greece made me see how much of life is shaped by belief, and how much is shaped by truth you can touch. That doesn’t mean God isn’t real. But it does mean I have every right to ask questions.

Also, just to break this down a little because I know some people have never even thought about this…… when I say the Acropolis was built in 447 BC, I don’t mean the Greeks were walking around saying, “It’s 447 BC!” That label came way later.

The terms BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini) were made up by religious scholars after Jesus was born. They decided to use his life as the marker for how we measure time. So basically, the world started counting backwards before Jesus, and forward after.

But back when the Greeks were building temples and creating whole civilizations, they weren’t calling it “BC.” They had their own systems, tracking years by kings, Olympic games, and local calendars. So when we say things like “built in 447 BC,” we’re using a system that came from religion, not actual history. That’s wild to me.

And another thing, while I was visiting these sites, I kept thinking about how people today call it Greek mythology like it’s just some made-up story. A fantasy. But back then? That was real religion. People truly believed in gods like Zeus, Athena, Apollo. They prayed to them, sacrificed to them, built entire cities around them.

That was their faith.

Now it’s called mythology. But today’s religions? We call those the truth. The Bible. The Word. And honestly… that doesn’t sit right with me. It feels a little disrespectful. Because it makes it sound like one group’s belief system was just a fairytale, while another group’s gets treated like absolute fact, even without the same kind of physical proof.

And that’s part of what opened my eyes here. Seeing the evidence of ancient belief systems that have now been dismissed, while today’s beliefs still run everything from the calendar to the culture. It made me realize a lot of what we believe has more to do with who’s in power than what’s actually real.

So here I am, still thinking. Still feeling. Still holding my necklace.

Not because I have answers, but because I’m not afraid to ask anymore.