Most people are handed their religious beliefs like an inheritance, something you are given as a family heirloom and never question. Consequently I believe that most of our everyday Christian beliefs are quite shallow. Even those who seem devout have never really given their religion the kind of attention it needs.
I come from a non religious family, with no religious relatives. Of course God was always there but simply as a picture on the wall, nothing to make it real. It was like getting up in the morning, you always do it but it hasn't any real meaning in your life.
Like so many high schoolers I began to question, but I began to question what I was not taught. Why was it that so many people seemed to believe in god and I did not? I began to read and would continue to do so for the next couple of decades.
I am not passing myself off as a bible scholar. Nor am I saying that those years were spent in intensive academic study, nothing like that. Now and then I would simply read books, mostly histories of biblical times that traced the evolution of Christian beliefs as events unfolded. The faith continues to evolve even today. It always seemed to be a question of "change or die", and change it did.
So unlike many true believers, who view the bible as a constant, I see the Bible being constantly "reinterpreted" in order not to fall victim to current events.
What the fanatics like fail to realize is that the Bible made less history than it followed. They go to "bibel collage" swallowing whole the dogma of their particular bent. Never realizing that the "never changing" faith they profess to hold bears little resemblance to the same faith of a couple hundred years ago. To question is to blaspheme and that is never good.
I am now finished questioning. It has been over for very long time. I still read now and again but it is pretty much over. Been there, done that. I have reached a conclusion and now all that matters is that I keep reasonably current. I try to pay attention to new thoughts but I don't need to constantly rehash the old.
I wish it had turned out otherwise. I really wanted to believe but I could not settle for blind belief. Everyone knows, or should know, that there is not one objective fact to support the existence of a god, any god.
I suppose, like most things, there are many routes to atheism. I have no idea. I only know a couple of people who say they are atheists. I know for sure that it is difficult for believers and atheists to have a civil discussion. I have no idea why that is. Perhaps because religion needs faith, blind faith, and it seems to me that an atheist must be a questioner.
Oddly enough, some of the best discussions I have had were with a Lutheran Pastor.
All I do know is that we should not put everyone in the same bag. There are good and bad people in every belief system. Some of the best folks I know are Christians. Some of the worst folks I know are Christians. As I said, I don't know enough atheists to matter.
So to all those of faith out there who use their beliefs to better their lives and the lives of others I say, "good for you". To all those who use their faith as a place to reinforce their hatreds and bigotry I say, "Damn you"!
I come from a non religious family, with no religious relatives. Of course God was always there but simply as a picture on the wall, nothing to make it real. It was like getting up in the morning, you always do it but it hasn't any real meaning in your life.
Like so many high schoolers I began to question, but I began to question what I was not taught. Why was it that so many people seemed to believe in god and I did not? I began to read and would continue to do so for the next couple of decades.
I am not passing myself off as a bible scholar. Nor am I saying that those years were spent in intensive academic study, nothing like that. Now and then I would simply read books, mostly histories of biblical times that traced the evolution of Christian beliefs as events unfolded. The faith continues to evolve even today. It always seemed to be a question of "change or die", and change it did.
So unlike many true believers, who view the bible as a constant, I see the Bible being constantly "reinterpreted" in order not to fall victim to current events.
What the fanatics like fail to realize is that the Bible made less history than it followed. They go to "bibel collage" swallowing whole the dogma of their particular bent. Never realizing that the "never changing" faith they profess to hold bears little resemblance to the same faith of a couple hundred years ago. To question is to blaspheme and that is never good.
I am now finished questioning. It has been over for very long time. I still read now and again but it is pretty much over. Been there, done that. I have reached a conclusion and now all that matters is that I keep reasonably current. I try to pay attention to new thoughts but I don't need to constantly rehash the old.
I wish it had turned out otherwise. I really wanted to believe but I could not settle for blind belief. Everyone knows, or should know, that there is not one objective fact to support the existence of a god, any god.
I suppose, like most things, there are many routes to atheism. I have no idea. I only know a couple of people who say they are atheists. I know for sure that it is difficult for believers and atheists to have a civil discussion. I have no idea why that is. Perhaps because religion needs faith, blind faith, and it seems to me that an atheist must be a questioner.
Oddly enough, some of the best discussions I have had were with a Lutheran Pastor.
All I do know is that we should not put everyone in the same bag. There are good and bad people in every belief system. Some of the best folks I know are Christians. Some of the worst folks I know are Christians. As I said, I don't know enough atheists to matter.
So to all those of faith out there who use their beliefs to better their lives and the lives of others I say, "good for you". To all those who use their faith as a place to reinforce their hatreds and bigotry I say, "Damn you"!
