Christians have what they call "testimonies," which are stories of how they became a Christian. I thought I'd share my testimony... although it is the story of how I became an Atheist. This took about two days to write, so it is long, but I thought it might be helpful to those who really want to know who they're arguing and/or speaking with. I apologize for grammatical/spelling errors. I'll keep editing them as I find them.
My Testimony
I was raised in a Baptist home (for those of you who don’t know, this is a denomination of Protestantism). My dad’s side of the family came from Italy, and of course, they were Catholic. When my dad met my mom, she had just recently become a fanatic of the Baptist faith, and so he left his Catholic roots behind to join her in her new found ideology. For the first 8 years of my life, I lived in Raleigh, North Carolina… a deeply spiritual, fundamentalist Christian, southern-bell part of America. I lived and breathed Christianity before I was even entirely aware of it. I attended a Baptist school which doubled as my church, and so I was frequented this place 6 days a week. Christmas/Easter plays, Awanas, Daily Chapel, Sunday school… that was my life, and my indoctrinated beginnings.
We moved to Seattle, Washington when I as about 9 years old and I entered into another Private school with the same routine as the old one. My mom also began attending one of the mega churches in the area—Overlake Christian Church—and thusly she had me tag along. It wasn’t until I started attending Overlake that I felt the presence of God in my life. I wanted to serve God in any way I possibly could, so I joined the church’s drama team, the nursery worker program, the homeless outreach program, prisoners for Christ program, the choir, and participated in at least 20 separate mission trips offered by the church (one to Santiago, Chile where I had my 13th birthday). I was also put in a youth leadership role while I was there, and loved giving sermons to audiences of over 300 people in my age group. I was convinced that God wanted me to become a missionary when I grew up… and, since I had always loved science, I knew he wanted me to become a scientist so I could share the word of God by helping poor countries invent ways to grow food, etc.
Out of all the various stresses and confusions my early childhood had (parents got divorced and a nasty custody battle that lasted about 4 years) the one thing I knew for sure was that I loved God. I had few concerns, as I knew everything was in God’s hands. He would take care of me no matter what hardship I went through. Church was a beautiful escape for me from that other confusing life. It made sense to me, and it gave me a sense of belonging I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else.
In 2001 my mom decided to move back to her hometown in Michigan. We left Seattle and our big mega church that I loved so much, and started over in the smallest town I had ever seen. The churches were no bigger than 50 people per congregation, and it was difficult for me to find my niche there. I joined a small Baptist Church in my town and quickly started working to bring kids from my public school into the youth program. It was also during this time that I became an employee of a large Baptist summer Camp in Lake Ann, Michigan.
This camp employed kids from ages 14 through 18 to come and work as either kitchen staff or maintenance staff at the camp. Our work schedule was from 630am-1130am, 1200pm-300pm, and 600pm-1000pm, making it a grand total of 12 hours per day of hard labor. Our compensation was about $13USD per day (which comes to a little over $1 per hour for our work). The times we were not working, we were required to attend Bible studies and chapel services. Suffice to say, we were never allowed more than two hour’s worth of free time. The people who employed us would say we were doing a great service for God, etc. They’d pull the “Jesus Card” on little kids and exploit them for cheap labor so they could save money. The camp pulled in millions of dollars every year, and the heads of staff were obviously well off, so I knew they could afford to pay their workers. But, instead, they brain-washed their children staff and gave us pennies for the most grueling, tiresome work I have ever done. I caught onto this at the young age of 15 and realized even then what they were doing, and how disgusting it was. I started to see what I had only noticed a few times in my past, which was how religious people used what I loved to exploit and take advantage of others. After that, I started to see the same attitude everywhere. I would get disgusted simply sitting in the pews during a church service and looking around at all the fake people. How I knew that many of them would go home and do the worst kinds of things, and yet judge everyone else around them who was not a Christian, saying that they were better than them simply because they had Jesus. I decided I didn’t want any part of that, and became embarrassed to call myself a Christian, since so many people were perverting what that even meant.
Though I was unable to attend church anymore, I still considered myself a Christian. I believed for a long time that everything in the Bible was true (that’s how we’re raised in the South). But, all of that began to change when I went to college. I changed. The thing that influenced this change the most, I believe, was math. The calculus classes I took reshaped my thought process. No longer did my mind jump to different thoughts or ideas… I was taught linear reasoning. I have never heard of calculus having such a profound effect on anyone else, but I know that it changed me… namely, the way I thought and reasoned through problems. Math IS logic, and is known as the universal language. It only makes sense that the rationalization taught in mathematics would flow over into other areas of life.
I slowly started to question the teachings of the Bible and the contradictions I saw between that and the rest of the world. I started wondering why religion had to even exist… why didn’t God love me enough to TELL me and the rest of the world, in a way that everyone unquestionably knew, that he did. And then, many of my friends and mentors started dropping like flies… so to speak. Five friends died within a year’s time. As everyone knows or could imagine, the loss of one close friend provokes many thoughts on the realization of how fragile life is, on where they could have gone, on how life would never be the same without them. Losing 5 amplifies that feeling, I think. My initial reaction was to get angry at God. Angry at why we had to be stuck in this trend, angry at how pain doesn’t make any sense coming from a God that supposedly loves us. This led to my realization that either God is here, working feverishly in everyone’s lives, or he’s not here at all… and things happen because that’s the way life goes. The former had stopped making sense to me. I felt that if God was as involved in my life as everyone says he was, I should know it. And, I didn’t.
It took about 3 years after those events to realize that I had lost faith in God. That I internally did not believe in the God of religion… the personal god, the one who loves us, existed. When I did finally realize this… I freaked out. I suddenly had to look at the world through new eyes… I no longer had a defined purpose… I had to find my own. I no longer had a place to go once I died… I had to confront my own mortality. It was like a total rebirthing, and it was a scary thing at first. I started to have anxiety attacks when I’d think about death. I felt for a time that life was meaningless… that no matter what path I chose for my life, it didn’t really matter.
That was a really hard time in my life, being introduced to such a huge level of uncertainty. And yes, it is hard to find meaning in your own life without someone just giving you an answer. But, it didn’t last as long as I thought it would. I have, in fact, found meaning again. I still find this world beautiful without attributing everything to God. I am getting more used to the idea of the finality of death… and am accepting mortality as just a cycle of life.
Because of my background in Christianity, I know I can see both sides of the fence clearly. I remember what it was like… it wasn’t very long ago. I can also contrast the differences between the values of an atheist and the values of a Christian (or religionist). I realize that most atheists probably won’t share a similar story… as I was heavily indoctrinated as a child and heavily believed what I was taught until later in adolescence/ young adulthood. Because of my upbringing, most of my friends are Christian, as well as my family. I can’t “come out” to them because I know, unfortunately, I will lose many of them in the process. My family would especially not understand. So, it’s lonely in my world believing what I do… the point I want to make here is that it wasn’t my “choice,” as many religionists will believe. I did not reject God. My thought process simply changed in a way that would not allow belief without evidence.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Why are Atheists Assholes?
Firstly, I’d like to say that this is a stereotype created by religious individuals/groups. Secondly, I will admit stereotypes do exist for a reason. Arrogance is the key term here. Many atheists are blamed for being arrogant, but are they really? And if they are, is their behavior understandable and even justifiable?
Arrogance is found on both sides of the spectrum; the religious and the atheists. If a person claims to know the truth about something, they are automatically in jeopardy of becoming arrogant. Divine or exclusive knowledge produces arrogance. Some atheists will claim that they know there is no God. This is a non-provable, non-testable scientific claim, and is therefore an arrogant thing to say. Some religionists claim that there is a God, which is also a non-provable, non-testable scientific claim, and is therefore is also an arrogant thing to say. Then there are the groups of people within both categories who do not “claim” to know something, but rather say they personally believe/do not believe something to be true. This is the more diplomatic approach… and everyone does have a right to their own opinions. Hopefully this paints the picture that the ratios between arrogant and non-arrogant people are the same in both categories. So then, why the stereotype?
I believe many religionists will often believe an atheist to be arrogant for ungrounded reasons, however. Religion is something people take very personally, and due to its theoretical nature, it is a very touchy subject when placed under a microscope. When people make a scientific claim, such as “There IS a god,” it is only natural for other people to question it. Since religionists have no empirical evidence to support their claims, they view all criticism as personal attacks. Because they automatically feel threatened, they wrongly label the criticizer arrogant. I think we all know that questioning a belief does not make a person arrogant, nor does the desire for others to question their own beliefs.
If anyone questions a scientist about his scientific theories, however, the scientist will simply answer to the best of his ability and accept criticism with open ears. This is because the objectives between the two groups of people are different. Religionists claim to already possess truth, which means there is very little reason to pursue it. Scientists do not claim this truth, and are always in pursuit of it.
And why do many atheists come across as angry? Well, if you're religious and reading this in an attempt to understand... imagine this: a world being dominated by a belief system you do not agree with or even believe is relevant to daily life, such as... everyone believes that it is virtuous to wear sneakers on Fridays. Politicians running for office will usually tack that onto their campaigns, in order to look more virtuous or "good" to the rest of their country... "I promise to lower taxes, pursue alternative energy methods, and yes... I do believe in wearing my sneakers on Friday." Can you see how irrelevant that is to being a good leader of a country? Yet the majority of people around you believe that to be a very important quality in a leader, and inherently view people who don't prioritize wearing their sneakers on Fridays as untrustworthy. After having something so obviously irrelevant force itself into all facets of life, it will wear on you, and the end result is that you'll probably have a pissed off reaction every time someone even mentions sneakers.
Why Islam is Dangerous in Today's Society
When Muslims are confronted with the obvious faults of their religion, most will deny ALL accusations to their grave. They claim Islam teaches peace and understanding... but what is REALLY going on here? I give you a few recent examples of violence in Islam, which has been deemed as acceptable behaviors by many Muslims (and members of other faiths).
1988:
Writer Salman Rushdie publishes his controversial novel Satanic Verses, which upon publication led to protests from Muslims in several countries, some of which were violent. Faced with death threats and a fatwā (religious edict) issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran, which called for him to be killed, he spent nearly a decade underground. During his time in hiding there were explosions at bookshops in London, York and High Wycombe, the book's Japanese translator was stabbed to death, its Italian translator survived a stabbing, its Norwegian publisher narrowly escaped an attempt on his life and 37 people died after a gang set fire to a Turkish hotel where the Turkish translator was staying (he survived).
November 2nd 2004:
Mohammed Bouyeri murdered Van Gogh in the early morning of Tuesday November 2, 2004, in Amsterdam after the release of the film director's latest short film entitled "Submission," which looks at Islam through a critical eye. Bouyeri then cut Van Gogh's throat, nearly decapitating him, and stabbed him in the chest. Two knives were left implanted in his torso, one attaching a five-page note to his body. The note (Text) threatened Western governments, Jews and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (who went into hiding). Imam Fawaz of the as-Sunnah Mosque in The Hague gave a sermon several weeks before the murder in which he called Theo van Gogh, "a 'criminal bastard' and beseech[ed] Allah to visit an incurable disease upon the filmmaker."
September 30th 2005:
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after twelve editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Prophet of Islam Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005. The newspaper announced that this publication was an attempt to contribute to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship. This led to protests across the Muslim world, some of which escalated into violence with police firing on the crowds (resulting in more than 100 deaths, altogether), including setting fire to the Danish Embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, storming European buildings, and desecrating the Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and German flags in Gaza City. While a number of Muslim leaders called for protesters to remain peaceful, other Muslim leaders across the globe, including Mahmoud al-Zahar of Hamas, issued death threats.
When I bring these acts of violence up to Muslims, they always say nowhere in the Koran is it written that acts of violence are called for by Allah, but this is a complete lie without even the slightest attempt of making it appear valid. It seems to me a Muslim will just never admit these things to "outsiders," to infidels, even if they are aware of such verses in the Koran. The following verses act as just a few examples of the violence the Koran teaches its faithful:
In a nutshell, kill everyone who doesn't believe in Allah until everyone believes in Allah. The only thing that can possibly be left open to interpretation is who/what behaviors are oppressing you and your Muslim faith. That can range from a government not allowing the building of Mosques to a Christian whose mere existence acts as a staple for the defiance of Allah. All acts equal to or between these limits can be validated by the teachings of the Koran.
Many people will argue that the people who commit these acts of violence are simply crazy extremists… but that is not true. It is your average, run-of-the-mill Muslim who will participate in mobs and riots of protest, because they have been raised to believe that the Koran is logical and fundamentally correct in all of its teachings.
There is a sizable difference between the psychology of Christians and Muslims and Jews. Christians believe the barbaric acts of the Old Testament were only legitimate to their time... i.e., we shouldn't behave that way now because the New Testament deems those behaviors unacceptable. Jews believe the Torah is a compilation of fictitious stories, and have other texts which they live by (Talmud and Mishna) which do not condone violent behavior. Muslims, however, believe in their religious text cover to cover as the divinely spoken, unaltered word of god (and even that is a sad attempt at lying to the public, as it is a well known fact the Koran was an oral book as the Torah was for about 300 years. The Koran was written and compiled after the death of Mohammed, as Mohammed himself was illiterate, and Muslims will not deny it if you tell it to them… it seems they just assume infidels don't know this historical fact, so they lie about it to make their case seem more valid). They believe that the same barbaric teachings and behaviors (equivalent to those found in the Torah) are just as relevant today as they were in ancient history. In fact, if you would ever like to see the culture of the Torah in operation today, just take a wonderful trip to a country under Islamic theocratic control such as Afghanistan or Iran, and you may even be lucky enough to witness the stoning of an adulteress or two.
I know that many religious people like to defend the Muslim faith simply because they think they have something in common with them (who do you think the Vatican sided with during all three aforementioned tragedies? Yes, the Muslims), but you need to understand how most Muslims are raised to think of infidels. You are incompetent to them, because they can't understand why someone could reject something that makes so much "logical sense." They don't care if you are of another faith or if you have none... they judge you the same: infidel. When they are in the presence of an infidel, they tolerate them rather than accept and respect them. Tragedies happen like those I've cited earlier because Muslims refuse to look at the Koran with a critical eye like Christians and Jews have done (kind of) and realized that the barbaric teachings of the Koran were due to primitive times, and DO NOT APPLY TODAY. This hasn't occurred, and until it does, we will still get the same result; Substantiated violence in the name of Allah.
1988:
Writer Salman Rushdie publishes his controversial novel Satanic Verses, which upon publication led to protests from Muslims in several countries, some of which were violent. Faced with death threats and a fatwā (religious edict) issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran, which called for him to be killed, he spent nearly a decade underground. During his time in hiding there were explosions at bookshops in London, York and High Wycombe, the book's Japanese translator was stabbed to death, its Italian translator survived a stabbing, its Norwegian publisher narrowly escaped an attempt on his life and 37 people died after a gang set fire to a Turkish hotel where the Turkish translator was staying (he survived).
November 2nd 2004:
Mohammed Bouyeri murdered Van Gogh in the early morning of Tuesday November 2, 2004, in Amsterdam after the release of the film director's latest short film entitled "Submission," which looks at Islam through a critical eye. Bouyeri then cut Van Gogh's throat, nearly decapitating him, and stabbed him in the chest. Two knives were left implanted in his torso, one attaching a five-page note to his body. The note (Text) threatened Western governments, Jews and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (who went into hiding). Imam Fawaz of the as-Sunnah Mosque in The Hague gave a sermon several weeks before the murder in which he called Theo van Gogh, "a 'criminal bastard' and beseech[ed] Allah to visit an incurable disease upon the filmmaker."
September 30th 2005:
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after twelve editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Prophet of Islam Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005. The newspaper announced that this publication was an attempt to contribute to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship. This led to protests across the Muslim world, some of which escalated into violence with police firing on the crowds (resulting in more than 100 deaths, altogether), including setting fire to the Danish Embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, storming European buildings, and desecrating the Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and German flags in Gaza City. While a number of Muslim leaders called for protesters to remain peaceful, other Muslim leaders across the globe, including Mahmoud al-Zahar of Hamas, issued death threats.
When I bring these acts of violence up to Muslims, they always say nowhere in the Koran is it written that acts of violence are called for by Allah, but this is a complete lie without even the slightest attempt of making it appear valid. It seems to me a Muslim will just never admit these things to "outsiders," to infidels, even if they are aware of such verses in the Koran. The following verses act as just a few examples of the violence the Koran teaches its faithful:
"190. Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors.
191. And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out; for persecution and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith.
192. But if they cease, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
193. And fight them on until there is no more persecution or oppression, and the religion becomes Allah's. But if they cease. Let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression."
In a nutshell, kill everyone who doesn't believe in Allah until everyone believes in Allah. The only thing that can possibly be left open to interpretation is who/what behaviors are oppressing you and your Muslim faith. That can range from a government not allowing the building of Mosques to a Christian whose mere existence acts as a staple for the defiance of Allah. All acts equal to or between these limits can be validated by the teachings of the Koran.
Many people will argue that the people who commit these acts of violence are simply crazy extremists… but that is not true. It is your average, run-of-the-mill Muslim who will participate in mobs and riots of protest, because they have been raised to believe that the Koran is logical and fundamentally correct in all of its teachings.
There is a sizable difference between the psychology of Christians and Muslims and Jews. Christians believe the barbaric acts of the Old Testament were only legitimate to their time... i.e., we shouldn't behave that way now because the New Testament deems those behaviors unacceptable. Jews believe the Torah is a compilation of fictitious stories, and have other texts which they live by (Talmud and Mishna) which do not condone violent behavior. Muslims, however, believe in their religious text cover to cover as the divinely spoken, unaltered word of god (and even that is a sad attempt at lying to the public, as it is a well known fact the Koran was an oral book as the Torah was for about 300 years. The Koran was written and compiled after the death of Mohammed, as Mohammed himself was illiterate, and Muslims will not deny it if you tell it to them… it seems they just assume infidels don't know this historical fact, so they lie about it to make their case seem more valid). They believe that the same barbaric teachings and behaviors (equivalent to those found in the Torah) are just as relevant today as they were in ancient history. In fact, if you would ever like to see the culture of the Torah in operation today, just take a wonderful trip to a country under Islamic theocratic control such as Afghanistan or Iran, and you may even be lucky enough to witness the stoning of an adulteress or two.
I know that many religious people like to defend the Muslim faith simply because they think they have something in common with them (who do you think the Vatican sided with during all three aforementioned tragedies? Yes, the Muslims), but you need to understand how most Muslims are raised to think of infidels. You are incompetent to them, because they can't understand why someone could reject something that makes so much "logical sense." They don't care if you are of another faith or if you have none... they judge you the same: infidel. When they are in the presence of an infidel, they tolerate them rather than accept and respect them. Tragedies happen like those I've cited earlier because Muslims refuse to look at the Koran with a critical eye like Christians and Jews have done (kind of) and realized that the barbaric teachings of the Koran were due to primitive times, and DO NOT APPLY TODAY. This hasn't occurred, and until it does, we will still get the same result; Substantiated violence in the name of Allah.
A Few Misconceptions about Atheism and Science
It's a common misunderstanding that religious folk have where science is a religion in and of itself. It might be beneficial to look at a few definitions of the word "religion:"
Science isn't something that consists of a set of principles to believe in, or an institution centered around a deity or divine power. Science is merely a set of theories made that are based on observations and tested hypothesis. Science implores the use of tools which are also grounded in the observable universe, such as mathematics and physics.
I also always find it kind of humorous that religious people point at us and always shake their finger screaming "Well, you've been wrong before and you're going to be wrong again! How does THAT make you feel about science??" As if, well, science was the meaning of our existance or if it was some entity that would betray us eventually. Again, they do it because they think science is a religion to us. The truth is, scientists are wrong all of the time, and they are the first to know about it obviously. We deal with what it means to be wrong on a daily basis... we accept it, and move on. The people who actually need to step back and ask themselves "what if I'm wrong about everything" is the religious individual, who actually places all of his meaning in something unprovable and quite possibly non-existent. Yes, scientists are wrong about a great deal, but there is also evidence for the opposite as well. We can cure certain diseases, for example. We can calculate exactly where a projectile will wind up using the laws of physics. We can prove that the Earth rotates around the sun, rather than the sun around the Earth, and we can prove that gravity exists. We can do all of these things because our science is based on the observation of this universe, and nothing else. So, while scientists are wrong sometimes, they are right others and have the evidence to support that we in fact CAN make some logical assumptions about this universe. A religious individual bases his faith on NOTHING, with no empirical evidence, and then has the tenacity to point at a scientist and stupidly ask the question, "what if you're wrong." As we can see, it is not as big a dilemma to the scientist if he is wrong as it is to the religious individual, who bases his whole existance on something only grounded in a illogical feeling they give too much credit to.
We operate within the parameters of the known universe, because it is logical. To reach beyond that should not be a requirement of creation by a creator, especially if he refuses to show himself to his creation and tell us personally that he is there. The fact that this has not happened is evidence supporting his a.) non-existance, or b.) nonchalance to our existance.
Another misconception religious people have pertaining to faith is that
I don't have faith that god doesn't exist... I simply don't believe he does. I could be wrong and I could be right... that answer is irrelevant to me. You think it's inconceivable for a person to be comfortable with not caring whether there is a god or not... but the simple answer is I have seen no evidence to show me why it should be relevant to my day-to-day life. I also don't have faith in whether the big bang ever happened or not. That discovery is irrelevant to my daily life as well... our origins, etc. I don't imagine I'll ever "know" the answer to any of that, and I've accepted that as truth. So, yes... our faiths are different. You have blind faith, and we don't.
--a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny; "he lost his faith but not his morality"
--an institution to express belief in a divine power; "he was raised in the Baptist religion"; "a member of his own faith contradicted him"
Science isn't something that consists of a set of principles to believe in, or an institution centered around a deity or divine power. Science is merely a set of theories made that are based on observations and tested hypothesis. Science implores the use of tools which are also grounded in the observable universe, such as mathematics and physics.
I also always find it kind of humorous that religious people point at us and always shake their finger screaming "Well, you've been wrong before and you're going to be wrong again! How does THAT make you feel about science??" As if, well, science was the meaning of our existance or if it was some entity that would betray us eventually. Again, they do it because they think science is a religion to us. The truth is, scientists are wrong all of the time, and they are the first to know about it obviously. We deal with what it means to be wrong on a daily basis... we accept it, and move on. The people who actually need to step back and ask themselves "what if I'm wrong about everything" is the religious individual, who actually places all of his meaning in something unprovable and quite possibly non-existent. Yes, scientists are wrong about a great deal, but there is also evidence for the opposite as well. We can cure certain diseases, for example. We can calculate exactly where a projectile will wind up using the laws of physics. We can prove that the Earth rotates around the sun, rather than the sun around the Earth, and we can prove that gravity exists. We can do all of these things because our science is based on the observation of this universe, and nothing else. So, while scientists are wrong sometimes, they are right others and have the evidence to support that we in fact CAN make some logical assumptions about this universe. A religious individual bases his faith on NOTHING, with no empirical evidence, and then has the tenacity to point at a scientist and stupidly ask the question, "what if you're wrong." As we can see, it is not as big a dilemma to the scientist if he is wrong as it is to the religious individual, who bases his whole existance on something only grounded in a illogical feeling they give too much credit to.
We operate within the parameters of the known universe, because it is logical. To reach beyond that should not be a requirement of creation by a creator, especially if he refuses to show himself to his creation and tell us personally that he is there. The fact that this has not happened is evidence supporting his a.) non-existance, or b.) nonchalance to our existance.
Another misconception religious people have pertaining to faith is that
"it takes just as much faith NOT to believe in a god as it does TO believe in a god."Lets talk about the definition of atheism. Atheism is not the belief that there is no god, but rather a disbelief that there is a god. You think this is just arguing semantics, but it's not... there is no faith required to not believe something. For instance, do you believe in the Yeti? Chances are you don't. It doesn't take faith in his non-existance for you to not believe in the yeti, but rather... not enough evidence for you to BELIEVE in the yeti. You'd probably sooner believe it was a theory started by a bunch of hillbillies telling campfire stories rather than an actual observation.
I don't have faith that god doesn't exist... I simply don't believe he does. I could be wrong and I could be right... that answer is irrelevant to me. You think it's inconceivable for a person to be comfortable with not caring whether there is a god or not... but the simple answer is I have seen no evidence to show me why it should be relevant to my day-to-day life. I also don't have faith in whether the big bang ever happened or not. That discovery is irrelevant to my daily life as well... our origins, etc. I don't imagine I'll ever "know" the answer to any of that, and I've accepted that as truth. So, yes... our faiths are different. You have blind faith, and we don't.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Allow me to introduce myself
My first official blog post! I guess I should start with the basics... My name is Melissa, and I'm currently a student pursuing a degree in chemical engineering and biological sciences. I love science...I guess you could say I find my solace there. I ended up choosing chemical engineering as my major by happenstance; I started out as a Biology major, then chemistry, and then upon participating in an engineering study abroad program I settled on chemical engineering (because everybody was doing it, man).
Religiously, I am an atheist, and no, that’s not how I’ve always been. I was raised in a Baptist home where I spent a large portion of my life being extremely religious. I truly believed in God, “felt” Him in my life, etc. I know what its like to live on the religious side (a lot of atheists are this way). I never chose to become atheist… over the course of several years I simply began to realize that I was one. That I didn’t honestly believe in what I had been taught was true anymore. A lot of things factored into that process, and maybe later I’ll delve more into it. Suffice to say, I am an atheist and I know why.
I decided to start posting my thoughts on science, religion, and atheism mostly because I tend to ponder those things the most. Out of all the things I could possibly choose to talk about, those subjects I know best. I don’t feel that my ideas are unique in anyway… put writing what one believes down always helps develop their ideas further. That’s my intent. If you’d like to join me in learning more about the world around us, I couldn’t be happier.
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