Chapter 4: The Change in Faith

I assume that by this point you are asking yourself what happened to me to make me choose Atheism as the religion in which I give my faith. It's a fair question, after all. There are many different choices to pick from when it comes to religion, and I find myself always wondering why each individual chooses to believe whatever it may be that they have put their faith into. So if I ask them why, then why should I expect nothing but the same from you to me?

I have said before that like most Atheists, I wasn't born Atheist. I do know a few Atheists that were born into an Atheist household and grew up under that mindset, but I have also noticed that almost all Atheists that are born into the Atheist idea are the most easily converted away from their beliefs. This comes from children believing anything that adults tell them. The ignorance of a child is something I often wish I could remember, but sadly, those days are long behind me. But what tends to happen, at least from my experiences, is that a child in an Atheist house will go through two possible experiences:

The first is concern for their ongoing existence. Children don't have much of an understanding about life or death. Realistically, adults don't either, but ignorance and parental protection puts a blanket of security over most children blocking them from understanding how life and death really works. So, when they are told by a parent that when they die, that's the end of everything, the natural response is fear. A child, who only knows what the world around them and what their parents and other adults are willing to explain to them, only sees the idea of "absolutely nothing" as horrifying. This "nothing" is absolutely impossible for them to comprehend, just as it is for adults. And so, because of this complete lack of understanding, children will hear from a friend or another adult that there is a place called Heaven where once they die they will go and be with everyone they love because of a man called God. And because that is so much better than losing everything, so passes an Atheist, and a Believer is born.

But there is another possibility. One that tends to bother me because it doesn't just affect Atheist children, but all children of all faiths. It involves the manipulation of childish ignorance and their willingness to believe and please grownups. It happens when an adult uses fear to make a child believe something, regardless of whether or not the child wants to believe it. And unfortunately, it happens all the time. Sometimes using fear to stop a child from talking to strangers or trusting people they don't know is a good thing. These are dangerous situations, ones that have evidence and support backing concern. But when it comes to faith, that's a different story. Faith is a choice for everyone, because in its very existence there is no proof. That's the point of faith. And so to use fear to force a child to believe something that cannot be proven and should be a decision they should make when they are old enough to analyze a situation is incredibly wrong. Many Sunday Schools are prime example of this, this being something I know from experience. They are quite renown for forcing children to sit and talk about eternal damnation of the soul for misbehavior or the abuse of God. Just like in the previous scenario, if you are to tell a child that God is real, they will believe you. The younger you start telling them this, then the more you will ingrain this idea as a fact instead of a faith. If you tell this child that if they don't believe in God, in your God specifically, then they will burn in Hell for all of eternity, then they are going to believe you. I have spoken to many Believers that became Believers at a young age from exactly this kind of religious fear, and a handful of these Believers were once Atheists who didn't want to burn. And yet, even though they know now as grown adults there are no facts to support these accusations, they still can't shake the fear that has been embedded into their subconscious mind from what can only be described as a childhood trauma.

So I suppose I can start here. I believe that part of me turned away from God because I firmly believe that the people who control how God moves through the world have a horrible history of of not treating the being with respect. God is supposed to give people freedom, a hope that they never had before, and a promise of joy. But for some reason, people seem to forget that. I see that love and respect towards God sometimes, but honestly, I don't see it often. Not as much as you would expect. Not as much as any sane person would hope. So maybe God isn't part of my life not because of people's lack of respect towards him, but because if he's as powerful as most religions say, then why would he let us manipulate one another so extremely and blame it on "His will"?

But the abuse of God is a subject for another chapter.

The biggest reason that I have chosen Atheism, though, is because it's the only option that makes any sense to me based on everything I have experienced in my life. I was born in England, and since then I have moved all over the world, lived in many different countries, and visited more than I can count. In each of these places, I have experienced cultural differences far beyond the imaginations of those who have not been as fortunate to travel as myself. I have been to places in the world where God is outlawed. I have seen places of worship that believe in two completely different faiths built side-by-side and living in total harmoy. I have seen conflict born of opposing faith commit crimes because God demands it. And yet, in all these religions, in all these places all around the world that all believe such vastly different things, no one seems more right than anyone else. Each and every person has their own set of beliefs, and their faith gives them a confidence that, if seen in any other aspect of their lives, can only be found if it's backed by unarguable evidence. And yet faith offers up no evidence. So how can so many people know beyond any doubt that they are all right? How can any one religion say that what they believe is the only truth in the world when there are so many countless different religions, literally an uncountable number of faiths that all claim to know the true answer?

The only conclusion that I can draw is that they can't all be right. If there is only one right answer, then the odds certainly aren't in your favour to pick the right one. I have heard people use the argument for believing in God that your options are simple: (1) Believe in God, and go to heaven when you die. (2) Believe in God, and nothing happens when you die. (3) Don't believe in God, and go to Hell when you die. (4) Don't believe in God, and nothing happens when you die.

But what's the point in believing in God when there are over 30,000 different Christian faiths alone. That's 30,000 different choices based around one central religion in which each denomination states that only theirs hold the truth. Now imagine just how many other religions there are, and how many different denominations there are within each of those religions, almost all of them with the shared idea that when you die you can only get into heaven by picking their God or Gods to believe in. So don't bother throwing the argument my way that you may as well take a gamble. I have better odds in winning the lottery 5 times in a row than I do in getting into heaven. Especially because even if I did somehow pick the right religion, but then happen to make one or two minor mistakes in my life that said religion doesn't condole, I still might not have a pass into eternal bliss. So really, the odds aren't exactly in my, or your, favour. Truth be told, I probably have about as much of a chance of getting into heaven as you, regardless of where you have chosen to put your faith.

If that came off as offensive, I apologize. I am not trying to offend. I am simply trying to explain why I'm an Atheist. It may seem like a awkward way of doing that, but it's hard. Explaining why one has put their faith in anything is difficult. But I am doing my best to step up to the challenge. Though I will admit that I won't answer the question completely within this chapter. This entire book, its every topic, will answer the question of "why" all the way up to the final line of the final chapter. This is only the foundation, the beginning of the rest of the novel, and the start of ideas that will be further explained and expanded upon.

So, for the sake of creating the groundwork, I became Atheist because as far as I can see, there is no logical alternative. Ultimately, I feel that God is nothing more than the creation of humanity for many reasons, all of which I will be sure to address. But I also believe with all my being that though God is too often treated with disrespect by those who are in power, be it political, religious, or both, the belief in someone or something greater than ourselves is a fundamental part of life and happiness for many people. Everyone copes with the world in different ways, and a lot of good people really do make their own lives better by believing in God. Unfortunately, not everyone who believes in God can be considered "good people," and it's there that the real problems are born.