Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Chapter 5: The Importance of God

Before I become overly critical, a state of mind I fear is inevitable when writing an entire book with this topic as a foundation, I must take a step back and let you know where the "Religious" part of Religious Atheist first came from. Remember though that this was just the birthplace. The Religious part of my faith was only began here, and has since developed into a much larger idea. But it all started here, with the fundamental belief that God, despite my lack of faith in him, is absolutely essential for humanity.

Gods have been part of human life since we became capable of intelligent thought. They started off as the source of all things the world had to offer; They would raise and lower the sun, they would appear at night as stars in the sky, they would blow in rains to water crops, they would control the supply of animals harvested for food, they cause fertility in people, and would have influence or control over every single other aspect of the events of the world. They were the centre of life for the people of Earth, offering meaning and reason behind all the actions of universe. When the rains did not come and crops faded away, the blame lay only in the hands of the people for not satisfying the needs of their Gods. By having a being that controlled the outcome of everything, it gave the people hope. The belief that if one worked hard enough, gave enough back to the Gods, then they and their civilization would prosper made life worth living. Faith gave early humanity a fighting chance in a world that was completely unforgiving.

As time progressed though, and we discovered that in reality it's the rotation of the Earth that causes the sun to rise and set, that the stars are not Gods but thousands of other suns of various sizes across the galaxy, that rain is produced by evaporating water and high density precipitation, that animals migrate on their own accord for the best chance of survival, and that fertility is based on an very delicate balance of human biology, those jobs the Gods once possessed faded away. And new Gods were born with new roles in life, and new histories of the Earth were born.

The truth of the matter is that Gods have existed in our lives for as long as we can document intelligent human life. They may not have been the same Gods, or even shared the same roles in the lives of those they presumed to influence, but they have always been there, always. And so, through their existence, they have been a foundation of human life.

As for the question I have raised in the previous chapters: With all these Gods, with all these different religious views, how do we know which one is real? In my opinion, the opinion of a Religious Atheist, real isn't the question we should be asking ourselves. The reality of every single religion in the history of the world sits in exactly the same place, because each religion is just as real as the next. But it's not the validity of the word of God that I hold true. It's the power each religion has over the lives of the people who follow it. It's this influence over human life that makes God real. And it's this very concept that stems the Religious part of the Religious Atheist.

And now I believe it's time to expand on this idea, to explain to you further why to me, someone who claims to be an atheist, believes that God is so important. It's true that I don't believe God, the being that created the universe and sits up in the sky watching over us exists. It's true that in my world, every decision I make is because I have free will and nobody or nothing is guiding me to say or do anything but myself. And probably most importantly, it's also true that many of the ideas embedded in organized religions threaten this very idea of complete and total human freedom by which I live my life. So why is it that the Religious Atheist believes that God is so important?

I want you to think about Believers for a minute. You may be one of them, or you may be any form of the Atheists I have detailed in this book. Regardless, you know many Believers, and you know many different types of Believers. So pick any religion you know of, any friend you may have who believes something different to yourself, and ask yourself how what they believe shapes their life. Think about how their day-to-day life differs from your own because of a belief system that they subscribe to. And then ask yourself what it is that makes them do all they do to live their life by such a specific code.

Regardless of what religion you picked, the answer will always be the same. They do it because it makes them happy. They have faith in something bigger than themselves. If they subscribe to Fate, for example, they are happy in knowing that everything that happens to them happens for a reason. God has a grand plan, and every single aspect of their life is working towards something amazing. If they subscribe to certain eating habits, be it no meat on Fridays, no eating cow or pork, or no consuming raw foods, they do so because they believe that it will make their lives better. Though they may do it for themselves, they do it more importantly for God, to try and make him happy. And in doing so, they make themselves happy.

Religion also offers an extremely strong sense of community. Human's have always banded together. It's how we survive. Even now in the twenty-first century we are acting exactly as we did at the dawn of human life. We are working together to prosper. We install the ideas of patriotism into our youth, supporting our country and working together for mutual gain. We make friends because we like the company of others, and enjoy sharing our lives with those around us. And through religion, people are given one of the strongest bonds of all. Together people believe in one thing, with no if and or buts, they follow the same scripture and code. They are part of an almost completely unchanging society that motivates them to do better and brings them closer to one another. And if that weren't enough, most of those religions offer the promise of not only spending this life with your community, but spending eternity with them, never once leaving the Believer alone.

It's this grand idea of happiness and self advancement in the eyes of something bigger than yourself that makes God such an essential part of human life. And though I may not subscribe to the practices of any organized religion, I do so because like Believers, my decisions makes me happy. So who am I, or anyone else, to tell you that what you believe isn't right when the indisputable truth is that your beliefs make you happy.

God may not be sitting in the sky, and he may not have created the universe. But no matter what we all believe, it's indisputable that he exists in the hearts and minds of billions of people everywhere. And you, like every other person in the world, are entitled at birth to believe whatever will make you happy. And if that doesn't make him in some sense real, then what does?

Monday, February 8, 2010

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.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Chapter 3: The Birth of a Name

Writing a book about being an Atheist is no easy task. The differences embedded into the system makes it almost impossible for me to talk about every single aspect of our lives. But this book isn't about every single little denomination that Atheism has to offer. This book is about what I and a fraction of other Atheists like me believe. It's about the Religious Atheist, and what it means to be just that. So if I have taken the time to explain to you what other Atheists believe, it is only to give you a frame of reference.

And so it's time to dive deeper into what it means to be a Religious Atheist. I have already laid the foundation of our beliefs, but there's a whole lot more to it. The term "Religious Atheist" is clearly an oxymoron in its existence. I have had many arguments with many people, Religious and Atheist alike, about the use of this term. So I will start here.

I have heard it all when it comes to the title Religious Atheist. More often than not, I get to hear how it's stupid to say I'm a Religious Atheist when one cannot be both Religious and Atheist at the same time. People will argue to the grave that being Atheist means, by definition, the complete absence of religious faith.

Before anything else, let me give you the real definitions of both of these words:

Atheist:
A person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings

Religious:
Member of a religious order, congregation, etc.

It's impossible to argue then that by definition, one can't be religious and be atheist, nor can they be atheist and religious. I will agree that the two terms don't seem as if they should go together, but the truth of the situation is that the reason they don't sound right back-to-back is because of a complete misunderstanding of what it means to be an Atheist or to be Religious.

Being Religious doesn't mean that you believe in God. Look at the Buddhist faith, one of my personal favourite religions. People have so often told me when talking about Buddhism that it isn't a religion. In a way, that's true. It's certainly not what we consider to be generic religion that stems from many of the same origins as most other world religions. One of the many definitions of religion is the belief in a supreme being or beings. Buddhism doesn't quite meet that quota. However, just because it falls short on one definition of religion, it doesn't mean that Buddhists aren't Religious. The definition of "Religious" clearly states that a Religious individual is someone who is part of a religious congregation or order. And fortunately for us, another of the many definitions of religion is the following:

Religion:
1. A specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects.
2. The body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices.

So, though Buddhists may not believe in a supreme being, they clearly meet the quota of being both a religion and being religious.

Which brings us to Atheists. Based on both of the definitions of religion and Atheist, we atheists are just as religious as everyone else. We have our beliefs, but our faith lies in the idea that there is no God. And just like Believers, we Atheists have chosen to put our faith into something that we cannot prove. All that we have to convince you of our belief is the world around us, showing you what we see and proving what we know. But in the end, there is still this massive canyon of empty knowledge and lacking proof. Our only proof that there is no God is the fact that nobody can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there is one. In a beautiful parallel, the only proof that believers have that there is a God is the fact that non-believers can't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there isn't one.

And so I state to you, as I have every other person who has told me that "because of the definitions of the words Religion, Religious, and Atheist, the title Religious Atheist can't exist because of its oxymoron quality," perhaps it's time you pick up that dictionary and have a quick look at what the words really mean. If anything, the words Religious Atheist go hand-in-hand, and the only problem the two words have is redundancy. Saying someone is a Religious Atheist is like saying someone is a Religious Jew or a Religious Christian.

Though I have addressed the main concern people seem to have with the name Religious Atheist, I would also like to quickly comment on another smaller concern I regularly get over the title. Though not as frequently as peoples concerns regarding the words Religious and Atheist going together, this comment does spring up from time-to-time. I have had people tell me on multiple occasions that I can't call myself a Religious Atheist because an Atheist is an Atheist. That is your belief. If you are an Atheist, then you are simply an Atheist. No matter what you add in front of the word Atheist, you will always be an Atheist just like all other Atheists.

I hope that by now, you as a reader have realized that this statement couldn't be further from the truth. Atheists seem to me to be more diverse than any other religion. Sure, we are grounded in one fundamental belief, and that is the belief that there is no God, but as I have stated before, we have no community or rules with which to bind ourselves. Once the declaration that there is no God has been made, then we are on our own to figure out what it is that makes up the massive tower that will become our religious beliefs. Sure, we may take a few ideas from a few passing Atheists, but for the most part these beliefs are our own with nobody telling us how or what to believe.

For this reason I believe that it is absolutely essential to give ourselves titles. We have for too long been just "Atheists", all lumped together without any real definition. It's this massive lumping that has caused so much static-ridden communication between Atheists and Believers. Believers are completely incapable of understanding us when we don't even have a way to express our own beliefs. But by telling us that we aren't allowed a title because all Atheists are just Atheists is like saying that all Religious people within the Christian faith are Orthodox. I doubt that Protestants, Lutherans, Baptists, Catholics, etc. alike would approve of this statement. In fact, I have a strange feeling there would be a lot of public outcry if anyone tried to make this the case. So if Believers are allowed to develop a new name for every minor change they make to their interpretation of a religion, why are Atheists not allowed to do the same?

I know that this is all just about a name, but a name helps both a group and an individual reach a level of self-definition it never could have achieved without a name. It lets others know before we even begin talking about a subject who we are, and in some cases, how we feel about certain issues. A name is a form of self expression and individuality. It can group us together or set us apart. A name is one of the most important parts of self-definition for many people, and so I stand by my name for both myself and all other Atheists like me. I am James R. Mitchener, and I am a Religious Atheist.