John Schlembach
Using George H. Smith’s definition, I guess it could be said without much objection that I’m a natural atheist. I can’t recall ever having been a believer. I was raised UU by my father (which might now explain my hostility towards much of organized religions), and the religious education there was comprehensive; we had speakers from what we were studying come and lecture us.
However, my first memory of church is sitting the front passenger seat of the car next to my father. We had to leave early in the morning to get there. It was a 45 minute drive north. The sun was always in my face. He would try to talk me. I wasn’t a very social child. I don’t remember much about that church, but a rift developed between him and several other families and the congregation there. He left and they started their own church (and I still run into members now and then at my job).
Anyway, in the course of the long decade I spent there, I learned quite a bit. All of the formal education was supplemented with my own reading. Anything I could find about any religion I read. it wasn’t long after that I turned to books on atheism and skepticism. It was a short journey from self-proclaimed agnosticism to explicit atheism.
To me, given the volume of what I’ve read, the people I’ve talked with, I feel it’s reasonable to conclude that none of the gods dreamed up when humankind was are real.
I feel I’m on solid ground logically and philosophically, and even scientifically (in as much as people claim that their god interacts with the world around us). That’s not all though; I have to admit to an emotional component as well.
Having spent much time on FSTDT, having watched the Pat Robertson’s and Jerry Falwell’s of the world, having heard and read what average people say and do, I have to say, I don’t want to be religious. I know that religiosity is no guarantee of malfeasance, but by the same token it’s impossible to say that it is a concrete assurance of moral behavior as well. I feel that if I abdicate one portion of my mind to faith, something that a person cannot be reasoned into, that I have no guard against the right person saying the right things to me at the right time and getting me to do despicable things. If I take one assumption on faith, how can I justify not taking another the same? I know that’s a bit harsh and extreme, but I pride myself on being a reasonable person.
Perhaps it’s not the longest or the most interesting, but this is my story nonetheless.
Thanks for reading.
[ratings]
