If you can get to the end of this post without taking offence and abandoning it, you might think that my reasoning is naive, if not immature. But I've been doing a lot of thinking about this lately, and to me, the point I'm about to make boils down to something very simple.
I can pinpoint the exact moment I lost my faith in a higher being. I was in a GCSE RS class, and the two religions we were studying for the final exam were Christianity and Buddhism. The first term of our study was entirely about Buddhism, and it was in one of these lessons, fairly early on, where I realised that what I was being taught made perfect sense. Don't get me wrong, I'm not Buddhist. I don't have the patience to meditate daily and a change of faith would go down rather badly in my family, as I'll explain in a bit.
Anyhow, the main differences I picked up on were that Christian principles are based on a hierarchy, where God is at the top, kings come next, and so on until we reach the non-believers at the bottom. Just take a look at the Bible - it's full of power struggles. Buddhism, however, is based on equality, simplicity, and above all, coming to understand the things you know nothing about, rather than placing yourself above them.
I'm a Libra - balance, fairness and equality are important to me. I'd been erring on the side of agnostic for a while, and these lessons on Buddhism made me realise that I didn't have to feel like a very low rung on a very tall ladder.
I was entirely comfortable with my decision, but not so comfortable about sharing it with my family. My parents are both Christian, but neither of them are very religious - my dad only attends Mass at Christmas. I'd been christened Catholic, but I hadn't been to church for years when I started my GCSE studies. Yet I knew that there was a reason I couldn't explain to them that I was atheist.
However, this decision was proved to be the right choice a couple of years later, when my sister decided to announce that she didn't believe in God at the dinner table. As expected, Ma was fine with it - she's not very religious, and I had a hunch that she wouldn't mind a bit. Dad was different. Now, he's not the type to lose his temper, but if he was he would have lost it then. Instead, he replied in an almost dictatorial way, "YES YOU DO." No more was said about it. I called Pook an idiot later.
My view of religion was altered more than a little by this episode, and it hasn't changed since. The way I see it, many people with strong, often fundamental faith believe that all other religions are wrong. The basic argument goes something like "you don't believe in my God, so you aren't going to heaven." The obvious example would be that of Islamic extremists labelling the largely-Christian West "infidels". Not all followers of the Muslim faith think like this. Indeed, the vice versa is true - some Christians thinking similar thoughts about Islam. We atheists get a raw deal too. According to some, we're plain heathens.
My opinion is that these views are as anti-religious as it gets.
All religions place importance on love and respect, not just for your deity or deities, but for your fellow man (and woman) too - whatever their beliefs, however they live their lives. So you want to discriminate against someone just because they call God by a different name? You want to cause someone physical pain for going to a place of worship that's different to yours? You hate people that don't have faith at all? What next? Will you hate someone for being vegetarian? Will you bear a grudge against someone who dyes their hair?
I realise I'm writing this on 7/7 - it's a year to the day since the London bombings. The motives behind this tragedy were religious. People of one faith wanted to hurt those of another. What sense does that make? Whatever happened to tolerance? Doesn't every faith contain some words along the lines of the Christian proverb "Do unto others as you would have them do to you"? (Luke 6:31) Doesn't the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights state that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights"? That "they are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood?"
Why can't everyone accept each other's differences? What's wrong with diversity of belief? Where is the world's spirit of brotherhood? Shouldn't we, as the human race, just get along?
5 comments:
This is a very thoughtful post. You've obviously gone through a strident process to come to this conclusion. I've seen this happen to a lot of people who've grown up in the Catholic church.
I'm not going to try to sway your decision/opinion here, but wanted to answer a couple points where I believe a bit differently.
First, as a Christian I don't hate others of differing faiths. Fundamentalists sometimes don't say things in the most kind way, and often get quite worked up in their excitement to 'evangelize'. This not due to hatred of the other's faith but more because of the love they have for others.
I ask those who've been beaten over the head with someone else's Bible to agree that whatever someone believes they should believe it with all their heart. If that is Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, whatever, they should study it, know what they believe and why. They should believe it to the point that no one can sway them from it. Why believe in something half way?
With that in mind, Christians are instructed and compelled to share their faith. Instructed by Christ, compelled by their transformation as disciples of Christ.
I'm sure you know all this being raised in the church.
If we believe we were dead before salvation and made alive by Christ, the compulsion to share that new life with others makes sense. The best way I've heard it described is this... it's like one poor beggar telling another poor beggar where the bread is. If there were enough bread to go around why wouldn't you want another starving person to have some too?
That said, when you believe you are right, that means others are wrong. And so it goes with all religions. I don't believe there is anything wrong with that. I don't mind that Muslims believe I'm going to hell, because I have an assurance in my own beliefs. And if "Joe" doesn't believe in hell why would it bother him if a Christian says he is going to end up there?
One problem is that a lot of Christians DON'T know how to share their faith with love, because they never really delved deeply into their tenants of faith and what they believe. That's too bad. It's too bad when anyone of any faith does this. Like Islamic extremists. Any person who perverts their religion based on a lack of knowledge is wrong. And most religions warn against this. Christ said it is worse for someone to do this than to not beleive at all.
You also mentioned the hierarchy of the Christian faith. Before Christ this was the case because you had to go through the Jewish priests for forgiveness of sins. Since Christ, the saved have an equality with those priests and are able to approach God directly. As you know Christians believe it is only sin that separates man from God, not a list of people who are above us. Once sin is forgiven we become heirs, adopted children of God who is the only one above us. And this because he is perfect and we are not. This is one thing that has always perplexed me about the Catholic church. I never understood why I would need to go through a priest when I can approach God on my own. But that difference doesn't make me hate Catholics.
It's interesting that you quoted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I would challenge you that the only way we can be born free, equal, with dignity, rights, reason, and conscience is if that comes from God. Governments, leaders, citizens surely don't view people equally.
I agree with you we should treat each other kindly. I try not to treat people differently for any reason. I accept that others believe differently than I do. But hat acceptance won't stop me from sharing my faith. However, not in a spirit of superiority, but of love. If I believe I know the right way, am I not neglegent if I DON'T attempt to gently show that way to others? Then, once I've shared my faith I leave it to God. I promise I'll never thump you with my Bible. But hopefully I'm proud enough of my beliefs that you see it under my arm, or opened up in front of me. We must each make our peace with what we believe. My biggest fear is to hear, "wow, you're a Christian? I would have never guessed that."
Again, I didn't comment in order to change your mind. You know enough about the Christian faith to have made a decision for yourself. And I respect that.
God bless. (I don't say that to be smart ass.) :o)
~Mary
Thanks so much for your comment, Mary. You've certainly given me a few things to think about.
I absolutely agree with you that there's no point in believing in something if you're not going to believe in it 100%. There's no denying that at all, but I guess it's easy to forget, when you're talking to someone of a different belief system, that their conviction is also complete and total. Sometimes fundamentalist people will argue with others for ages, without really realising that it's almost impossible to change another person's views if they're equally faithful to their own.
However, I do also completely agree with the idea that faith should be shared, and I love the image of the beggar sharing the bread with the other beggar. But at the same time, you can't force a belief. The story I have to offer, on the same premise as the story of the beggars, is this: Two teenagers are hanging out, and one has a bottle of vodka. His friend doesn't want to try it because he knows it's wrong to drink while underage, but the other boy tries to pressure him into it, using the typical argument that he won't be cool if he doesn't drink the vodka.
Which is the stronger conviction? That the boy does the right thing by not drinking the vodka, or that he won't be respected by his peers if he doesn't? Or, more to the point, which should be the stronger conviction?
There will be different opinions in answer to that question - mostly based on the age of the person answering, no doubt - but all who have an answer will have equal faith that their answer is the right one.
Sure, the teenagers who answer that the boy should be "cool" and drink the vodka may well change their answers as they grow older. But that's my point - it takes time and thought to change a belief. (I remember Chris Rock's character in the movie 'Dogma' saying a similar line.) The boy with the vodka can't force his friend to drink it if he's utterly convinced that it's the wrong idea. However, once he comes of age he may even enjoy drinking vodka.
I think you hit the nail squarely on the head when you said that the perversion of religion based on a lack of knowledge is wrong. I think that's what I was trying to get at in this post. In those same RS lessons at school, I learned that not all Christians interpret the Bible the same way - an idea that hadn't occurred to me until this point. While some Christians believe that the Bible is a word-for-word rule book, others take it as guidelines. Some see some parts as being irrelevant in these modern times. But who's to say which view is right?
This leads me to the point I made about the hierarchy. I'm glad you reminded me about the idea of sin separating man from God, and also about the equality with priests that wasn't always the case. However, could it not be argued that priests are closer to God than others? I mean this in the sense that Christians often go to their priests when they seek guidance. Of course, I know this isn't always the case - anyone can talk to God in any way they choose, through prayer, written word and so on.
You said that God is perfect while humankind is not. My response to this, as an atheist, is that perfection is a human construct. Who can define perfection? Perfection is something that we humans naturally strive to achieve as a means of improving ourselves, but perfection is impossible because, just like our varying faiths, we all have different ideas of what perfection is. Take this for example: some believe that we are all made in God's image. But what does God look like? If we were to find out, what assurance would we have that God's image was indeed perfect? Would he have long blond hair or short dark hair? What colour would his skin or eyes be?
Your point about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is also spot on. In the eyes of those with power, humankind is not viewed as equal, simply because there are those with power and those without. If it was up to government alone to raise us, we would not have conscience, morals, reason or any of these qualities that make us human, and can only come from the kind of education that faith can provide. However, once power is removed from the equation, then we really are equal. In the grand scheme of things, all the babies being born in America at this very second have an equal chance of becoming President. It's in that sense that we're born free and equal, and while it's sad that our lives don't always lead down free and equal paths, we all start out on a level playing field. And if we were all the same at one point in our lives, shouldn't it follow that we share that fact no matter what happens? In my opinion, we're all descended from that first group of humans; in Christianity, it follows that we're all descended from Adam and Eve, and so on for every religion. So doesn't that make us all cousins of a sort?
It's great that you share your faith out of love and not superiority. That's what I've tried to do by writing this post - just sharing an opinion. People can read and ignore this blog as they please. I'm only one crazy kid, who's going to listen to me, right? People should be able to make up their own minds about their faith. Advice is always welcome, but advice that's forced upon a person isn't advice as all. I'm really glad you think the same way as I do, and it's sad that so many people out there don't agree.
You certainly have my respect in return, and many thanks once again for the discussion. Take care!
Cool, lets talk about politics now. :o)
I appreciate your analysis. And while we may never get to the point of total agreement of personal theology I do believe we have many similar views on the heart and essence of man.
You're in the UK right? Well here we have such a huge backlash against Christians. I call it reverse evangelism. The athiests are so offended by our religion that they seem to want to remove it from us. Again, a small portion of another out of control group who don't understand the tenants of their faith. And yes, I believe athieism to be a faith. So at times you may see American Christians get a bit defensive.
Why do the 10 commandments offend those who don't believe in God? Hey, sounds like another post subject.
Thanks for your respectful reply.
Don't ya just love blogging? :o)
~Mary
I didn't realise the extent of the backlash in the US. My guess is that because atheism has only recently become acceptable, atheists feel the need to make themselves heard. Of course, that doesn't justify the reverse angelism you're talking about. Perhaps if atheists lived and let live, there wouldn't be the need for Christians to be so defensive.
We have a similar problem in the UK, as a result of our immigration laws. We take in many immigrants, mostly asylum seekers from Muslim countries, year after year. Of course, there are problems with employment and housing - our government tends to look after these new arrivals before looking after our own - but one of the biggest problems I've noticed is the conflict of faith, which is quickly turning to racism. It's not that we, being mainly white and Christian, have a problem with their religion - it's the other way around. They believe it's their job to convert us, and it's led to resentment on both sides.
The experience that sticks in my mind to this day - and I may have blogged about it before - was that of myself and an old boyfriend sitting in the children's playground not far from my house, which happens to border onto a Muslim community. We were sitting in the park, just minding our own business, when we noticed two Asian children staring at us - a girl, about six years old, and her little brother who was no more than three. After staring at us from the longest time, they started to pick up the woodchips from the playground and throw them at us, shouting "fuck off, white bastards" at us. It made me so sad to realise that children so young are being made to think that they have enemies.
I might just take you up on that 10 Commandments post challenge - could be very interesting! Blogging sure is one of the best inventions we've ever had!
I reckon you should explore buddhism a bit more, don't worry about all the meditation stuff, it's mindfulness that is most important. Also you and your sister should get together and affirm to your family that you do not believe in god or at least not a personal one, you shouldn't have to live your life lying about one of the things that is most important to all of us, and hey it's your family they love you and if they can't accept it then it's they who have some serious problems, if they do have problems show your respect for theirs beliefs and suggest they talk to their priest about it.
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