As you may have gathered from my earlier posts, I am indeed an atheist. This declaration did not come easy. The journey from Roman Catholic Christian indoctrination to understanding that the God concept is completely illogical is fraught with peril. My purpose for writing this series is to help anyone who may be struggling with their faith. I believe that there are many atheists out there who are closeted. You may use words like agnostic, secular and spiritual to describe yourself when asked what faith you belong to. You may use the term "Higher Power" to avoid using the God word. You feel uncomfortable when people around you say Grace before a meal or when a friend asks you to pray for someone who may be sick or going through a difficult time. Ultimately, you feel increasingly disconnected from people whom you've known your entire life because their religious faith has strengthened and yours has evaporated. I have felt that disconnect. I have been shunned by the parents of children on my son's baseball team when they discovered my lack of faith. I have sensed the coldness and distrust of people that at one time liked me. I tried to stay quiet about my atheism and keep my opinions to myself while others around me blather on about how religion is important and "Praise Jesus" for this and "Thank God" for that. Well ladies and gents.........Fuck That.
Crisis Of Faith
I love this term. Crisis of Faith. It infers that one's faith in God is in question. Many times this will occur through tragic circumstances such as a sudden death of a loved one or a terrible illness that worsens. The doubt begins to seep in because praying to a God for help or simply having faith that this entity will intervene does not work. Multiple studies on Intercessory prayer were performed and guess what they found out? Prayer doesn't work. Say it again and say it out loud so you can hear yourself. Prayer does not work.
So then what does a person do? Most people go right back to the religion for guidance and answers. They schedule a little sit down with their local Priest or religious representative for a little pep talk. I liken this to a person with a drinking problem going to his drunken buddy for alcoholism advice. I can tell you that the outcome of these conversations are always the same. Firstly, the burden that you are carrying is your inability to accept that the crap that we are telling you is absolute and secondly, stop asking questions and accept the crap that we are telling you is absolute. Now go say ten Our Fathers, twenty Hail Marys and stop touching yourself so much.
I was never a deeply religious young person. I was like many fair weather Irish Roman Catholics with the institutions and rites of the faith deeply embedded into my person. Confession, Holy Communion, Confirmation, Stations of the Cross, pretending to give shit up for Lent....I did it all and I also had a twelve year Catholic school education. My crisis of faith wasn't as much a crisis as a decades long erosion. I found that as I learned more about the world, educated myself and met more diverse people, religion became less and less viable. The day I finally had my epiphany, I was at church attending a friend's wedding and found myself completely distracted by the bullshit around me and the fact that I had accepted this ridiculous mythology for most of my life. I was Neo in the "The Matrix" and I took the red pill. The kneeling and the chanting and the blood drinking and flesh eating felt all at once ludicrous and I almost started laughing and crying at the same time. My faith ended there forever.
Fear Of Burning In Hell
As an atheist we understand that Hell is not real but that does not mean that we should diminish the fear of hell when talking to people who are having a faith crisis and are making the leap into religious skepticism. Hell was created by Christianity (and most religions in some form) for a reason. FEAR. Just as you will be rewarded with Heaven and eternal bliss for believing all the crazy nonsense, you in turn shall be punished for not believing. And by punished they mean burning in a pit of fire for eternity while demons stab you in the crotch. This concept is driven into our brains very early and it can be a very real fear to even educated adults. As of the writing of this blog entry there was an item in the news stating that the Vatican has clarified that atheists - they believe - are still going to hell. It's 2013 and the Catholic church still preaches this concept!!! As a Christian you need to ask yourself a serious question. Do you believe that there is an all loving, powerful entity who cares for us and loves us and wants us to be forgiving of each others flaws? Then, how can you believe that this gentle, tender loving God would toss you into a pit of fire if you disobeyed him? You see? It doesn't make any sense. None of it does.
Here's the facts. Hell or Hades or whatever you would like to call it is a concept used in every religion that ever existed since humans have been on this planet. It does not exist. It never did and it never will. It is another concept created by ancient cultures who did not understand how things in the natural world function. It was used by elders and the leaders of ancient cultures to keep their followers in line. Hell does not exist. Say it again and say it out loud so you can hear yourself. Hell does not exist.....
To be continued: Part II
