Godless Heathen
Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a godless heathen.
Several months back I came across some of the writings or Thomas Paine, one of which was Age of Reason. It opened my eyes! I was raised Baptist and had just taken for granted all that I had been taught about religion in my formative years. Once I was older, I wasn't a very religious person, but it never occurred to me to question my beliefs.
Then suddenly I realized I just couldn't buy it anymore. Like an eight-year-old who can no longer believe in Santa Clause, I had passed a point of no return.
At first, I told my wife I was a Deist. I believed that there was a god, but he just didn't have a lot to do with us. He was a universe-maker, and that was about it. Then I realized that even that didn't go far enough. My Deism was just an attempt to hold on to some of my old beliefs. I then started calling myself an agnostic, which was just another way of saying, "I just don't know!"
Now I call myself an Atheist. There are no gods that I believe in. There may be a god, but I do not know him and see no evidence of his existence. If I am wrong, then I would want to know it, but such an extraordinary claim as the existence of god would require extraordinary evidence to make me believe.
If someone reading this also has doubts, then start asking questions. If your beliefs are correct, then they should stand up to honest inquiry. If they don't, then do you really want to keep them?
I recommend Losing My Religion as a great place to start. If you want to dig even deeper, then go to Ebon Musings Atheism Pages for a treasure trove of articles.
If you are heading towards deconversion, the most important thing to remember is that you are not alone.
"Belief is not a voluntary thing. A man believes or disbelieves in spite of himself. They tell us that to believe is the safe way; but I say, the safe way is to be honest." -Robert Ingersoll
Several months back I came across some of the writings or Thomas Paine, one of which was Age of Reason. It opened my eyes! I was raised Baptist and had just taken for granted all that I had been taught about religion in my formative years. Once I was older, I wasn't a very religious person, but it never occurred to me to question my beliefs.
Then suddenly I realized I just couldn't buy it anymore. Like an eight-year-old who can no longer believe in Santa Clause, I had passed a point of no return.
At first, I told my wife I was a Deist. I believed that there was a god, but he just didn't have a lot to do with us. He was a universe-maker, and that was about it. Then I realized that even that didn't go far enough. My Deism was just an attempt to hold on to some of my old beliefs. I then started calling myself an agnostic, which was just another way of saying, "I just don't know!"
Now I call myself an Atheist. There are no gods that I believe in. There may be a god, but I do not know him and see no evidence of his existence. If I am wrong, then I would want to know it, but such an extraordinary claim as the existence of god would require extraordinary evidence to make me believe.
If someone reading this also has doubts, then start asking questions. If your beliefs are correct, then they should stand up to honest inquiry. If they don't, then do you really want to keep them?
I recommend Losing My Religion as a great place to start. If you want to dig even deeper, then go to Ebon Musings Atheism Pages for a treasure trove of articles.
If you are heading towards deconversion, the most important thing to remember is that you are not alone.
"Belief is not a voluntary thing. A man believes or disbelieves in spite of himself. They tell us that to believe is the safe way; but I say, the safe way is to be honest." -Robert Ingersoll
posted by Curiosis at 2:21 PM
6 Comments:
samantha,
Thanks for your comment. I, too, think that Jesus probably existed and was a great teacher, but I do not believe that he was god. As a person of conscience, I would defend anyone's right to believe as they want, but when their actions infringe on my rights, that's when we have a problem.
I'd suggest reading "The Jesus Puzzle" by Earl Doherty, or at least check out "Choking on the Camel" at Ebonmusings for a brief it. After reading it, it's hard to even believe in Jesus. He was most likely a construct, a giant parable, made up by men like Paul back in the day; just a fiction story meant to personify all the beliefs they had about a savior.
BWM,
I appreciate the reading suggestions. I will definately look into them. It is possible that Jesus was an amalgam of various teachers or "prophets." Or he may be a complete and total myth. I lean towards the opinion that a man names Jesus probably existed, but that's as far as it goes.
Thanks for posting.
You went through the same stages as I did! Interesting eh?
Thanks for visiting my Blog. Come back often!
One of the best resources when it comes to doubting the historical Jesus is the Bidstrup article. It is much shorter than a book.
Good work Inquisitor, I'll come back here again.
I became an agnostic myself over ten years ago because of a combination of various factors, most of which I re-told here and here. (Part 3 under construction)
Basically, I ended up agnostic because I liked the way that you could take the dictionary definition of "agnostic" and turn it on its head. I particularly liked the way that it refelected my skepticism of a variety of things at that point in my life.
Mind you, I've never had to go through a de-conversion process - the only change I underwent was from apatheist to agnostic.
It's a shame really - I've always wanted to know what it felt like, losing one's religion.
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