Evangelical Atheism

[zombyshakespear]

As many of you know, I left Christianity in 2002/3 over a period of a few months. I went from born-again, die for Christ, Bible literally true style protestant to agnostic. After a few more months I gathered the courage to acknowledge that I was truly an atheist

Comments

[breeerose]

I disagree that faith is necessarily "the rejection of reason, wisdom, and understanding in favor of just believing what you are told."

I have met plenty of people (Christians specifically) who tenaciously cling to what they have been told by their religion no matter what. I find these people infuriatingly annoying, and their influence on our current political climate disturbs me. However, I have also met plenty of people who tenaciously cling to things like political beliefs, modes of thought, and bad relationships no matter what. It is not relgious faith itself or even religious institutions themselves that are problematic, but rather people's inability to rigorously examine themselves, their world, and their beliefs.

Religion holds no monopoly on violent conflicts. Think about all of the conflicts that arise between capitalism and communism, between blacks and whites, between women and men, between bourgeious and proletariat, between wealthy nations and poor nations. Most of these conflicts have some sort of economic and political issue at their roots, and I think a lot of religious conflicts do as well.

I also think that human beings are predisposed to developing religion and cultivating faith, just as we are predisposed to making tools and forming societies. Whether or not God(s) exist, religion is a vital expression of our humanity. Atheism, too, is a perfectly natural expression of our humanity. Religion is one of many things that stems from the creativity of the human mind and body, and I believe that it has value in and of itself for that reason.

[zombyshakespear]

People do cling to other things with fervor, but I think religion will always have the greatest hold on people. Even someone who firmly believes in capitalism with all their heart is unlikely to become a suicide bomber.

You are correct that wars are fought for many reasons. However, religious conflicts are the most ferocious, longest running, and hardest to solve. Racial and class conflicts allow for reparations and negotiations, but religious conflicts do not allow this. When I think about the worlds unsettled conflicts (Kashmir, Darfur, Sri Lanka's civil war, Iraq's civil war, Palestinians and Israelis, Chechnya's struggle with Russia) they are all religious. When people fight for other reasons e.g. capitalism vs. communism, the conflict can be solved and the people involved reconciled. This is rarely the case with religious wars.

I agree. I think we have religion written into our genes as a coping mechanism for a vast and unjust world we can't fully explain. I am in favor of preserving the knowledge of religion in the same way we preserve historical artifacts. I think that like the club and the spear, religion is no longer helpful in the world of today and it's time we retire it.