My mom recently read some of this blog, she subsequently sent me an IM, which I think had equal parts anger and sadness.
I want to apologize to my Mom, I don’t hate you
I will not, however, apologize for the truth.
Listen, Fundies, Liberals, Anarcho-fascists, whoever reads this. This blog isn’t about what you want to believe in.
If you want to believe that this Jesus fellow was born of a virgin, was the son of god, or had three heads. I don’t care.
The problem for me comes when you people try to say that what you believe is the scientific truth, is the real truth, an account of what really happened. When you tell me that a man was born of a virgin, I say “How?” You tell me a man came back from the dead, a real live zombie, I ask for some evidence.
If you want to have a delusion, thats fine, we live in America, and last time I checked, the bill of rights were still in effect. You’re entitled to believe as you will, and when it comes to belief, I’ll leave you alone.
It’s when you start saying that what you believe is the only option, thats when I have a problem. The fact is, we don’t know if Christ existed, the evidence doesn’t shoot either way. The fact is, we don’t know if God exists, and we’ll probably never have the ability to determine it scientifically. It’s my belief that, in fact, theres no way to know whether God exists at all, even using pure logic as a basis, but thats my belief. It’s not a fact, I don’t claim it’s veracity, It’s just what I conjecture. It’s not my right to tell you to believe my conjecture. It is, however, my responsibility to tell you what is true. What is true, is that there are a hundred explainations for just about any question you can come up with. It has been observed that most of the explainations are crap. Typically only one explaination for a question fits with the evidence, there is — as far as I have seen — one cause leading to one effect. So, I ask you this, if you believe something, and I believe the opposite, who is right?
The fundamentalist says that they are right, you are wrong, period.
The scientist says that the evidence, combined with logical thinking, will tell us.
Who has the better view?
I don’t hate fundamentalists, my parents are both fundamentalists, hell, for a good 15 years of my life, I was a fundamentalist. I went to church 3 times a week, 8 to 1, most sunday mornings (two sermons in the morning), about 6 to 8 on sunday evenings, only one sermon during that tame, and 6 to 8 on wednesday evenings, again, one sermon. By my estimations, thats about 5+2+2=9 hours in church, with about 4, 1 hour sermons, the rest of the time was “fellowship” — chit chat and small talk — or the occasional pot-luck dinner, and singing, I really like the singing.
Actually, I still like the singing, I was in the church band (helping to liberalize my church with my electric guitar. :)), I really enjoyed the hymns we sung. I still hum most of them, I love the songs. I don’t hate christians, I don’t hate fundamentalists, and — really — I don’t hate anyone (with limited exceptions). What I hate is what religion does to people.
Why should me disagreeing with you make you feel so bad? The problem is fundies. Not fundamentalists, fundamentalists are typically good people, the people I went to church with were mostly nice people who “loved Jesus.” Fundies, on the other hand, are psychopaths, these people preach a message of “any dissenter is of the devil.” They teach that disagreement is sin. They tear families apart with this doctrine, I’ve seen it happen. They’ve taught good, loving, caring people to get upset about the very thing that makes, or at least made, america great. They teach people to take offense at people who disagree.
I disagree with anyone who believes in God, however, I never write about, or to, those people in this blog. The “fundies” and “fundamentalists” I write to are those people who say, “You aren’t allowed to disagree.” “Dissent is Sin” is a sin. I mean- You’re own savior, Jesus, kept in his group of disciples a skeptic. For his day, Thomas was as close to a scientific skeptic as we’ll get. When I was in church, I heard Thomas’ behavior railed against, “Don’t Doubt God” they said. That is wrong, just plain wrong. One of the chief lessons we were taught in sunday school is that “Iron sharpeneth Iron”, Well, count me as your blade upon which to hone. I think that, if you honestly look at the problems I bring up, you’ll realize that all I’m talking about here is tolerance. All I’m talking about here is censorship sloughed upon us by stupid men who are afraid to be disagreed with. Who think that they have some divine right to ethics and morality.
Damnit, I don’t want to hurt anyones feelings here, but we need someone to tell the truth, and sometimes that hurts.
Mom, I’m sorry you feel sorry that I believe this way, but I’ll continue to be a materialistic atheist, because thats how I was raised. I’m a Berean, Mom, just like pastor always told me to be. I’m checking the facts, and the facts don’t line up with what I used to believe. If there is a God out there, he wants me to believe the facts, not the bible, the bible was written by men, about a man, who may have been born like any other man, or maybe not. I don’t know all the details, but I do know that evidence, logic, and good reason won’t lie to me. I’ve been raised to hate only two things, Censorship, and Ignorance. “Raise a child in the way which he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Mom, I don’t hate you, if you want to believe that “Jesus was born of a virgin, and is [your] savior”, then power too you. If it helps you to live a good life, (which, as far as I’m concerned, you have), good. I don’t need to believe that anymore, but I’d die for your right to believe it.
My mantra through life has been simple, Never be censored, Never not know, and — like a boy I read about a long time ago. A man can stand up.
I’m standing on what is right, because the evidence tells me, and evidence really can’t lie. I won’t stand on anything less firm than that.
Oh, and, I love you too, mom.
