My Statement of (Non)Belief
(or, Why I Don’t Believe What I Don’t Believe)
I was recently asked by Zhoen to explain why I went from a Fundamentalist, Bible-thumpin’ Christian to a “non-believer.” The answer is simple, yet complex. I could simply say that one day “I started thinking,” but using that phrase would just annoy a lot of people. But basically, that’s what it comes down to. I started thinking about the Bible and religions and came to the conclusion that it was all wrong.
Or let me explain it this way: Imagine you’re back in school, sitting in a math or science class. The teacher is explaining a theorem that’s new to you. You’re sitting there taking notes and following along. A smile comes across your face because you actually “get” what the teacher is saying. Then, as the lecture goes on, your smile begins to fade and suddenly what once made sense to you doesn’t. You sit there trying to figure it out, but it just won’t make sense. That’s religion and me.
So, to explain further, I guess I shall start in the beginning.
“In The Beginning.”
“In the Beginning God” preachers love to quote. The word “God” is used 30 times in the first chapter of the Bible. So, according to the Bible, God created everything. Fine. Who created God? (You know this argument, I’m sure.) Well, they say, God is everlasting. But we humans can’t grasp eternity. And this argument goes on and on. All reason (for most) stops at “In the Beginning God.” Nothing more has to be said. No more inquiries. No more thinking. It’s settled. (And this is why I fear “Intelligent Design” being taught as science in classrooms.)
Now you’re probably thinking that I subscribe to the Big Bang Theory. No, I don’t. The concept that something really tiny, in the vacuum of… what? suddenly expands and fills up what we call the universe? That doesn’t make sense to me either. It makes as much sense to me as an infinite being yelling out “Lights!” and creating everything.
Me, I subscribe to a third theory. I don’t know what it is, though. But they’re all theories. That’s all they can ever be.
I will not pick apart the Old Testament and explain verse by verse what’s wrong with it. (Like fire and sulfur coming down on Sodom and Gomorrah. Tower of Babel. Jonah. Earth standing still for a day. [I do believe that would tear up the Earth. But that’s science talking.])
One summer during my high school days, I was hiking through the Bendelier National Park in New Mexico with my aunt. We were collecting fossils. Now, New Mexico has been land-locked for tens of thousands of years. More likely hundreds of thousands of years. Yet, I have fossils from there. Christians say that they’re from the Great Flood. But I don’t buy that line of reasoning. It takes special conditions to create fossils. And even if it rained for 40 days and nights, how did so many clams get up there? I’m pretty sure they weren’t indigenous to New Mexico six thousand years ago? Then they say that God put them (fossils) there. But I’ll get to that later.
There are lots of stories that we’re told are true that just couldn’t possibly be. I find that unsettling.
The Bible Tells Me So
The Bible and most religions that use a “sacred text” fall under what I call the Fargo Principle. The movie “Fargo” has, at the beginning, has a disclaimer that says that the movie you are about to watch is based on a true story. But in reality it isn’t. (At least according to everything I’ve read on it.) But the movie says it’s true, so you watch it with that mindset. Religions are the same.
The Bible says it’s true. (I believe it’s in a Psalm, but if you know the book/chapter/verse, I’d appreciate knowing it.) Therefore it’s hard to argue with people whose basis for truth is something saying it is. (I know of someone who says he has an invisible Pink Elephant (or dragon?) in his garage. He says it’s true. How can I argue with that?
Now this isn’t just a Judeo/Christian method either. The Qur’an was given to Muhammad through Divine Revelations. The Mormon Church began after Joseph Smith had that chat with an Angel. Siddhattha Gotama achieved enlightenment/nirvana. Charles Taze Russell just rewrote the Bible into his New World Bible that the Jehovah’s Witnesses use.
So by saying a work was divinely inspired, it makes it true, no matter how far-fetched the writing in it is. It comes down to a bumper sticker: “God Says It, I Believe It, That Settles It.”
Time to Vote on the Will of God
The Bible was put together by a committee. Of course, they said they were inspired. (Can’t argue with that now, can we?) And if you know anything about committees, you know the processes.
Church leaders got together. They were a varying bunch, with different thoughts on Christianity, different ways to approach it. They got into a room, looked at the manuscripts, and said that one was truly the Word of God, but that one wasn’t.
Thus was born our Bible.
I however really doubt it was that simple.
James Madison, one of America’s Founding Fathers, wrote the “Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787.” It described the process of creating our Constitution. (It really is must reading for any American.)
And it wasn’t a pretty sight. They could have put a banner over the door that read: We Agree to Disagree. No one agreed completely with anyone else. And the finished document, our Constitution, didn’t look like it came from one person.
I had a cartoon I cut out of Leadership Magazine (for Christian ministers) that had two people on each side of a table and one man standing. The caption read (I’m paraphrasing, since I no longer have it): That’s three votes for, and two votes against. Any more comments on the Will of God?”
Like the creation of our Bible.
A bunch of men with different view interpreting God’s will. And we have to take their word that they were not biased. They got together, put together our Bible, but left a lot of works out. Works that didn’t conform to their views.
All the gospels were written years after Jesus’ crucifixion. Someone told someone who told someone who wrote it down. (And I’m sure a lot of it was embellished.) Then someone rewrote what was written, ad nauseam. What we know for sure is that a man in the early First Century started this new cult (using a term that was used at the time) that spread throughout the Roman Empire. That’s it. Anything written about him was written after the fact. (And, yes, there was a Jesus. Yes, he made some people upset. Whether he was crucified or not is up for debate.)
Faith of a Mustard Seed
We’re told that in order to go to heaven, one must have faith in Jesus/God. Yet, we live on a planet that has so much going against faith in the Bible. But I’m supposed to put aside logic, believe that the Earth is only about seven thousand years old, and that humans came from dust. Plus, God came to earth, born of a Virgin, and died for us.
And if you don’t belive that, you get to go to Hell.
(Yes, it’s a bit simplified, but the basic construct is accurate.)
And this God is all Good. (Except for the Old Testament, when he’s not.)
I’ve already mentioned fossil hunting in New Mexico, so I’ll go west. The Grand Canyon is a marvelous sight. Over millions of years, water has cut into the ground to give us proof that the earth is well over seven thousands of years old. You can see it in the cliff walls; the lines that show the passage of time, much like the rings in trees. Years that were dry, years of rain, of volcanic activity. It shows how the Earth’s plates shifted. It truly is a marvel.
But we’re told that God made it that way. And if you don’t believe that (and other things) you go to Hell.
I’m sorry, but I refuse to believe that the Earth is only seven thousand years old. (And that whole Jesus is the Son of God thing.) I have a brain, and I can use logic.
“But God put all that there to test our faith?” What kind of an insecure All-Powerful, All-Omnipotent Creator needs to test us? I think anyone who uses logic alone to see that the Earth is billions of years old should get a “Get out of Hell Free” card, get to pass go, and still collect $200.
Any God who plays mind games with his creatures is Evil. Especially when the consequence is Eternal Damnation.
Onward Christian Soldier
Every religion has its bad apples.
And they reflect on every member of that religion.
Even Buddhists. There’s a militant faction of them in Asia who would kill. Doesn’t sound right, does it? But there are Christians who would kill, too.
And lots of other Christians support it.
Take those that bomb abortion clinics. Those that do have no problem if a doctor who performs abortions die. God, you know, would support that. Yet I don’t hear a huge outcry against it. Then you have mass murderers. Most profess a belief in Christianity. Or child molesters. Besides the Catholic Church, many are nice, normal folks who are happily married, with kids, Boy Scout leaders, etc. And they go to church every Sunday. Where’s the outcry?
Then you folks like Fred Phelps, who goes around with this zealots with pronouncements of anti-gay blather and protests at funerals funerals! of people who died of AIDS. Where’s the outcry against this bigotry?
Or let’s take Muslims. In the May 16, 2005 issue of Government Computer News, in the article entitled “The Invisible War on Terrorism,” on page 10, column 5, second paragraph, it says:
”With approximately 1.5 billion Muslims in the world (only about 20 percent of them Arabs), Kharoba [anti-terrorism expert] throws out an estimate that perhaps 10 percent of the total, or 150 million people, sympathize with Islamist terrorists. Of that group, maybe 1 or 2 percent will actually take action. That means there are between 15 million and 30 million individuals willing to commit acts of terror.”
All in the name of religion.
Now, most religionists are nice, normal folks. They raise their kids the best they can, go to church, and live their lives. But I don’t hear any outcries from normal folks against these people who are perverting their religion. And that bothers me.
One Nation Under God
“America is a Christian Nation.” We’ve heard it. People say that our Founding Fathers based our Republic on Christian Principles. Of course, that’s not true. (Do your homework.) It sounds nice, but it’s not accurate.
A lot of the Christianizing of America happened in the 1950s. It was during the McCarthy era, where everyone but him and his friends were communists. And in order to separate America for Communists, they added things like “In God We Trust” and “One Nation Under God” to somehow make us Christian. But our Founding Fathers, recently (comparatively) off the boat from a Church of England country, knew that a theocracy our country couldn’t be. (And, even though “We’re endowed by our creator,” it doesn’t say which one, or that creator should be the basis for government.)
Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, it seems we are trying to rewrite history and bring God into our legislative halls. And that’s not good for anyone. Ask Ancient Rome.
Rome thrived for centuries. It was an Empire that was constantly growing, and held great influence in the world. But as all great Empires do, it fell. And not, as the old cliché goes, in a day.
Now, why did Rome fall? A lot of people would say, especially in today’s culture, that it fell because of its pagan beliefs and its rampant immorality, including homosexuality. And if you say that, you’d be wrong.
It thrived during its pagan days. It expanded and grew and influenced the world during that time.
It fell after Christianity became its state religion. But Christianity didn’t make it fall. It fell because of plague and invaders. (The Roman Empire was spread so far it couldn’t defend itself from invaders.) Sound like anything going on today?
My point: religion shouldn’t be the basis for government. Christianity didn’t save Rome; it will not save America.
Amen
I find the Bible to be an interesting book. Full of fanciful stories, intriguing people, and wondrous places. I don’t believe, however, that it’s gospel.
And by saying that, I’m labeled as either an atheist, or heretic, or both. Now, I’ll grant you the heretic label. And I wouldn’t quite call me an atheist, either. (Now you’ll put me in the agnostic camp.) I don’t believe we can know. And I don’t think it’s important, either. But maybe that’s just the Taoist in me talking.
Let me end by saying this isn’t written to dissuade anyone from believing his or her own religion. In fact, I really don’t have a problem with religion, unless it’s being forced upon me. Anyone is free to believe what they want. Including me. This is still the America of our Founding Fathers (isn’t it?) As such, I don’t want religionists telling me who I can or can’t sleep with, what I can or can’t read, what I can or can’t write.
And with these so-called Dominionists like James Dobson or Tony Perkins my freedom (and yours) may be short-lived indeed.
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June 9, 2005 at 3:36am.
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