Cult indoctrination practices

AA Cult

Branch Davidians

Religion in the Media

Personal Experiences

Discourse on Good and Evil

Q&A
 

With the exception of some dabbling with “Wiccan” beliefs as a teenager I have been an Atheist from the time that I was old enough to ask my father what God was, and he told me that their wasn’t one.  But even as a teenager, when curiosity and doubt drove me to occasionally seek some type of faith, I have never been able to see the logic in or feel the comfort many find in faith.  I have never been able to believe in, or even accept the possibility of, any type of higher power. 

During those years, I nurtured a passing interest in the Bible and the beliefs of its followers.  Over time, that passing interest became a thirst for knowledge and understanding.  I became more and more interested in what the Bible said as opposed to what people believed it said.  The more I read the Bible, the more I realized that it often did not say what people thought.  The more I searched for historical evidence to back up the stories it told, the more I recognized it as a collection of the myths, legends and fables of other belief systems. 

Living outside of religion, I feel that it is not possible to truly understand a particular faith in the same way that devout Catholic or dedicated Buddhist can.  It is possible to understand the origins of the rituals and beliefs; however, the faith displayed by the true believer is beyond the understanding of an outsider.  It must be believed in and lived as a way of life to fully understand.

How can a Zen Buddhist truly understand the belief that God sacrificed the life of his only son for the good of all mankind, when his own belief rejects the existence of a higher power? 

How can a Christian truly understand the Aztec preoccupation with ritual human sacrifice when one of the basic tenants of Christianity is “Thou shalt not kill”? 

How can the evangelical Baptist understand the total rejection of God and the Bible that the Atheist displays when his life is dedicated to spreading the Word of God? 

The Atheist can certainly understand the unshakable of faith a believer; his rejection of God is just as strong.  However, how can he fully grasp just what that faith means when he sees no justification for it?

 It is also nearly impossible for a truly faithful follower of a religion to be critically objective of another belief system.  The ardent faith displayed by an individual is often too great for them to see past their own belief system.

 As an Atheist, I have experienced the lack of objectivity first hand.  Other than my own personal search for knowledge, my other major contact with religion has been defending my own beliefs against those who wish to convert or “save” me.  In most cases, the person can not see past their own personal beliefs.  They fail to recognize that the truth in the matter is really that each individual has their own personal beliefs that are just as right (or just as wrong) as the next person. 

On the other hand, the follower with a touch of doubt can be objective, because of that doubt.  The doubt opens the individual up to the possibility of other truths, and opens avenues that otherwise would remain closed.  Where the entirely faithful individual can not see past their own beliefs, the doubter can see where there might be a flaw in the reasoning.  Objectivity almost requires doubt, in that to be objective one must accept the possibility of being wrong in the first place.

Objectivity can not come until the individual can recognize that “truth” may not be a black and white issue.  It can come in many personalized forms.  The individual must recognize that no particular church has the entire “truth”, however each individual member of that church does. 

In order to be objective, the individual must be able to put their preconceived world-views behind them.  If they can not accept that someone else might be right, they will not even consider that they themselves could be wrong.