Sunday, December 7, 2008

Not wanting to offend...

Back on the atheism theme. Steve left a comment but no one else. I have had mails from friends agreeing but I know I must have upset some people who read this. I know faith is a personal thing. For me it is a poor substitute for evidence. I prefer an honest "don't know" than a fantasy answer. I do not hold all the teachings of all religon as intrinsicly wrong- just the superstitious parts. Steve has found that parts of his Catholic upbringing have given him strength even though he is not loved by the Catholic church because he is gay. My mother was raised in an ultra-protestant sect and my Dad a Catholic- because of their mixed mariage I have no contact with the Irish side of my family- when I say "mixed mariage" they are both white but my Nan thought my Mum was a proterstant whore with whome my Dad fathered bastards. Foutunately both my parents dropped the God myth when Gods servants on Earth could not accept their love. Despite their rejection of the God stuff parts of Christian thinking were very important to how they raised me- Judge not lest you be judged- Do unto others as you would have them do to you- the Sermon On the Mount rocks! All that stoning of adulteres and bans on oral sex they can shove!
I am not saying you are wrong if you do not believe the same as me- I am saying I think what you believe is in error. If it helps you make sense of this chaos then good luck to you. I would never want to impose my ideas on you but I do reserve the right to comment...

1 comment:

steve said...

At this point, I'm not sure what to believe. An angry and vengeful God, like the one the terrorists seem to follow, is a foreign concept to me. But then, so is atheism. :-)

Your post made me think long and hard about my spirituality. In the end, I find that I use my faith to "fill the gaps" in my understanding. For example, I understand how colds are spread and treated, so I don't even consider praying for a cure. BR's MS, on the other hand, has me frequently searching for a deeper meaning to the suffering it has caused. It also has me donating my available resources to help others more intelligent than I to develop a better understanding of MS in all its forms. An understanding that I hope will come in time to save BR.

In the mean time, I really want to believe that a proportional Good will come from the unprecedented darkness that now surrounds us. A beautiful symmetry to give meaning to all the pain. That belief may be in error, but it helps me cope.

None of this is meant to discourage you from expressing your views on religion, or anything else. On the contrary, I find alternate viewpoints help me better understand my own.

Take good care of yourselves, and thank you for creating a place to scream.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!