Atheism 101

Atheism 101

Occasionally I hear myself talking in my memory, and I find it embarrassing. I don’t usually mind the fact that I’m brimming with ideas and opinions and discoveries and revelations and stories. Psychologists and clinicians refer to this human trait as hypomanic, or ‘pressured talking,’ aptly describing the intensity I might be feeling, and the wide variety of tangents I may go off on. I just accept that my mind spins quickly and that I’m enthusiastic. But there are occasions, certainly, when something I’ve written or talked about generates a bit too much controversy for someone who is sometimes quite shy. Worse, there are times when I have a very strong opinion, only to change my mind radically shortly thereafter.

It’s a good cardinal rule- to know something of what you’re talking about, and I’ve said it often enough myself- refrain from commenting unless I have read the text being commented on.

But there I am, in my mind’s recap, fuming and railing against ‘God haters’ with my friend Enzo, who has asked if I’ve read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Enzo is Muslim and definitely the most learned person of religious history I’ve ever met. He has read every book ever written about every religion, give or take. Most of the books he recommends I couldn’t possibly understand. This was one of them- because in this case, I hadn’t read the book. But there I am, yammering about the poisonous anti-mystical bent of this new rash of atheism books, including God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens.

To be fair, I’ve been raised by the literalist interpretation faction of Christianity- yep, right wing fundamentalism. So the knee jerk reaction is ingrained from the start- the Bible is, after all, divinely inspired and you sure as hell don’t question God or call Him a delusion.  But I’ve come a long way, baby, and have studied enough Scripture and history and psychology and science to know women are equal and genocide is not moral even if the Old Testament says so. I’ve added my own flaky comforts from the matriarchal nature faiths and de-condemned gays and black people from hellfire. I’ve had my doubts and my traumas and my grief and my disappointments with God, but I sure as hell have never called him a delusion.

But you never know where the spirit will lead you and this past week I’ve read both books cover to cover, by chance because of the sick, foul, vile garbage spewing from the mouths of “Christians” following the Obama election- the election of Satan in the form of nigger, pussy, Jew, raghead or faggot, I heard them all, pick your own conspiracy theory. Perhaps I was naïve in the first place to be shocked at the racism, homophobia, sexism, and bigotry of Christians today, given that faith is historically the primary motivator of ‘ethnic’ cleansing and hate crimes through all of history. But as with everyone else, it’s always been convenient of my church to blame the ‘other’ religions or the “other kinds of Christians who aren’t really Christians.”

I confess that the sick spewage of these ignoramuses has led to a complete collapse of my mystical leanings, and in defiance I signed these books out of the library to see what the atheists had to say for themselves.

And much to my surprise, both books are loving, compassionate, carefully thought out, witty, and as far as I can verify, quite factual. I admit that much of the science stuff in Dawkins went over my head- I’m still somewhat convinced by ‘irreducible complexity’ which he debunks, but I can’t argue for either never having had a strong science background. I come from a church that believes in the God snapped his fingers version of creation, but I’ve always felt okay not knowing the exact nature or our origin, a position I share with nearly seven billion others, and billions more before me. I couldn’t really believe we are this diverse and interesting without a little help from above, so I suppose I’d fall into the ‘intelligent design’ category of origin beliefs. And I likely still do, as I’m just too blonde to fully grasp the minutiae of scientific processes as complex as these.

On the other hand, both books were unbelievably fascinating accounts of religion through history and Biblical interpretation from thinkers who were not trained in Biblical apologetics. Additionally, my knowledge of other religious groups is limited to my spiritual dabblings here and there, nothing intensive. Both authors give an overview of historical atrocities led by Judaism- it’s all right there in the Old Testament, raping virgins, leaving no man woman or child alive, plundering lands, stoning anyone who works on Sunday or who failed to bleed on her wedding night- Christianity, and Islam, as well as other ‘cults’ or less populated, or obsolete faiths. I’ve always believed that humans love to kill and that we would find a way to war regardless of calling it holy or not, but the record shows something that might convince me otherwise- almost all ‘racism’ is actually ‘your God is wrong and mine is right.’

The fact remains, of course, that we don’t need to be atheist to reject the human interpretations of faith. But that leaves the question- from whom shall we then learn our experience of the divine? I’ve always felt that God is a sort of ‘sum of all parts,’ the whole, if you will, of universal experience. I’ve long left the fold that claims starving Hindu children in India are roasting in the pits of hell because they are godless. I believe that creativity is the reflection of God, that our unique talents and gifts reflect the spiritual. Is this just my personal mumbo jumbo, a cop out because I don’t want to believe I’ll never see my dead loved ones again?

After reading both books with an open mind, I have to give some credence to what I know deep inside anyhow: that religion may be universal, in whole or in part, because it is simply human nature to make sense out of what they don’t fully understand- that’s a no-brainer; we even call it the mystery or the mystical or the sacred, which mean exactly that, and of course, the other no brainer: religion as social control by men in power. Hence, the hatred of other cultures, of women, by the leaders of faith through the ages.

Despite our popular contention that humanity would go haywire with sin without God, both authors argue effectively that religion is the CAUSE of human immorality, including racism, murder, and sexual obsession. Those of you of any kind of faith, even you witchy new agers- have just recoiled from this statement, as did I before examining the evidence. You can’t argue with evidence, and the facts are truly disheartening when put into perspective. The perspective was unique, for a change, not because the authors were godbashing, but because they were making their arguments without emotion for one particular ‘side’ or faith. Each and every faith makes this argument- that OTHER religions cause immorality. That I had never made that connection when reading apologetics and philosophy is an embarrassment to my intellect that I’ve thankfully rectified.

But is that ALL God is? I’m still not convinced. Do I now take at face value the idea that we are not remotely spiritual beings? Of course not. I doubt I’ll ever claim to know exactly how we arrived here and what our presence means. And it isn’t these books that have opened my heart to seek knowledge of the origins of hatred and bigotry- it was those awful Christian bigmouths talking about how the new President should die along with all those abominable homos. The direct result of their actions was for me to search history for Christians who showed love- and while I found a few individuals and some group efforts, for the most part, I found nothing in the message bringers but genocide, punishment, torture, burning, raping, looting, vandalism, oppression, and repression.

I can no longer shy away from truth just because I don’t like it, and the truth is this: despite popular claims to the contrary, belief in God does not prevent people from moral atrocity. Indeed, it’s the other way around.

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Lorette C. Luzajic