Religion, Politics, and the Great Pumpkin
If you haven't checked out the Metz-Yarbrough fight on channel 2, you're missing out on a lot of action.
Over the last year I've come to doubt my faith in God, not because I've had some sort of tragedy in my life, but mostly because I think I've become so educated in a short amount of time. That sounds kind of NPR elitist, but I think that's true... taking AP US History, AP Physics, and AP Bio has given me a much greater understanding of my world. Most of all I've learned the truth of cause-and-effect... that everything happens as a result of something else. I think it was a concept I always took for granted. But now that it's got my brain in its clutches, it pervades my understanding of everything. Including religion.
Through logic and reason, I think it's easier to disprove the existence of a God than to prove it. Through one way or the other, I'd come to the conclusion that God probably doesn't exist (I'm not going to go into details, but they extend far beyond biblical contradictions). I think a lot of us have reached the same conclusion, and we're reacting to it in very different ways. Ian, who was raised in a Catholic lifestyle, is having a hard time integrating it into his outlook, I think. By contrast, Chase, who was raised in a very liberal envrionment where two parents have different faiths, is feeling very liberated by his atheism.
I tend to feel the same way as Ian. I think it's very hard to handle a paradigm shift like the loss of religion. As a result, when someone like Chase seems to revel in crushing a belief that, up until a little while ago, seemed so right and fair and true... well, we can get a little nervous, or even threatened. As Robert Pirsig says, people will fight most dearly for the beliefs that, deep down, they know are false, in order to maintain some semblance of familiar reality. Especially when some of us have seen the good things that religion can do. I think if you say that religion is overall a harmful institution, you're either not looking at the whole picture or you're extremely biased. At its core, I believe religion is a very positive thing, a thing which produces positive effects in most people. Sometimes, yes, groups like the Muslim Shiites or people like Jerry Falwell can produce negative effects on society. But even if you look at the history of the Catholic church, an institution under the closest scrutiny today, you'll find that the majority of its leaders have been very pious, pure individuals. The people who go to my church are flawed, obnoxious, sinful people, but all have a common goal to do good in life.
And even when I believe religion is a good thing, I can't believe in it. That's what I meant when I blogged a while ago about knowing too much. I do know too much, about the world, about people, to know in my heart that God doesn't exist. I begrudginly accept atheism, I am not empowered by it. My uncle told me this story while he was here, because he reads my blog: during high school, he refused to go to church anymore. Every sunday, his family would walk out the door without him, and my grandmother would say, "I really wish you'd come with us." Instead of comforting me, that story just saddened me. I feel less liberated as an atheist than as a Christian.
I don't think I've really given up on God yet.... Kristen and Chase can be atheists because that's their natural state. I'm too romantic to be one. I told Kristen once, "I have too much of an imagination not to believe in God." That's the truth. If there's one side of me that can still believe in God, it's the portion of my brain that delights in Lord of the Rings and horror books and Halloween and Christmas music. I can't live like Felix Hoenikker, even though I can agree with his outlook perfectly. I think I might choose to believe in something that I know to be false. And that's faith, isn't it? In its purest form?
And don't start inviting me to FCA or Student Venture, either. My idea of reaching a higher plane of understanding of God is not sitting around a kid in a Jesus shirt playing Third Day songs on a guitar. It's ridiculous that modern Christianity forces that kind of culture on its youth. It's an option, but it's not the only way to "worship." I want the AP course. I'm more apt to be studying theology late into the night, or practicing self-discipline like John in Brave New World. Talk to Hank Gurley sometime. He makes a great intellectual stand for Catholicism.
Whew. That took it out of me. Sorry, Mindinator.
If you haven't checked out the Metz-Yarbrough fight on channel 2, you're missing out on a lot of action.
Over the last year I've come to doubt my faith in God, not because I've had some sort of tragedy in my life, but mostly because I think I've become so educated in a short amount of time. That sounds kind of NPR elitist, but I think that's true... taking AP US History, AP Physics, and AP Bio has given me a much greater understanding of my world. Most of all I've learned the truth of cause-and-effect... that everything happens as a result of something else. I think it was a concept I always took for granted. But now that it's got my brain in its clutches, it pervades my understanding of everything. Including religion.
Through logic and reason, I think it's easier to disprove the existence of a God than to prove it. Through one way or the other, I'd come to the conclusion that God probably doesn't exist (I'm not going to go into details, but they extend far beyond biblical contradictions). I think a lot of us have reached the same conclusion, and we're reacting to it in very different ways. Ian, who was raised in a Catholic lifestyle, is having a hard time integrating it into his outlook, I think. By contrast, Chase, who was raised in a very liberal envrionment where two parents have different faiths, is feeling very liberated by his atheism.
I tend to feel the same way as Ian. I think it's very hard to handle a paradigm shift like the loss of religion. As a result, when someone like Chase seems to revel in crushing a belief that, up until a little while ago, seemed so right and fair and true... well, we can get a little nervous, or even threatened. As Robert Pirsig says, people will fight most dearly for the beliefs that, deep down, they know are false, in order to maintain some semblance of familiar reality. Especially when some of us have seen the good things that religion can do. I think if you say that religion is overall a harmful institution, you're either not looking at the whole picture or you're extremely biased. At its core, I believe religion is a very positive thing, a thing which produces positive effects in most people. Sometimes, yes, groups like the Muslim Shiites or people like Jerry Falwell can produce negative effects on society. But even if you look at the history of the Catholic church, an institution under the closest scrutiny today, you'll find that the majority of its leaders have been very pious, pure individuals. The people who go to my church are flawed, obnoxious, sinful people, but all have a common goal to do good in life.
And even when I believe religion is a good thing, I can't believe in it. That's what I meant when I blogged a while ago about knowing too much. I do know too much, about the world, about people, to know in my heart that God doesn't exist. I begrudginly accept atheism, I am not empowered by it. My uncle told me this story while he was here, because he reads my blog: during high school, he refused to go to church anymore. Every sunday, his family would walk out the door without him, and my grandmother would say, "I really wish you'd come with us." Instead of comforting me, that story just saddened me. I feel less liberated as an atheist than as a Christian.
I don't think I've really given up on God yet.... Kristen and Chase can be atheists because that's their natural state. I'm too romantic to be one. I told Kristen once, "I have too much of an imagination not to believe in God." That's the truth. If there's one side of me that can still believe in God, it's the portion of my brain that delights in Lord of the Rings and horror books and Halloween and Christmas music. I can't live like Felix Hoenikker, even though I can agree with his outlook perfectly. I think I might choose to believe in something that I know to be false. And that's faith, isn't it? In its purest form?
And don't start inviting me to FCA or Student Venture, either. My idea of reaching a higher plane of understanding of God is not sitting around a kid in a Jesus shirt playing Third Day songs on a guitar. It's ridiculous that modern Christianity forces that kind of culture on its youth. It's an option, but it's not the only way to "worship." I want the AP course. I'm more apt to be studying theology late into the night, or practicing self-discipline like John in Brave New World. Talk to Hank Gurley sometime. He makes a great intellectual stand for Catholicism.
Whew. That took it out of me. Sorry, Mindinator.
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