I follow another blogger - Gary - (http://www.lutherwasnotbornagain.com/) and as I understand he was pretty close to a fundamental believer - or orthodox, if there is any real difference - which I imagine to followers/believers of a faith know as "orthodox" would probably take it as an insult that I equate the two beliefs as virtually synonymous. I'm sure there are differences - but to me, an outsider from all aspects even when i held beliefs in a deity, I don't see too much "wiggle room" between the fundamental and orthodox dogmas. I just don't - when I held belief, I found them equally harsh, strict and overbearing ... inflexibly rigid and unyielding to any other viewpoints or concepts/interpretations. So as a non-believer - well ... they are still as I stated.
So I found it quirky that an orthodox believer would call another former orthodox believer a "fundamentalist" as an ad hominim attack. There's quite the smack down going on over at Gary's blog. And Gary is holding strong to his new found non-belief.
See, Gary states on his blog that his blog is a form of therapy and though he is trying to spread his new found truth, he is also going through the process of purging all the insidious religious mumbo jumbo that was instilled into his mind and life while double checking which parts are based on fact and which are based on fantasy/religion. I know this very feeling - the need to re-verify the very things we used as a foundation for our entire lives. We need to relearn and re-justify EVERYTHING. So it somewhat angers me when his readers (many of them still orthodox/fundamental believers) attack his very person - what's worse is they use his very former orthodox/fundamentalism against him.
So it was okay for him to be a orthodox/fundamentalist as long as he believed, but now that he has lost his faith and no longer believes, his orthodox/fundamentalism is now a detriment!?!?
Well isn't THAT a dandy?!?
Or would that be the pot calling the kettle "Black"?
Point is - this religion stuff is rooted deep and it hides deep deep inside us. It's been molded into our very core foundation since birth for most of us - overtly and covertly. Sometimes with the express purpose to get and keep us on the god team and other times in very subtle, imperceptible ways - such as with our money and our (US) pledge of allegiance.
I generally "came out" as an atheist a couple years ago - it was a very slow very gradual process of the balance of evidence being recognized to show that the world and uni/multiverse are a natural process that has no hint of divine assistance to being what it is. But what really strikes me is all the little tidbits that are instilled in most people - even those who never proclaimed faith in any religion/deity - with a constant, consistent and relentless barrage.
These little bits must constantly be identified, assessed, verified and justified and if found to be based on theology rejected ... or new secular supporting evidence must be found to ground these items on logic, fact and rationale. But it's not as easy as all that - because each bit has other bits built on top of them ... and like a game of Jenga - the whole shebang could come crashing down when you pull out the now unsupported and unsubstantiated bit.
I often find myself in the middle of a conversation and just as I say something I realize that "oops" there's a bit that is founded and based on religion - it has a tendency to derail my point right there on the spot. This is hard stuff! It's no wonder many people - wittingly or not - just give complete buy in to their theology to avoid the headache and hassle. But in reality - it's completely dishonest to one's self to simply say "god did it".
As I watch and read Gary's progression - I can see often where he really wishes the veil had never been removed to reveal the truth about religion - and it's clear why so many don't want to face the hassle. I don't recall the specific moment when Gary was on Bruce Gerencser's (a former baptist preacher turned atheist) blog and had that "AHA" moment (or if it was even through dialogue on that blog) ... you see, I first saw Gary there debating FOR theology ... and then the light bulb went on and the right question finally forced him to question the house of cards of his theology that his life was built on. From there it's been a difficult road of revealing and relearning everything - it's that kick in the groin a kid gets when he learns his parents are really Santa Claus - that heavy can't breathe feeling.
It's hard work to get at the truth and rooting out the falsehoods - it's important to let people do so in a way that helps them come to an understanding with the (provisional) truth of the uni/multiverse. Although I was never indoctrinated to the level of Gary or the multitude of others, this is a hard, long laborious and time consuming venture - but the journey is worth it. An although not all questions are answered, it's kind of cool to be able to say "I don't know" with confidence that one day a real and plausible NATURAL answer will be found without the need to resort to the dark mystique of supernatural magic and the whims of "unknowable" deities.
No comments:
Post a Comment