This is just a thought I want to get out. And I am going to try to be brief, because I don’t feel like extending this. (Update: In the end, I wasn’t brief at all.)
I am angry. Oh yes, VERY angry. Not at you, don’t worry! And not at myself, I assure you. I was burning in anger this morning for the atheists who blame religious people for trying to convert the rest of the world to their own religion; yet, these atheists don’t do a very different thing. They describe religious people as idiotic, stupid, ignorant, etc. There is a sort of… hate. Just to clarify, I am not talking about ALL atheists. I am talking about that particular type. Because, you see… How do I explain this?
We know that many religious people are fanatics. Fanatics believe in whatever their belief is without even questioning it. Very often, this fanaticism (Bad spelling? Let me know!) turns into an obsession to seek for those who don’t believe, and convert them; convince them that their way is THE right way. That obsession can become brutal. It can kill, even provoke wars, and destroy nations. We’ve seen that happen over and over again since the beginning of civilization. But you know that story (at least I hope you do), and I don’t pretend to discuss this thing about “religion is evil”. Religion isn’t evil. It’s the people who become too obsessed with it who may be considered “evil”.
Now, let’s analyze these atheists. They can’t understand how a religious person can believe in something without even asking himself or herself why. Sure, I find it hard to understand, too. And, personally, I am not a religious person; but I used to. I was almost a fanatic, and was often described as too “old-fashioned”. My logic was, “If this is what I was taught; if this is the way things are supposed to be; if this is the RIGHT way to live… Then I have to follow it… Right?” And that was enough… for some time. But then I kept growing and learning new things… And the questions that I had since I was very small, but that I suppressed from asking for respect to my religion, such as: “What does ‘existence’ mean?”, “What would there be instead of existence? And thus, what is ‘nothing’?”, “If God created us, then who created HIM?”; I began to ask myself those questions again. I couple of times I tried to stay away from religion, but always came back, because I felt as if I was betraying God. And about a year and half ago, I decided that, if I had so much doubt, and what I was told in church wasn’t enough to make me happy, then I had to quit, or I’d become an hypocrite, like so many are, and disrespect this belief and the people who follow it, by considering myself one of them, knowing that, inside me, I could not believe in any of it. And that’s what I did. I quit religion, even though I DO believe in God; just not in the same way that they do. I think I feel better with myself in that aspect. My mother and brother don’t understand me, though; and they’ve come to believe that now I am an atheist. Well, I am not. But returning to the subject of this paragraph, I want to ask this question. Let’s say that you’re an atheist who used to be Christian or from any other religion. Obviously, you quit. Why did you quit? Most likely, because you weren’t satisfied with the teachings of that religion, right? You felt incomplete, and you were full of doubts. You wanted to find concrete answers to your questions; answers that could be proven before your eyes. Science answers many questions through the scientific method. Theories, research, statistics, whatever. When a question is asked, Science tries to answer it its way. And very often, it does… and in very convincing ways. But not always, of course. Doesn’t religion do the same? It looks for answers to questions that humanity can’t help but ask, and answers them according to whatever their way to view the world is. We tend to call them myths. And all those “myths” are based on something real. You’ll find that many religions share similar stories and concepts, each time told and explained in a different way that supports their beliefs. But religion can’t always answer the questions either. So in the end, we come to the same point: all our questions might never be answered. Humanity will have to continue asking them, and hoping that, someday, they’ll find what they’ve searched for. To some of us, the answers that our religion provides are sufficient. We feel realized. We can live happy lives with them, and we don’t feel the need to ask anything else. Because, why worry about what seems to be clear for us, if we’re content with it? But others, like me, will never stop having questions. And religion doesn’t complete us, so we search somewhere else.
So, to those atheists who bash religious people and hate them so much, ask each of yourselves, why are you atheist? Aren’t you being a fanatic like those you so much hate? And, by hating religious people, don’t you think you’re doing the same thing you say they do to non-believers? Aren’t you disrespecting their ways of life by thinking like that? Are they really so stupid and ignorant for not having the need that you have… Read more of Fanaticism (or Fanatism).
Are any of you still around?
