September 3, 2007

Free of faith's false promise

Being cognizant that death awaits, religionists believe that life has a purpose, and that purpose is directed by God. The Presbyterians call this phenomenon predestination. This is a uniqueness I find difficult to accept, either in a God-given or evolutionistic sense. Accepting that man has a predetermined destination would mean being persuaded that the Earth's thousands upon thousands of living creatures are equally born for a purpose.

Believers confront me with what if. "What if you do come before God and face his judgment?" My response, "What if there is no afterlife?" It's ironic that so many believers associate what if in terms of death, but not life. What if one gives up the fullness of life while pondering on death? Life is not a dress rehearsal.

...

Remove the emotional crutch of religion, and humans will free themselves of the innumerable dogmas that hinder honest evaluation of such subjects as abortion, politics or homosexuality. One no longer has to live a life of hypocrisy; feigning piety one hour a week and true to secularism the remaining hours.

A young seminary student solemnly suggested that in my heart, somewhere down in its deep recesses, I'm truly aware of God's existence.

I replied that my heart doesn't know a thing; it's merely a muscle. It's my brain, that piece of gray matter that gives me the ability to separate rationality from irrationality, that tells me just because billions believe in a supreme being, merely believing does not make it truth. Or, as Thoreau philosophized, "If, in my mind, I am correct in my thinking, then even if the rest of the world disagrees with me, I am not a minority, but a majority of one."


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