Journey to Agnosticism
I was fairly religious growing up. It felt good knowing there was someone (God) whom I could turn to when I had a problem. I didn't believe everything preachers told me, nor did I take the Bible literally. I had religion in moderation, and it was a Good Thing™ for me at the time.
As I grew older and expanded my knowledge about science, history, and religion, I began to get frustrated with the common interpretations of the Bible. Be good to one another, except homosexuals, whom you should kill, except thou shalt not kill, which is supposed to be translated as "murder", which alters the entire meaning of the commandment. If we can't even get the most well-known commandment right, what else was lost in the translation? I didn't think strict, literal interpretations of a poorly translated book could really send the original, intended message.
I started questioning everything about what I had been taught. My journey to agnosticism began, and it was a scary trip. As my belief in God shifted to a more flexible belief, I began to get paranoid. Occasionally, I was scared to drive, thinking that if there were a god, he might get angry at my lack of belief and run me off the road.
Eventually, that fear retreated, and I was left with a more enlightened (yeah, I said it) view of the world. The emotions I felt during my journey made me realize that I was recovering from being brainwashed. My parents never pushed me into religion, but the mind of a child is very susceptable to influences. If you're told that God exists enough times, you tend to believe it without thinking. It becomes fundamental to your thoughts.
Occasionally, I watch religion channels to identify their tactics. Evangelists are great speakers who use vocal dynamics to produce an almost hypnotic effect, which makes it easy to get caught up in the experience. Elaborate studio sets surround them and make me wonder why they chose to spend money on all that glitter instead of something directly meaningful and worthwhile. Biblical "historians" try to use pseudo-science to explain how real science is misleading us. For people who cannot or do not want to think for themselves, I can see how they trust what is presented to them on a cable channel.
One day, I listened to a radio-broadcasted church service. The speaker was basically saying that if you question the creation story in the Bible, then you're permitting yourself to question other things in the Bible. Eventually, you may question everything. His conclusion was to believe everything in the bible word-for-word. Using the same permises he established, my conclusion was to believe none of the Bible.
Though religion disappoints and sometimes amuses me, I don't think it should be eliminated. Religion is a means of spreading moral views, which are needed in a society. Religion gives us a sense of purpose and belonging. Religion reassures us during hard times that things will get better.
From my perspective, if a person is doing fine in life, helping society and those around him, and generally making the world a better place, why make him conform to a specific religious belief? That's like having firm political views and being forced to change them just to be Democrat or Republican. Religion is good for those who have trouble finding their own beliefs, but religion isn't necessary for everyone.
Content updated: 06 Jul 2004