Hello L,
>I just wonder if you realize what an emotionally
>charged issue it is –especially for people-pleasing types
Giving up something you have believed all your life can affect you
not only emotionally but also physically — recent neural research shows
that intellectual activity (including beliefs) and emotions are intimately linked
in the brain, so has an affect on the rest of the body.
One member of the Islam cult was extremely agitated (e-mails)
about my comments about the Qu’ran and Mohammed on my web site —
I don’t know if he became physically sick over it.
Because the vast majority of people’s happiness depends on the supernatural
is one reason I try to avoid discussing religion with them; unless, of course,
they insist or try to impose their values on the rest of us.
So, my web site on Humanism is directed at encouraging and helping people
that are in the process of leaving their religion to make them more confident
in their struggle to “walk away”.
It is not directed at people that are happy in their beliefs.
I would have benefited from a site like this in my earlier years.
One recent e-mailer sent me the this
“When you mention that your concern
is for people leaving their religion. I
recall one of my colleagues at Douglas College
mentioning that when
students at the liberal theological seminary had their ‘simple’ faith
called into question they would sometimes be literally sick and throw up.
I
don’t suppose your experience was quite that dramatic.”
>I’m sure you realize that most Christian’s would
>consider you either resistent to “the good news”,
>rebellious, or just ‘evil’.
Not just Christians — Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, etc. etc. You are right-on.
All religious and New Age groups say exactly this —
of course, each likely says the same about each other.
>I wonder if it was a difficult decision for you to reject
>any type of organized religion, or if you happen to have
>never been involved in one or influenced by those who
>were?
I was deeply involved in the Mennonite Brethren Church in my youth.
In my earlier adult life (I am now 61) I became less involved in a Baptist church,
followed by the United Church of Canada.
For me it started with some doubts
about what we were told to be true in Sunday School and Church, that conflicted
with what my Bible said. However this didn’t keep me from believing the
whole “ball of wax”. People like Billy Graham were a great influence on my early religious beliefs.
I was fortunate to be educated in Science (especially University Physics and Math,
but also a few courses in Geology, Chemistry and Biology).
This is when the Bible began to make less and less sense to me.
Investigating other religions and New Age beliefs I found again they did not
make sense in the light of science.
My eventual conclusion Science and religion are in deep conflict.
Science is atheistic in that it denies the existence of the supernatural realm
or of supernatural entities, except in people’s imaginations —
that only the natural exists — with the greatest success in seeking what is
truth and what is reality. Religion and New Age, on the other hand,
assume the existence of the supernatural and base most of their beliefs on this realm
— with no progress in finding truth or finding what is real.
Science made it much easier for me to slowly walk away from my earlier, naive beliefs.
For a long time I thought I was almost alone in my doubts.
Now you can access the thoughts of many great people that have similar views
— on the Internet. On my site I have listed a number of them.
The first one that I read was Thomas Paine that I downloaded from a Quaker site.
Some others are Robert Ingersoll, C. Dennis McKinsey, Dan Barker,
Pat Hutcheon, Farrell Till and others listed on the Homepage.
Sorry for being so long winded. Enjoy this wonderful day,
Hooge
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