I just finished watching President Obama's 2009 Inaugural Address. There was a particular statement that was made that affected me. He stated, "For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus." There was a pause. I held my breath in hope, but expected to be disappointed. Then he added this, "and non-believers."
Thank you President Obama. Thank you so much.
We, as non-believers, are so often left out, cast by the wayside. So often the concept of "freedom of religion" is taken to mean the freedom to believe in any religion but fails to include those who do not believe in any religion. Contrast the above comment with a selection of excerpts from what former (and future) presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, said in his famous speech regarding religion.
Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom... Any believer in religious freedom, any person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty, has a friend and ally in me... We should acknowledge the Creator as did the Founders.As a side-note, Romney quotes John Adams a couple times. This is the same man who said such memorable things as "This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it." And who can forget, “The government of the United States is not in any sense founded upon the Christian religion.” So much for the founding fathers all being Christians or even believers in any sense at all. But I digress.
I do not bring up Romney in an effort to discredit or attack him. There is no need to do so, as he has left the political arena for the time-being. I simply mention him as a way to contrast the common, prevailing winds regarding those of us who do not believe in God. I cannot possibly thank Obama enough for having the courage and compassion to include us in the dialogue. Freedom of religion should apply to all, of any faith or the lack thereof.
7 comments:
Mike, you know I respect any choice you make because your life is, I feel, your own to make of it what you will. I also agree that President Obama's speech was very inclusive. I hope we can all live up to it. I don't want to irritate you and I don't want you to feel like I'm asking this next question just to argue with you, because that is absolutely not my intention. If you'd rather answer me privately than on the web, I totally understand. My question is this: When, how and why did you loose your faith? What brought about such a change in you? Again, I'm not going to debate it with you...I'm just trying to understand.
No need to worry Hilary. I appreciate your willingness to ask and permit me the opportunity to share my feelings. It means a lot that you would inquire of my reasons rather than just assume that the devil has gotten a hold of me.
As for not debating with me, you are welcome to poke holes in my reasons. In fact, please do. I would be quite disingenuous indeed if I felt that I had the right to openly disagree with your beliefs while disallowing you the right to disagree with my beliefs. Disagreement is a beautiful thing, as long as it is done with respect and love.
As for my own religious path, it's a long story. They always are. I have considered writing down the whole journey for posterity but have yet to do so. I will not endeavor to give an exhaustive explanation here. On the contrary, I will provide two reasons why I no longer have my faith.
Before I say anything else, I should state a few things that have definitely NOT led me to my current situation. I do not drink. I'm not gay. I'm not doing drugs. Heck, I don't even drink coffee. I wasn't offended by anyone. In fact, I was completely 100% active up until the day I left. My disbelief is just that: disbelief.
The main issue is that when I look at the facts, I cannot maintain my integrity and claim a belief in God. Rationally, I find the position to be indefensible. I have spent my whole life trying to reconcile my rationality with the truthfulness of the LDS church and the existence of God. I have been unable to do so. It was time to accept that they are irreconcilable.
The predictable response to the above paragraph is that God exists outside of the realm of rationality or that you can't rationalize God. Knowledge of God is gained by faith rather than thinking.
Faith scares me. Better said, faith terrifies me. Faith is to believe in something even though the evidence is insufficient. Faith is the force which has led to people flying planes into buildings. Faith leads otherwise loving people to hate gays. Faith led 14-year-old girls to accept Joseph Smith as a secret husband. Faith leads billions of people to give money to corrupt religious leaders. It's what causes people to overlook the obvious corruptions of numerous demagogues. Faith is the opposite of rationality. It seems odd that something which is eschewed in most realms of human experience is lauded when applied to the realm of religion.
That leads to my second reason for abandoning my faith. I found that I couldn't maintain my morality and ethics and still believe in God. Things like the church's attitude towards gays are incompatible with my personal morals or statements of past prophets regarding race. I had to choose whether to abandon my faith or my morality. I chose to keep my morality.
I hope that helps explain my situation. It obviously fails to explain how or when. If you'd like to know more, let me know. I'll see about possibly writing up a conversion story in the next few months. You're also always free to give me a call if you'd like. Or, I can stop and chat the next time I'm down in your neck of the woods. I'd love to hear your opinion/response. Feel free to poke holes in my argument and tell me why I am wrong, as long as you do so with respect.
I won't tell you you're wrong. You don't feel you are. You're intelligent. You've obviously thought this through. My belief is based in faith, but I would dare to call it a rational one. I don't know everything...thank goodness...but I know that I have a strong mind and, probably, an even stronger will. I choose to believe because it makes me happy. I hope I have never done or believed anything that would hurt someone else because of my faith. My belief that God exists and that we are all His children is one that encommpasses all, whether I agree with their choices or not. As I see it, my faith makes me a better person, but it's because I choose to use the intelligence God gave me to make my faith a tool for enacting a positive influence in my, small as it is, world. I don't agree with a lot of people's choices, but I hope no one would decide that I hate those people. Hate is a strong emotion and I've only felt it a few times in my life. I don't at all at this point. I've heard some terrible statements made and have tried to take the defensive position. I don't believe anyone should be tormented or degraded for their choices. I've made choices I'm sure plenty of people wouldn't agree with. Anyway. I'd like to hear the whole story sometime. Thanks for sharing this much with me now. And, really, if you're ever in this area please stop in and see us, we'd both love to have you. You know that. Love you much. H.
I'm glad that your faith makes you happy. My lack of faith makes me happy as well. We each need different things in our lives. Belief, just like pants, is not one size fits all.
Viper,
Your John Adams references are misunderstood. Adams wrote the first quote you mentioned in a letter to Thomas Jefferson.
"Twenty times, in the course of my late reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, 'This would be the best of all possible Worlds, if there were no Religion in it,' !!! But in this exclamation I should have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly [a minister and a schoolteacher, mentioned earlier in the letter]. Without Religion, this World would be Something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I mean Hell." (letter to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817)
Christian he was; a believer he was as well. He strongly believed in God and regularly attended church. He was very pragmatic about religion and did not accept many of the mainstream religious doctrines; but nonetheless his belief in God was a large influence in his life.
Freedom of religion should encompass all who follow a religion or those who don't. I very much agree with you. Although I disagree that people who do not affiliate with a religion, "are so often left out, cast by the wayside". It is my feeling that public and political discourse and becoming much less "religious" and more "secular". J
Jesse,
Very good catch. I should have checked my references a little better. I was unaware of the context of the quote. Thank you very much for the correction.
That said, although it weakens the quote a bit, it clearly shows his frustration and dilemma regarding religion. He clearly had some very strong underlying frustrations with religions and recognized their abuses. But he was unable to disconnect from those views.
It is also not completely appropriate to call him a Christian. He was a Unitarian. Unitarians believe in the moral teachings of Jesus but reject the his divinity. So, ultimately, it depends upon your definition of Christian. For example, I as an atheist revere many of the teachings of Jesus. I do not think that makes me Christian though. You are right though that he believed in God.
Thank you again though for correcting me and giving me the opportunity to discuss John Adams at a bit more length.
Jesse,
"Although I disagree that people who do not affiliate with a religion, 'are so often left out, cast by the wayside'. It is my feeling that public and political discourse and becoming much less 'religious" and more "secular'."
I would love for you to explain this in a bit more depth. Can you give good examples where religion is being unfairly cast by the wayside?
Here's a couple examples. In a poll in 2007 Gallup tested how willing people would be to vote for a black, a woman, a Mormon, a Jew, etc. You know what group finished dead last, by quite a margin? Atheists.
In 1956 our national motto became "In God We Trust." How is that a valid motto for America?! Who is the 'we' in that sentence? Apparently it's everyone but those who don't believe in God. How alienating do you think that is to those of us who don't believe in God? Isn't E Pluribus Unum ("from many, one") better?
We have so many laws put forth and passed for solely religious reasons. Why did Prop 8 pass in California? Was it because someone put together a cogent argument regarding why same-sex marriage would be detrimental to society? Certainly not. Prop 8 passed because Christians said that God doesn't want gays getting married.
How many senators do you know of that are atheists? I can't think of any. How many governors are atheists? Once again, there might be some, but I certainly can't name any. Around 10% of America is atheist, and yet we do not see that sort of representation in the political arena.
In fact, look at one of the attacks that people used against Obama repeatedly. They claimed that he was a Muslim or a Christian. If religion was truly being "cast to the wayside," those sorts of a attacks would have been useless.
As I stated before, I would love to hear you explain how you see the country being secularized, specifically those with which you disagree.
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