Letting go of God

For me the transition from theist to atheist was not easy. The only words that feel adaquet are this: Letting go of the god concept mentally was time consuming but uncomplicated, letting go of god emotionally was painfully unyielding.

There came a point in my life when I could no longer refuse there is no rational reason to believe in a deity. However there was a pervading feeling that I must believe in a deity. It was like saying goodbye to a dear friend. I had poured my heart out to God on many occasions. I had sincerely believed he was helping me endure lifes hardships with his holy spirit. God had been one of my closest friends since the time I could  understand the concept of friendship.

And now, I realized, he had always been in my imagination. The realization that I carried an imaginary friend into my early 20's was unsettling. It left me feeling unsure simply how to say goodbye to this comrade. God had been a companion that always available for talking and sharing my innermost secrets and fears. A consoling shoulder that was always there. Every time I retreated into privacy and had a conversation with God I was convinced there was a real intelligence listening and caring about me personally.

Nevertheless what is learned can not be unlearned. There was no going back and no replacing my imaginary friend. It was impossible to deny it on a analytical level. However it took months, perhaps the better part of a year, to feel comfortable with the realization I was a non-believer.

I couldn't have known it beforehand but there are many advantages to letting go of the god concept. Other than a caring confidant, god had also been a watchdog who never slept. It was often necessary to dismiss the thought god was watching me commit sins with a dissapointed frown. Most of these dismissals  eventually caught up with me and at certain times in my life induced large amounts of guilt. With the acceptance that god is imaginary came the realization that the sin concept is just as fictional.

Instead of relying on a predetermined set of rules I began to develop my own code of ethics. This in itself was a difficult and arduous task that took years. As a personal code it is always open to adjustment as I learn and grow as an individual. The end result was well worth the effort. I find a great deal of personal comfort and happiness living by a set of ethics that I have decided upon myself.

Accepting personal responsiblity is now much more important to me. I can't use the scapegoat "I'm just a weak sinner" and "satan is constantly trying to tempt me". Nor can I fall back on "asking god for forgivness". In my current worldview I must accept responsiblty for my actions and recognize there is no intelligent spernatural force forgiving me if I follow an unethical course.

I'll admit letting go of god was laborious for me on a personal level, but nothing in life worthwhile comes easy. I can say without reservation it was worth the effort, research, soul-searching and time. Life without imaginary friends is far more satisfying.

A Future Without God(s)?

by Phinehas Treptow

When I was a child, a seemingly rhetorical question my second-grade teacher posed to the classroom resonated deeply with me: “Can one person change the world?” I immediately internalized the question, and it became “Can I change the world?”

At that time I was under the influence of the theistic movement Jehovah’s Witnesses, a splinter of Christianity with its own millenarian, restorationist interpretation of the Bible, based on the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society’s “New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.” I had faith in the movement’s maxim that a theocratic new world order called “the new system” was coming soon. Introduced to my impressionable mind from birth, this and other irrational principles of Jehovah’s Witnesses were deeply rooted in my version of reality.

I firmly believed that, when God created this “new world order,” all wrongs would be made right and everyone who had suffered throughout all of history would be recompensed for their pain. “Wait on Jehovah” was the group’s repetitive rhetoric: no one but God could bring positive social change. For me to try to do so, beyond merely preaching the movement’s faith and attempting to convert others to it, would be arrogent and blasphemous, and would show distrust in God. This was how my blind devotion to Jehovah’s Witnesses suppressed my desire to have a positive effect on the world.

My world view has changed considerably since then. I am now an outspoken Atheist. “Can I change the world?” still nags at me. Whenever I have tried to suppress that question, I always knew it was there, deep inside of me. Now, with such a different outlook on life, my honest answer to that burning question is simple: “Not if I don’t try.”

Now that I am close to 30, I realize how much I do not and will not know. No matter how much research I mentally ingest about the world around me, I will never have enough of the accurate information required to connect all of the dots. However, the connection between some of the dots is glaringly obvious to me.

Religion is madness.

A mental sickness that plagues our species, religion breeds hate, intolerance and war. Religion creates conflicts between irreconcilable views and beliefs, which divides and antagonizes individuals and groups who could otherwise make more progress toward mutual cooperation and understanding. While the death of all religions and their illogical, faith-based principles would not solve all of mankind’s problems, it would alleviate much human suffering. Without religion, we could achieve greater peace and happiness together as a world community.

We, as a species, have adopted various religions in diverse types of societies for thousands of years. Time and time again, religious movements have failed and given way to new, supposedly superior ones. It is time we give way to reason.

I do not believe in stamping out religion forcibly or debasing the human dignity of theists. Civil debate and the spread of accurate information and logical arguments are the only weapons we need. Logic is the vaccination for the disease that is religion.

“Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.”

— Steven Weinberg, Nobel Laureate in Physics, from a 1999 speech made in Washington, D.C.