I would classify myself as agnostic with strong leaning towards being a "strong atheist".
Its kind of weird but a better way to describe might be that I am a strong atheist trying to prove himself wrong...if that makes sense.
I believe that those who find religion are blessed in a sense. It gives meaning and purpose and hope for an after life. All of which are a strong reason why people search for answers. And in the same breath and thought process that I would doubt someone if they came running into my house saying a meteor had just crashed on my lawn (I would want to see it for myself)... I have a very hard time believing that an unseen, undetectable, and unprovable force up and decided to create an infinite expanse of space and then send down a bunch of animals and a single person.
The part that always throws me off about the bible is how Adam has to ask for a female...wait why didn't god know he would need one of those? The whole thing (the bible)..has always read to me like a an ancient version of Aesop's Fables and while I fully recognize the value of the virtues it teaches for how to lead your life I can't help but chuckle at the ridiculousness of it all. I realize that might be offensive to some, and I apologize if that is the case but I am just being honest if not a little blunt.
The other portion of what I said I believe is that I do think that spirituality as a concept is very much a reality even if it doesn't have a divine basis. I think that religion teaches you to think about what you have done in your life and focus inward and reflect. I believe that doing that is very healthy and is why many very religious people report feeling refreshed by praying to god etc... The same sort of thing can be accomplished without prayer if you are truly attempting to contemplate your actions and not just searching for a happy feeling.
All told I believe there is likely a scientific explanation for that and it is one of the reasons I am very interested in the science front. So to be clear about my opening statement I think there is validity to spirituality but the unprovable nature of religion as a whole turns me away from it.
In any case I will finish this with this:
To answer the "how" of the universe you turn to science, to answer the "why" of the universe you turn to spirituality/religion. Both can exist peacefully if each will stop feeling threatened by the other.
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| To Each Man, Responsibility |
