I have a little story about me:
Long ago, when I was 5 years old, I was living in Tennessee. My parents on both sides were Jewish (although not heavily religious) and thus, I was raised Jewish. When Christmastime came, i expected gifts under the tree just like many other kids would. But I had no idea that it was a symbol of Christianity. What sparked my interest was when one night, my parents were lighting a menorah in the room nearby. I asked, "Is that a Christmas candle?" But my parents told me it was not, it was for celebrating Chanukah. And so my parents explained to me what that was all about. It didn't seem to make any difference to me.
Well, to top things off, we were going to private school at a place called Woodmont Baptist Church. It was an affordable private school education at the time, I was later told. (My parents feared my New Jersey accent would be replaced with Southern Drawl if I'd gone to public school...which of course, is bull****.) So guess who comes to school the next day with a story for show and tell!
So I was generally raised with knowledge of other religions and other cultures, etc. even at an early age. But when we moved to south Florida, we moved in to a city where there was definitely a greater sphere of Jewish influence compared to Nashville. My parents wanted me to go to Hebrew school and get bar mitzvah-ed so I would be considered a "man" in the Jewish community. But I can't say I was particularly interested in it, save some of the family traditions like Chanukah, Passover, and the occasional Sabbath service here and there.
But after a while, i stopped going to temple, I wasn't very connected to God or "his people". I was meeting more and more people, and soon I was meeting people in school and outside whom were all of differing faiths and traditions. After a while, i told myself that if there were so many different people, and if all believing they had the right ideas about life, there must not be any one true or correct path.
I was (and still am) of the belief that in order to gain a greater understanding of the word around you, you must drop off many of the things you are attached to. So I supposed, for a while, that God didn't not exist, since you can supersede the idea of an all-knowing god by the power of free will. I started reading about metaphysics, other religions, even going to other religious services to see how things were done, and why.
I think I was very much a atheist for a number of years, because I thought anyone whom would waste their time at temple or church or whatever was a great fool. I felt nobody was right, people were idiots for imposing a will that was essentially "God-like" on people whom they were inferior. How could we say yes to brutality, ignorance, violence, and still call ourselves God's people? Needless to say, I felt baffled at it all. Atheism seemed the way to go.
I told my girlfriend that I wasn't sure which end was up when it came to religion; I had gradually thought nobody was really stupid for going to religious services, but didn't want to really belong to anything just the same. One day, in early 1999...i had the strangest revelation...
Kathy and I were at a Denny's restaurant in the middle of Wildwood, FL (No, I was not on drugs!) when she asked me what in the heck guides people? I thought it was a vague way of asking a religious question, and I answered...I think so many things are guiding us throughout life, it's amazing how we do it. But I think there are means that bind us all together, and that is the very fact that we are all human. And even if you don't believe in evolution, you know that God created all of us...and if you do believe in evolution, then we are all creatures of the same family.
The enlightened know this, and the ignorant don't. But whether ignorant or not, you have to respect that we are not always in control of all aspects of our own destiny when you are part of humanity. So humanity is the only thing greater than God. If we are all made in God's image, and we create the notion of God, then Humanity = God. It all made sense right there, and I was just waiting for a cheeseburger!
Since then, I've gone back to Jewish temple, went to a Buddhist temple, go to church with Kathy sometimes, and I fell a lot better for it all. So I don't think atheists should get a bad name, of course...those who do not believe in god will find it one way or another...no some cultures, they are just lost sheep, not wrong doers. To others, atheists are merely on another path, which will lead them to a better understanding of themselves.
I'm not necessarily creating an argument here, I'm merely stating a little story of how atheism is not necessarily a bad thing. I do think that if anyone is going to say I'm wrong, I think, fine, so what...you are entitled to your own opinion.
