A collection of essays and rants, inspired and taken from a series that I have been writing for several years concerning this subject. A stirring account of how certain issues are poisoned by organized religions and why we as a society would be much...
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This is not a picture or statement some people like to hear based on observations made around the world but the feelings of the majority does not make it any less true. No one is born a Christian anymore than someone is burn a Muslim or a Buddhist. We become members of those 'faiths' over time whether we are dragged to mass kicking and screaming every Sunday by our God fearing parents or we choose to be born again many, many years later. It's not fate, it's a choice and it always has been. When a child comes into this world, they are all a clean slate. A blank canvas that is itching to be turned into a work of art as we take that canvas and turn it into something that either fits in or gets discarded. It's that kind of pressure that pushed things like religion into someone's life. We are pressured by many serious factors after we are born but it comes in after we are born. It's something that has to be programmed into our system and there are many factors that influence which path we're eventually forced to take.
One major factor that clearly dictates our path is location. Geography is a leading factor to decide what faith or lack there of one occurs in each person. I have told people in countless debates that the fact a major factor that helped me become an atheist was clearly the fact that I was born in Canada. Had I been born into another nation such as Italy or even Saudi Arabia, I likely would not have become an atheist or the odds of it happening were reduced greatly. I fully accept the fact that where I come from and how I was raised opened the door for me to make the choices I did. The fact that I was born in Canada can be attributed to luck because in any other place I likely would have been systematically brainwashed and praising God here, there and everywhere. That means this would have been an entirely different book just by changing where someone was born and raised.
Another factor that dictates where we go in life is our parents. The fact that I had two hard working parents that didn't have much time to do their jobs, raise three boys and find time after that for God. That didn't hurt either. Our house didn't clean itself and despite working their hands to the bone, my parents didn't deserve to spend what little free time they had being told once a week that they are sinners that need to be saved by someone who hasn't been alive for two thousand years despite the fact that he many have never existed in the first place. At this moment I'm not sure where exactly my parents stand with religion, but I suspect my father is agnostic which would explain why he never felt like attending church every Sunday morning. Then again I have two boys of my own and I find them a handful so the idea of taking three boys to church even Sunday wouldn't appeal to me either.
If there was a God up there who really, really wanted my parents to attend church, I'm rather confident that he, she, it or them could have made it happen. They could have provided my father with a winning lottery ticket which would have eased his workload, which in turn would have paid for a nanny to help ease the child care duties and then he would have had plenty of time to show up for church. We could argue could haves or ifs until we're blue in the face, but this is the stance I take when people keep trying to tell me that their deity has a plan. If that's true, then stop getting upset about anything because clearly if it wasn't part of the plan then you would think they'd take care of it themselves, right? Nope and the reason for that is quite simple: there is no God and more importantly there is no grand plan.
