The Sweet Bliss of Ignorance

I used to have no problem with religion. I practiced religious freedom in all its glory, people can believe whatever they want, I don’t mind. I used to think atheist fundamentalists like Richard Dawkins were wasting their energy criticizing something that makes so many people happy and content. But having finally gotten around to reading his books, Dawkins has opened my eyes to some of the fundamental problems with religion, namely its finiteness and its shielding from criticism. 

The latter issue, I hate to say, is one of the many reasons I have been so passive about my issues with religion towards others. For some reason it is not polite to question people’s religion. It is considered culturally insensitive. But Dawkins aptly asks why this is? And I started doing the same and realized it is because I feel truly sorry for religious people. They want to believe this dream world so bad, that you almost cannot bear it in your heart to tell them that it is all human invented nonsense. Same as when you don’t have it in your heart to tell a child that there is no Santa Claus. 

One of my earliest memories was when I realized my own mortality. I was just a kid when I found out that one day I would die and I was inconsolable. I cried my eyes out pleading to my mother; “I don’t want to die!” And my mother did what any parent would do, she comforted me by telling me a lie. It doesn’t matter if she actually believed the lie herself, knowing what I know today it was still a lie. She told me that when I died I would go to heaven. This super nice place where you literally walk around on clouds surrounded by all your loved ones and God himself who is there making the afterlife better than actual life. I did find comfort in that thought, I can still see the image of that God in my head. This kind loving force that took care of me when I died, and that image comforted me. But even as a child I never actually believed that it would actually happen. God was just an image in my head, I never actually met the guy. So how did I know he actually existed? 

But honestly, telling a crying child who is afraid of death that he will go to heaven when he dies, and being an adult educated person who is too scared to face the truth that there is no afterlife are two very different things. People aren’t children their entire lives and thus should be able to have an honest discussion about these issues. But for some reason it is considered improper to question people’s beliefs. And I think I know why. It was the same reason I used as a child when I really wanted to believe in that image of God in my head, or in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, even though I knew in my heart that none of them were real, it was just my parents making my childhood more enjoyable by not sharing these hard truths with me but I chose to believe it regardless. Religious people today prefer to remain in this illusion, to think that everything will be fine once they are dead. ‘I don’t have to think for myself and take responsibility for my own life, because as long as I follow God’s directions I will be safe in the afterlife.’ This I can no longer accept. Adults should know better, and with all the information available to us in this period in history I really do not see any basis to perpetuate these illusions any longer by passing them on to, and effectively brainwashing, our children. Like Dawkins also points out, the truth may not equal comfort, but it does not make it any less true. You have to take responsibility for your own life as you are living it. You cannot just pray to something you have never met and expect all your problems to be solved for you. Step up! I for one am done standing idly by and watching religion hinder human development which brings me to my main issue with these outdated institutions, their innate finiteness which will be addressed in the next post just as religion will form the topic of more posts to follow, so stay tuned.