Sadly religion has become the focus of hate rather than guidance and inspiration its founders intended. Every day we see violence, death, destruction and abuse committed in the name of religion, or with the notion that all will be forgiven. Most unfortunate since modern society could really use a boost in morality. I have a hard time believing God (by any name) condones violence in his/her name, so I choose not to practice any religion, instead I try to live a reasonably moral lifestyle treating others with courtesy and respect. My choice I guess

Zach, read Godless by Dan Barker. He makes many of the same points you mention here but also many more. He was a pastor himself for many years, and now is an atheist and co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. I read his first book Losing Faith In Faith (check it out at Zimmerman) and it completely changed my views on religion. I’m glad I took the time to read it.

Thanks for this piece, Zach. Last year, after being born and raised in a religious cult, I let myself do the reading and research that I was always too afraid to do, and came the conclusion that atheism made the most sense to me. When I left the church, I left my family and every single friend I’d ever had, but I also left behind the guilt and fear that I had been living with for so long.
Mine is an extreme case, but the fact is that even many mainstream religions breed an “us and them” mentality that is damaging to society. I absolutely respect and support people’s right to believe whatever they like, but religion should be a force for tolerance and respect of all people- including those of us who don’t want anything to do with it personally.

Excellent piece, Zach. Right on! Thanks for writing this commentary.

Interpretation is in the eye of the beholder!

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Interesting perspective and opinion. While I do not participate in organized religion myself, I would say I am somewhat religious. That said, I do believe that religion itself, as you say, definitely integrates two things: community and ceremony. And yes, without religion, societies can create a community.
However, I believe you are confusing religion with Christianity in your article. Much of your argument seems to settle around the basic beliefs and ideologies of the Christian faith. While we do have a large Christian population in New Mexico, and the United States as a whole, we are made up of an incredible amount of religious philosophies, ideologies, and belief structures. And yes, while many are similar to Christianity, there are many that are not.
To answer one of your questions: If people weren’t afraid of leaving religion, would they?
Many believers of different faiths don’t stick to the religion of their choice because they “fear” what will happen when they don’t believe. Many I know enjoy life and live their lives as an homage to the Divine, Brahman, Allah, or other deity or supernatural force they believe in.

My two cents!

Zach, I enjoyed your perspective on religion. I remember as a young teenager sitting in church thinking, “I can’t wait until I’m old enough where nobody can make me go to church.” As I read what you wrote I tried to think of time when religion was important to me. I can honestly say that it never has been.

I am not sure if there is a God or not. I would never say there isn’t because I can’t prove there isn’t. Also, many people get comfort out of their religious beliefs whatever they are and I am fine with that. I guess that I have just made peace with the fact that when I go that is the end. It doesn’t particularly frighten me or make my life any less meaningful.

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Thanks for having the courage to express your views, I’m glad to see that others are respectful of them.

You’re childhood experiences probably do have a lot to do with what you believe today. Growing up in the church as a “sensitive” child I experienced beauty in the rituals and music, and I responded to that beauty strongly. I have gone in and out of religion as an adult, and have studied several of the world’s religions including Native American ones (not as a cafeteria believer, but as a truth-seeker) and have discovered beauty and truth in all of them. My spirituality evolved that way as an adult. This doesn’t diminish my beliefs as a non-evangelical Christian but rather enhances them, I think, since I find so much in common between them. I would hold Desmond Tutu up as one example of faith in action, someone who also values other world religions and can talk as easily with the Dalai Lama as anyone from his own tradition.

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Excellent piece, Zach! As I was reading your article, I started taking notes for a response letter. By the end, however, I was surprised to find you had covered all of the points I had wanted to make! Kudos to you! Just beware of the raving book-thumpers who sometimes make a scene at the Two Lines Oblique monument.

I think like any belief system whether it be Atheism, Socialism, Marxism, or any “ity” or “slam”…you have to seperate the wheat from the chaff.

There are things that people do not know. Its important to not delude ourselves into the status quo of basically thinking we know everything, and looking down on other paradigms.

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Well written piece Zach…

Nice to see the crazies are in check so far!

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One can only hope that the Dark Ages have finally begun to peter out; that people will no longer feel the need to lean into myth in an attempt to sweep the fact that we can’t explain many natural mysteries under the rug.

I really appreciate your insight. Thank you for helping to shed light on a topic that can only thrive in the shadows of ignorance and fear.

Insanity and superficial intellectrapidly consume the minds and hearts of those who lack understanding. They look at mistakes people have made and then rather than see that it’s a bad commentary on humanity as a whole, seek rather to blame it on religion. The modern day myth is now the Myth of Multiculturalism and the Myth of Global Warming or perhaps it’s the Myth of White Extremist, or the Myth of Same Sex Marriage.

Are there really this many UNM students to the left of center willing to attack order and civilization? If so the degeneration around us will only increase. As schools and universities promote Gay Rights, allow alcohol to be used as a date-rape drug w/o punishment, make way for illegal immigrants to absorb the wealth of those who created it, bash America and condem Christianity. The insanity of it all is astonishing.

The universe is 13.7 billion years old. Man in his current form evolved 60,000 years ago. The current incarnation of God,as imagined by Jesus, has been with us 2,000 years. So man has only had the current God for about 3% of the history of mankind. Already, we’ve moved from the dark ages where saying the things you said would have resulted in your death, to a point where less than half the country attend church on a regular basis, and a high percentage are ‘christian’ in name only. Demographically, 95% of Americans claim to be religious, but the number of people in church on any given Sunday (or Saturday, or Friday, depending on your brand of religion) tell a different story.

I hope that in another 2000 years the human race will look back on this time as another ‘dark age’ when superstition resulted in hatred and intolerance; organized religions as we know them will be a tiny footnote in human history, and barely a blip in the history of the Universe as a whole.

FOR DESI BROWN WHO WRITES IN ANOTHER POST ON THE “PEACE AND JUSTICE” ARTICLE.

So I challenge you Steve (as I have done before), come take a Peace Studies course, or a religious studies course, or get involved with a group that encourages critical thinking (yeah, I know you think that is a subversive term), and help your fellow students and mankind come up with some peaceful solutions to the problems that wrack humanity, not just in Israel and Palestine, but right here on Central Avenue in Albuquerque. Get off your lightly-educated ASS and do something worthwhile with it in making this world a better place for everyone around you. If you don’t want to do that, I’m sure you can find a fully funded U.S. government entity that would provide you with some training and a plane ticket to the Middle East so you can kick some Muslim butt since that seems to be all any of you like to talk about.

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There is so much I would like to say on this subject. Often I imagine writing a book to express my views. Obviously I can’t accomplish that in this format. So I’ll simply congratulate Zach for writing what I think is a very nice short commentary, and I agree with it in large part. As I read his piece, I thought it must have taken courage, as I expected significant backlash. However, having read all of the responses, I am so impressed and encouraged by the kind and thoughtful nature of most of them.
I’m in my late 50s. I became a “seeker” in college and remained so for most of my adult life. I saw the flaws in the religion in which I was raised, and thought there must be a better one out there. I have examined many of the world’s religions including their dogma and how they are actually practiced. Most religious followers and many (maybe not most) religious leaders have good intentions. Unfortunately faith often becomes blind. Virtually every form of “spirituality” I’ve looked at has obvious inconsistencies if one is objective. I’ve come to the conclusion that religion is not necessary … in any sense. That is not to say that all religion is bad or that any religion does not have redeeming values. They do,and I agree with Zach that community is a significant one. I’ve never gotten anything out of rituals (ceremony), but a lot of other people seem to, so I don’t object.
The question I’m often asked is “why do you behave ethically if you don’t believe in god?” Sadly, so many people haven’t figured out a logical reason for ethical behavior and require a religious one. The answer is so simple … because it’s a much more pleasant world if we do not do to others what we wouldn’t like done to us. This requires that each of us does our part. If you use the excuse that “that’s what everyone else does, so I might as well do it also … I might as well get my share”, then life becomes less pleasant for all of us. Imagine a world where we all treat each other with absolute integrity. Probably not possible, but if we just try … ?
I’d like to extend my thanks to Zach for starting the discussion in a very gentle way, and I’d like to express my gratitude that there are many people out there (based on the responses) who are coming to some of the same conclusions as I am.

“Jew-ish”?

Is that like, half-kosher or something?

The God of the Bible did not write the Bible. There is probably more insight and wisdom in the Bible that is not perceived than is perceived. Most societies attempt to hide and rewrite the sordid parts of their history, not so in the Bible; it’s all included. That’s quite an interesting fact.

The Creation vs Evolution debate or disagreement, is basically between traditionalist who believe that whether the Bible is accurate or not, that their is more good and benefit that comes out of the organized results than the evolutionists who tend to look only at the negative aspects of creationism and Biblical religion. Two different ways of looking at the same outcome.

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People create a problem for religion and for themselves in seeking the “one truth”. Now, this doesn’t mean that there is truth in all religions, what it does mean is that if you follow a religion for years and then become discouraged with it, there’s no need to toss it out, or condemn it, or become disenchanted with the idea of “religions”.

Religions provide a very commendable and much needed structure, humans have need of it, and fool themselves into thinking that with their lofty intellect and “education” they can really get along without any religious activity. But it’s always there and we all benefit from religion. Many think that Christianity is going south, it’s not, it’s only being revived or replenished.