So I’ve linked this to a dropbox file where you should be able to listen. I will also attempt to include the file here.
Here is a transcript.
This I Believe
I believe that gods don’t matter. Not that there are gods or aren’t gods. Just that they don’t matter. This I believe because of the numerous atrocities committed in the name of one or many gods and because I cannot stand the instant assumptions that come when you reveal your personal beliefs to others.
I’d gone back and forth between going to church and not going to church for years. My belief stemmed from the fact that I grew up in a very religious area. The first question people ask you in Lancaster is “where do you go to church?” I usually answered “I don’t”. The response ninety percent of the time was “Oh you’re an atheist” and they’d dismiss me as crazy.
Atheist. I hated (and still do hate) that word. I am not an atheist. I am not an agnostic. I hate that word because of all the connotations it has. Atheists are not nice people. Atheists don’t care about others. Atheists just want the world to burn. I’m not like that at all. But I don’t believe in gods either, at least not in the context of religion. I started by saying I believe gods don’t matter. I maintain that this is true, however, perhaps a more focused statement would be, I don’t believe in gods as described, worshipped, and blindly followed by human kind.
I don’t believe because I was taught about innumerable religious conflicts in high school. The crusades were Christian against Muslim, the conquering of the America’s was Christian against native religions, and the subjugation of Africa and Asia was Christian against various polytheistic religions. Internally, the Protestants and the Catholics fought in Ireland and the Muslims and the Hindi are fighting in India and Pakistan. I just cannot believe in gods that encourage and allow all of this fighting.
The final straw that made this belief mine arose when I became aware of the many heinous crimes, committed to this day, against other human beings. In Africa innocent children are ripped from their families, forced to shoot their friends and countrymen with AK-47s, and are indoctrinated with the radical ideas of rebel groups. Coupled with historical crimes such as the genocides in Rwanda and the former Yugoslav republics, the Holocaust, and the so-called War on Terrorism, this awareness made me a different person.
This revelation, an eye-opening look into the struggles of millions, didn’t convince me there wasn’t a god, it convinced me that I didn’t care if there was a god or not. I don’t care because even if there is, I don’t want to, maybe even can’t, believe in any gods that would allow such atrocities. I decided that it didn’t matter, that I would live my life the same way, god or no god. In words attributed to Abraham Lincoln, “when I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That is my religion.”
