I Believe; Therefore, I Know

This article is very different than what I typically write, and is reflective of a journey I have been on. It has been a long time in the making, and came about as a result of my going from thinking that my beliefs were fact to knowing they are not. The result has been a greater capacity for sympathy and even empathy for those whose beliefs are polar opposite of mine, and for people in general. After all, at the end of the day, we are all human and we are all doing this journey of life together.  

“I know God exists!”

Certain: to perceive directly: have direct cognition of (Merriam Webster)

-to have developed a relationship with (someone) through meeting and spending time with them; be familiar or friendly with (Oxford Dictionary) 

Ask a christian if god truly exists, and you will get a resounding and emphatic “YES!” To them, god is as real as the sun, as real as the clothes on your back. There is no assuming, no second-guessing. God Is—period. Challenge that notion, and you are going to get push back—vehemently so! Their beliefs have become so engrained that they have become an integral part of who they are; their beliefs have become their identity.  

It is as if the christian has blinded themselves to any other possibility than those beliefs whose individual parts make up the sum of their worldview. For many fundamentalist christians, Adam and Eve are our ancestors. The Garden of Eden was a place where they literally walked and talked with God. The serpent really talked. Mankind began through Adam and Eve. A boat that carried tens of thousands of species of animals, managed to float the entire time, and the animals neither ate each other nor were overcome with massive, unmanageable amounts of scat.

Jonah was swallowed by great fish, lived in its belly for three days, and was conveniently vomited up on land exactly where god wanted him to be. The Tower of Babel was being built to reach god, so god caused the first United Nations meeting. The burning bush actually spoke. The Israelites wandered the wilderness for 40 years for what should have been a two-week journey. And of course, Moses parted the red sea.

And then, when you get to the new testament, the “I knows” become even more solidified. Jesus was both man and god. Mary really was impregnated by the holy spirit. And yes, she was still a virgin. Jesus is the only way to heaven. Mankind is depraved and needs saved. Jesus did rise again—that one is of the utmost importance!

All of these—and so many more, are all “facts” to the christian; there is no way they are not true. They won’t even begin to entertain that idea; these issues are presented as and believed to indeed be fact.

There is just one problem with that; not one of their beliefs can be proven. Sure, they will offer up what they consider “proof”; however, their proof falls short of just one thing—proving anything.

I know there is no god!

Certain: to perceive directly: have direct cognition of (Merriam Webster)

-to have developed a relationship with (someone) through meeting and spending time with them; be familiar or friendly with (Oxford Dictionary) 

Ask most atheists if god exists, and you will get a resounding and emphatic “NOI!” To them, there is no assuming, no second-guessing. God Is Not—period. Challenge that notion, and you are going to get push back—vehemently so! Their beliefs have become so engrained that they have become an integral part of who they are; their beliefs have become their identity. It is as if the atheist has blinded themselves to any other possibility than those beliefs whose individual parts make up the sum of their worldview.

For many atheists, there is no afterlife, no deities, no angels…demons…devils, etc. The bible is a book consisting of mostly ridiculous, at best sentiments, written by crazy, sometimes drunk desert dwellers who were homophobes, bigots, and misogynists. There is no way it’s the “word of god” and it is definitely not infallible and inerrant. Prayer is a joke and a worthless exercise, whose requests are falling upon non-existent ears. Tell some atheists you are praying for them, and they will respond with vitriol, feeling it necessary to make known in no uncertain terms how they feel about prayer. It is highly likely for some atheists that any discussion of their beliefs will be focused on attempting to convince the one they are arguing with that they are right—their beliefs are the correct ones, and any dissenting voice is flat-out wrong—no questions asked. This mindset comes from the staunch belief that one’s beliefs are correct; so much so that the propagator of those beliefs will present them as fact. This is exactly what you see so often when a christian argues their points; their beliefs become facts in their mind. And increasingly, I am seeing this same behavior with atheists—and I find both disturbing and frustrating.

This article began with a journey of self-reflection and the resulting realization that my beliefs, while I hold rather tightly to them, are in fact, not facts! I do not believe god (or any gods, for that matter) exist. I do not believe in an afterlife. Nor do I believe in the supernatural, including a devil, angels, demons, etc. No heaven, no hell. However, I do not know that there is no god, no afterlife, etc. And I must come to the place where I am just as respectful of someone else’s and opposite beliefs as I would want people to be of mine.

When someone sees their beliefs as facts—that they are right, they are placing themselves in the not so envious position of being arrogant and feeling superior. And isn’t that exactly what so many of us, myself included, have been so outspoken against when it comes to christians? Just because they are our beliefs, and in spite of the sometimes-tumultuous journey we embarked upon to arrive at those beliefs does not mean that we are correct. If I were to believe that I was indeed right; that my beliefs were facts, I would rather quickly become arrogant and would be unpleasant to be around and particularly to have a discussion of faith with. I would go from being skeptical to being close-minded, and no one has expanded their beliefs or adopted new ones whilst remaining close-minded. Certainty is the antithesis of growth and learning new things.

When we are convinced that we know, we are effectively ensuring that we won't know more. It's that cognitive dissonance that atheists complain about christians so much; it's the same thing christians dislike about atheists...that smug, know-it-all attitude. An attitude which will certainly prove to keep us from learning more, that will keep us stuck.

When I was a christian, for a long time I was certain I was right, and I became stagnant in my fundamentalism and in my beliefs, and became arrogant and adopted an attitude of superiority. As an atheist, I at first exhibited that same certainty of my beliefs, or this time, the lack thereof, and once again, for a time, became arrogant and adopted that same attitude of superiority. I'm not saying I'm doubting my atheism; that most certainly is not the case. However, I am becoming increasingly aware that my beliefs don't equal facts. Just because I believe something doesn't mean it's true or absolute. We as atheists claim to be skeptics, yet what I've often witnessed is anything but skepticism; instead, I've witnessed the opposite...people so certain they're right that there is no room for skepticism, especially when it's turned inward and used to look at one's self and one’s beliefs. It's easy to be skeptical of the other guy's beliefs, but what about your own? What makes you so certain...certain you are right and the other guy is wrong?

Am I willing to step back from my beliefs and scrutinize them, allowing for the possibility that they may be wrong? Are you? Doing so is the only way to be open to more possibilities and new, perhaps better beliefs. Inward-guided skepticism allows for growth; certainty stunts growth. Certainty also demands that things are done from our perspective—from our worldview. It’s my way or the highway. Btw, this is the exact type of thinking that occurs in the bully’s mind—or worse, an abusive person. You will see it my way; you will do it my way, or else; the results of which look a lot like some of the posts and comments from both sides that show up in my news feed or in posts and comments in websites devoted to such topics. Statements that call into question the sanity of the person who holds a belief opposite to the one posting, or altogether announces their insanity and puts them down as a person.

We often say that a christian cannot separate their beliefs from their person, and that their beliefs often become their identity, and look down on that practice, and yet, that is precisely what someone does when they criticize or more accurately define someone by their beliefs. What frustrates us at times becomes the very thing we do when criticizing them—we do not separate their beliefs from their identity. “They are mental.” “They are so ignorant.” “They are delusional.” And the list goes on… Are their beliefs stupid, or at least questionable? Some very well may be; for instance, the belief that all of humanity is depraved, wicked and evil, and deserving of hell fire because of a poor dietary choice made by ancestors millenniums ago is certainly questionable at best, and may be a stupid one. However, I better not state or think that the person holding that belief is stupid simply because they hold that belief. For one, I, as well as many here, once held that or very similar beliefs. Does that mean we were/are stupid? If we hold any expectations that people should separate their beliefs from their identity, we had damn well better make sure we are doing the same when the shoe is on the proverbial other foot!

I want to leave you with a few questions which I hope will challenge you as much as they do me.

·         Do we hold so tightly to our beliefs that they hold us in captivity?

·         Do we perceive our beliefs as just that, or as facts?

·         Have we become arrogant? Have we adopted an attitude of superiority?

·         What does a debate about beliefs between us and someone whose beliefs are opposite ours look like?

·         Are we willing to concede that we really don’t know, and therefore become open to beliefs beyond those we currently hold?

·         And finally, are we willing to be respectful of those whose beliefs differ from ours and value them as a person as much as we do someone whose beliefs mirror ours?  

Let’s not forget—at the end of the day, we are all in this together; we are all doing our best to make the most out of this journey of life. Your beliefs have become one of your coping mechanisms to do so, as is the case with the person whose beliefs are polar opposite of yours. Let’s be respectful of each other, regardless of one’s beliefs and let’s focus more on loving others instead of trying to prove them wrong while simultaneously proving ourselves right. A good personal mantra, and one I try to live by, albeit far from perfectly is “Bring a little joy into the lives of those whose path I come across today.” 

What an amazing journey this life would be if we all practiced that same personal mantra!