Religion + Coronavirus = The Perfect Storm: A Holy Recipe for Disaster

Combine fear with blind faith, a don’t question mentality, a mistrust of science, along with a few other factors (to be explored here), and you get the perfect storm for pandemonium and lives at risk. An alarming, and maddening occurrence resulting from this world-wide coronavirus pandemic is the ensuing world-wide insanity, propagated by none other than religion—by both its leaders and its followers. For this article, we will focus on Christianity, although the insanity certainly is not exempt from other religions.  

If you’ve spent even a small amount of time on social media and/or watching the news recently, you have almost certainly noticed an insane sequence of events. This phenomena to which I am referring is the insanity within the religious community—specifically, as to how it is handling the coronavirus pandemic, especially as it relates to their own. Headlines are rife with insanity and reckless, dangerous claims.   

Pastors declaring people will be safe if they come to church. The virus has “no dominion” in a church. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will be healed. And people flock like sheep to church. And the result? All who were sick were healed? No one got sick from going to church? Certainly not God’s elect, right? After all, they claim he promises to cover them with protection. Well, unfortunately, and of course, no—not at all. People went to church despite warnings, got sick, spread the disease, and got worse, not better. Even their leaders—pastors, and their wives, contracted coronavirus. All the while believing that their God would protect them, that they were safe, that the virus would not harm them, that there would be a supernatural shield around them. Of course, this failed miserably. And yet, they continue to cling to those promises. Why is that? What leads to this insanity? 

What we are witnessing is the manifestation of their belief system—the belief, that, among other things, they are set apart, are better than, and that they have an inside tract with the almighty, who will ensure their safety. They think that somehow their God and their faith will protect them. Just what is it that goes into this thinking, that leads to the onslaught of insanity we are seeing with churches and believers? It is actually more complex than it may at first appear on the surface to be. Let’s take a closer look at what is behind the making of this madness.   

There are several things which must occur in order for an otherwise sane person to look something as dangerous as the coronavirus in the eye and think that no harm will come to them, in spite of the obvious danger. Indeed, there is a recipe of sorts, if you will, that must be adhered to in order for the insanity we are currently witnessing to exist, and even worse (and more dangerous), to thrive. The underlying foundation for this recipe is the belief in a God who will protect them, who is all-powerful, all-loving, all-knowing, and most importantly—in control. After the belief in a deity, this recipe's first ingredient is a threat—something that elicits fear, although that fear likely will never be acknowledged. This fear gives way to declaring—publicly and loudly, that their God will protect them—a necessity in order to distance themselves from their fear. Among their religious circles, fear is seen as a weakness, as a sin, as doubting God. And scripture makes it clear that doubting God is a very bad thing.   

The fear, in this case, begins with the announcement of the coronavirus. While at first little heed is paid to the ever-increasing danger, the threat grows. More and more cases, more and more deaths, until it can no longer be ignored. By now, some, if not many, of the religious faithful are secretly beginning to worry. This virus won’t go away, and seems to be getting worse, not better, in spite of the countless prayers, rebukes, and promises offered up by themselves, along with those of their peers and religious leaders. At first, the threat was minimized, even made light of—kept at bay by a sad mixture of humor and denial. As the threat grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to continue with the status quo, and it becomes necessary to formulate a new way of dealing with the situation. This involves transitioning from denial of the event itself to denial that the virus will harm them; after all, they are God’s elect, and as such, will surely procure his anointing and protection, and will certainly be safe during these otherwise frightening times. As the virus progresses and they begin to see some of their own affected, the religious faithful’s response to the virus changes yet again. Now it becomes necessary to play the blame game, desperately trying to hold on to their twisted, archaic beliefs, even with the emergence of reality—a reality that defies those beliefs, their faith, and the notion of protection from on high.   

But first, let’s go back to the beginning stages of the recipe—just after the fear has begun. And that is the ingrained belief that to fear is sin, that to fear is to doubt God’s love, plan, strength, control, etc. After all, the bible says over and over not to fear; so much so, that it is rooted in many believers’ hearts that to fear is a sin—the antithesis of faith, if you will. Fear “denies” faith, fear says one is placing more power upon the thing being feared than upon God himself; therefore, fearing is indicative of a lack of trust in God. Fear as an ingredient of this recipe may seem unrealistic, given that fear is seen as sin, it is indeed this fear married with the belief that to fear is sin which gives rise to the madness that is currently occurring en masse. It is that fear (in this case, the coronavirus), coupled with the notion that fear is sin, that enables—in fact, demands what we are seeing. Revelation 21.8 says, in part, “But the fearful, and unbelieving…shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone… According to Church of the Great God’s website, the “fearful and unbelieving” in this verse is explained. “As bad as murderers, the sexually immoral, and sorcerers are, note that God puts first, at the head of the line, the cowardly and unbelieving. The Bible in Basic English renders these first few words as, "But those who are full of fear and without faith.” In this explanation, fearing and doubting are one and the same, and are considered to be worse than murdering. And Romans 14.23b declares “…for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Thus, the stage is set for our recipe for that perfect storm. This leads to the declarations we see in countless headlines. They are hiding their fear behind their ridiculous claims, and at times, are intentionally projecting the very opposite of what they are feeling inside (fear). They do so, lest their fear be revealed to their peers, thereby subjecting them to scrutiny and judgement—so much so, that their very salvation may be held in question. 

So now, the presence of fear, coupled with the belief that fear is sin, gives way to the shit-show about to emerge. And to make matters worse, believers are indoctrinated with a don’t question mentality, yet another ingredient of that recipe. Don’t fear. Don’t question. Blind faith.

This blind, unquestioning faith is required for what we see transpiring. And indeed, this blind faith is lauded and applauded within the walls of their worship places, and taught and propagated within the pages of their holy book. Hebrews 11.1: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Corinthians 5.7: For we walk by faith, not by sight. Forget evidence—ignore facts. This is an important part of the recipe, as it allows for the insane claims being made by their leaders to be believed, in spite of the ridiculous nature of said claims. Hebrews 11.1 is the believer’s favorite scripture regarding faith. It heralds a firm belief in that which cannot be proven. To take it (in this case that the virus will not affect the believer, that they have divine protection) at the word of their peers and especially their leaders. Believe, because we say so; believe because we say the bible says so. This leads to irresponsibly believing whatever they are told—whatever their leaders say the bible says, no matter what, and against all evidence to the contrary—evidence and facts be damned. This blind belief garners the approval, acceptance, and celebration of their peers and leaders, and is even considered a mark of spiritual growth and maturity. The more steadfast the belief, the stronger the believer’s faith. This mentality leads to an even crazier mentality, as sometimes witnessed on church signs, two of which state, “Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has.” And “Faith is believing in something when common sense tells you not to.” Both are proudly (and dare I say, ignorantly) displayed in front of their churches.    

At first, their leaders are rebuking the virus in the name of the one who has given his life to save them…from their “sins” as well as disease (By his stripes you are healed. Isaiah 53.5b) Jesse Duplantis, to his congregation on March 17, 2020. “We’re looking at the virus. The virus is nothing! (emphasis mine) Guillermo Maldonado on March 15, mocking the “hype” about the virus. Churchgoer: “I can’t go to church today.” Why? “Because I think the pastor’s going to have the virus.” (all the while, making faces and mocking the seriousness of the disease). He then continues with this gem. “If we die, we die for Christ. If we live, we live for Christ. So, what do you lose?”, to which his congregation erupts in cheers.  Paul Daugherty, March 1. “The goal, the tactic of the enemy (Satan), (He then stops momentarily and puts a mask on his face, before continuing), is to stop us from worshipping, and I came today to declare (stops again, this time to dramatically remove the mask, insinuating that masks are not necessary), victory over the virus. It is here that he waves the mask over his head in a victory salute. Jennifer LeClaire, “We don’t run away and isolate ourselves, and quarantine ourselves, and sit in our house because we’re afraid. We run to the church, and we take authority over this demonic entity that’s invading our city, in the name of Jesus, and we push it back. Because one can’t put a thousand to flight, and two can’t put 10,000 to flight, and we get all of us here and praying together, and ain’t none of us gonna get attacked by this dumb thing.”

And then something strange (strange only to them—not to anyone watching, who has even the slightest bit of common sense) begins to happen. The coronavirus does not heed their rebukes, prayers, scoffing, and faith. Numbers of both affected by and deaths from the virus rise, and continue to do so, at an alarming rate. So now they must backtrack, changing their tune along the way. No longer will it “have no dominion here”, and instead of their God preventing the virus from spreading, he switches gears (or rather, his followers’ line of reasoning does). He is now using the virus for retribution—against his enemies, and, oddly enough, against the believers’ enemies, as well. And herein lies the next ingredient for the recipe—the belief that they are a special people, chosen and favored by their deity. This mentality is first found in the Old Testament, wherein God makes the declaration that the Israelites (modern day Jewish people) are his chosen people. Deuteronomy 7.6: “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.” Then, in the New Testament, the author of Acts declares that the salvation which was originally for God’s chosen people is now available for everyone (Gentiles). Acts 28.28: Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent (previously thought by the Jews to be just for them) to the Gentiles (modern day Christians).  

On a side note, it is interesting to observe that God’s enemies are the very people groups that the believers dislike, and in some cases, fear or feel threatened by. (For a list of who some of those people are, one need only notice who it is who gets the brunt of the blame for the virus, once their initial prayers to keep the virus at bay are proven to be impotent.)

Next, a deep mistrust of science and modern medicine is required. This, hand-in-hand, with a persecution (us vs them, with us or against us) complex, go a long way in helping foster the “We know better” and “Trust internally only” mentalities, which pave the way for their leaders to spout such nonsense, the likes some of which has been mentioned here. Science and religion are often at odds; in fact, science is widely considered to be the antithesis of faith. This mistrust of science leads to the validity of not just non-scientific, but downright ridiculous, and worse, dangerous rhetoric and claims. Thus, the “Come to church; the virus has no dominion over you here”, and more equally insane, dangerous rhetoric flows freely from the mouths of God’s anointed to the ears of those who have been primed to receive, believe, and worse—act upon such nonsense.      

The problem here is the believer’s strict adherence to scripture. Many approach the bible as if it is indeed a divinely inspired combination science, medical, and history book. It alone serves to give them all the necessary knowledge about life—all else is fodder, and cannot be referenced or trusted. Believers are admonished in 1 Corinthians 2.5 to not let their faith “rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” And where do the believers think their knowledge comes from? Certainly not science or modern medicine. Instead, they are instructed in James 1.5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” Again, just to be clear…God, not science or modern medicine. Thus, any warnings or instruction given that have arisen from science and modern medicine regarding the virus are not only not heeded, but are scoffed at.    

The biggest problem with science, in the believers' eyes is that pesky theory of evolution, which is in direct contradiction with their bible and their beliefs. Science “invented" evolution; indeed, many believers credit Christianity’s arch nemesis, Satan, with using Charles Darwin to come up with evolution. Therefore, science cannot be trusted, and indeed must be mistrusted and seen as a source of lies, ultimately coming from their greatest enemy, Satan himself. From this lens, science and modern medicine are seen as something to be avoided—something whose agenda is to derail God’s truth, which is found in the bible (and only in the bible). This sets the stage for the faithful to disregard anything that comes from science and/or modern medicine.

And as the virus spreads, in spite of their best efforts to corral and curtail it, insanity once again ensues—this time in an attempt to place blame for the virus spreading, in spite of their initial pleas to their God to keep it away. Ralph Drollinger, President Trump's Cabinet Minister, declared that coronavirus is a result of God’s wrath, brought on by LGBTQ people and environmentalism, among other factors. Former presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said about the virus, during an interview on CBN, “You know we’ve strayed so far from God into sexual immoralities such as the homosexual lifestyle, masturbation and porn, is it any wonder God is mad? The coronavirus is God’s way of bringing us back to the light. If we give up these sins, God will take the virus away.” Conservative Christian pastor Jonathan Shuttlesworth: “If you’re putting out pamphlets and telling everybody to use Purell before they come into the sanctuary and don’t greet anyone, you should just turn in your ministry credentials and burn your church down—turn it into a casino or something,” he said. “You’re a loser. Bunch of pansies. No balls. Got neutered somewhere along the line and don’t even realize it.” He goes on to say, “America will be minimally affected by the Coronavirus because of Trump’s support for Israel.” Perry Stone, “It’s (coronavirus) almost like a spirit of Amalek (a nation in the Old Testament) that is trying to attack our older people.” Stone continues, “Let me tell you why the enemy wants to get rid of our older people. They are the ones who are established in the Bible. They are the ones who know enough about the Word not to take the Mark of the Beast.” Mary Colbert, on the Jim Bakker show, said “The coronavirus outbreak occurred because Chinese people were eating biblically ‘unclean foods’ like bats and snakes.” (There’s an opportunity here to make a comment about bat-shit crazy, but I digress—or do I?) And last, but not least—and my favorite. Pat Robertson of the 700 Club had this nugget of wisdom regarding the coronavirus to depart to his faithful followers. “Some of these young uns are doing all kinds of unnatural things with their sex organs. When people do that, they transfer all kinds of chemicals from ladies’ private parts and that’s where I think the virus came from. We never had this kind of thing when I was coming up. But no one was committing oral sex back then.” There’s so much I want to say, but I’ll practice the difficult virtue of self-control in this case, and let his statement speak for itself.     

Believers began by claiming victory over the virus, confident that it would not prevail. When that did not happen, and it instead swept rampantly through this country, they then declared that they were still safe, as their deity would protect them, and was now using the virus to punish those deemed wicked in their eyes. This served its purpose for a season—and a short one, at that. Contrary to beliefs and declarations, the virus then began to afflict their own, and even took the lives of some believers. According to Patheos.com, a church in South Korea in Gyeonggi Province sprayed salt water inside the mouths of followers out of a false belief it would help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But by using the same spray bottle without disinfecting the nozzle, it resulted in 46 churchgoers infected. Among those infected were the pastor and his wife. The first person to die in Oklahoma was a Don Martin, a pastor of a Pentecostal Church. Pastor Landon Spradlin claimed that the coronavirus was “mass hysteria” from the media. He was among the first fatality victims of the virus in Virginia. It would be bad enough if the virus were contained to only the followers who contract and spread it amongst themselves; however, and the worst part—they are spreading it in their community and to those they come into contact with, outside of their flock of faithful followers. This is indeed the maddening piece of the insanity that has transpired as a result of the religious turning their collective noses up at the authority that tried to protect them in the first place.

Suddenly, no one was safe, and that initial fear began to well up within them, as they realized how inaccurate their claims were. Once the virus hit home, even more scrambling became necessary. No longer were they safe in their places of worship. No longer was this just their God’s punishment for their enemies—no longer were they themselves safe. Enter the third level of justification and explanation, a necessity in order to maintain the illusion that their God was in control and that they were still, somehow, and in spite of their own getting sick and even dying, safe. Now, indeed, the virus is affecting their own; however, there must be a reason, one whose fault lies with the stricken. As long as they manage to distance themselves from the ones within their flock getting sick, they will continue to naively and foolhardily advance the notion that they will be spared. And it doesn’t take long for them to come up with reasons as to why their God is striking their own. And thinking he is doing so is not a stretch, as their holy book depicts a deity who seems to delight in enacting vengeance—be it upon his enemies or his own people. When this deity gets angry (which happens frequently), no one is spared or safe. In many instances, babies—both born and unborn, along with flocks of animals, are wiped out by their God.  

This next ingredient for the recipe may come as somewhat of a surprise, and that piece is the before-mentioned and oft-shunned fear. But this time, it’s a fear of the very God they claim will protect them. The bible is rife with examples of him taking out his wrath upon his own people, thereby justifying their fear of their deity. It doesn’t take long for this stellar characteristic of God to manifest. Just six chapters into the bible, God is angry with his creation and regrets having created mankind. Since he is all-powerful and (supposedly loving), he comes up with a stellar plan, which will wipe out nearly the entirety of his creation, save eight people and two each of the animals. The reason for this genocide at the hands of the Almighty…wickedness, according to God. Genesis 6.5-7: “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.’” There are many additional accounts of God wiping out his people, but for the sake of brevity, I will allow this case of genocide to suffice. It is worth noting, when speaking to the fear of God in the believer, that God found one family—merely eight people from amongst the entire population, to be worthy of being saved—who would be spared disaster. Everyone else had failed the morality test, and therefore, was going to be wiped out. God didn’t even spare babies—born and unborn, nor were the majority of the animals spared. If one believes this nonsense, it doesn’t take a Master’s in Psychology to see why today’s believers fear their God. Both innocent children and animals perished at his hands due to his wrath. And thus, the tone for God’s character is set early in their bible and continues in believers’ hearts and minds today.      

As we have seen, believers have scrambled to wed reality with their beliefs. As their beliefs fail to come to fruition, their beliefs or explanations of events change—they must, in order for their faith to remain intact. At no point will they admit that their beliefs about their deity are inaccurate at best, or wrong, at worst. Instead, they find it necessary to change the play book, finding ever-increasing ways to justify their God not doing what they initially stated he would do; in this case, protect them from the coronavirus. And this time, that scrambling requires a 180-degree turn; wherein they now blame their peers, which of course, is necessary, seeing that it is their peers, that they once insisted were safe from the virus, who are now contracting the virus and even dying. In one such attempt to justify the sick and suffering of their own, a believer compares the coronavirus to the plagues in Egypt, stating that God is using the virus to take away everything they worship, other than God. She goes on to say that perhaps we don’t need a vaccine; rather, we need to take this time to have a “personal revival” with Jesus. A Facebook friend of mine posted a picture of a page of the bible from 2 Chronicles 7.13-15, which says, “Whenever I hold back the rain or send locusts to eat up the crops or send an epidemic on my people, if they pray to me and repent and turn away from the evil they have been doing, then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous again.” These verses are circled, with a dire warning included, which says, “Pay attention children.”

And so, the cycle of justification and blame and explanation comes full circle…from declaring safety and divine protection, to blaming God’s enemies, to blaming their own. With each progression of the virus comes an equal progression of the explanations and blame game. Meanwhile, more and more people are contracting the virus. More and more people are dying. And it is the religious faithful’s denying truth, and instead, defying orders and advice to remain at home and to practice social distancing, that in part, are the reasons those numbers are increasing at an alarming rate. And each ingredient of that recipe—the belief that God is in control and will protect them, an initial, unspoken fear coupled with the belief that to fear is sin, a blind faith, a combination of the “We are special” and “We are being persecuted” mentalities, a strong anti-science/modern medicine sentiment, and a fear of their own deity, are all stirred together, blended just right, and baked to perfection, and the result? The shit-show continues, only gaining strength, taking lives and endangering many more along the way. All in the name of their God. Amen and amen.  

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 “NO!” 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 (most?) 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's right to hold beliefs opposite mine as I would want people to be of my right to hold my beliefs.

It is maddening 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, regardless of which side of the "fence" their beliefs fall on. 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 confirmation bias 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 very well 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!