I don't go around discouraging people's belief in deities, either. If there is a discussion, I participate in it, as here, of course. When I was in college, it seemed to me tragic that intelligent people could believe nonsensical things simply because it made them feel good to do so, feel so very "special," and affiliated with The Ultimate Top Dog of the Universe, which is what it appeared to me seemed to be happening, and still does. But as life unfurled, I came to envy them their delusions at times. Those times were when painful events that occurred by chance, meaningless events, would have entailed less pain if I had myself harbored the delusion that they really did have a meaning, and that even if I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was, my Father Deity was taking care of me, and I could rest assured it was all for the best.
Still, I feel as though when I die, I will have experienced life fully, and taken it like a grown up Human.
My son married a girl who had been raised a strict Catholic, and when they became engaged, she approached me to say that she thought I must be concerned that my grandchildren were going to be raised in the Church-- and she wanted me to know she herself was an atheist, so I shouldn't worry. I told her that I was glad enough to hear it, but that the truth was, any religious upbringing that produced a girl as fine as she and her brother and sisters are, was good enough for my son's children, and I meant it.
I think that often religion makes people behave indecently; but not always. |
