- the virgin birth
- "died for your sins"
- transubstantiation (creepy cannibalism)
- the bible, in general
- who created god
- original sin, or the idea that a new born baby is innately corrupt.
When I first stopped thinking that god in the catholic form existed, I still felt god. I still had the feeling something was there, because I was raised to think something was there. For an hour a week I had repeated the same droning doctrine designed to drill it into your head.
It took almost a year for me to feel free. To lose the voice. To feel like there wasn't something watching my thoughts.
It took almost a year for me to feel free. To lose the voice. To feel like there wasn't something watching my thoughts.
Now, I can scarcely imagine what it's like to believe in god. Life makes so much more sense when you remove the blur that the whole concept seems barmy. You don't have to worry about silly things like "why are thousands of children dying of starvation if god loves them" because it becomes a non-point. There is no god, and they just are. Don't pray, give them food.
I find I enjoy the world far more as an athiest. There is a natural beauty to things; an elegance of all that is. Without background magic, innate guilt or obligation, the world appears as the world is. It's beautiful. It doesn't need a magic story. And it becomes more beautiful the more you understand of it; the more you learn of how it works, and what is and was. It is something to marvel at.
Above all, the strangest part of catholicism is why people want to believe in the catholic god, what with him being a complete asshole. All the nonsensical sexism, racism, murder, torment and genocide is unfathomably cruel, and I don't know how anyone could align themselves with such a creature, real or fictional. It reminds me of my first thought on the road to atheism, much more elegantly put thousands of years ago.
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
