While seeing “Inherit the Wind” at the VA Memorial Theatre, I remembered when I believed in God.
Three years ago, I was a typical Christian: I didn’t read the Bible, but I supported it; I believed there was a heaven and that I would get there if I behaved myself; and I disregarded
the questions that grew in me as I chose faith over answers.
Now that I’ve matured and developed, I am a “stalwart atheist” as Pat Cronin once hailed me. Seeing him play Henry Drummond in “Inherit the Wind” was a gratifying experience. Atheism rarely gets the spotlight. Religion and most societies are intertwined like a strand of DNA, so this article will attempt to explain my personal philosophy and background as an atheist.
First, the myths of atheism need some confronting. It is possible to have a moral code without a religious doctrine; to be spiritual and disregard all the deities throughout history; and most importantly – Virginia
Woolf said it best in Mrs. Dalloway – it is possible to die.
Understand it is also possible
to waste your life censoring
yourself for fear of your own non-existence or an eternal
hell. As an atheist, I am a strong advocate of living each day without worry for the existential
consequences of my actions, whether I say naughty words or kiss another man on the lips.
As a homosexual living on the buckle of the Bible Belt, it is probably easier for me to doubt the existence of God (especially the Christian God). I have seen racism, sexism, homophobia, speciesism and other ignorance justified and committed in the name of religion. I have seen much more pain than pleasure emit from religion, personally and universally. To those who think it is sad to believe there is no heaven, I must ask why they are so ready to believe there is hell? From the Crusades to now, the ubiquity of religion is a terrifying force of human nature that I believe will plague us and stunt our development as a species capable of true miracles.
Our majority promotes an anthology that serves as a tool for intolerance. The inconsistencies
and “old laws” are disregarded
while the promises and sins are highlighted. The world would spin with more clarity if more time was spent in a library than a church (and until library is capitalized, I refuse to capitalize church).
The most difficult albeit engaging aspect of being an atheist is the presence of so much theism. This paper has a column that is geared toward Christians; there are flyers asking
that everyone attend religious
organizations; and there are billions that accept the concept
of the afterlife over the reality of the life.
Consider this: If there is no God, if this is all there is – this brief essence that we all share and lose – then how horrifying
would it be to spend it despairing over the notion of an afterlife? I understand all too well that those who believe in God are happy with their beliefs, but the belief in hell makes belief in heaven a Pyrrhic
victory – a victory won at too great a cost. While it would be comforting to believe in heaven, it is far more fulfilling
to believe in Earth and its inhabitants instead.
I ask not that you believe as I do, but that you open your mind. Refer to historical documentation
instead of blind faith. There are those who need to believe, I know, but all should explore their spirituality. You may find something that coincides
with your upbringing or, as I have, you may find something
that profoundly conquers it.
At the end of “Inherit the Wind,” Drummond takes the Bible and Darwin’s On the Origin of Species into his hands, striking them together before leaving the courtroom. This action reminded me that before we are divided from one another, we are equal human beings first.
Before you are theist, atheist, gay, straight, black, white, neither,
both or all of the above: you are a human being. Life is short, so we should practice
loving each other as equals instead of advocating our individual
beliefs.
Our ability to learn (by definition
and practice) surpasses our ability to believe. Some will argue with that, but I will forever stand by it as an aspiring
professor and as a lover of human progress.

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