Scrap all religion?

My nanny (grandmother, not child carer) believes in the christian god. She lost her sister when she was young and so clings to the hope that they'll be reunited in heaven.

I don't believe in her god - I am atheist about all gods including hers. We have discussions, during which I am constantly aware of her reason for worship and belief (although admittedly some days I may be in a funny mood and not have the patience for such considerations).

I take the view that if it makes her happy then what's the problem? Also by the time that she does die it won't matter what she believed during her life because she'll be no more and none the wiser. 

But there are people out there who do cause suffering to others because of their beliefs. For the sake of the harmers does this mean that all religion should be scrapped? How can you permit some people to believe but deny it to others, when belief is the same across the board?

A test of faith

I used to think the fact that I am here as a living thinking being was proof of a divine creator. How could I (or anything) exist otherwise? Why is there something rather than nothing?

I am told that God purposely hides away from us so that we must believe without seeing. If that’s the case, and he wants to test our faith, then surely the fact that there IS something rather than nothing is the total opposite of hiding away.

You could argue that science’s advancements such as the theory of a Universe from nothing could have been designed by God as a test of faith; tempting people to be atheist on the grounds that there was no apparent need for a creator.

But why hide yourself by creating a universe that looks as though it could come into existence entirely naturally and in doing so remove yourself from the equation? 

Belief

Richard Dawkins calls the extolling of the virtues of blind faith to children a form of abuse. I can understand how a child who is completely trusting may be duped and abused but I still think trust and belief are important things that need to be fostered in young children.

There is no afterlife awaiting us so the rewards must be here in the short life that each of us has. If you are trusting and then suffer because of it then that can’t be practical because once something has happened it is part of history.

A child’s mind is still forming so it is important to nurture it properly. Imagine a young child too small to have something explained to them like you’d explain something to an adult; you reward them with a treat when they’re good and punish them if they are not, right?

Is the same not true of belief? I think that teaching children through the medium of festive fairy tales that believing without seeing is very important.

The Matrix highlighted the point that you cannot even trust your own senses to be truthful to you. When I was ill I didn’t even trust that my own parents were my real parents! Trust (or belief) is a big thing in each of our lives so it is important to mould the brain of a maturing infant so that he or she can believe.

I thought that it was wrong to lie to anyone, least of all the most trusting. Master Oogway tells us that yesterday is history and I think that this is a good point. When you’re a child you become lost in the magic so it doesn’t matter how you feel once you are an adult; the important thing is that you found a measure of pleasure in the moment.

And belief has an important part to play in that. And hopefully when you make it to adulthood you will have the wisdom to see that you weren’t being duped, you were being loved.

But what if you reach adulthood and you have a very – maybe overly – trusting brain? You may be easily swindled or worse – where is the good in that? Can you teach children that believing without seeing is good but at the same time teach them to question the world around them?

Religion

I have to die. I can’t bare the doubt anymore. If I die then two things will happen;

1.       Nothing

2.       Something

Either way I’ll feel better. If nothing happens then I won’t know any different, but if something happens then it will all be resolved.

This was my thinking when I was twenty years old. I have been told it is psychotic and I no longer agree with my reasoning back then. For one, based on what I’ve been taught, I’d be going straight to hell for sure - so it wasn’t the best thought out plan.

Luckily I don’t believe in heaven and hell anymore. I am now happy I didn’t kill myself because all I have at the end of the day is my life and so that would have been an awful waste.

But was my thinking any more psychotic than that of the millions who believe in God and are prepared to die and kill for that belief (probably not in that order)?

But then if they are not psychotic then does that mean I’m not either? If I based my idea to kill myself on the beliefs of many then is it a psychotic idea?

Hold on…. am I normal?

Have I tailored my life to my diagnosis? The boot does seem to fit: I hear voices talking in my head independently of my thoughts and I also have horrible images in my head that seem to be inserted somehow.

But could these be normal, everyday experiences? And if I had never been labelled would they have paled into insignificance a long time ago? Or would I have killed myself from sheer frustration many times over by now?

Who knows?

I am starting to understand that I am not my label.