Atheism and religion.

Tonight I was blessed to attend the Baby Fold's "thank you" night as part of an amazing team of caring, loving people who regularly donate both money and time to the organization. I truly had a great time, mingling with the "fancy" people and eating a pretty superb (and definitely not diet friendly!) dinner. I listened to all the stories of people touched by the Baby Fold, people whose lives were changed immensely by a helping hand, a shoulder, and an ear.

However, it struck me as the night went on how inclusive the Christian community is. I sat and listened to these wonderful people talk about how they were called by God to volunteer, to adopt, to donate... and how they hope their message serves to continue to preach the word of God to the people.

I am an atheist. I identify as a Buddhist but I do not believe in God. I was raised in the Apostolic Church, attended a few services at Eastview (although most of the time I snuck out with my friend to College Hills Mall) and made the choice, as an adult, to not continue with my faith. It wasn't a single moment that made me "doubt" God; it was the sum of my experiences and my scientific background that made me not believe.

That doesn't make me a bad person. That doesn't make me any less caring, giving, empathetic or compassionate... I truly love people and want to help all of them (sometimes a lot more than they care to or are willing to help themselves). I couldn't help but sit there and wonder how they would feel about me if they knew that I was a non-believer (or gay, but that's a whole other story). Would they adopt to me? Let me foster? Think less of me?

I find that religion is such a polarizing factor in people's lives... most people who would be classified as "bigots" believe they way they do because of religion. Religion is what drives, say, the Westboro Baptist Church. The majority of the people who have been discriminatory towards me based on my sexuality have started the conversation (or attack) with their faith and justified it by quoting scripture at me.

To me, religion is personal and should continue to be so. I hold no judgement towards someone who practices their faith, whatever that faith may be, quietly. The problems becomes when they chose to take that faith out into the world and use it to justify hatred and intolerance. Why not just live your beliefs instead of loudly preaching them (mostly to the choir to begin with)? Why travel to another country to try to convert people? Why blindly follow a book instead of challenging your own beliefs and finding out why they mean so much to you? It's "because I/the book/Jesus/God said so" mentality... the mentality our parents use to get us to come home on time or eat our dinner. I see no logic in that and, most of the time, it hurts more than it helps.

And isn't that the point, really? To help people, to learn, to grow... to be part of a greater global community? If left to their own devices, most people couldn't even get out of their own driveway.