A certain kind of militant

My own conversion to religious skepticism did not come after long and serious inquiry into the matter. It came while driving through Illinois farmland at dusk one summer and watching a full moon rise in a cloudless sky. For some reason I no longer felt the need for a belief in god, and stopped believing.

I had read arguments for the existence of god and their critiques. Arguments for the existence of god were unconvincing once I examined them closely. I had also been thinking about various humanist ethical systems, and convinced myself that a completely adequate humanist ethics that leads to happiness or eudaimonia was possible. I saw no need for religiously inspired ethics. The stories told by my Christian faith had no evidence to support their historical truth. This all contributed to my throwing in the towel as far as religious faith. Yet it seemed a sort of after the fact matter or reality check of sorts.

I have never been much of a militant religious skeptic. First, I have not been one from sheer timidity. Bringing up my religious skepticism is not something I feel comfortable doing in polite society. I do not know if I personally know any other religious skeptics. I also believe that religion comes naturally to people. Theories as to how this might be so interest me. The naturalness of religious belief is about the only explanation I can find for why people possess certain religious beliefs. Events such as the virgin birth and Mary’s assumption into heaven have no credible evidence. The only reason why people do believe them is that they seem to fit with a certain natural inclination people have to believe these sorts of things. This leads me to a further conclusion. A militant stance against religion will often be futile since it is a natural inclination. This not to say people cannot be argued out of religious positions, but religious belief does not lend itself to logic and argumentation we use about other matters since it rests on faith.

Even though I am not a militant religious skeptic, I am a militant believer in the separation of church and state. That is, I am a militant secularist. I am not aware of any good that has come from religious control of the state. In fact, it is a subversion and repression of liberty, equality, and justice.

Over the years, I have become more and more comfortable with secularist politics, humanist ethics, and religious skepticism. I like it much better than being a Christian. I also think that it fits better with my belief in rational inquiry and justification and my hope for progress and a better world to come.