Book thoughts

On the second Saturday of every month a group of atheist ladies meet at a local health food restaurant for fellowship and brainstorming. We call ourselves the HoustonHumanistsChicks (and we can be found on Yahoo! Groups.)

Last Saturday, after an hour of chit-chat, we each talked about any resolutions we made or anything of importance going on in our lives. When the discussion got to me I revealed that I hadn’t made any resolutions but I have been reading “50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God” by Guy P. Harrison. Several people stated immediately that they had read the book and enjoyed it. Well, I’m enjoying it too but it’s not what I thought it would be and I don’t think a Christian like my mother would understand the book and its message.

I had listened to several podcasts in which Mr. Harrison had been interviewed about his book and he stated that he wrote the book with theists in mind, to gently point out the absurdities of their points of view. I’m only halfway through the book and my feeling is that fundamental theists would not like what they are reading. In fact I pointed out to my friends that my mother most likely would’ve thrown the book across the room from the very beginning. I’d like to think my less conservative friends/family would agree with some and disregard the rest yet still not be challenged to think any differently.

After some discussion about this book one of the ladies suggested reading “The Denial of Death” by Ernest Becker for better understanding of why people have faith in a god. Surprisingly I have that book in my library and may have read it several years ago when going through my own growing pains out of belief. I’ll be reading it again when I finish Guy Harrison’s book.

I am reading these books because I do want to understand why people continue to hold to the belief in a god with no credible evidence. I get how people can be brainwashed and indoctrinated. For example: the concept of Santa Clause as a real person. An immature person, a child, loves the mystery of the man who lives at the North Pole who rewards the good ones with gifts. The story of Jesus can be mysterious and full of wonder if one wants to hold to the belief of good triumphing over evil and the righteous get to spend eternity in heaven. To me and to many other nonbelievers this concept seems as childish as believing in St. Nick. Opening my mind to how religions are formed and how the Bible was constructed helped me to understand reality. I finally saw that there is no force watching out for me and, like a child, let go of the fantasy and embraced reality in all it’s beauty, randomness and ugliness.