Invitation to Accept Jesus as My Savior

I received an email two weeks ago from an ex-high school classmate named Brian encouraging me (and all our classmates) to "invite Jesus in our hearts as our Lord and Savior." Our parochial,, co-ed Catholic high school in Greenwich, CT, was small enough that we all knew each other.

My first instinct was to respond -- not angrily nor disrespectfully -- but with that touch of superiority often adopted by agnostics and athiests when responding to religious believers. In other words, "We're smarter than you." My initial response, which I wrote but did not send, adopted that tone. I'm so glad I didn't send it. I would have embarrassed myself!

I later wrote a revised response, which I DID mail. I've appended it below. Irish-Catholic Brian was a regular guy in high school, and later a successful Madison Avenue copywriter.

Brian's email arrived out of the blue and surprised everyone. Got a few emails ridiculing him, which were not shared with "all classmates." I went back and forth about whether I should respond at all. When no one else did, I decided I would.

Brian's original email is followed by my response, then his counter-response, and my response back. All but the last exchange were shared with "all classmates."

About 5% wrote to me said they agreed with me. To my surprise, no one I heard from disagreed, although I assume that those who did kept silent about it.

Here's Brian's original email to the entire Classmate list:

December 22, 2008

Dear Former Classmates –

Receiving my contact booklet today with all the happy reunion pictures, I relived again the joy Maureen and I shared with you all on that memorable occasion this September. But I must confess, that joy was quickly dampened by the sad realization that it will probably be the last time we will ever see most of you again. I doubt very much there will be enough of us still standing in 2033 to justify reconvening for our 75th. No matter how hard Bev, Steve, Larry and Marsha work to make it happen!
That’s why I’d like to share with you all a truth I discovered several years after graduating from SMHS that guarantees we will be able to celebrate one more reunion someday. And that it will be the best one ever!
In all the excitement I didn’t mention to anyone that I had just written a book. I doubt it will become a best seller, but it was my attempt to tell the amazing story of what happened to me and my family starting in 1973.
In a word, I met God. The funny thing was I wasn’t even looking for Him. Like many of you, I suspect, I thought I already knew Him. I was a practicing Catholic at the time and quite certain (and thankful) that I was in the one true religion that Jesus had founded. Therefore I was confident I was in God’s good graces and was heaven bound (even if I had to spend an appropriate amount of time in purgatory first). All that was required, as the good fathers and nuns had instructed us, was that I continue to live a good life, go to confession whenever I messed up (which was more often than I cared to count), attend Mass, receive the sacraments as often as possible, and raise our children in the faith.
But then one day I had the strangest experience that made me stop and think that maybe things weren’t exactly as we had been told.
Mo and I had just moved to Old Greenwich with our three children (soon to be four). I was commuting to Manhattan each day where I worked as a copywriter in one of the city’s largest advertising agencies. This day I was sitting on a barstool having lunch and chatting with two men I knew casually from the office. Soon our discussion centered on the existence of God and it became clear that one man was an atheist and the other an agnostic. Since I definitely believed in God it quickly became two against one. But in the middle of the discussion I suddenly found myself strangely removed from it all. That is, my mouth continued to speak but I was somehow outside myself, listening in as an observer. And in that moment I realized that everything I knew about God had not been from firsthand experience, but had been told to me by someone else. My parents. My teachers. The nuns and priests. Or Thomas Aquinas, whose writings I had studied in college and was now quoting to my two lunch companions. In other words, all I really knew about God was hearsay. I had never actually met Him myself. So the truth was I really didn’t know if He existed. I knew about Him, like I knew about Benjamin Franklin - but I didn’t know Him!
No sooner did that thought come crashing in, when I was confronted by another reality check. My own hypocrisy. Although I thought of myself as a good Catholic, I became painfully aware of how shallow my Christianity really was. The truth was my religion was like a raincoat I put on Sunday and took off on Monday. The rest of the week, all my thoughts and actions were far from God.
I left that luncheon shaken to the core. And I resolved to get to the bottom of it all. Was God real or not? Or was He like Santa Clause, a childhood fantasy. What’s more, how did my Catholicism fit into all this? Was it necessary? And if not, how does He want me to serve Him? I truly felt He existed, but now I needed more proof.
That sent me on an intense search, and I took full advantage of all the means the Church made available for someone to draw close to God. But after a year of reading every Catholic book I could get my hands on, of praying rosaries, novenas and saintly petitions, of wearing scapulas and miraculous medals, and of attending Mass and the sacraments every time they opened the church doors, I still hadn’t gotten answers to any of my questions.
That’s when God had mercy and rescued me from all my efforts. On a Marriage Encounter weekend, the presence of God literally came into our room in a beam of light and He began to speak to me, telling me how much He loved me, and how He had literally designed me in my mother’s womb for a special purpose. (This is true for all of us according to Psalm 139.) Mo also experienced Him, but in a different way. Our lives have never been the same since.
If you like, you can read the whole story of this amazing encounter in my book and what happened to us afterwards. Just go to my web site, www.bhennessy.com. There’s also a shorter version of our story in the article section.
But I want to give you the bottom line on what I discovered. I found that knowing God and serving Him has nothing to do with religion. Not Catholicism. Not Protestanism. Not Judaism. Not Buddhism. Not any religion. It’s not about what we must do to reach Him, but about what He has already done to reach us. He sent Jesus, Israel’s Messiah. And Jesus did all the work necessary to reconcile us to God. He paid the bill for the sins of all and now God is saying – “just believe it, and I will welcome you with open arms.” Not only will He give us the assurance of heaven (with no side trip to purgatory), but He will give us His Holy Spirit so we have His power and provision and love working in our lives right now. In my book, I share how He supernaturally provided all our financial needs when we were completely out of money, for example.
As Catholics we believed Jesus died for our sins and rose again. But just knowing about Him – or even believing in Him – isn’t enough. Heck, even the Devil believes in Him – and he isn’t going to heaven. No, if we want to get the full benefit of what Jesus did for us on the cross we have to take a step of faith. We have to bet it all on what the Bible tells us He did for us is true. That we are truly forgiven and that we don’t have to do one more bloomin religious thing to win His acceptance. And if we believe that, then He wants us to invite Him to come into our heart (our spirit) to live His life in us. The joy and the peace that follows will feel like we have been reborn. And we will be – spiritually.
If you have never actually experienced God’s love in this way, and would like to know Him in the intimacy of your own heart right now, I’ll show you how. It’s real simple. Just read this prayer out loud.

“Dear Father in Heaven, I have broken many of your Ten Commandments which reveals that I am a sinner at heart. Because no matter how hard I try I keep failing. But I am truly sorry for my sins. And I believe Jesus died so I could receive your forgiveness and friendship. Please come into my heart right now and wash away the stain of my sinfulness and make me brand new on the inside. Place your Holy Spirit in me that I might know you and serve you from now on, and have your peace that passes understanding. Thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayer. And now by faith I receive your forgiveness, love, joy and peace. Amen.”

If you just prayed that prayer from the heart, you need to do three things to cement it in place. I know from experience the Devil will come along and try to talk you out of it. He’ll whisper in your ear that “nothing really happened.” Or “it isn’t that simple.” YES IT IS!
What I suggest you do is tell the next three people you meet that you just invited Jesus to come into your heart as Lord and Savior. The biblical principle is to believe in our heart but confess it with our mouth. (See Roman 10: 9,10). If we really believe something we’ll say it. And then it becomes real. I can’t explain it, I just know that’s the way it works.
Then you need to get a good Bible, if you don't have one already, and start reading it. That’s where we find all the truths we need to live as true followers of Christ. My favorite is the New American Standard, but the New International Version is okay too. The Living Bible is a paraphrase, but very easy to read. Forget the King James, it’s too archaic. Start in the New Testament with the Book of John. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what you are reading. The Bible is a spiritual book – so you need spiritual help to really get the message. Then let me know you prayed the prayer so I can be praying for you.
And that’s how we can all be assured of enjoying our next reunion - in the next life. Merry Christmas!
Love - Brian Hennessy, Class of ‘58

P.S. I can tell you that you won’t need to practice any form of religion from now on, but that will be a scary step to take at first. It’s very hard to let go of that safety net because we can’t believe salvation is a free gift. “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23). We have been so trained by this world system to believe that nothing is ever free, that we think we still have to pay for our salvation with lots of religious activity. Like going to church and keeping holy days and obeying all kinds of religious laws. But we don’t. In fact, my family hasn’t belonged to or attended a church service in 30 years. And we have enjoyed God’s love and blessings every day. Our standing with God is not based on works, but on faith in Jesus. Once our acceptance of Jesus is settled, THEN God directs us to do His work by faith - the only work that counts in His Kingdom. The religious stuff won’t count for bupkus. But the Lord will lead you into all truth as you move forward.

Here's my first response to Brian's email, which I wrote yesterday and have decided not to send. It's not what I want to say. It's too much of a lecture:

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1/2/09
Dear Brian,

I respect you as a person, but I am not able to respect your beliefs. I didn’t always feel this way. Like most Americans, I was brought up to believe that it was necessary and proper to “respect” all religious beliefs, whether or not we shared those beliefs. Not only am I no longer capable of respecting religious beliefs, I no longer feel it’s required to pretend you do when you don’t. (Unless you’re a politician, then you have no choice).

I don’t ordinarily broadcast my lack of religious belief. But I feel your email gave me permission to do so -- if not an outright invitation. I also have come to believe that perhaps the time has finally come for agnostics and atheists to freely express their beliefs – or more accurately their “lack of belief.”

I have been ambivalent about responding to your email. On the one hand, I was dying to respond from the moment I read it, and I read it more than once. On the other hand, I pretty much dismissed the idea because didn’t think I could respond without seeming to be disrespectful, and I really wanted to avoid that. Nor do I want to seem like I’m trying to look smarter than you or anyone. Besides, it’s unlikely I’ll change minds, so why bother? I’m probably talking mainly to those of our classmates who already think and feel as I do.

The reason I do not respect religious belief is simple: Religion has nothing to do with God or Truth. Religion was not created by God. Religion was invented by men, usually ignorant and uneducated men, initially as a way to explain the natural world, and later institutionalized as a way to exercise control over others.

The very notion that the God of this Massive Universe would expect humans on one tiny planet out of trillions to “worship” Him is beyond weird. Who do you think came up with that idea? (Hint: it wasn’t God). Ditto for the idea that the God of the Old Testament habitually dropped in to visit Moses and later sent his son down to die for us! Beyond being silly on its surface, it’s all made-up! Add to that the Transubstantiation, the Resurrection, the Immaculate Conception and any of dozens of “mysteries” the Church taught us we had to believe in order to be saved! It was all made up!

To put it less kindly, it’s all bullshit! The fact that those who preach to us are well-meaning and sincere, does not make it true. For example, most religions claim to know our destiny after death. They fact is: They don’t know (and neither do you). You and they just think they know.

Let me ask you a question, Brian: Do you believe in Islam? Do you believe that God spoke to Mohammed and dictated The Koran word-for-word? I would guess that you do not. That’s exactly how I feel about Christianity. My views toward all religion (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc.) are exactly the same as yours are toward Islam. Just because lots of people believe it doesn’t make it so!

I didn’t “drift away” from my faith. I deliberately left Catholicism 43 years ago. A key factor in my decision was this crazy, illogical, nonsensical notion that we “must believe” this or that in order to be saved.
Did you ever try to believe something that you kon’t believe? It’s impossible! The best you can do is pretend to believe. Would God really want us to pretend we believe (or worse yet, try to pretend) when we can’t bring ourselves around to believing, no matter how hard we try?
Why would God give us a brain to think with and question with, and then turn around and tell us we must believe this idea or that idea? No matter how preposterous the idea. And if we can’t or don’t believe, sorry dude, it’s off to Hell.
I can happily say I don’t believe in any of the Gods that religions have invented, from Yahweh to Zeus to Jesus. And there’s not a damn thing I can do about. Actually, I’m glad I don’t. I am very comfortable telling the simple truth: We don’t know! I don’t necessarily deny the existence of a Higher Power. It’s just my contention that, if a Higher Power exists, it’s unknown and unknowable, and surely unrelated to any of the thousands of religious beliefs that people hold.
It never ceases to amazes how religious people meekly accept as unvarnished truth the most ourtrageous claims without a scintilla of evidence to back them up. The Transubstantiation is a good example. In the real world, these same people would insist on evidence before believing that wine is magically changed into someone’s blood. (not symbolically, mind you, but “in substance”). Yet, in the strange world of religion, they accept it without question, often without realizing that it was only declared church dogma as a counter-move against the Reformation by the Council of Trent in the 16th century (one of whose officiating popes “lived with a 14-year-old boy,” but I digress)
On to the Bible, which is no more the “word of God” than the works of Shakespeare (which is not to say both were not “inspired”). Same for the Koran. The Bible is not without some nice ideas and values, but it also condones slavery, the stoning of adultresses, wanton killing and more. Not surprising if you accept that The Bible was written by men, and ignorant men at that.
The first book of the New Testament, Mark, was written two generations after Jesus’s death, based on the only thing it could be based on: oral tradition, i.e. stories and heresay. (Did you ever play the game “Telephone”?). Then, for 1500 years after that the Bible was copied by hand countess thousands of times. Changes, deletions, additions – some intentional, some not – were part of the process. The biblical scholar Bart Ehrman asserts in his book Misquoting Jesus that there are “more differences among our manuscripts than there are words in the New Testament.”
Isn’t it absurd to think that the God of our vast Universe (16 billion light years from end to end) would choose the Bible and/or Koran as His sole means to getting the word out? If his objective was to fool us or confuse us, He couldn’t have done a better job!!!
Is it acceptable, I’ve wondered, to try to dissuade people away from a particular religious belief, Islam for example? What if an educational / public relations campaign was launched whose initial purpose was to plant seeds of doubt in the minds of Muslims, and whose ultimate purpose was to make them realize that their religion, like all religion, was INVENTED.
Maybe “the voice” Mohammed heard was not God, but more akin to the voices heard by the schizophrenic character in the movie “A Beautiful Mind.” Maybe you’re not whisked off to paradise after a suicide bombing, and maybe Mohammed did not ascend to heaven in a golden chariot. Maybe God had nothing whatever to do with writing the Koran! Maybe, maybe maybe!
At first blush, most practicing Christians would probably enthusiastically embrace the idea of undermining the Islamic belief-system. But then the reservations would creep in. If we begin casting doubt on “one of the world’s three great religions” (in the words of George Bush), then the next step might be to call into question the veracity of other religions, Christianity for example.
And as everyone knows, it has never been politically correct in our society to question the truthfulness of another person’s religion, especially Christianity, although this may be changing.
In many ways, I believe that Christianity has been a force for good in the world. The values of love and charity taught by Christ have infiltrated their way into secular society and that’s been a net positive or all of us. That’s not to say that “religion”has not caused its share of problems: Islamic terrorism, The Crusades, The Inquisition, the “end times” beliefs that make peace in the Middle East more difficult to achieve, and the harm to done to children by teaching creationism over evolution.

Brian, my intention has not been to offend or ridicule, but only to tell the truth as I see it. Just as you felt the urge to share your beliefs, your email awakened in me the urge to share mine.

I said earlier that the reason I do not respect religious beliefs is because I do not consider these beliefs to be TRUE. Some would call them “lies,” others “bullshit.” The kindest thing one a non-believer can call them is “nice stories” told by sincere and well-meaning people.
I do my best to love and respect religious believers. And as an American I respect one’s right to hold whatever religious beliefs one chooses. But only because I see no choice. People believe what they believe! Belief can’t be forced.

I wish you and all our classmates the best.

Love,
Jim

Teaching Children About Religion

There's something I want to get off my chest. When I made the decision 40 years ago to not bring my children up in a religion, I should have compensated for this decision by educating them about the subject of religion. I did not do that. We never talked about it. As a consequence, my kids grew up knowing nothing about religion, which I'm sure created some confused and uncomfortable moments when their classmates would ask them: "What religion are you?" I should have prepared them for such questions.

The Mormons

I have long held a particular respect for Mormonism -- not the doctrine, which I knew little about, but things like their emphasis on family and traditional values. I admire the success and wholesomeness of many of their members. Even the prohibition against drinking wins my grudging respect.

But when you get down to the nitty-gritty of their beliefs, I'm aghast. In the October 17 issue of Newsweek (Cover article:"The Mormons"), a member of one of the church's highest governing bodies, proclaims that, "He (Joseph Smith) stands alone as a source of doctrine." Really now!

Smith, the founder of Mormonism, is the source of the most outrageous, fantastical claims you can imagine -- which I'm sure he himself believed unequivocally. Remarking once on his massive debt and dozens of lawsuits, he told his followers: "I never told you I was perfect, but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught." Humble? (At least he admitted he wasn't perfect). Arrogant? Misguided? Crazy? Take your pick.

And why is there "no error in the revelations"? Because he said so! No other reason.

No one argues that Smith was not charismatic, persuasive and determined. That he was. He was also crazy by any reasonable standard. He says Jesus and God appeared to him in 1820 (in a "pillar of light over my head") and told him not to join a church because all churches had "fallen away from Christ's true Gospel." Three years later an angel visited him at home ("an ancient prophet from the Americas") setting him off on a search for buried gold plates and telling him to bring forth a new scripture containing (get this!) "an account of Jesus during a post-resurrection visit to America as well as a history of an ancient Israelite people there."

Either Joseph Smith was right about everything he said -- or he was deeply troubled mentally. I'll put my money on the latter. Schitzophenia? Big ego issues? Control issues? I haven't a clue, but I suspect a combination. I just know that millions of Mormons swallow it whole without ever questioning its veracity. And among the believers are well-educated, successful and otherwise intelligent people, a fact I find astonishing about every religion. How can they believe this stuff? I ask myself. But alas, they do, as we well know.

I say "otherwise intelligent" because they're obviously not intelligent in this one area. To blindly believe -- without benefit of evidence -- the most bizaare fairy tales imaginable is NOT to me a sign of intelligence. It's strange that "religion" is the only arena of life in which masses of people docilely accept the claims of others without evidence. In every other area of life, they want evidence, proof. But not with religion.

Really now, can you think of anything more absurd that the idea that God would choose to reveal the Truth of the Universe by means of not one, but several, ancient texts (which incidently also condone slavery, stoning sinners, etc.)? I know, I know . . . yours (not theirs) is the right one . . .

All religions are illogical, yet share in common a certainty that they are right. (And by implication that "you are wrong" -- even if it's not PC to come right out and say it).

Most people see it as a good thing that 64% of Americans are "people of faith." A long-standing and unchallenged assumption in our society says that "religious faith" is a source for good. It's generally accepted that belief in God is a positive thing, and that not believing in God is a is a negative (i.e. bad) thing.

Most people believe that faith and morality are connected. (The evidence says they're not. I would argue that religious people on the whole are less moral, but that's another subject).

I say that these "assumptions" about religion are not correct. Like John Lennon, I can't help but "imagine" that a world without religion would be a better world, but I'm not hopeful.

I've been accused of having a passion about "religion" -- an anti-passion some call it -- and it's true. I suppose it stems in part from having been bamboozled by well-meaning people for 16 years of Catholic school. It's rooted, too, in my conviction that blind faith and certainty about something we cannot possibly know anything about can never a good thing.

But what turns me on most about the subject of religion is 1) It addresses (or shall I say, 'attempts" to address) the most basic questions in the Universe: "Is there a God? What is His nature? What does He want from us? And what happens to me and my family when we die?" And 2) IT SAYS IT KNOWS THE ANSWERS TO EACH OF THESE QUESTIONS! An amazing fact in itself.

Can you think of any questions that's more important than these? Or more unanswerable? I can't.

The arrogance of them to claim to have the answser is my first reaction. That gives way to am amazement over the power of religion. No scholar, scientiest or philosopher in her right mind would claim to "know" answers to these questions, yet each each religion says it "knows". And because it's "religion" and not mathematics or history . . . NOBODY IS ALLOWED TO QUESTION IT!

What is it with religion and me?

People have asked me, "What is it with religion and you". While I have some idea of why religion stirs up so much passion in me, but let me say first what it is not about. It's not about shocking people.

It makes me sound defensive, I know, but I am NOT out to shock people with my writings about God and religion. I realize that I might, but that's not my motivation. In fact, I would far prefer if what I have to say did not shock, but rather was seen as so obvious that people would say, "So why are you writing about that? Isn't it obvious?"

Anyway, some of the people in my life who love me have occasionally said that I "like to shock". Hence my defensiveness about it. Again, it's not about "shocking people" and I've thought a lot about it. Yet, I am willing to shock if I have to.

In truth, I'm highly ambivalent about the idea of criticizing -- let alone "shaking up" -- someone's Religious Faith." Yet I realize that I might, and that makes me squirm. Here we are dealing with the most important question in the Universe. Who am I to disturb the comfortableness of those who do not see it as a "question" but rather see their Faith as "the answer." Do I even have that right?

Fortunately for all of us, we have free speech in this country, so I guess I do "have the right." You of course have the right not to read it. (If the Church was in charge politically, as they were in the 16th century, they'd still be burning heretics and, of course, controlling what we read. Don't believe me? Then you'd better educate yourself. The Church changed only because they were forced to, not because they saw any reason to).

My decision to let go of Catholicism 40 years ago was an epiphany for me. It changed everything. I went from believing it was all true, to believing it was all bullshit, almost overnight.
One factor: I was angry at having been bullshitted all these years (just because some bishops in the 12th century decided that Mary was a virgin did not make it so).

Another: I could not imagine the idea of a God who gave us inquiring minds -- and then TOLD US WE HAD TO BELIEVE STUFF THAT MADE NO SENSE. Not even God can MAKE YOU believe something! True, you can pretend to believe, but would God want that? (An insecure God who wants to be "worhshipped" might!)

The idea that we "had to believe" (in the Transubstatiation for example) and if we didn't we'd be damned was not only illogical and ridiculous. It was mean-spirited!

Do we want an Evangelical Christian on the Supreme Court?

I read this morning that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers is a born-again Christian. As an agnostic who has thought long and hard about it, I just don't get it!

I do not understand how a smart person can accept the "born-again" idea. If any Christian belief is a fairy tale, the born-again one, coupled with the idea of accepting Christ as the "savior" described in the Bible, surely is.

I want judges who are Philosphers, not People of Faith. I want them to be skeptical, to ask questions, to never accept something just because a sacred book, or belief system, or preacher, or even a warm feeling inside, says it's true.

To me, belief in Evangelical Christianity is no less extreme than Islam's belief in martydom. True, it's far more benign, and that's a good thing, but it's no less fantastical. Like Islam, its outrageous claim that it "knows the truth" is never challenged. Like Islam, it's believed with certainty. Both religions "know" for certain that God is on their side, and what happens to us after death.

Why is "religious belief" so radically different from other types of "belief" when it comes certainty? In every other area of life -- business, science, academics, personal relationships -- what we "believe" is a function of our experience, knowledge, asking hard questions, application of logic, what our senses tell us, etc. Only in the area of "religion" are we expected to accept as true a set of beliefs for which there's not a scintilla of evidence.

The fact that a believer finds it "comforting" or a "source of solace" counts for nothing in terms of whether it's the truth or not. The only real TRUTH about the nature of God and the Universe, and our relationship as humans to each of them, is this: WE DO NOT KNOW! It would be nice if we did, but we don't. This is not deny to "spirituality" -- which I believe is real -- but rather to question the assumption that any religion has a corner on the truth.

It must feel very peaceful, perhaps even smugly pleasant, to possess the certainty that Evangelical Christianity (and Islam) confers. I'm just not sure it's a quality I want to see in a Supreme Court justice.

Pondering my Agnosticism

Am I looking for converts to Agnosticsm?

I have wondered to myself about that. But on reflection I don't think so. For me, "telling the truth" is liberating, even comforting. And I would want the same for others. But knowing how much "Faith" means to some people, I don't want to be branded as "the bad one" who drew them away from it, either, perhaps to their everlasting regret. Maybe it's "too much responsibility." Once Faith is gone, I don't think it ever comes back.

On the other hand, I find beauty and light in "telling the Truth," especially when it comes to questions of God and The Bible. And the Truth for me is "We do not know." Therefore, those of you who say you DO KNOW are, well, full of crap. I don't mean any disrespect to those who "know." The arrogant "certainty" of many religious people bothers me a bit, but I can live with it. Mostly I'm relieved I'm not among them. The idea of believing in something irrespective of whether it's true or not, but only because "it feels good,"or you were told it was true as a child, or because it's in a "book," just goes against my grain. To me, only the truth matters, not what you or others believe (except when it can affect my life, as in the case of Muslim extremists)

I attended Catholic schools for 16 years and, with just minor exceptions, have only good memories of the nuns and priests. But looking back on the religious part of the instruction . . . it was ALL BULLSHIT. I hate to put it so bluntly (I guess I could say "balderdash" instead), but sometimes a vulgar word drives the point home. Have you read a Baltimore Catechism from the 40's or 50's recently? Some of the moral messages are fine, but the underlying message is as fantastical and far from "truth" as Jack in the Beanstalk. We as gullible children were told exactly "WHO" God is" and what He expects from us. And that if we didn't do as He wanted, we would burn in hell. (I get angry just typing that. They should burn in hell for their despicable lies!)

Don't call me an atheist.

I get defensive about being called an atheist, as I was the other day in an email. An atheist ‘KNOWS’ there’s no God. I don’t know that. I don’t deny the existence of God or a Supreme Power. It’s all very possible that one exists, for all the logical reasons. But when it comes to explaining the nature of this Supreme Power – what He, She or It is like -- on that point I can only defer to my Agnosticism: "I DON'T KNOW!" It's the only intellectually honest answer to the big eternal questions and, damn it, intellectual honesty is refreshing these days.

I even believe in an afterlife! I’ll bet that surprises you. But it’s only because I choose to believe it. I do not know that it’s true. How could I? Nor do I have Faith in a God. Why should I? I have faith in other people to varying degrees (usually depending on the faith they have in themselves). But since My God is "unknown and unknowable," it would be like having faith in a fantastical idea for which there's scant evidence beyond ancient "stories."

Sure, it would be nice to die and move on to some other realm while maintaining the memories of life here on Earth. It would sure be nice to once again meet all the people you knew on Earth (or some of them anyway). It seems logical to me that our “souls” must go somewhere. Doesn't it? Yet I know full well that death could be the final end. I just don’t know. Do you? Nor am I afraid. What comes will come. It's part of being human.

I freely acknowledge that there may indeed be a God of some kind up there -- or out there. But I have no idea of what this God is like, or if He cares about or pays attention to, or even causes, events here on earth (Based on the evidence I rather doubt it). I have no idea if He knows each of us as individuals. For all we know, to Him we’re like a beehive and He’s the beekeeper. Fascinating to watch, yes, but the identities of the bees as individuals are not important to the beekeeper. My observation – and it’s only that, an observation – is that we’re pretty much on our own, subject to the random whims of nature like every other life form, although far more capable it seems of creating our destinies.

Does God want to be worshipped?

Do you suppose that God gives a hoot if we “worship” Him? I mean, that's what it's all about it, isn't it? That's what they call going to church. What a crazy notion, really, that the All-powerful God of This Immense Universe would be vain and insecure enough to care about being worshipped by us puny humans! Let’s say YOU were big and powerful. Would you want people to “worship” you? And if you did actually want to be worshipped, wouldn’t most people think you were a jerk? (I would). The whole "worship" idea goes back to the idea of vengeful God who wants his Divine Ass kissed, which is about as preposterous an idea as one can imagine.

Yet . . . Rick Warren breezily asserts in his super-best-seller The Purpose Driven Life that “God wants to be praised.” Oh really? I would really like to know where the fuck Rick picks up these gems. The Bible, I guess. Voices, perhaps? Rick claims over and over again to know exactly what God thinks -- and what He wants from us. Imagine that! I assert that Rick Warren does not have the remotest idea idea of what God thinks or wants, and that it is downright evil putting such crap out to gullible people.

"Oh, but it's not a Lie," you say. "It's the Truth." That my friends is where we part: I say "No, we do NOT know" when it comes to God. You say, "Yes, we DO know."

I hate religion.

I do not hate the people who believe in it (As an agnostic, will you believe me if I say I love them?). But I do hate the idea of religion and how it's based entirely on a illusion. That those who teach it are well-meaning is irrelevant. All religions claim to know the truth about the nature of God, what God wants, how to find salvation, etc. But I assert that religion does not -- and cannot -- know the Truth about the supernatural and the afterlife.

You say religion does tell the Truth? You can say what you want, but that’s where we differ. I’ll trust science over religion any day, because science is a quest for Truth. And science tells me that “religion” has been bamboozling us big time for thousands of years. For example, for hundreds of years Christianity solemnly decreed that the sun went around the earth. They were wrong about that one and it took them 400 years to admit it (Ever notice how they don’t like to admit they’re wrong?). So why can’t they be wrong about everything else?

Religion was invented by human beings.

What if everyone could accept that ALL religion is an invention of human beings and has nothing remotely to do with God? Or at least no more to do with God than history, philosophy, mathematics or any other body of knowledge. Early religion was a means invented by men to try to communicate with the mysterious Celestial Power that seemed to be up there somewhere. Why is it so hard to accept that human being invented religion? It makes perfect sense if you know anything about how we humans evolved. But for "believers" to accept that “humans made it up" would be to lose the whole raison d'etre for religion -- that is, how to please God and ultimately how save your own ass, er, I mean your soul.

A part of me hates to tell you this (a part of me likes it, too), but once you let yourself admit that religion is man-made, not God-made, you can pretty much say goodbye to "Religious Faith." I found this to be a freeing experience. You're left instead with a philosophy, a way of looking at the world that asks questions about the Supernatural, but DOES NOT EVEN TRY PROVIDE ANSWERS! Spengler called religion "the product of Early Culture," while philosophy is the "intellectual product of Civilization."

The Judeo-Christian religion evolved from a time when humans were unbelievably ignorant of how the physical universe works -- ignorant to a degree that would hard to imagine today. So, for reasons that were rational at that time, people assumed there had to be a God behind the rhythms and uncertainties of life on Earth -- a God to be feared, for sure, given man’s powerlessness before the forces of nature. It all makes perfect sense. If all you knew was what you could observe with your senses, a God up in the clouds makes as much sense as anything. So the fantastical stories were born and were nurtured along by religious leaders with a stake in making it all "dogma," which indeed happened. Remember that the stories in the Old Testament were the oral tradition of the Jewish people long before they were written down.

The Messiah story.

Talk about a story getting blown out of proportion! The Jews, whose "God of the Israelites" designated them as "the chosen people," created in book form this wonderful combination of history, social rules, and folk stories called the Bible (specifically the Old Testament). It described their God in detail. Nothing unusual there. Stories about God were a common theme in other cultures' literature, too.

I mean, do you really believe that God came down to earth and promised Moses that He would send a Messiah to "save the Jewish people"? You don’t think there’s a remote possibility that some enthusiastic Jewish writer-scholar stuck that one in there? It's a good one! It meshes perfectly with "the chosen people" idea. But does it make any sense?

The whole idea that God would send his ""Son" down to earth to get crucified has never made sense to me . . . especially now that we know that the Universe is comprised of at least 100 billion galaxies of 100 billion stars each, and that the furthest star we know of is 16 billion light years away. AND THAT NONE OF THE BIBLE WRITERS KNEW ANY OF THIS. They were great writers, but they exactly zero about how the Universe worked. Then the great ironic twist, and the root cause of 2000 years of anti-Semitism: The Jews rejected Jesus and say He is not the Messiah. The Christians, who were mostly Jews themslves early on, say He is the Messiah and build a new religion around the idea.

(Doesnt' the mere size of the Universe support Agnosticism. Do the numbers yourself: Light travels at 187,000 miles PER SECOND. So how many miles is one light year? And how many in 16 billion light years, which is the distance to the end of the known Universe? Could you ever travel there? Yea, in 16 billion years -- if you could travel at the speed of light!)

Does the Judeo-Christian "ONE TRUE GOD" control it all, even out to the farthest star? There are sure no hints of it in the Bible. Instead we get the poetic "creation story" in Genesis which, astonishingly, is BELIEVED LITERALLY by 44% OF ALL AMERICANS, which I guess says something about "the power of faith." It sure points to the ignorance and intellectual laziness of our electorate

Another question you'll never hear a Christian address: Did Jesus die only for the sins of those on Earth? Or did he die for the sins committed in other worlds, too, worlds that scientists agree MUST EXIST in such a massively huge Universe as ours? (And what if there's more than one Universe, which I know is a contradiction in terms? You'll have to ask Rick Warren or the Pope about that; they'll just say, "You have to have Faith," which sure is a handy little conversation ender!)

Does it make rational sense that God would expect us humans -- to whom He presumably gave brains and judgment -- to believe the fantastical stories in the Bible with absolutely zero evidence to support them, apart from an occasional "miraculous" sighting in a Mexican village? Why would God do that to us? Yes, I know, "it's all a mystery." BUT THAT'S EXACTLY MY POINT!

The Apostle Paul

Paul’s Epistles did as much to kick-start the early Church as the Gospels. But did you know that Paul never saw Jesus? Never met Jesus. Never read one Gospel (because the earliest, Mark, came later). So where did he get his information. Please take your "Faith Cap" off for a moment and put your "Thinking Cap" on and get this:

PAUL SAW JESUS IN A VISION!

Is it just possible that Moses, Paul and Mohammed and the rest of them simply "saw visions" like the Russell Crowe character in "A Beautiful Mind"? Isn't it possible? It’s an historical fact that St. Paul saw Jesus in a vision and that Mohammed “heard voices” and those voices became the Koran. (To hear voices is one thing. To think God is talking to you borders on arrogance).

Tell me, if your boss or spouse told a fact based on a “vision” they had or a "voice" they'd heard in a dream, what would you think? (And if God, Jesus or the Virgin Mary appeared to you in a vision, would you tell anybody? I’m not sure I'd do. I'd probably visit a shrink).

What the big deal about Faith?

Why is the Bible the only book on earth whose content must be "accepted on Faith"? My goodness, to even question it is not only politically incorrect. It would get you fired as a news commentator or lose you an election as a politician. Why is it that "Faith" the one thing you can't question another person about, even a family member? Did you ever notice that, in any other area of life or academics, the sketchy evidence offered in the Bible for its astonishing claim that it's "the Word of God" would be laughed out of the room.

Have you ever wondered why the God of the Universe would set a crazy condition like “Faith” as the sine qua non of salvation? Especially when so much evidence to the contrary points to “Faith” not being particularly relevant. Katrina's an example. Even when lucky survivors say that "God was watching over us," aren't they also saying that God apparently was NOT WATCHING OVER those who were not so lucky?

I had to smile sadly when I heard on the radio a homeless Katrina victim say, regarding their "future," that they were “putting their faith in God” Gee, hadn't they already tried that?

For discussion's sake, let's assume that God "could" affect events here on earth if He wanted to. Then where's the evidence that He ever does? Instead, evidence abounds of a "hands-off" God who doesn't interfere one iota in events here on earth. If ANYTHING, He kick-started the Big Bang, then left it all to "evolve" according to a consistent set of rules and principles, with "supernatural intervention" playing no role at all.

Where is God now?

Remember how God in the Old Testament used to come down to earth all the time and talk to us? Once he visited Moses disguised as a “burning bush.” He talked to Adam and Eve. He told Noah to build an Ark and take two of each animal aboard (Does that include the 250,000 species of beetles, I wonder?). He conferred on Moses the power to part the Red Sea. (I will concede this: If I saw someone “part the sea,” or had evidence that he or she did, It would get my attention! That is for damn sure! Don't you suppose the writers of the Bible knew that, too?)

Did you know that convincing evidence exists that Jesus never existed? I'm not going there now -- I'm no scholar. Nor am asserting anything. Actually, I lean toward believing that a wise and charismatic man (not a god) named Jesus did walk the earth. But it's far from certain, for dozens of good reasons, which perhaps I'll cover in a future posting.

The Bible is an inspired work.

I'll concede that the Bible is an "inspired" work, in the same way a great novel is inspired. We don't know how inspiration works, but we know it when we see it. I believe there is a spirituality beyond the physcial world that engenders what we call inspiration? Look at Mozart. But would you say a great novel or musical composition was "inspired by God?" Then why should we say it about the Bible?

I agree that the writers of Bible were smart men writing about stuff they probably believed. But remember, these men were TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY IGNORANT of how the universe really works. They thought the world was flat, that God made the sun move over it everyday, and that lightening and thunder meant He was pissed off.

To me, the Bible is a treasured piece of Western literature, an amazing work written by mostly well-intentioned men, some ambitious and politically-motivated. God's Secretaries, a recent book about the 50 scholars commissioned by King James to translate and write the King James Bible from 1603 to 1611, attests to the brilliance of their work. Inspired? Absolutely. But the "Word of God"? Only in the sense that Beethoven's Ninth, for example, is the "Song of God". (Who knows, maybe it is. But at least they haven't built a complicated religious dogma around it).

My point is (as I’m sure you’ve gathered): THE BIBLE IS A BOOK! Period. Do you hear me, Rick Warren? A great book, okay. But it’s a book, a work of literature!

And consider this: Without the first part of this book, without the Old Testament, there would be no second part, no New Testament. And without a New Testament there would be no Christianity, no Islam, either. (What a different world that would be).

Morality is independent of religion.

People of Faith often ascribe “goodness” and “morality” to religion. I concede that most of the concepts of love and forgiveness taught by Jesus have had a salutary effect on Western culture (better than the concepts of hatred and revenge that too often are a part of Islam). And it's true that religious groups do good works. But before you ascribe too much “good” and “morality” to religion alone, keep in mind that the Scandinavian countries, the most atheistic countries in Europe, are the most generous donors to poor countries.

Should you teach your kids religion?

A friend of mine once told me that she "regrets" not having brought her children up as Catholics. Her ex-husband, on the other hand, feels as I do, that religion is nothing more than a promulgator of fantasy, illusion and myth. And that to teach it to children as "Truth" not only does a disservice to children and to the adults they will become, but borders on being "evil." I can see telling kids occasional "white lies" if it seems in their best interest at the time, but to lie about something as important as "how to please God" seems unconscionable to me. If I were a parent with young childen, I would make it a point to keep the kids away from such fantasy. Why induce them to believe a Lie, possibly for the rest of their lives? I would, however, teach them "about religion." I would explain to them that millions of people believe the stories told by each religion but that there's only on truth. "WE DO NOT KNOW." It might be nice if we did, BUT WE DON'T.

Why did I name my blog "Agnostic and Loving It"?

My first reason for choosing that name: IT'S TRUE! I do love being an agnostic. Why? Because it's freeing. It's the only honest belief (or non-belief) one can have when it comes to the supernatural and the afterlife. Agnostics believe that God is "unknown and unknowable." simple as that. To disagree with that statement, to say, "No, no, I do know the ultimate truth" is to kid yourself. It may feel good, but is intellectual dishonesty with yourself really a good thing? I don't think so.

I grew up Catholic and still remember the moment 40 years ago (I was 24) when I let it all go. It was liberating. No longer was I required to “believe” things that were becoming more and more difficult to believe. No more guilt – it vanished almost immediately.

My second reason for calling my blog "Agnostic and Loving It" is to let the Faithful out there to know that there can be happiness, satisfaction and peace of mind without believing in Jesus -- or whatever God one chooses to follow. I still recall the daily prayer in parochial school we recited in unison for “fallen away Catholics,” a group we viewed with sadness and pity. Now that I’m one of them, I know it was wrong to view them that way. Yet, whenever I tell a Christian evangelical that I'm agnostic, I never fail to pick up a hint of pity and smugness. "Ha ha, I know the truth and you don't" I hear them thinking. Or, more uncharitably, "You just wait. You'll find out."

Was I ever afraid of my decision to let it all go? Not really. Oh, I occasionally have the fleeting thought, “Gee, what if I’m wrong? What if the Catholic Church’s teachings really are true?” But then the absolute absurdity of it all comes to the rescue and I’m back to reality. Besides, I reasoned at the time, if God did not want us to ask questions or harbor doubt, then why did he give us minds and brains that inexorably lead the intellectually honest among us in that direction? And what is wrong about doubting in the first place? Other than the fact that, once it starts, the whole believe structure can come crashing down (What a relief; try it).

Isn't it obvious that no one can force themselves to believe in something? True, you can pretend to believe, but you can’t make yourself believe. You either believe or you don’t. It’s not a voluntary decision. Isn't it absurd that God would put us in the position of lying to ourselves, of forcing some of us to pretend to believe something that we really can't believe in anymore. I would guess that many Christians are struggling with this one.