On beliefs

Religion is a personal thing. And living in the south in the US, and having "different" beliefs than the majority, I've grown used to keeping silent about what I believe, and more importantly, what I don't believe.

I started this post this evening thinking about how I understand the comfort that a belief in an afterlife gives us. Even without such a belief, I could smile at the thought that Wally is about to walk in on Susan, and she'll have the teapot on the stove, tea stewing just the way she always made it. It was always Red Rose tea.
Only in Canada, eh? Pity. There goes that thought.

Still, the thought did make me smile, and led me to thinking about how much joy Wally had lost from his life in the past few years -- the chance to walk in the woods listening to nature (he never could understand why someone would want to listen to a walkman when you could listen to the birds, and the wind in the trees, and the rustling of the leaves and....) -- his beloved Susan -- etc.
And while I am not happy for him now, perhaps I am comfortable for him.

But then the thoughts turned: Boo and Skibo both decided they needed to say the blessing at dinner. This was a surprise, as we don't say a blessing. And we didn't know they knew one either. But apparently, in two different classrooms they are teaching the same blessing at lunchtime: this looks more like school policy than an individual teacher's initiative. And it is one that we are not too comfortable with: we wish to talk to our children about spiritual issues, issues of faith and religion, on our own schedule, to help them come to terms with what they believe, rather than to have society force it down their throats.

LOML and I have similar beliefs: we don't talk about them much, because they are not that important a part of our lives: we place more importance on who and how we are in the world, how we treat others and the world, than on theological issues. I can talk only for myself, as a result, about why I believe or do not believe.

I think that it would be an act of supreme hubris for me to believe in a personal deity interested in my every action and my well being. And while I can conceive of a goodness-monitor deity, I don't see any evidence of a personal guardian angel in most lives around me --- it's the "would god permit misery" question. I see no evidence to believe. As far as which belief system to believe in, I see so many, all proclaiming loudly that they alone know the one true belief, that were I to want to believe, I think that I'd be swamped by options!
In short, in some ways I see religion, not as the opiate of the masses, but more like fast food: it is convenient, filling if not nourishing, you can easily get used to relying on it, but I don't see any real evidence for the good that it does.

Please understand that I do not object in the slightest to your beliefs, especially if your beliefs do not hurt me, do not affect me; I am even happy to discuss them with you, provided that you treat me and my beliefs, or lack of the, with the same respect I grant to yours. I'd rather you don't think of trying to convert me, and I'll try not to ask too many difficult questions of your beliefs: I don't want to challenge you unless you want your ideas challenged. But please, I'd rather talk to my children about these things before anyone else does.

Yours, in disbelief,
N.