Recently I’ve been asked: “What religions did you study?” and  “What made you become an Atheist?” The answers are: many and science, respectively.

Religious Study

I began many years ago by studying and/or looking into several Christian religions: the Catholic Church, the United Church, the Lutheran Church, the Pentecostal Church, to name a few - I really wanted to compare Christianity based on my knowledge and understanding of the bible. I wanted to consider Christian faiths and their individual perspectives. What I found in every case was that there were the typical good things and bad things with each; some more so than others. But interpretation is what really that stood out for me. Each faith believed and defended their doctrine based on their relative interpretation of the bible. Some churches I saw as not much more than glorified social clubs where the parishioners had no real biblical knowledge at all, whereas in other churches I saw highly knowledgeable people who were convinced that their doctrine and interpretation of the scripture was absolutely the right one; an opinion remarkably similar to the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

After getting through many of the “main stream” Christian religions I also studied the The Church of Latter Day Saints or the Mormons. Funnily enough although their doctrine is what I consider to be pretty much out in “left field” I found that their faith and the fundamental belief that they are absolutely god’s only bearers of truth was remarkably similar to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I also investigated Scientology - admittedly though, only as much as you can learn about Scientology from the internet and without actually paying. Anyway, from what I have been able to see through testimony of current and former Scientologists I have deduced that the cult-conditioning and control is very similar to the Watchtower, although I consider Scientology to be considerably more harmful and destructive than the Witnesses, I would go so far as to say they are one of the worst (in my own opinion).

I also began to study Buddhism. I knew a lot of people who were very much into Buddhist philosophy. I really liked a lot of the concepts, I still think they there are many valuable teachings (even though Buddhism cannot really be considered a religion it’s more of a philosophy). But again I was left feeling that much of their doctrine or belief system were simply fanciful ideas, especially when considering the six realms of existence. Nevertheless Buddhism could be a very pretty thing to believe.

To a lesser degree I have looked into Islam, mostly just out of curiosity and again saw many similarities with that fundamentalist way of thinking. I can’t really comment too much here, because I don’t have a great deal of knowledge on the subject. However I do think that as a whole Western Society has demonized the Islam faith, when many of our fundamentalist beliefs are really only as distant as the other end of the candle.

My conclusion after years of studying? I’ll borrow the words of a famous philosopher who said, “Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.” I perceived an underlying thread common to most of these religions: The majority of the followers are honest people, they are seeking truth and answers, but all too often the trust they put in their religious leaders is abused, distorted and twisted into something ugly.

I believe religion can serve some good purposes such as instilling morals, but I believe as Dr. R. Dawkins so brilliantly said, “[Humanity] has a moral code not because of religion but in spite of it.” Religion can bring out the best in some people; helping them in their daily lives. But on a larger scale it has also brought out the worst in people; countless wars and bloodshed, divided families, the subjugation and abuse of women, child molestation, etc.

On Becoming an Atheist

Recently my beliefs or lack thereof have exposed me to some interesting accusations relating to my good sense, reason and logic. I really don’t know to take these comments which are insinuating that I have simply adopted Atheism as a result of my rejection of the Watchtower. Even though I try not to take these sorts of things personally, I can’t help but to be mildly offended at the insinuation. Why? I’ve been out of the Watchtower Society for almost nine years. Since I left the Society I have not succumbed or subscribed to another organized religion - because since I have been free to think for myself, I have been doing just that.  I’m not one to easily substitute one belief for another to fill an emotional or perceived spiritual gap.

Anyway, my Atheistic beliefs are a result of study and scrutiny. I believed in God for YEARS after leaving the Watchtower Society of Jehovah’s Witnesses and honestly thought Atheists were idiots…  Then I began to study science; ironically enough - to find God. What did I find? Not God. Instead I found alternative explanations to our existence that boast probability factors greater than that of God’s existence and his beneficence towards mankind.

Let me give you one little example: The Anthropic Principle (the planetary version) named after the mathematician Brandon Carter in 1974. Summarizing Dr. R. Dawkins argument (found in Chapter Four of his book titled The God Delusion): We exist here on earth. Therefore the earth must be capable of generating and supporting us regardless of how unusual and unique our kind of planet may be. We have liquid water, a life-friendly orbit (regulating temperature), a livable gravitational force, etc.

There are two explanations for this. The first (and the theist’s argument) is that God made the world just so and then went “poof” and created life on it - but then you’re left with the problem: where did God come from? The second explanation is the anthropic approach: The great majority of planets in the universe are not like earth (not capable of supporting our kind of life). But however small the minority may be (of planets that have just the right conditions for life), we have to be on one of that minority group because we are here after all, aren’t we? But even if these potentially life-sustaining planets exist, how could life have begun?

As Dr. R. Dawkins explains, life only needed to begin once (one single event). The origin of life was a chemical event or series of events where the essential planetary, environmental, (etc) conditions for life and natural selection came about. This event could have been the appearance of something that copies like DNA or RNA. Obviously the spontaneous arising of the first hereditary molecule by pure chance strikes many as improbable. But however improbable the origin of life may be, we know it happened on earth because we are here.

Scientists use mathematics (great big numbers) to explain this to us. It is conservatively estimated that there are approximately a “billion billion” planets in the universe. “If the odds of life originating spontaneously on a single planet were a billion to one against, nevertheless, that stupefyingly improbable event would still happen on a billion planets.” And we don’t need one billion planets to know it happened, we only need one - we’re here on it.

1 Billion Billion (planets)
1 Billion to 1 (odds against conditions for improbable chemical event)
= 1 Billion planets (where chemical event takes place)

This is just one small example of the MANY reasons why I believe in evolution vs. creation. I will openly admit that there is no black and white proof that God exists or doesn’t exist, but in considering the laws of probability, infinite regression, the anthropic principle and biological evolution I believe that the existence of a creator (furthermore a creator who desires our worship) is almost INFINITELY LESS LIKELY.

I’m certainly not here to try to “convert” anyone to become an Atheist. I am really just trying to explain that being an Atheist is not a character flaw as some Theists would say. I’m not replacing my belief in God with Atheism because it easier, but rather it is a conscious and RATIONAL decision based not on my experiences as a Jehovah’s Witness but from in-depth study, research and critical thought. Truth be told, Atheism is not EASY. It’s hard not to have a belief in a higher power, I realize now how comforting that thought was. Also, the belief that there is nothing beyond this life is a bit daunting, but for me it has instilled a greater motivation to contribute as much as I can in this life; to make it count for something good.