I am an American Atheist. I have tried in my youth to attend church services, I prayed and tried to be ‘religious’. But, it felt 100 percent unnatural to me, personally. When I prayed, I felt silly. When I talked about God or Gods, there was just something that constantly irked me. After attending a church service with one of my old friends (mind you this was many years ago) here’s how his sermon proceeded to our youth group:
They went to a local Theme Park/Amusement Park (much like Tivoli in Spain except a little smaller). Well, they (the church group) ‘just happened’ to go on the same day as a Gay Pride event being held there. He continued to say that the group opened their Bibles and started to preach against the ‘Sin’ that those people were committing.
That was ‘the last straw’. After having all this internal conflict and hearing that (since I, myself, am homosexual). I stopped going and realized that when I stopped believing in higher conscious powers that I instantly became more at peace with myself. No more did I pray and feel silly, no more talking about God or Gods. I was happy and no more conflict.
Now, that is just what works for me. But, I did have a conversation with that one friend not too long ago about his religious belief:
I asked him, “What if someone who doesn’t have your belief does so much good in the world (public service, charity, dedication of personal time, basically is the definition of a ‘Sant’)? Does that mean that they will, no matter how much good they do and (supposing) they do not do wrong (or at least mortal wrong), eventually still go to ‘Hell’ just because they don’t share your religious beliefs?”
He did not have an answer for that. He just remained silent and did not know what to respond with.
I then asked, “How can you say that your belief is the only belief anyone should have? Whenever there are so many different religious beliefs in this world (just in modern times, not even including ancient pagan beliefs and indigenous beliefs), how can you say that your small church, in your small town, in your small state, in your small country, in your small continent, in your small planet, in this small solar system, in this small galaxy, in the ever expanding universe…that your belief is the only belief anyone should ever have?”
His response was, and I am not exaggerating:
“You just have to know Jesus. You don’t know Jesus so you wouldn’t understand.”
I believe in doing good for people. I believe that you should try and leave this world better for the next person who comes into it. I don’t believe that greed or envy will help our world. I do believe in stem cell research for the cure and treatment of horrible diseases that mankind is experiencing. I believe that science can be both a tool and a weapon, but our mission should be to resist the use of it as a weapon. I believe the same about religion. Religion can give us an ability to have short term answers for things that we do not yet understand and help provide framework for that understanding. But, it should be our mission to resist the use of it as a weapon, and our mission to understand that it has a time and place and whenever the time comes, to discontinue its use. (To everything there is a season, and a time for everything under the heavens). I believe in equality for all persons except those who wish to use their beliefs as a way keep others disenfranchised. I believe that there are powers beyond our comprehension and powers we cannot even realize. But, I do not believe that those powers have a conscious will or desire.
I do apologize if the above is unsettling to you, the reader. However, going through life, I have found the above to be correct more times than incorrect. Not saying it’s a universal truth.
Are non-religious people discriminated against or treated differently in Spain (in general)?
