Internal Battle
David Hayward illustrates what many of us believers in exile have experienced.When David shared this on Facebook he said he wasn't going to say anything to "just see what happens". That rascal. On his website he says that he is a graffiti artist on the walls of religion. I'd go one step further and say he's a holy rascal. [Intellect vs. Belief by David Hayward]
Has this happened to you? I struggled with this internal war for years before letting go of religion. My beliefs have changed. I feel it has led me to be more compassionate and loving towards my fellow man. This works for me because I've realized that our spirituality is uniquely our own. You don't need an outside force (religion) telling you HOW to be human. It can be useful but not exclusively necessary. Churches are hemorrhaging members and they are doing everything they can to bring lost sheep back into the fold. Most use fear tactics which backfires mainly because people they (churches) fail to understand one of the main reasons people leave is because they don't feel comfortable in that community. They leave because they don't feel welcomed, they feel alone within the community, and even feel that there is more fear than love being spouted from the pulpit. It just doesn't work for them. But just because it doesn't work for them means your faith is meaningless. Quite the opposite: by discovering your spirituality is your own allows you to grow in your faith, to grow in love. THIS works for me. What works for you?
4 comments:
I left the church immediatley when I realized the bible was not divinely ispired and literally true. I also became an atheist. It wasn't for a decade or so that I figured out that God might still exist. duh. I do still miss the "church" experience because I loved it... are there groups of like-minded people, people like me, who get together?
Hey Sam A great post! At a very early age I started becoming disillusioned by church and religion as a whole.I had to "unlearn" all the fearful stuff I had been taught in the church. Like being punished in hell FOREVER at that!I have and intend to remain a very spiritual person who still tries to learn more every day. I just dont believe in religion anymore.It has its good poiints but ANYTHING that teaches we are only pawns here and have to live life according to dogmas and rules that others have set forth just doesn't do it for me.Hope you and yours are doing great these days!
@ Anonymous
Thanks for sharing. As for groups who get together that would depend where you live. If you live in the Bible Belt like myself it's highly unlikely you'll find anyone willing to "come out" and declare themselves as a non believer. At least that's been my experience. Most groups I come across meet online. David Hayward, the artist mentioned above, runs an online community which encourages people to be spiritually independent and a safe place to meet like minded people. I haven't joined up myself but it looks like a good place to start.
http://www.davidhayward.ca/
As an Agnostic myself I find that Unitarian Universalists are about as close as you can get to the church experience which encourages open questioning on religion and spirituality. Again that's been my personal experience.
@Ronnie
It's always good to here from you. Thanks for commenting. I agree it is important to seek out your own spirituality that's why I love David's work which seeks to question the dogmas and rules that have been engrained into our collective consciousness.
Working out my own spirituality, as you describe, works perfectly for me. It is often overlooked how "belief" is involved even in atheism. So for all of us I think the intellectual integrity vs. belief dichotomy is a bit of an oversimplification.
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