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The celebration of palm sunday is the beginning of my week-long act. As many of you already know, I am no longer a Catholic in practice. I haven't been one for the last six or seven years of my life. I choose not to go over the details of my turnaround because there was no actual turning point. There were several instances, several discoveries, several books and several insights that snowballed, rolled down the hill and bowled me over.
Sure, I believe that there is such a thing as a supreme deity but I refuse to believe that any religion offers a better way to whatever is out there. I am taking the stance of William James when it comes to believing in God. Like William James, I believe that I have more to gain than lose by believing that there is, as Thomas Aquinas would put it, a Prime Mover. Because of the "cash value" of this belief, I would have to take a "leap of faith", and use that belief as a precedent for all my actions.
As such, I believe in such things as the greater good, and thou shall not kill... but this is only because these beliefs have a greater cash value than religion.
So why do I not believe in religion?
I have weighed religion against many things in my life and for most part, everything far outwieghs religion.
True, the act of benevolence may have come from Christianity but oppression of women also has its roots in it. True, the idea of acting like a saint came from Catholicism, but idolatry came with it.
As a student of philosophy, I have therefore chosen to believe in something that fails pragmatically (which is sadly just one reason why I do not believe in being a catholic).
When I get the chance, I would probably discuss how religion fails in logic.
posted by The Lonely Joker who stares too deeply & too much at 6:30 PM
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