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       On religion, or the lack thereof
       Tuesday Apr 16 14:20:37 2019
       ------------------------------
       
       (Repost from coolvibe.org.on the web)
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       I guess this comes up sometimes when I talk to people online.
       Especially religious people. But I think it merits a post on my blog,
       and my blog needs a new post. So this is me killing multiple birds
       with one stone.
       
       So, when religion comes up, I do have to confess I am an Atheist.
       What makes me a bit different from your typical Atheist is that I am
       a natural one. What does that mean, really? Well, it means that I
       never actually grew up with a religion. The first time I encountered
       religion is when I was around 6 or 7 (not completely sure about that,
       it's a long time ago), and that's way too late for religious
       indoctrination. Which leaves my "religion"-module in my brain (of
       which the existance I am uncertain, but I heard there were studies
       confirming such a thing exists) pretty much unpopulated. I've filled
       in that void with LaVeyan-styled Satanic adversarialism (I might
       devote a blog post about that) and a dash of occult esotericism and
       paganism, but it leaves me with one pretty significant downside: I
       really don't understand religion.
       
       I need to clarify that a bit though. Since I was never indoctrinated
       with a system of faith, the mental leap required to assume that a god
       can exist is just something I can't do. It just seems illogical to
       me. Since I don't have religious faith as part of my operating
       system, reason sits there instead, and imagination/creativity fills
       in the other gaps. On the positive side, I really am curious about
       how religious people come to their conclusions, what their religion
       means to them, how they see the world, and I love to debate them.
       
       The downside is that my approach is pretty Socratic, and might come
       across as willful ignorance, even though it isn't. I'm always
       genuinely curious. The problem is that people that are entrenched in
       a religion have a solipsistic tendency to assume that I'm religious
       as well, and assume that I share their beliefs. This can make debate
       a bit cumbersome, because I genuinely don't have a clue what they are
       talking about. Also, this means that when it comes to religion, I'm
       pretty neutral because I don't have a bias, having never experienced
       religion in the first place.
       
       Of course, having grown older, I have seen the effect that religion
       can have on people and it regularily shocks me what people do to
       others in the name of religion. I've seen religion used as a tool to
       solidify power structures (which will also cement a religion in place
       so it won't evolve). On the other hand, I've seen the solace and
       comfort that people get from it, and yes, I'm a bit sad I can never
       have that. I would love to be able to shove all my existential
       problems onto the shoulders of a deity and not having to take
       responsibility for them, but alas, I am not wired that way.
       
       Also, I have learned the difference between religion and faith from
       my many debates with religious folks. Yes, those two differ. Faith is
       what you take on as truth without evidence, and religion is faith you
       get bestowed upon oneself from your superiors and peers. I have
       philosophical issues with the latter, but I just can't fault the
       first.
       
       I guess I can say that I do have faith, but I just lack religion.
       
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