Comments on: Authentically happy? Only without religion

By: Tina

Tina — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:58:49 +0000

I knew I would find a comment stating that you weren’t doing things right. Blah blah blah….I hear that all the time…you weren’t raised in the right religion, the right way, there’s only one true god, one true religion….Blah. I’m a very happy atheist, thank you. Good post by the way.

By: DK

DK — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:51:07 +0000

In reply to Jacob I would firstly say thank you for your sincere dismay at my article, and for your kind offers to help. But we are coming at things from very different standpoints.

It is my intellect, not my upbringing, that will not allow me to accept the existence of God and I am annoyed sometimes by the extent to which my subconscious mind is still entrapped by the superstitions I was brought up with. The lid was nailed on the coffin of my faith not by any ill-will on the part of the Catholic church but when I studied the New Testament in the original Greek.

Although my parents weren’t steady Catholics, my priests and my pet nun, Sister Kevin, certainly were. I went through my Catholic conversion at the age of 16, after many hours of teaching and I am quite sure that I learned exactly what I was expected to learn. Catholicism, said Sister K, is a hard religion to live in, but an easy religion to die in.

I am pleased for you that you find comfort in your faith, but I must confess that I believe the belief itself to be without foundation.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:18:03 +0000

Speaking for myself, it is the implication that one is worthless without god, that all one’s achievements are ultimately attributable to god, that I find so obnoxious about religion and so sad for the religious. Of course, it is in the church’s interest to maintain people in that abject, self-effacing state, which is why the church’s programming features this so heavily. What is sinister is that this programming leaves scars even when someone has recovered from the primary delusion of god.

By: Jacob Wilson

Jacob Wilson — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:09:47 +0000

As a Catholic, I can sincerely say that you were brought up with the wrong impression of what Catholics generally should strive for in their actions.

You see, the inaccuracy with the way you were “raised Catholic” is that in TRUE Catholic teaching being proud of achievements is never a bad thing as long as we acknowledge that we are able to achieve everything we do because of the gifts graced on us by God.

While understanding that it is God that gives us all opportunity to be great it is also important (and perfectly healthy) to recognize that we made the choice to use the gifts He has provided us and therefore can be proud of the fruits of our harvest.

You yourself stated that your parents were not steady Catholics, and so the nuances of this specific point (and many issues in the Catholic faith) can easily be lost on a child who is learning to be a strong adult… I know this because as an adult attempting to grow deeper in faith and virtue I still get things wrong about the specifics which tend to set me back until I recognize them.

God doesn’t care if you make mistakes; He expects it. What He wants from us is for us to strive to make our lives better during our time here on Earth and to seek life with Him after that; the rest is just crying over spilled milk. I hope that you can trust me in saying that your issues with confidence could not be attributed to the Catholic faith if it was taught to you in the correct way.

If you ever want to talk, or want to respond, my email is unloud AT gmail DOT com . Thank you for your time reading.