Voice of Sanity

Those who have been lucky enough to escape childhood evangelization often wonder why it’s so difficult to discuss issues like evolution and the improbability of god effectively with believers of any kind, and more particularly christian believers.  After all, ignoring scientific evidence about non-religious phenomena is unfathomable to most inheritors of enlightenment philosophy, yet most fundamentalist christians seem determined to make continual asses of themselves by denying even the most reliable scientific evidence.

Prominent atheist scholars and philosophers often promote the idea that all christians are either under-enlightened and ignorant or self-righteous liars who use their religious belief to scam even more ignorant believers out of monthly contributions.  This view of christianity is extremely pessimistic, and as a former believer, I strongly feel the answer to why christians just can’t take the blinders off long enough to hear good science is much simpler and much more disturbing:  The vast majority of them genuinely believe what they profess about god and are terrified of going to hell if they give up that belief.

You mean they actually believe that the bible is true down to the letter? Yep,  every word.  They believe without evidence that god exists, and, more importantly, they believe everything they’ve been taught about the horrors of hell.  I remember thinking often as a child that my constant tendency toward skepticism meant that I was doomed for eternal fire and torture.   Childhood indoctrination can be so sinister, so complete, as to warp the minds of innocent people forever.  In this way, doubt becomes a dark road to an even darker final destination.  When I put myself back into the mindset of my christian friends and remember the continual feeling of standing on the edge of an ominous and horrifying precipice, I have somewhat more sympathy for what appears outwardly to be blind stupidity.  They don’t jump because they are genuinely petrified.

I believe that most christians aren’t overly ignorant, aren’t purposeful liars, and don’t do it all for the money.  They just believe they’ll go to hell if they listen to us, and minimizing this fear of hell is the key to convincing them to listen.  From my copious experience talking with a variety of evangelical christians, I’ve found that they tend to fall into several distinct categories which require different approaches.

The Unconvincables

Scary fanatical fundamentalists like “young earth creationists” often fall into this category.  They believe scientific evidence is open to “interpretation,” and they delight in outdated facts like the unreliability of carbon dating and the irreducible complexity of the human eyeball.  They spend weekends at conventions where they watch videos, hear quasi-scientific speakers, and learn how humans and dinosaurs co-existed when the earth was a newborn planet 6,000 years ago.  Most members of this group assert that absolutely no scientific evidence or proof could ever make them abandon their belief in the literal truth of the bible.  They are the most hopeless of hopeless causes.  They genuinely believe that their understanding of creationism and the literality of the bible is essential to escaping hell, and they’ll do their best to convince you of the same thing.  (Worst of all, they truly believe they will doom their children to hell if they allow them to be taught evolutionary science.)  I’ve never been able to convince any hard-core creationist that they might even possibly be wrong, but I do like to make them think about whether their base assumption (that the literality of the biblical account is essential to belief in god) is flawed in and of itself.

The Ignoramuses

Most ignoramuses (despite the name I’ve given them) are of at least average intelligence.  In fact, an essential characteristic of this group is their understanding of their own ability to reason, which they interpret as dangerous.  Most ignoramuses know, at least on some level, that they are intelligent enough to recognize and be swayed by good, sound arguments; therefore, they avoid exposure to any information that does not support their point of view.  They purposefully and knowingly remain ignorant rather than facing the possibility of going to hell because they allow themselves to have their minds changed.  Most of the non-believers I know have a hard time comprehending this since we have gone to such great and painful lengths to educate ourselves, but the fear of hell is a powerful thing (an abusive thing, frankly) that must be gently undone.  There is hope for those in this category, but the issue of fear must be addressed first.  Would god not prefer a well-reasoned and curious skeptic over a blind, uninformed, intellectually lazy follower?  Is disbelief truly the greatest of all sins?  If god is real can he not stand up to human scrutiny?

The Feelers

Feelers are the least involved in any kind of debate and therefore have very little interest in talking to me.  I find them much more frustrating than other types because they are uninteresting and uninterested.  They know that god exists because they have experienced him or his benefits in some tangible way and need no proof of anything.  They don’t care why the sun rises in the east, or why vaccines work, or who runs for President.  They think of nothing deep or spiritual beyond god’s tangible benefits as they have experienced them.  There are a remarkable number of feelers in 12-step programs (more on how I know that in another post), and most are convinced that their sobriety is evidence enough for god.  (Of course the thought never occurred to them that the placebo effect created by true belief in a higher power would look just like a higher power acting.)  Non-christian feelers insist that they “don’t believe in organized religion” simply because it’s more convenient than actually having to think about what they do believe in.  Inspiring curiosity in the mind of a feeler is difficult but essential, and usually arguments from the evil effects of religion have more effect on this category than the others.

These types are, of course, based on informal observation and take little about religious leadership into account.  All the religious leaders I have known fall into one of these three categories themselves but are the most likely to be found among the unconvincables.  Undoubtedly there are quacks among the religious elite, true advantage-takers, liars, and con artists, but I haven’t met many of them.  Most are genuine in their fear of hell and hold this belief so tightly that they really want to help you escape hell too.

So, my dear non-believing readers, remember that not all christians are idiots and charlatans.  Most are terrified and scarred human beings feeling their way through life with a veil of fear pulled tightly over their eyes.  Take pity on them.  You have found a better way and they can too.