The defining moment in my search for religious truth came when I took a step back and looked at all the world’s religions. I realized that many of them make claims that contradict other religions, which means they can’t all be right. I also noticed that, if you’re not predisposed to think one of them is right over all the others, they all look about equally believable–which is to say, not very. I’m open to the possibility that there might be a god (or gods) out there, but I’m going to need a very good reason to think that’s true. So far, no religion has been able to offer any solid evidence that it’s right over all the others, so I see no reason to give any of them special treatment…even the religion I happen to be surrounded by here in the US.
Leon Baradat
United States
What, loud rhetoric and prayer doesn’t convince you?
Me neither. I decided the possibility of only one religion being the correct one was as close to zero as makes no difference.
Exactly the same kind of logic I had when I was about 12. I wasn’t indoctrinated into one, so they all look exactly as believable to me. Not much. Thanks for sharing.
That was my big realisation too. It happened around 12 for me too. I was raised Jewish, but I had the good fortune to have most of my friends be non-Jews – so I never bought the line that they were subhumans who would be enslaved after the Messiah arrived.
Pretty much how I came to it in a comparative religion class in, ironically, a CoW college when twelve going on thirteen. Though TBH, I was never more than xian lite, as my village chapel was non-conformist Independent, where the preacher’s favourite and oft repeated sermon, was The Good Samaritan. Never any mention of hell or much about beliefs for that matter, just an emphasis on good deeds. I wasn’t even anti-religion when I discovered my atheism, just thought religion, at worst, stupid and possibly Santa Claus for grown ups. Of course, since then I have witnessed too often the wrong that evidentially lacking beliefs, not just religion, can allow and enable.