My Journey From Religion Essay -- Religion, Spirituality

The best way to understand why atheism is so important to me is to start with a little background. I grew up in Texas, most of my life has been in the region other Texans often refer to as the religious part of Texas. I don't want to focus too much on emphasizing how religious the culture is, but I do want to give an indication. For example, few people I know accept the theory of evolution or the Big Bang; non-creationist scientific theories are largely perceived as bullshit and dismissed with the infamous â€Å"just a theory† argument. Perhaps an anecdote can help illuminate further: I volunteer at a small local non-profit which helps low-income people without prescription insurance coverage obtain medicine. The director is an extremely intelligent, ethical and hardworking person who chose to use her talents in a way that benefits others. One of the benefits of volunteering there is having good conversation during the rare times we're slow. In the midst of one conversation the director casually mentioned that there's no such thing as an atheist (with the implication being that no one can be totally free of religion in their â€Å"heart of hearts†). This was simply a casual comment by an otherwise intelligent person that apparently everyone accepted without batting an eye. This is also the sort of culture that I exist in. Which means that I've had to learn how to walk softly around many people if I want to maintain relationships with them. There are exceptions, for example my closest friend who is training to become a Lutheran minister, but as a general rule I need to tread lightly or else the relationship ends very quickly. My closest friends and family accept me for who I am, some casual friends accept me for who I am with their own... ...ur ancestors in the eternal ritual of death. When we come to accept that it's an inevitable aspect of life, when the truth of the brevity of existence is genuinely felt, it provides us with a most outstanding sense of urgency, meaning and desire to make the most of every moment. It's a tragic irony that religious dogma attempts to quiet this need by assuring us that life after death is more important. Once I accepted that god doesn't exist (or its corollary of allowing our beliefs about the world to be exclusively based evidence and reason rather than faith) I was free to use my mind to the best of my ability. I'm free to find all the answers I can about everything imaginable. It was a scary feeling at first - I'm so vastly ignorant of so much - but embracing that ignorance is unexpectedly empowering! This is the only life we've got, so let's make the most of it.