My Religion

As a seven or eight year old boy, it was difficult for me to sit patiently through the l-o-o-n-g Sunday worship at First Methodist Church in West Palm Beach, especially back before air conditioning and amplification. Dr. Cotton was a shouter; In those days, I guess all preachers were. Since my early childhood I was a church goer...a faithful Christian church goer, attending Sunday morning and evening worship.

     In my late teens, attending Wednesday prayer meeting became the norm. Then later, there was choir practice on Thursdays. At the age of eighteen I was baptized and joined the church which I had been attending all those years. Church was what is was all about. On Commitment Sunday I always, with strong resolve, signed that commitment card to abstain from drinking beverage alcohol. (I was faithful to that until age thirty-two when I chose to sample some spiked punch.) I was a Sunday school class president, and for a time, member of the administrative board. There was even a time when I tithed; Can you believe that? It was my strong religious belief that required me to become a conscientious objector well before I was drafted at age twenty-three.

     I never had to decide whether to go to church; I just went. It was natural; and for me, it was good. Church people were good people and I liked them. I still like church people. Among my best friends are committed Christians; but I've come to respect those of other faiths, as well. I even respect those who have, for the sake of intellectual honesty, risked their social and professional acceptance by revealing that they don't believe in God. That isn't an easy thing to reveal because treasured friendships are jeopardized.

    I have come to place greater value on honesty. That is why, back in November of 1996, Jane and I chose to tender the letter requesting our removal from the membership of the Methodist Church. It wasn't easy, severing ourselves from so many dear friends. We had no ill will; In fact, we felt especially fond of the whole church family and wished them well. It's just that over time I--and it was more I than Jane--felt I couldn't be honest. I understand why homosexuals feel the need to "come out of the closet." Living a lie isn't really living. When you can take the lid off your truth or open that closet door and stop pretending you're something you're aren’t, life is so much better.

      Over ten or fifteen years my intellectual evolution has led me to question the foundation of faith. Over time I've concluded that religion in general and Christianity in particular require the suspension of rational thought. I do find an attractiveness to open and inquiring minds. We, therefore, feel much more comfortable in a Unitarian Universalist Church where the nature of one's faith is more personal... not requiring a universal declaration of a particular belief.

    So, am I an atheist? I'm not that brave. I'll just say that my faith is personal. I feel lucky to live in a society where one's adherence to a proscribed belief isn't required...yet.

We have such a good life; I feel truly blessed, but by whom, I'm just not sure.

The foregoing was written around 1997.
The following is written in 2011.

     Among my most treasured memories are those connected with my faith in a loving god and church-family activities. But I've grown to believe that, although most religions have some social usefulness, they probably cause more harm than good and hinder the progress of civilization. Most are based on myth and superstition and deny the reality of evidence-based science.
     Morality, ethics, compassion and charity, so often associated with religion, are by no means dependent on belief in a supreme being. I don't wish to defend or argue my beliefs. I write simply to be honest about who I am. Your perspective, which may be different, I respect.

Click Here For Early Beliefs