Friday, December 17, 2004

My First occurrence of Disregarding God

My views and opinions on religion were both developed out of my own experiences as a child attending Sunday school and as an adult who has developed somewhat of a "Free thought" attitude. Free thought is the need to justify an opinion with evidence rather than to have faith in an opinion in spite of evidence. (see http://freethought.freeservers.com/)

As a child of approximately seven or eight years old I was attending Sunday school classes (an event I dutifully tried to avoid every week). It occurred to me at some point prior to going to class that the story of creation in the Bible as I understood it conflicted with my understanding of dinosaurs and their presence on Earth 65 million years ago. I asked my mom about this at the time and I suppose as she was unable to answer the question (being a "believer"); she suggested that I ask the Sunday school teacher. As best I can recall I set out to do just that in my next class. The Sunday school teacher being an older woman, very conservative I would say in retopect, struck me as someone who would not be able to answer the question. My concern fore putting her in a awkward situation in which she have no answer in frount of the entire class forced me to abandon my question. She may have very well had an answer but to this day my doubt remains.

Even at this age I was aware that stories I was being told every week were not backed up by any degree of evidence, while evidence was abundant for opposing views. I cannot remember as I look back, a time when I ever really believed in God.

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