A personal story

This is just one out of countless stories like this. I grew up in a small village in west Germany in the late 80s. I am one of three brothers, my oldest brother is named after the first martyr of Christ, our middle brother and I are named after one of Jesus' apostles. I was born a non-believer like all of us but then baptized as a baby into the roman-catholic church (majority in this area). You're fat and stupid and suddenly someone puts you in a dress and takes you to a big cold room where your family celebrates a death cult every Sunday. Where they attend mass to worship a murdered corpse which actually hangs dead on the wall. This is permitted and was actually the intended outcome of the victim's father. That his followers celebrate this sacrifice by pretending to eat the victim's flesh and drink its blood. This is where you get baptized as a 2 year old baby which means an old virgin priest almost drowns you, which your family celebrates afterwards excessively. It's like getting glasses when you don't need them, they just make everything look unclear and you would be better of without them. 

This is all based on a book written during a time when 98 percent of Jesus's fellow men could neither read nor write. Those odds are every Goebbel's dream. The propaganda was used to start burning women alive as witches 1500 years after it was initially written. Not to mention all the countless other atrocities that were committed in the last 2k years and will be for the foreseeable future in its name. A book that puts women on the same level as property and condones things like child sacrifice and slavery. Rank 15 of 22 of this "Which religions are the most/least tolerant of other religions" report (here). Below 59% is a fail mark (F) in the US. Christianity is in the bottom 33% of the tolerance ranking... Fail. 

Good start. The bar is already low.

Religion was always present in my childhood, an old priest did visit the kindergarden and elementary school, where we had religion classes and everyone was assigned to their associated religion (catholic, protestant and "ethics" for the rest).  Segregation was part of the curriculum from the start. The priest I mentioned was known in the town for slapping boys in the face who didn't behave. Lucky for me, when I was under his "rule" he had grown softer apparently. Or his joints started hurting from all the cheek bones, what do I know. Church also covered the freetime, our entire class was basically in a choir (called schola) to sing songs together every week. And basically everyone was serving as altar boy or altar girl. I have made no particularly negative experiences during that time, I just remember that I found it incredibly boring and repetitive to do something random like singing, kneeling or speaking a prayer every time we would ring the bells. Like we were training dogs (including a cracker as a treat). Obedience comes first, of course. And I remember thinking about all the time how so many people are completely wasting their time if this is all not true. Imagine a priest or a nun. Why would you live a life in peace and spirituality and even spend time to pass that on, but then deflect all the credits to the big boss? Be good, be yourself, own it.

I took my internal exit from religion around my 13rth birthday. That's when I learned that my grandfather hadn't smacked his head on his bathtub when he died like my parents told me when I was 7, but actually shot himself in the head with a bolt gun which is used to kill Ox. He used to run a butcher shop his entire life. His final kill with the device was reserved for himself. Religion says he is going to hell for it. My grandfather, who obviously was struggling with life so much he did not see any other way out but to kill himself this way is now abandoned from his supposed savior in a time of need and not only disregarded but actually thrown into hell for eternal torture. An unforgivable sinner. Well that's a little excessive. Especially if you supposedly created that failure. Like the police training someone to become a criminal only so they can arrest him. I wouldn't want to be governed by such a force.

In the same year I was asked to step in for a funeral as an altar boy. I didn't have anything better to do so I did it and ended up sitting on the side of the altar, looking at these poor grieving people who had a complete misconception where their relative was going. The best indication is the small yellow excavator parked on the side of the street that dug the whole, which is exactly where your relative is going. And to disintegrate into all the elements that were in him or her, the elements which are only part of our body because millions of stars have exploded before our solar system even existed. Our helium atoms (the ones that form water for example) are literally from the big bang. Each drink is a bit of big bang. A rare source in some parts of the world. These elements will continue to exists after we are gone and are consumed by plants, insects, worms, maybe small reptiles. And then we will exist in them, but of course only as inanimate matter. I prefer this version of the afterlife. My life used to support future people to get a life with a living standard that they don't seek any ignorant answer about what happens after you die . My death nurturing other life on this planet, even if I don't experience it. Passing on my bag of helium atoms from the big bang. 

After this, I became an atheist. First I had to figure out what this means. I wasn't the pioneer in the family, my gay brother did it first. Imagine someone selling religion to a gay person. Offering a house but just delivering the toilet. He was able to provide me guidance and that indeed you do not start to burn when you enter a church as an atheist. Second thing it meant was officially declaring that I am leaving religion after starting to work, otherwise 8%-9% of my monthly salary would be deducted to keep the church running through a so-called "church tax".  This is (among other things) used to fund the biggest employer in Germany in the healthcare sector who can legally fire employees because they are homosexuals. The church receives hundreds of millions from the German state each year, due to laws that are 200+ years old and still in effect. Who are supported by a political party carrying "Christian" in its name (CDU/CSU) that ran Germany for about 53 years or 72.6% of its existence (1949) as the governing political party. So much for secular.   

Second thing was figuring out what being an Atheist actually means. All I know is that I am in another group that separates me from my fellow apes. Also it turns out, being an atheist doesn't mean anything. One thing maybe changed though, as you wake up to a world where you see so many people in important positions believe in some ancient myth. And thinking about how they are using their ignorance to make misinformed decisions affecting yourself. I really remember the feeling of desperation as I was expecting this to be less of a problem when I was younger. When you still believe adults have figured it all out. We were all wrong.

There are great smart heads who talk about the issues with religion like Christopher Hitchens ("God is not Great"), Richard Dawkings ("The God Delusion") or Sam Harris ("The End of Faith"). They talk about science, but science is still an additional ingredient and doesn't mix with Atheism. There are surely Atheists who do not fully trust in science and maybe have some superstitious residue on their moral landscape. Also just putting science on the table in itself does not provide any clear moral guidance and even the people mentioned have varying views how a peak state of society would look like. Why does no one dare to provide a version update to the commandments we want to live by? A #goldtestament

We seem to have struggled to update our moral world view for the last couple of hundred years. Why do children have to be born into this great riddle they have to solve for themselves? If you are indoctrinated by your parents, what other option do you have besides trying to weasel yourself out of it by realizing that people close to you tell you utter nonsense about life. It's that scientific and critical thinking that is part of our DNA (just like the superstitious part) that provides us a way out. An out from a belief system that tells children it's normal to believe in claims without evidence. To believe in a death cult which exists in a world where an all-powerful being created so many other religions over time and human beings following them just for the purpose of sending them to hell for not believing in it. Who waited at least 198.000 years of our existence with incomprehensible suffering, child mortality rates and death to reveal himself, only to kill his son. In order to forgive himself. What a sign of compassion. A being that defines commandments not to question and not to look over the edge. To serve a master who has total control over you, over how you dress, how you behave, what you eat, what you do on Sundays, how you look, how and who you love, and what you think. Something very useful to fellow greedy and cruel apes to justify their worldly claims. A sedative for our curiosity and critical inquiry. 

For a long time I thought that this is something I can just personally reject and leave everything else be. Having children is what changed my view. I realized that we (my wife and I) will be the first to break a century, maybe millennia long line of childhood indoctrination through our ancestors all the way back to Africa. Generations narrowing each others view through unnecessary baggage. In both of our families, like cutting a umbilical cord. You need to do it so you can live free. I don't want my children to feel the same disappointment that I felt.

The rise of Atheism hasn't changed much though, as it's not saying what it's for but just what it's against. Someone makes an unfounded claim and the Atheist is just saying they don't believe in it. That's it. Atheism is simply what's left once you drop all the bullshit. But that's not enough, I think we do need a shared value framework, but one from the 21st century. Something we define bottom-up, not top-down. Something that gives us direction. Something that has proven needed and effective but has lead us in the wrong direction as a species of smart yet ignorant apes. Something that gives us inspiration and spirituality without lying to us. 

Whether we want it or not, we are part of the 8 Billion Club. A life club, not a death cult. It is crazy to think that over so much time we have not yet successfully attempted to define the gold standard for rules that are not written anywhere. If you are not breaking a law, there's still a lot to break left that cause issues between us. So far people have never questioned the ground they are standing on. The moral ground is taken by an antiquated view of human wellbeing, that still allowed for so much intolerance and antiquated superstitions to creep into the daily lives of everyone. We could so easily improve this antiquated worldviews, believer or not believer. Then let's do it. 

Let's meet Sunday's and get drunk. Sundays fundays.