Try Harder

Religion is a virus.

I run into a lot of Christians who would agree with that statement. “My faith is not a religion,” they say. In the 90s, Christians decided to play semantics to draw new converts who were traditionally critical of religion and church. This happened along with pastors trading in their suits and ties for Hawaiian shirts and the introduction of guitars and drums into mainstream church services. At this point, the church also dropped the tiny bit of intellectualism it had for a new, non-judgmental, post-modern emotionalism. Yes, this helped to draw in new members, but there remains a greater dearth of critical thinking in the church than ever before.

This movement toward the contemporary church model has left believers intellectually empty and defenseless against the renewed attacks on their faith. When I was a Christian, I rejected this contemporary movement and felt church was lacking something. I moved my membership to a traditional church in hopes that I could find more “meat” in Christian training. It helped even less. When I turned 30, the transition began for me. Until that time, I had been a devout Southern Baptist—having worked for the denomination for 10 years. The decision was made to truly examine my faith—to dig deep and understand as much as I could about the origins of Scripture. It wasn’t long before I realized how little could be substantiated. “Faith” was no longer enough to fill the gaps of evidence.

As time progressed, I ultimately rejected Christianity. Since that time, I have immersed myself in further study of the origins of Scripture, studying Islam and other religions, and catching up on philosophy and science—biology, DNA, mapping of genomes, the theory of evolution via natural selection, astronomy, physics, neuroscience, and so on. By playing the devil’s advocate, I was able to weed out my wrong beliefs.

Now, I find myself arguing with puny Christians—not only weak in their faith, but mind-numb and ignorant. Their arguments are sophomoric and reveal lack of introspection. By posting a simple anti-religion quote on Facebook, I can draw in the weakest of them. Their arguments—whether theological or pseudo-scientific—are unfounded, and quite frankly, embarrassing to read.

I have a word of advice for Christians—try harder. Play the devil’s advocate with yourself. Read material you wouldn’t otherwise read. Think critically. Question your faith. Stop living in a fog of ignorance. This is the only way you will grow as a person and live a full and fruitful life.