When I was considering writing an essay for the Los Angeles Times about my lost of faith, a good friend in ministry begged me not to do it. He thought the fallout would be too much. Talking about religion was a dangerous thing. But I felt like writing about my spiritual journey was something I had to do, even though criticism of my articles always bothered me. A lot. My skin was thin.
Luckily, I didn’t get much criticism. Amazingly (to me, at least), maybe 1% of the 2,700-plus people who wrote me were critical of the story. I did notice some haters on the blogs, but they didn’t bother me. In fact, I didn’t care if millions of people hated my story. It was my journey. In my mind, it couldn’t be right or wrong. It just was.
Now that some publicity has begun about my book, I’m noticing a little backlash here and there. My wife’s business lost one of its original subscribers (it’s free, sign up now!) because she didn’t want to be even associated with the wife of such an ungodly man.
Today, my son and I traveled to Stanford Hospital for a study on Type 1 Diabetes (which Tristan has). When I was out of the room, the nurse asked my 16-year-old son what I did for a living. He (proudly, I think) said I was a journalist with the Los Angeles Times and had just written a book due out in February. When he told her the subject of the book, she grew silent for a moment and then asked him about his own beliefs.
When Tristan said he really didn’t believe in God, she confided in him that at age 16, he should make up his own mind by reading the Bible himself and NOT be influenced by his father.
I may have influenced Tristan (it’s hard to put anything past the kids), but I’ve tried hard to keep my disbelief between my wife and me. I’ve never gone on about my godly doubts in front of the kids. I agree with the nurse; my kids should make up their own mind.
When my son told me what happened, I kept thinking: Why am I not more angry with the nurse? She shouldn’t be poking her nose into my son’s religious views. But I understand that religion is a passionate subject. And people are willing to take chances when they think a soul is at stake.
I’ve always liked the notion of the marketplace of ideas. This goes for religion. Debate is great. Let the better idea win.
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4 responses so far ↓
1 ChrisK // Jun 6, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Bill, there’s some nice writing by James Wood on the problem of suffering/evil in his review of the new Ehrman book over at The New Yorker website.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/06/09/080609crbo_books_wood
2 June Casagrande // Jun 11, 2008 at 1:30 am
I think the surprisingly supportive response to the initial article is a testament to the honesty and sincerity of the piece and your approach. And I suspect that, as more people hear about it without actually reading you, the opposite reaction will become more common.
Case in point: Last summer, I wrote a humor piece for the Philadelphia Inquirer about being an atheist (www.grammarsnobs.com/atheistrevolution).
I got quite a few rough e-mails.
The “I’ll pray for you” ones seemed to me the most hostile of all. I mean, praying for someone is an act of love and faith. But TELLING someone you’ll pray for them, under the circumstances, seems quite the opposite. Passive-aggressive with the key word being “aggressive.”
Luckily, I felt I had a good response. Whenever someone wrote, “I’ll pray for you,” I wrote back: “Thank you! I’ll let you know if it works.”
3 Lori H. // Jun 12, 2008 at 1:06 am
have your kids watch this, (if they already havent)
It really hit home with my son Chris.
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/main.htm
4 George // Jun 12, 2008 at 2:50 am
Kahuna;-)
My spiritual journey has been very similar to yours.
I think one of the problems with most organized Religion in todays world is that most of them have not moved past the magical and mythic stage’s. That makes it very difficult to talk about in the modern/post modern world.
I think you would find some interesting insights that Ken Wilber has about religion. Check out his book at amazon. Search Integral Spirituality or check out this youtube video for a quick intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUNlpyfT2LU
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