About

Welcome to Rational Soup, an occasional blog about religion, atheism, pseudo-science, and all things rational.

The opinions expressed on this site are mine alone unless otherwise indicated.

About ME

For as long as I can remember, I have been a skeptic. Even as a child, I was always dubious of ghost stories and other mystical claims, and thanks to my parents, I was never exposed to “alternative” theories of medicine, science, and history that are still all-too prevalent in society today.

That said, I grew up in a liberal churchgoing family, and while my parents were never very comfortable discussing Christianity with me, I felt at comfortable enough about my faith to continue being a relatively active church member well into adult life.

That all changed when work took me from the UK to the USA. I was immediately struck by the craziness on display on religious TV channels like Trinity Broadcasting Network, and how much more Bible-based the local church services I attended were compared to those I experienced back in the UK, which focused much more on the social teachings.

And, to be honest, I thought they had a point. If what the Bible teaches is true, then churches should be more invested in preaching the salvation message, delighting in the promise of Heaven and warning against the perils of Hell. Church services should be more exciting, more joyful than the deadly dull “hymn-sandwich” orders of service most mainstream British denominations stick to, even to this day.

But I couldn’t help noticing that with the greater focus on Bible-based teachings came a greater focus on the mystical aspects of Christianity, its creation mythology, and the flawed logic underpinning the central tenets of the faith. Suddenly my lingering doubts were thrown into sharp relief by a number of difficult questions.

If we are the pinnacle of God’s creation, then why are we considered the scum of the Earth, deserving nothing but eternal punishment in Hell? If salvation through Jesus Christ is the only way into Heaven, doesn’t that mean that billions of human beings are condemned to Hell simply because they grew up in non-Christian households in places remote from the influence of the Christian church? And doesn’t that mean your chances for salvation are overwhelming decided by accident of birth? Why is science and technology so much more reliable at helping people than divine intervention? Why are rational explanations so much more straightforward than the tortuous reasoning often necessary when invoking the divine?

It took a while, and involved plenty of long walks to ponder these questions and others, but ultimately I was forced to conclude that Christianity was no more compelling than the other irrational and mystical claims I had long since rejected. I had made a mistake compartmentalizing my religious belief. After stripping away its veneer of respectability stemming from its historical significance and its prominent role in human society, I found very little reason to believe that religious faith had any grounding in reality or truth.

That is how I became an atheist.

About Atheism

I am an atheist.

That doesn’t mean I know there is no God.

That doesn’t mean I know that there are no supernatural entities watching over us and fretting about every decision we make and every action we take in our lives.

That doesn’t mean I know there is no life after death. In fact I’m rather hoping to be pleasantly surprised when the time comes (not that I’m expecting anything).

What it does mean, given the complete lack of even circumstantial evidence for any of these things, is that I’m almost certain that the following is true: no God, nothing supernatural, and (sadly) no life after death.

How almost certain? Certain enough that if there was ever a way to determine the existence (or non-existence) of God once and for all, I would stake everything I own, down to the shirt off my back, that God did not exist.

I could be wrong, sure, but I believe it’s very unlikely that I am.

ABOUT CHRISTIANITY

I was born into a Christian home and was raised a Christian. I remained a believer, if a doubtful one, until my mid-30s, when I finally decided that I could no longer justify believing in God, given the abundance of evidence against his existence and contradictory claims made about him.

I am well aware there are many varieties of Christianity. I was a liberal Christian, and some of my family still are. I love them dearly, and they have performed many kind and loving acts in the course of their duty to their faith. If all Christians (and non-believers) followed their lead, the world would be a lot better off.

The Christianity I write about in this blog is very different from the one my family adheres to. Conservative Christianity (whether Catholic or Protestant) is a very different beast, especially in America. It is belligerent, controlling, punitive, out-of-touch, anti-science, and politically ambitious–in other words, dangerous.

Yes, not all conservative Christians are that way, but the ones driving the conservative agenda in America these days are, and it is they who need to be opposed for the sake of a brighter, more hopeful tomorrow.

Therefore, if reading an article on this site leaves you thinking “I don’t recognize the Christianity he’s talking about.” it’s probably because I’m not writing about your particular brand of the religion.

COMMENT POLICY

Simple really. Please keep it clean, and please refrain from personal attacks, I have no interest in playing host to personal crusades or vendettas carried on over the Internet. I reserve the right to modify or remove any comment that does not abide by this policy.