Why Do You Not Believe in God?

“I’ve seen ghosts, so I’d say yes. What that realm is, whether it’s another world that we sometimes glimpse or simply a subjective term, I’m not sure. But ghosts, or the spirit realm, have nothing to do with religion. People of all eras, all religions, and even those who never believed in any kind of deity see ghosts.” I finish with a shrug.

“But yeah, I do come from a Christian background,” I go on. “However, ever since I can remember, I found nothing satisfying in it. As I grew up, my curiosity and my imagination grew more and more, until it was simply out of the question for me to limit my questions to religion-based parameters. I wanted to explore ideas and subjects that many religions deem sin, or simply shun.”

“Your writing,” you observe.

“Yeah. My family is true-blue Baptist. They believe that things should be a certain way, and that’s all there is to it. I can’t give my manuscripts to them. They would see the homosexual characters, the erotic moments, the use of slang, and they would demand to know why I wrote such things. But the work reflects not only my imagination and my questions, but also what I see in the real world. I guess that’s true of any artist. And I’m unique in my family: the only writer. My dad’s the only one I trust to show objectivity; I let him read my work often.”

I sigh quietly. “I had to do what was right for me,” I say. “And it took years, and a lot of mistakes, to find what that was. Nothing is more sacred than nature, and nothing besides that is more sacred than the bond between mother and child. That’s basically my belief. Everything else is a mystery, a mystery that I both love and hate, and which I have a need to explore. Perhaps one day, I’ll find something else that suits me, though I doubt it. Whether we humans are of a higher order or not, we are still children of this earth. And when I explore these things, including the various religions of the world, past and present, I feel as though I’m honoring Mother Earth and her children. That may sound strange, but it’s the truth as clearly as I can describe it. I can read the story of Noah as a non-believer and still see the beauty of it, and I can still take inspiration from it. The Psalms provide wisdom that anyone, believer or not, can partake of. For one needs inspiration and wisdom; without them, you’re walking blind. And the people of the ancient religious stories suffered the same struggles that we do today. I had no faith in anything once, and studying religion helped me find faith in myself. Yet I am not religious. Strange but true.”

It’s apparent that you don’t quite understand as I wish you could, but there is communication between us. That by itself is a great gift.