One day I was paid a personally meaningful compliment by a friend that I run with. He said, “[Atom] is one of the most moral people I know.” He said this to the small group — all mormons — in response to a line of conversation about morality, knowing that I am a non-believer. That’s the part that made it most meaningful. He knew that I am a non-believer; and he had done the thinking to conclude that my conclusions and acts of kindness are not based on fear of punishment, but based on a rational code of morality that I had to choose and endorse. It wasn’t given to me.
So as i sat in church on Fathers’ Day last Sunday, listening to talks given by children about how they loved their fathers for their righteousness, I felt sad for my children for having a dad who is clearly not one who strives to be faithful. By the church’s standard, they can’t point to their father and claim that he is a great example of a follower.”
I categorically reject blind faith as a dangerous practice. We don’t need to invent a god to tell us we’re “good”. Instead, I opt for the more difficult approach, examining actions on their merits, and measuring morality and ethics against sound principles and a rational code. Unfortunately for my children, that doesn’t play well in church. If I raised such conclusions in a church meeting, I would be thought of as having the sin of “pride”, which is another ridiculously wrong-headed teaching. I believe that true pride is earned, and deserved. It’s the just reward for successful work at something. False pride, or vain pride is bad — but that distinction is never made because the guy who said it in the Bible wasn’t evolved enough to understand it.
So — sorry kids. You have a father who refuses to submit to mindless living, fawning over an irrational ideal.
Seems like Father’s Day is a religious holiday. At least in my world it is. And in the world that i’m a spectator of, religion comes before self, before marriage, and before everything. That alone is offensive; but who can I tell?