It's common hear about atheists "losing" their faith. The language of "loss" is used by both atheists and theists, but is it perhaps language we should avoid? Well, some people definitely feel a loss when they stop having religious faith, but others don't. Quite the opposite, in fact: they feel more like they've gained something.
Marvin writes:
Someone above used the familiar expression "I lost faith," or something akin. We all know what is meant, of course, just as we do when someone mentions losing virginity. I have to ask, who'd want to keep it?
I think I began to question my faith when I was assigned to read an essay about Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac when I was a college freshman a half century ago. About fifteen years later I was still trying to be a fundamentalist Christian when our pastor, a wonderful caring man who is now a pastor of an A of G "megachurch" in Texas, taught a series of lessons on the mind, soul, and spirit.
I can't remember any of his points any more, but I began to question the existence of a soul. I had friends who returned from Viet Nam with injuries that had changed them into people I didn't know. Why would their souls leave them?
It still took me a couple of years to detach myself from faith, but once I did, nothing was lost. A great deal was gained.
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When some people stop having religious faith, they do feel like maybe they've lost something -- comfort, assurance, that sort of thing. I don't want to tell them that they shouldn't feel that way, but perhaps this is a case where such feelings should be re-examined and re-considered.
How did you feel when you stopped having religious faith? Did you feel more like you lost something or more like you gained something? And what about now -- do you still have the same feelings, or have they shifted over time?
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