This will probably be the last post until I get back from Malta if there isn’t a computer in the vicinity, Lexie’s picking me up at midnight to go to the hotel. Croucher implied that he may take his laptop (I’m not because they tend to want to take apart my tech at customs whenever I go to the airport and I only just fixed my netbook) so I may be able to steal his.
Though I haven’t mentioned it on this blog before, I’m quite interested in the arguement of theology vs. atheology, basically whether the Christian religion is right or not. I’m agnostic, but not in the normal way of simply not thinking about it because I consider the question quite a lot, I’m not looking to decide whether to become a christian, I think I’m more interested in the discussion than the actual question but it’s the source of much discussion with Tim (who’s going to Malta so more discussion may ensue) and Liam, though the discussion with the ferociously literal-bible-reading latter tends to be more of a berating as Liam tends to shout and angrily quote rather than allow me any word of doubt in edgewise, even though I’m giving him a chance to refute my own points, Tim’s much more of an even discussion.
However, I was watching this show I recorded “Revelations: How to find God” on Channel 4 which sounded interesting. It was about a group of agnostics who all lived different lives taking an Alpha course together. The view of the Christians and the Agnostics was very interesting and I was intrigued up to the point that a man stood up and made a speech about how the devil supposedly tries to trick us with things that feel good, like booze (an interesting link to Animal Farm which I finished reading last night).
But then when listing off the “evils that the devil” brings he included, and I quote, “the latest technological toy”. Now there, my friends, is where I drew the line. How on earth is technology evil? You can’t stand in the way of progress, nor can you stand in the way of a pissed off blogger! I’m still going to watch the end of it but that mere sentence got me riled enough to pause it and grab my netbook to have a rant while my thoughts on this were still fresh. It’s things like that that push me more towards the atheist side that I’m already probably more inclined to given that I am not in the slightest bit religious and believe strongly in evolution (granted most of my christian friends, save Tim and Liam, believe in it to, though they consider it God’s work). I feel that sentences like that make the Christian’s hypocrites, accusing Atheists of making inarticulate, random and rambling arguments when these guys were clearly rattling off a list of random evils.
When I think clearly about it, it seems to me that Christians and Atheists are very, very similar in their style and how they portray their views, it’s just that they argue completely opposite things.
I’m glad though, above everything, that despite the opposing views there’s no evident rift between Atheists and Christians on a personal level. Tim, Crouch and Phil (all Christians) are some of my best friends and it’s good to know that there’s no discrepancy between us that is due to religion, there is for Liam but I believe that with his angry proclamations, implying that my very questioning of religion will condemn me, he brings it upon himself in many respects. He’s a nice enough bloke, but get him started on religion and he becomes very unlikeable. Which is a shame because, like Tim, he clearly has a very close knowledge and understanding of the bible and it would be nice to get a new perspective on my discussions with Tim.
Overall, my general conclusion on my own personal belief is that I don’t know. I’ll keep arguing the point, investigating, discussing and even questioning my own perspective (which is why I plan to read at least one book each by a Christian and an Atheist on the topic) but that, at least until I die, I can never know for certain and shouldn’t waste my life trying to come to a decision on something that is so complex that it can’t, for me, be a simple matter of yes or no. Some, particularly Atheists, may say that being an Agnostic is as good as being a Christian. Others, particularly Christians, may say that my conclusion makes me a total Atheist anyway, and believe that if you want, but I know my own mind, and sitting on the fence gives a pretty good view.
I’m gonna be up all night with travel so I’ll probably just sleep today, might do a bit of Anything Goes but will most likely start 1984 on the plane, to which I will soon be writing about. If I don’t post and have to go an entire week without using a computer I may go insane, but I’ll soon addle my brain with cocktails and imagine I’m typing.
The rest is silence.