h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi,

I've been reading the discussion from "Is it Trendy to Bash Christianity?" thread and noted that you were a Christian for a long while before becoming an Atheist.

I remember reading Douglas Adams' article from "The Salmon of Doubt" that said something similar, but he never got much into details that I wanted to know about.

Would you mind telling me the story? I'd just like to hear it if you don't mind.

Hi, Researcher Eagle 1 (catchy name )

The story's quite simple, really. And I've already posted it on this site before, so it's no secret.

I watched a boy die of Leukaemia over a period of 18 months. He was devout and sincere, and many people prayed for him for many, many hours. He suffered, then died. God decided to watch. I spent several months in a kind of spiritual turmoil, (if that's not too melodramatic), before rejecting everything I'd believed in up to that point. I had been deluding myself. I'd preached on street corners, gone door-to-door, taught Bible studies, spent time in prayer and personal study, and it was all a waste of my time.

I'm not an athiest, in that I'm not against the concept of a deity altogether. I'm squarely against the crazy idea that, if He exists, He gives a tinker's cuss about His creation. All the evidence points to the contrary, if you think about it for more than a few minutes.

We're on our own, folks.

Geoff

Thanks for the compliment (regarding the name, that is).

I suppose I'm just curious about people's stories regarding religion. Sometimes people, whether Christian, Jewish, Agnostic, Atheist, etc. walk in a kind of haze regarding their belief system. That is, they accept something at some early point in their lives and decide to march to that beat without much interruption.

Others live their lives a certain way and then *Wham!* something comes along and spins eveything around, leading them in a new direction. I went though something like your case, but in reverse (My story is available too, though I can reprint it if you'd like).

To make a long story short, the conversion experience in whatever form is one of the most incredible things a person can go through, and it makes me uneasy at times to wonder if I might be a different person at some point in my life. I just find it interesting.

But I do believe that what Kirkegaard said is true. If you're too easily swayed by debate and argument, then whatever faith (or lack thereof, I suppose) you adhere to isn't necesarilly what you wanted anyhow.