Received 11.24.2000

Dear Closet Atheist,

Like yourself, I am also surrounded by people who think differently from myself. You might say I'm a closet agnostic. I am ethnically Jewish, but I attend a Catholic school. You can imagine that I have many questions about religion in general. Not only am I not sure whether or not to believe in a god at all, but then there is the decision of what religion to choose. There are hundreds if not thousands out there, and if I do choose Christianity, there is the inevitable decision of a denomination. To choose the Catholic faith simply because I am surrounded by Catholics seems absurd to me.

But anyway...the question that troubles me most has to do with the fact that 95% of children tend to choose their parents' religion because of their parents' constant attempts at enlightening (i prefer brainwashing) these children over whom they have extraordinary influences. Another factor is the fear of rejection from their families and friends. Therefore, a child born in a Catholic family will most likely turn out to be Catholic; a Jewish child Jewish, etc. Now let's say, for the sake of argument, that the "true" God is Buddha, and Buddhism is the true religion. How would Buddha expect the poor Catholic or Jewish children who have never even heard of him to worship him, against the wills of their families? Buddha (or Jesus, whatever) would have to perform one HECK of a miracle in order for that to happen! Apparently, God has been too busy in the past 2000 years to perform any sort of miracle and clear up the theology question once and for all (despite my Religion teacher's efforts to convince me that if I listen closely enough, I will hear His call...or something to that effect).

Well anyway, great website...I enjoyed it immensely. Please continue to keep up the good work.

My Reply:

That is a good point. If only Baptists can go to heaven someone born in the middle of China has no chance at all. Going to Heaven is more akin to winning a lottery than earning a reward. And since God is all knowing, he knows where every person will be born. In a sense the lottery is rigged. Imagine the surprise of a Chinese person who dies and meets Jesus only to wonder who he is.  And whose fault is it that the Chinese man did not know Jesus? It is the fault of every Christian that didn't convert him.

I once asked a Baptist minister if he felt any responsibility for bringing Jesus to those who were unfortunate enough to not be born into Baptist families.  He said he did and that was in fact one of the reasons he became a minister.  I then asked if he thought it was cruel of God not to give the vast majority of the planet any practical opportunity for salvation.  He answered that if God only allowed a single person into heaven, he would still be a good god.  Heaven is that wonderful.    

People are typically born into a religion and as they grow up form strong convictions that they are a member of the one true faith. They are God's favorites and everyone else has got it wrong. How did they come to believe this? Did they do a comparative study of all the world's faiths and then convert to the religion that they determined to be only true belief system? More than likely they believe they are a member of the one true religion simply because it is the one they happen to be a member of. It is purely egotistical.

Your note actually gave me an interesting idea for a project. First find two Christian faiths that resemble each other very closely, but are still mutually exclusive. In other words, each maintains that the other will go to Hell for thinking differently than they do. Then do a comparison of the faiths to find out exactly what the differences are. If for example the difference is that one faith believes in original sin and the other doesn't, that would mean that God automatically sends anyone who believes in Original Sin straight to Hell (or visa versa). More often than not, I imagine that the differences are more ego-based than dogma-based. "You are going to Hell because you aren't a member of my religious community which happens to be the center of all creation."

Thanks for the great note.