Having grown up in a mildly secular household, I don’t have any really weird religious stories to tell, and – probably therefore – I have a morbid curiosity about those who did. Like this pseudonymous story on HuffPost:
On holiday, he was there. Summers were spent at Christian retreats, filled with like-minded, God-fearing families, who prayed in tongues and healed the sick. My life was an echo chamber of Christianity. That’s because my father, a born-again Christian, believed in the six-day creation narrative, biblical giants, and flat-earth theory. Interpreting the scriptures literally, he believed the earth had four corners, based on a prophecy in the book of Revelation, where angels guard each one in a war against God’s enemies last days.
I was raised to be suspicious of anyone sacrilegious enough to suggest otherwise, including Nasa (rebels who rejected God by seeking answers in outer space), science teachers, and even Universal Pictures. The latter may seem bizarre, but the infamous movie introduction featuring a rotating globe was, in my father’s view, blasphemous. Growing up in a small seaside town, we would often go on ‘prayer walks’ along the beach as a family, where the glowing horizon did indeed appear to be flat. My father would point to this as unequivocal evidence – and as a small child, it seemed pretty compelling.
I appreciate the Universal Pictures reference as an example of reasonable logic, awful assumptions. This is a motivation for keeping a hand on the Rail of Reasonability at all times: If your logic is leading you to results that have other people rolling their eyes, maybe it’s time to wonder about those assumptions you’re using.
And if those assumptions leading you down lonely roads with signs prominently mentioning the Queen of Hearts really make you feel special – like, one of God’s chosen – then it’s really time to stop and reassess.
Just another friendly rule of thumb from your neighborhood agnostic.
