Confessions of a Church-Going Atheist

Here's the thing: I still regularly attend church, even though I no longer believe. I could say, my name is Disobedient Boy, and I'm a recovering Christian (okay, I just did), but you might draw an inference from that (rather flip) statement that isn't intended.

I'm actually quite fond of the Anglican Church. Isn't that ridiculous? I suppose I'm old-fashioned enough to think that it's still an important part of our cultural heritage. For me, it's the acceptable face of Christianity, and a whole lot less scary than Roman Catholicism, Southern Baptists, and other more fundamentalist denominations. I often find myself thinking, Christianity would be just fine as a basic moral philosophy if it wasn't for all the medieval supernatural stuff you have to stand up and say you believe in, every week.

I think my loss of faith has been quite gradual, over time. One Sunday, a couple of years ago, we went off to a different church than usual as my son was taking part in a flag parade with the local cub scouts. The service was of the type most usually categorised as "happy clappy" - but what struck me was how much of the happy-clappiness corresponded almost exactly with motivational Neuro-Linguistic Programming techniques. If I understand what I've read on the subject, the more you hear yourself reciting a statement of belief (or a creed, or a prayer), the more that belief is ingrained and strengthened. The thing is, when you know it's just a psychological trick, it becomes easier to see things more objectively. Later, I read Dawkins' The God Delusion (a good read, although I sometimes find Dawkins a tad too gleeful in his demolitions of other people's belief systems) and then I was well on the road to apostasy.

DB