Queen Michael said:
(...) I'm Swedish
And here, being an atheist is pretty much par for the course. But my parents thinks that I'll go to Hell forever for not believing in God. Well, at least my mom and brother would think so if I told them.
I think there are several issues, several mechanisms at play here. Northern Europe wasn't exactly Christian for quite some time, and even though we have to go back some hundred to a thousand years to find the "true" Norse religious, social and other concepts, traces of it keep resurfacing. Christendom, which had its perks and probably made life easier for a lot of people back then, built churches on much older holy sites, putting an EOL on the 'heathen' practices and introducing Christian ways of doing things. As with orphans, the question of "Where do I come from?" tends to get more serious with people coming from countries who were quite different only a thousand years back, and whose forefathers lived and dreamed in a completely different world. These insecurities put holes in armor and souls, and wherever there's a doubt, there's things one might be tempted to stuff them with.
I am a strict believer and practitioner of science by day, but a devoted Christian by night. Interaction with non-believers and sceptics is easier when you function purely on logic, as they are the ones playing missionary for their beliefs, while I have made my peace with my Christian God. I am still having issues with the Jewish G-D, but he's been a good sport so far.
To me, the decision to be good and getting better in the limited amount of time we're allowed/blessed/cursed to spend time on Earth is a very personal one. If all you're after is a life of carnal pleasure and debauchery, well, there used to be Gods for that. They were retired eventually.
For me, the Christian concept works. It allows for a healthy and nurturing family home, for love and forgiveness no matter what harsh and sad and dramatic things life itself (or the Jewish G-D of the Old Testament) throws at us. Creationism is a complete and utter failure, a desperate countermeasure to complicated modern times, where there is such a thing as too much knowledge, and people preferring to dumb themselves down so their global village doesn't fall off the edge of the world.
Our knowledge of the "Where do we come from?" is still limited, and I think it would be folly to give up on that. To me, a people without any valid concept of God and a functional moral compass is a sad one, and a threat to peace and stability, for there will be other concepts, other philosophies, other Gods to fill the void... and take every tiny little bit of freedom you cherish from you.
In a way, Christianity, to me, has evolved into something rather personal, which is good, but it has lost a lot of coherence along the way. It needs an oil check, and I feel as if there's some sort of speed limiter installed. It doesn't much affect me as an individual yet, but the movement has lost nearly all of its momentum. God, as a concept, is not a trending fashion. People tend to want to go the easier way, it's in our nature. I know of gays who played Antichrist in their youths because they could not accept a church that did not want to accept them. They fought windmills and now, decades later, they want to marry and be buried in the most holier-than-thou Christian way possible. They were fighting the institution the church was, and they were fighting the prejudices in people's heads - most of which were not preached to them from the pulpit. Their allies of old are still opposing religion, as the beast of Christianity truly is but a sheep now. The lion of Islam, now, that will be a tough one.
God isn't the old man in a frock with a glowing fishbowl over his head. But home is where you crawled out of your mother's womb. If you love your loved ones, and are privileged enough to have loved ones, you'll eventually want to speak to and with them... when you feel ready and prepared to do so. Good luck.
PS: My closet... well, I do seem to take great joy out of giving schemers a taste of their own poison. It probably qualifies as revenge, cold and microwaved beyond recognition. I'm not perfect, am I.
