]
] Beliefs?
] [http://www.hackunix.org/~derekm/beliefs.txt]
] by Derek P. Moore
] November 7, 1999
]

	What do I believe?

	That's a good question.  I'm not even sure that I know the answer
to that one.  Yet, I've been struggling with it for quite some time now.

	Some day I'll find the answer, I'm sure.  `Til then, only
questions.

	What is religion?  What's it for?

	I do believe the main purpose of religion to be to better the
quality of life, to make people happy, and to fill voids in ones' lives.
This should be the sole purpose of a religion; to better the quality of
living in this life, and, quite possibly, the hereafter.  If a religion
fulfills those needs for a particular person, then I say that religion was
a success.

	But can one religion satisfy everyone?  Possibly, but I don't see
that happening any time soon.  So many people feel so differently about so
many things.  Some religions claim they're right.  Others bash religions
that don't agree with theirs.  I think in most cases people just need
something to hold close to them, something for which to fight.  A religion
comes in pretty handy when you need those things.  "No! Your religion is
wrong.  I'm sad for you because you'll be in hell for what you believe."
Those are pretty strong words and it makes a person feel good when they
can say those words to someone and believe that they're correct.  It gives
them a sense of power.  Will I ever believe in a religion with that
philosophy and that mindset?  No.

	I believe a person should be free to believe whatever he wants to
believe.  Because, from a neutral standpoint, believing in Christ is just
as insane as believing in Allah.  And, again, believing in Allah is just
as insane as believing in nothing.  I can walk up to anyone that strongly
believes in any religion and they'll tell me with just as much faith as
anyone in any other religion that their religion is the correct.  How am I
to believe them?  They say, "Ask God with a pure heart; he'll answer."
They say, "Ask Allah with a pure heart; you'll be answered."  How can I
ask something that I don't know exists and expect an answer from it?  I
say, "Ask my toaster oven with a pure heart; it will answer."  If you need
an answer strongly enough from my toaster oven and if you truly want it to
give you an answer then, by golly, my toaster oven is going to give you an
answer (or at least your psyche will create that answer for you).

	Insane people claim to receive divine inspiration from God.  They
say God called them on the telephone.  They believe whole heartedly that
they're correct and no one can convince them otherwise.  They live in
mental hospitals.

	Sane people claim to receive divine inspiration from God.  They
say God answered them through prayer.  They believe whole heartedly that
they're correct and no one can convince them otherwise.  They live in
churches and seminaries.

	We are all insane, and all of our beliefs are as equally as insane
as any other person's beliefs.  I think evolutionists are insane.  That'd
be like saying that this computer sitting in front of me just evolved from
nothing into this wonderful machine that obeys my every command.  How
could all this beauty and love come from nothing?  How can you deny that
something or someone created all this, whether divine or not?  I think
popular Christians are insane.  How can you claim one thing, then do the
exact opposite?  Do as I say, not as I do?  Is that how it is?  So that
child that died at birth is going to go to hell?  For some reason I can't
see how an eight second old child could commit such hell deserving acts.
How can you claim that if I don't literally ask your God to come into my
heart then I will also end up in hell along side that eight second old
baby?  I think established Christians are insane.  You mean to tell me
that the Spanish Inquisition was okay then, but it's not now?  How do you
explain the jailing and persecution of people that preached the spherical
nature of the Earth now that we know it is indeed spherical?  How can you
believe what you believe, but deny another's right of believing what he
wishes to believe?

	And lastly, I think I am insane.  I believe in something.
Something had to create all of this beauty and magnificence.  The odds of
this world evolving from billions of years of nothing are just as bad as
saying that my old AT&T UNIX PC materialized on my desk.  I mean, sure
we've evolved as a human race over the thousands of years.  We've grown
more intelligent, we've grown faster, stronger, et cetera.  But someone,
something had to get the ball rolling.  Albert Einstein's and Stephen
Hawkins' theories couldn't exist without first the theory of a creator.
They both claim that creation itself is impossible without there first
being a creator.  Though neither of them believe that creator to be a
personal one.

	What exactly that something that I believe in is; I have yet to
decide.  But when I have figured it out, I will also believe that every
man should be allowed to believe what and when he wishes.  And he should
be able to believe these things without the ridicule and belittlement of
others.

	No one's beliefs are more correct than the other person's.  We all
stand on equal ground and we all should be given the right to believe what
we want without worrying about others.

	Belief is relative.  We are all insane for our beliefs.

May 22, 2000, Addendum:

	I still stand firmly on many of the precepts of which I preached
in this essay, but this writing is very much lacking.  Many of the
absurdly false presuppositions that I'd been fed all throughout my youth
are blatantly obvious throughout the entirety of this paper.  False
assumptions on things including evolution, the argument of causation,
necessity of religion, et cetera.

	My views and opinions will continue to shift, refine, and improve
each other throughout my entire life, it's only natural.  But this paper
is full of perfectly false presumptions which I have since corrected
through my readings and studies.

	I leave this essay intact and unedited as a monument to where I
was intellectually and "spiritually" at this particular point in my life.
My newer writings convey, and will continue to better convey, more
accurate, precise, informed, and intelligent information on who I am, what
I think, and my personal philosophies.