Is skepticism genetic?
A few days ago I was listening to Seth Andrews podcast ”The Thinking Atheist” , in particular the episode entitled “Clash from the Past” in which Seth debated his former boss from Seth’s Christian radio host days. Before Seth Eve evolved into atheism, he was a radio show host on Tulsa’s premier Christian radio station KXOJ 100.9 FM. He was a host on that station from 1990 through 1999.
http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/
That station was managed then and still is today by David Stephens who is still a believer in Christ and his host of a Christian online community called Beliefchangers. Seth and David have not talked for over a decade so Seth was pleasantly surprised when David wanted to talk with him via his podcast.
A short ways into the podcast Seth asked David what he thought of him and if he often wondered what the heck happened to this guy? Did he go nuts or what?
David replied that while he did not foresee that Seth would give up the faith altogether he did comment twice stating that Seth always had a little bit of skepticism about him so he was not totally surprised when Seth decided to go another direction.
I know from Seth’s past podcasts and YouTube videos that Seth states that he was a really full-blown Christian for the first 30 years or so. His parents are theologians and are still devout Christians to this day so I was a bit surprised when David stated that Seth flirted with skepticism to some degree. If Seth played with skepticism and yet his boss never seemed to, was that because it was something Seth was born with? Why can some be skeptical while others cannot?
After the podcast was over I thought about my own journey through religion, Christianity in particular. In fact, I had to think about my journey from a very young child onward to the present. My first encounter with the Bible was when I was six years old. Both my parents worked and a teenage girl across the street from where we lived babysat me for a few hours after school until my dad got home from work (mom worked nights).
I was probably being a brat and getting on the babysitters nerves when her father walked in the front door. He was the pastor of some local church, Baptist I think, and after his daughter complained to him that I was being very irritating, he sat down on the couch and picked up a King James Version of the Bible that was lying on the coffee table. He opened it up and went to Luke chapter 16 and read the account located in the verses 19 through 25.
19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
He then went on to tell me that if I continued being a bad kid and acting up I like the rich man would be tormented forever and ever and a burning hot flame. That was my introduction to the Bible when I was six years old.
I have to admit I was a bit shook up at the prospect of what had just been laid out before me, but after I returned to my home later that day I thought about it for a little while and figured it was mostly a bunch of baloney. In other words, this six year old was skeptical.
As time went on I would hear stories about Angels are people doing magic or experience in some other miraculous nonnatural event and I took it with a grain of salt. Even the issue of Santa Claus was perplexing for me because even though I was a very young child I could see there were issues with one man traveling all over the world in one night, squeezing his obese frame through small chimneys and yet his cloths always looked clean. I was skeptical.
I was always thinking and analyzing things. Although I never really challenged whether God existed or not back then, much of the religious speak seemed to fit in the category of somewhat hocus-pocus to me.
During my teenage and early 20s the issue of God and religion was always on a back burner. I never really gave it much thought but when I did hear about people saying they experienced miraculous things via God and Jesus, I was never really sold on the claims. I was skeptical.
On December 31, 1981, I was 22 years old and I was DJ’ing a party that my roommate and his friend were having at the friend’s house. That would be a major night for me as I would meet the girl who would become my first wife a mere six months later. As we began dating I discovered she was a backslidden Jehovah’s Witness and was interested in getting back into the fold.
Since I wasn't really rooted in any one particular persuasion of Christianity, I decided to attend meetings at the Kingdom Hall with her. The first one was the Memorial of 1982 and it was held at the Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Arlington Texas. I do remember being confused when told not to drink the wine being passed around her eat the bread because only “The Anointed” get to do that.
As I began attending meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses I have to admit I was somewhat impressed by their trying to answer questions that most other Christians would just put on the shelf labeled “it’s a mystery.”
So as I began attending meetings and getting more involved in the religion I eventually made the decision in the summer of 1983 to get baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. There was a bit of a honeymoon session for a while but eventually my skepticism kicked in again and I began questioning some of the teachings and practices of their organization.
One of the things that really gave me pause were some comments in a book released in 1984 entitled “Survival into a New Earth.” While I don’t recall at this moment the exact interpretation they gave to the story of the rich man and Lazarus, they viewed it as a parable and they (the Watchtower Society) represented Lazarus and the rich man was the evil clergy representing false religion. If I can locate this absurd interpretation I will post it.
As I read this interpretation in the publication I remember thinking to myself “Oh brother! This is nuts!” But of course I didn't say that out loud. An hour or so later one of the brothers from my congregation came up to me and opened up the “Survival” book and read that same passage that I had pondered upon a short while ago. After he read it he looked at me and said “Isn't that great? What an interpretation that is and it could only come from men who had God’s spirit upon them and we know them as the Governing Body.” He sounded like he was recording a commercial for them.
I shook my head in agreement but what popped into my head was “Is there something wrong with me? Why don’t I believe it as intensely as he does? Why do I want to question it instead of just accepting it wholeheartedly? Why am I so skeptical?”
This continued on the next several years and slowly but surely my faith in “God’s only one true organization” slowly eroded until it could no longer be rescued. I often browbeat myself mentally because I was actually in awe of some of these folks whose faith could allow them to accept wholeheartedly each and everything being spoken about from the platforms of meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses as well as everything that was put forth in print from them.
When I finally left Jehovah’s Witnesses completely in September 1992, I tried going back to the traditional churches of Christianity to see if any of them really rang a bell with me. I tried Catholicism, Pentecostalism, Baptists, Methodists and even studied for a short while with the Mormons but nothing jived.
Again I thought something was wrong with me. At the time Atheism was not even a thought as another possible course to take. In early 1994 I decided to give the American Atheists located in Austin, Texas a call. I’m not sure who answered the phone at first but I soon was speaking with its founder Madelyn Murray O’Hair. I quickly told her what I was going through mentally and asked a question of regarding of whether or not I was an agnostic.
Instead of comforting me by giving me some genuine guidance she instead went on a tirade about how being an agnostic is just another word for being a flake. She said that I was trying to keep one foot in atheism and one foot in God belief which is just plain stupid. I hung up on her and for quite a long time “atheism” left a bad taste in my mouth even though I thought it was a logical way of looking at things.
So for the next several years I still tried giving “God” the benefit of the doubt. I still believed that if I tried hard enough and kept looking that eventually I would find “him.” I still sometimes felt admiration for those who were so thoroughly convinced in their belief of the Supreme Being. But as time went my belief in such a being slowly faded until there was just nothing there at all.
I pretty much was in la-la land in regards to religion until around September 2011. I was on iTunes and was searching the podcast directory for anything agnostic or atheist. One of the podcast I came across was “The Atheist Experience” out of Austin, Texas and Seth Andrews “The Thinking Atheist” out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. I began downloading the current and past episodes of all the podcasts and loading them on my iPod. I would listen to these when I would go out on my walk in the evenings and weekends as well as listening to them in my car during my 55 mile one-way commute going and coming from work.
I found these podcasts fascinating as I had never really listened to anything that really disputed the existence of a supreme being. In early 2012 I was searching for more podcasts and came across another excellent one called “Dogma Debate with David Smalley” out of my former long time hometown, Dallas, Texas.
http://www.dogmadebate.com/
I actually caught David’s podcast just as he was getting started. I believe I found him on his fourth episode and have listened to all subsequent ones since then. Between these three podcasts I began feeling comfortable with the term “atheist.” It still had a little bit of bad taste in my mouth but that was slowly going by the wayside as I listened to Matt of “The Atheist Experience, Seth of “The Thinking Atheist and David of “Dogma Debate.”
So that’s where I am at today. I am still growing and expanding my knowledge base in all things reality, science and related topics. Probably the hardest thing that I had to get over was the fact that when I departed this earth that was it - the show was over. It took a little while to let that sink in but I’m okay with it now and it actually makes me enjoy the life I have left even more. I have recently begun working out, shedding some pounds and actually entering some of the local half marathon runs.
So today when I hear from my believing friends and coworkers on issues regarding their church or some strange event that happened in our lives, I’m still amazed at how quickly they credit God, Jesus, Mary, some angel or saint as the root cause of what happened. It’s obvious they say it without even thinking it through. It’s an easy way to explain something difficult and the vast majorities who hear it simply nod in agreement and may even throw in a good “amen” for good measure.
But that is never been the situation for me. From young childhood on I have always flirted with skepticism whenever encountered with a situation that just does not seem believable. Others however rarely use skepticism in their daily lives and instead gravitate towards explanations that given that good feeling inside.
A man I have known since childhood used to believe any magic or hocus-pocus that people would throw his way and he believed about every religious claim or story that he was presented with. He is still that way today.
So I ask again, is skepticism genetic?