As you've probably heard, last week the popular atheist blogger Leah Libresco announced that she no longer considers herself an atheist, and has begun the process to convert to Catholicism. Among the hundreds of responses she received were well wishes from fellow Catholic converts, many of them that included warnings about the difficulties that she will inevitably face -- not only in the process of conversion, but if and when she comes into communion with the Church as well. Calah Alexander spoke for many others when she wrote a moving post about the losses that inevitably come with conversion. And quoting Paul Johnson, Elizabeth Scalia quipped, "Come on in; it's awful!"
As I watch all this play out, I'm reminded of my own experience going from atheism to Catholicism. When I first made the decision to convert, I received similar warnings mixed in with the congratulations. I knew they were right; I had no illusions that the path I was starting down would be an easy one. Yet, oddly, I wasn't concerned about what may come next, and I suspected that my uncharacteristic peace went beyond just new convert zeal. Certainly much of it was due to the grace of God, but watching Leah's story play out has made me realize that there was another factor as well, one that I didn't have the perspective to see at the time.
It reminds me of the 1998 movie The Truman Show. Remember that one? [If you haven't seen it but plan to, you may want to stop reading now. Spoiler alert!] It's the story of the man who was adopted at birth by a corporation so that they could make a reality show out of his life. Truman thinks he has a normal life, but, unbeknownst to him, he's living in a massive television studio so that his every move can be broadcast on a 24/7 TV station. For years, he is blissfully unaware that anything's amiss. But then, he becomes suspicious. He begins to notice unsettling things, like the open elevator doors that reveal not an elevator shaft, but the backstage of a studio. He observes that passers by walk in front of his house on a fixed schedule. Strange people occasionally run up and try to tell him that there's something important he needs to know, but they're inevitably carried away by the powers that be.
For a while Truman wonders if he's crazy. Then, a series of painful experiences convince him that there just might be something going on here -- and it's worth taking a risk to find out what it is. He tries to escape, but he's blocked at every turn. Finally, he jumps into a sailboat and sets off for the horizon, risking his life, just to see what will happen. The frantic studio executives cue a great storm. As Truman is pummeled by waves, battered by rain, and threatened by lightning, he clings to the sailboat, barely surviving the ordeal.
And then, it happens: The boat lurches to a stop when it runs into the edge of the dome. What appeared to be an open horizon was just a studio wall. The storm calms, and Truman stands in silent awe as he takes stock of what he's seeing: It's all true. Every one of his suspicions was right.
He looks over and sees a door in the wall, marked EXIT.
The way Truman feels in that moment is the way I felt when I made the decision to convert, and undoubtedly how many other potential converts feel as well. It's difficult enough to get to the point that you figure out that you're in a dome and find the door -- and then, as you stand in front of it, you realize that your problems are just beginning. As the story draws to a close in The Truman Show, it is clear that Truman will now face a whole host of daunting challenges; the screenwriters don't insult the audience by pretending that walking out of a false life and into reality would be an easy step to make. And yet it is a happy ending, despite the hardships to come. I don't think a single person in the audience thought that it was depressing that Truman finally found that door -- and wouldn't have even if there had been hints that something terrible would happen to him on the other side -- because life lived without the truth is no life at all.
And so to Leah and others in her position, I would say that I agree with everyone who tells you that it will be hard. You undoubtedly went through storms to get to the point that you're ready to begin the conversion process, and now a whole new existence -- one with its own challenges and problems -- awaits you on the other side. But, like Truman leaving the studio dome with its false sunlight and hollow buildings, stepping now into the the dangerous and beautiful and scary and wonderful real world, you will never, ever be sorry that you walked through that door.
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I think it is sort of like marriage. We love to see people in love starting a new life, but we don’t want them to be frightened when the inevitable storms and trials come, so we warn them that marriage is hard. Notice that the people who are posting the warnings are those who have converted, who have been through it. I think if we could talk to babies about to be born we would want to say similar things.
I saw this story on CNN over the weekend, and I was truly befuddled by the comments—most of them atheists, claiming that Leah had never been a “true” atheist, and that this was all some kind of stunt. (If memory serves, the same thing happened to you, right?) Many also talked about how “there were so many more converts from Catholicism to atheism than the other way around.” Huh? Why can someone have been a “true Catholic” that converted to atheism, but a “true atheist” couldn’t convert to Catholicism (or any Christian religion)? I truly don’t get that.
Truly beautiful. Thanks.
RMMT- “Many also talked about how “there were so many more converts from Catholicism to atheism than the other way around.” Huh?”
The more people do a thing, the more proof there is that it is the right thing to do, DUH!
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Actually, ON Leah’s first post about it, not too many atheist naysayers (“You weren’t a real atheist”, and etc.) I think that is because most of the atheists reading there regularly were reasonable and humane folks interested in uncovering truth, rather than beating other people in the game of life. The general-public commenters on the CNN articles, and those who rushed to the website afterwards had more of the WIN/LOSE mentality of belief. (This is a quality found in religious and atheists alike.)
Welcome Home.
Oh, it is definitely hard. But nothing worth doing is ever easy.
Jennifer Fulwiler, what and excellent analogy. You made my day.
You should probably include a spoiler alert at the top of the post! It’s an old movie, but some of us might still have it on our Netflix queues. Even if we’ll probably never get to see it because it’s constantly getting pushed down to the bottom by cartoons and WWII documentaries.
My theology teacher in high school had us watch The Truman Show as an “allegory” of Revelation! Not the biggest fan of Jim Carrey, but it definitely works to get your point across…“life lived without the truth is no life at all.”
It is a curious tactic amongst some atheists. I think it stems from the common atheist belief that their view point is the only rational one. If someone stops being an atheist, especially if they claim that it was through reason that they found faith, it throws a monkey wrench into their world view. Since in many cases, it is impossible to claim that the person in question is insane, they need to find an alternate interpretation. The solution? They were never really an atheist to begin with. I have seen this charge leveled at C.S. Lewis as well as other famous converts from atheism.
Frankly, to me the tactic smacks of desperation. The real solution is that no person is perfectly rational, but to admit that is to admit that lack of belief may not be as rational as one likes to think it is.
In other words, many (not all, maybe not even a majority) atheists may not worship God, but they do worship reason, specifically their own reason.
“Not a real athiest” reminds me of the argument of our Protestant brethren that someone who commits a terrible sin after accepting Jesus as personal Lord and Svior was “never really saved.” It IS a hard road, Leah, Jeenifer and all my fellow converts (and cradles as weell) but the best ever.
When the great convert to Catholicism, G.K. Chesterton, entered the Church in 1922, his friends said, “Oh, you poor man. You are going to bow down meekly and humbly stoop low and enter the door of that old building which is all stuffy. I pity you.” Chesterton replied, “No it’s exactly the opposite. I’ve been in that stuffy old building all my life and the experience of entering the Church is not the experiencing of going in but of coming out…out from the little cellar I’ve been in all my life into a shatteringly enormous world with all the great winds of Heaven whistling through my hair.”
Commenting on the Catholic Church and people who despise Her teaching, he said, “It must either mean that they suspect that our religion has something about it so wrong that the hint of it is bad for anybody; or else that it has something so right that the presence of it would convert anybody. To do them justice, I think most of them darkly suspect the second and not the first….Man has come too near to the truth, and has forgotten that truth is a magnet, with the powers of attraction and repulsion. . . . The moment men cease to pull against [the Catholic Church] they feel a tug towards it. The moment they cease to shout it down they begin to listen to it with pleasure. The moment they try to be fair to it they begin to be fond of it. But when that affection has passed a certain point it begins to take on the tragic and menacing grandeur of a great love affair.
That is like the movie the Matrix. Great pleasures could be had in the Matrix, but there was no real being behind anything - what looked like reality was a computer simulation in people’s minds. The story talks about a group trying to escape the Matrix and help others to get free. However, the real world that they were escaping to was in post apocalyptic disaster. Their virtue was in preferring the hard real world to the pleasant fake one.
BHG, I thought the exact same thing!! I find that our atheist friends are often very Protestant in their religious dealings…from the “she wasn’t really an atheist to begin with” to their rabid adherence of sola scriptura.
So true.
Big, happy, welcome mat to Leah! AND a “Welcome Home” banner, hanging in the foyer too :) :) :)We’re a big rambunctious family eh? Oh gosh, it’s not so awful…it’s just…well…a little noisy at times! ;)
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I’ll always remember those first encounters with atheists I had when I was young. I was watching the academy awards. A jubilant director was clutching his golden statue and proudly gave a “I don’t believe in God so I won’t thank Him” speech. That was my first brush with how OBSESSED with God, atheists are. lol.
I wasn’t surprised by Leah’s conversion (it seemed strangely inevitable), but was unexpectedly moved when her announcement came.
And then came the worry, which continues: I fear for anyone who converts so publicly. It was hard enough for me, who lives in happy obscurity.
I do not have the background since I have not followed this person online, so I want to know if I am missing something. Please excuse me if this has already been discussed.
In this particular case, if she says she is bisexual, does it mean sexually attracted to both males and females, or does it mean actively involved sexually with both males and females?
I’d like to know as she studies the Faith what her positions are on premarital sex, active gay and lesbain sexual activity and “marriage”, abortion, contraception, ESCR, Catholic Tradition and structure, the nature of sin, Judgment day, etc. I hope that she shares her impressions and struggles.
There was a very well-known celebrity from the 1960s who was raised Catholic, then as an adult rejected the Faith. Her reasoning was that the Faith was like riding in a Connestoga wagon across country when all you had to do was fly instead.
I do hope for her success; it is very hard to change old habits and old ways of thinking.
I was, unfortunately, raised as a so-called ‘Cradle Catholic.’ THAT included more than twelve years of Catholic schooling (brainwashing) and/or being told that females ABSOLUTELY CAN’T do anything OTHER than become a so-called wife/mother at the ripe old age of high school graduation, thank you very much….DUH!
THANKFULLY, I HAD THE GUTS/COURAGE TO JUST SAY NO! TO THE MISOGYNY THAT I WAS RAISED WITH..
ATTEND UNIVERSITIES WHICH DID not REQUIRE THAT I ATTEND A PARTICULAR WORSHIP SERVICE ON WEEKENDS (* A VIOLATION OF MY CIVIL/CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, TO BEGIN WITH!!!);
GETTING TOGETHER WITH LIKE-MINDED PERSONS WHO HAPPEN TO respect THE FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS TO not HAVE TO CONFORM/BELIEVE CERTAIN BELIEF SYSTEMS THAT violated MY CONSTITUTIONAL/FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS…... GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH VARIOUS PERSONS WHO HAD THE GUTS TO protest RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION—BASED ON SEX, ETC.
BECOMING un-BLINDED ABOUT THE CLAIMS OF ‘FUNDAMENTALIST/EVANGELIST PROTESTANTS/CATHOLICS WHO claim THAT IF ONE doesn’t BELIEVE WHAT X,Y,Z—WHETHER OR NOT FATHER X, BILLY GRAHAM, PREACHER D ‘HAVE TO SAY/CLAIM—THAT if YOU REFUSE TO BELIEVE THEIR STUPIDITY ‘you ARE going to HELL!’
THE FOUNDING FATHERS WERE so-ACCURATE…...... WHAT is NEEDED IS THE ADMISSION THAT CATHOLIC/PROTESTANT FUNDAMENTALISTS do NOT have a RIGHT TO RAM/FORCE THEIR RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY DOWN THE THROATS OF PEOPLE WHO don’t WANT IT/DON’T BELIEVE IT….........
IE, WHAT right DOES A CATHOLIC/SOUTHERN BAPTIST bigot HAVE TO RAM THEIR BIGOTRY ON TO THOSE WHO refuse TO ACCEPT IT!
Well put, Mrs. Fulwiler! I’ve seen that film, and I feel similarly, even though I was baptized as a baby so technically I’m a prodigal son, not a convert. I feel like the dome has been built for centuries, and that most of us are in it without realizing it—what I believe sounds like it’s out of the Middle Ages: Catholic Church, federal monarchy, patriarchal marriage and nuclear family, and private property (with a gold standard and distributist economy). And I believe the United States was fighting on the wrong side in both their War of Independence and the War Between the States, and that the Confederate Constitution is (mostly, not entirely) better than the U. S. Constitution. And all this comes from my setting foot through the door marked “Catholic”.
I wish Leah all the best, but have warned her on her blog about the possibility of rejecting a LOT that she used to take for granted.
Welcome to conversion, a change of heart is all that God waited for from you, when God chose you and you responded with this lovely conversion process it will be all easy sincve God is with you, some say it won’t be easy, but with the inner peace and conversion you have i’m sure the beatific vision will be in your spiritual sight leading you all the way through, there is now no challange you will ever face alone, with God and His Holy Angels and Blessed Mary who speaks to us through our spiritual heart that we hear with spiritual ear’s, and no matter what you face in life God will never abandon you, and neither will I with my prayers to our Immortal God for you, may God bless your house and all who dwell within it, amen…
Sorry Michael, but taken at face value, most of what you say doesn’t make a lick of sense. Also, you leave readers with too much second-guessing. Inductive reasoning is dangerous in the wrong hands.
Historian, glad to see you so happy in the life you’ve chosen. I’m truly envious of persons who can live out their passions.
HISTORIAN, I’ve seen you pull this shtick at the Ignitum forum, too, and you were just as tiresome and boring there as well. It’s not every day that one comes across someone styling themselves as an “historian,” but who chooses to express themselves in a way that is barely articulate.
Bill M. I echo your sentiments.
I was a true atheist and converted a couple of years ago. However, the conversion process is still ongoing. I’ve gone back and forth between belief and nonbelief… at least seven times in five years. I walked out of RCIA twice. I hope the road is smoother for Leah.
For me, it was a very tough road. I think atheists say that someone wasn’t a real atheist for a couple of reasons. 1. Many so-called previous atheists were only atheists in their youth, which really doesn’t count for much. Many atheists were raised in Catholic households and then return later. Christians often market someone as an “atheist” because it makes the story juicier. 2. Atheists can’t reckon how a real atheist could believe again.
Life goes from black and white to color when you have faith. It’s hard work to overcome decades of entrenched bad habits and negative thought patters. God bless all of us who are on this path.
HISTORIAN,
Man, do I hear you. I was, unfortunately, raised as a so-called “modern woman’ THAT included more than twelve years of public schooling (brainwashing) and/or being told that females ABSOLUTELY CAN’T do anything worthwhile OTHER than attend college and have a career, beginning at the ripe old age of high school graduation, thank you very much….DUH!
THANKFULLY, I HAD THE GUTS/COURAGE TO JUST SAY NO! TO THE MODERN THINKING THAT I WAS RAISED WITH..
ATTEND CHURCHES WHICH DID not REQUIRE THAT I WHILE TRYING TO RAISE A FAMILY
GETTING TOGETHER WITH LIKE-MINDED PERSONS WHO HAPPEN TO respect THE FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS TO not HAVE TO CONFORM/BELIEVE CERTAIN BELIEF SYSTEMS THAT violated MY CONSTITUTIONAL/FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS…... GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH VARIOUS PERSONS WHO HAD THE GUTS TO protest DISCRIMINATION—BASED ON RELIGION, ETC.
BECOMING un-BLINDED ABOUT THE CLAIMS OF ‘LIBERAL FEMINISTS WHO claim THAT IF ONE doesn’t BELIEVE WHAT X,Y,Z—WHETHER OR NOT GLORIA STEINAM, HILLARY CLINTON OR MICHELE OBAMA ‘HAVE TO SAY/CLAIM—THAT if YOU REFUSE TO BELIEVE THEIR STUPIDITY ‘you ARE IGNORANT AND BRAINWASHED’
THE FOUNDING FATHERS WERE so-ACCURATE…...... WHAT is NEEDED IS THE ADMISSION THAT NON ONE have a RIGHT TO RAM/FORCE THEIR VIEWS DOWN THE THROATS OF PEOPLE WHO don’t WANT IT/DON’T BELIEVE IT….........
IE, WHAT right DOES A RADICAL FEMINIST bigot HAVE TO RAM THEIR BIGOTRY ON TO THOSE WHO refuse TO ACCEPT IT!
Thanks so much for standing up for my right to believe as I wish.
Why is HISTORIAN yelling? Is he afraid he won’t be heard? Or is he afraid he might be wrong?
Who is ‘Susan’, and why is she repeating the comment of self-labelled ‘Historian’- who, not a mere troll, sounds like a really unhappy and angry person simply venting her frustrations (or trolling with attention-grabbing temper tantrums) on the Catholic comment boxes on the ‘net? Could these two perhaps represent the same individual?
Amen to the comments of MarylandBill and Fr. Thomas Aschenbrener!
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so happy for Leah, but i must say here that for her conversion to be lasting and without adversities, she must leave the public eye and focus on grasping the truth of her new faith. Continuing her public life would probably force her to learn Catholism in a way to satisfy her audience
TeresaL, I think Susan is mocking Historian. Re-read her post. I thought it was quite funny.
Thank you Joanp62 for the kind words. Teresa, please do read my post through. I hope that you’ll see where I’m coming from. I do apologize for “yelling” in caps. My hope was to make the point the freedom of thought and speech cut both ways. I don’t know how old HISTORIAN is, or what her professional credentials are (I have Master’s Degree). However, when I was in college at the University of Florida in the early 1980s, I was definitely the rebel in my classes for speaking out on behalf of traditional marriage and family life.
I Am a Methodist but, I want to convert to the Catholic Religion because I believe it is the true Religion. Why are people telling me it is so hard to become a Catholic and the Religion is so strict people drop out before they become a convert?
I think when responding to secular poster’s comments, even if they’re “trolls”,it’s good to remember they are still human beings deserving our respect & charity.You never know to whom you are speaking online & you may be the only face of Christianity they encounter.As this article points out, hearts can change.
It doesn’t mean we can’t speak out when intolerant comments are made against our Faith or the religious beliefs of others.
Michael ,
Just curious, I’m Catholic & have family that fought on the losing side in both wars you mention, but I’m wondering what your point is?
@Paula, people will tell you it is hard (and it is) because “how narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.” (Matthew 7:14).
Don’t let them get you down. Seek out your local parish’s RCIA class, ask questions on the Catholic Answers Forum (google it) if your RCIA class doesn’t know the answer. Always keep seeking after the Truth.
Oh, thanks for the clarification, Joanp62, and Susan. The all-caps text was too much for me to read through again, alas (mea culpa!) - yes, Susan was actually mocking ‘Historian’ up there!
People who write in caps have a tendency towards hysteria.
I often wonder what they do when talking in person; all too often, they establish themselves as complete idiots before the end of their first sentence.
HEY, SUSAN”
OBVIOUSLY you HAVE never BEEN THE VICTIM OF CRIMINAL ACTIONS BY MALE MISOGYNISTS WHO BELIEVE THAT RAPE AND/OR INCEST ARE, AH, LEGITIMATE WAYS TO TREAT FEMALES!...DUH!
FYI, RAPE IS A CRIME. INCEST IS A CRIME. A FEMALE WHO HAS endured CRIMINAL ACTS OF BEING FORCED TO HAVE SEX AGAINST HER WILL (DATE RAPE COMES TO MIND, READILY….)...CLERICS WHO ARE forcing YOUNG PEOPLE TO ENDURE HOMOSEXUAL/OTHER RAPE against THEIR WILLS ARE also COMMITTING CRIMINAL ACTS.
UNFORTUNATELY, THE ROMAN HIERARCHY obviously BELIEVES THAT FEMALE VICTIMS OF MALE MISOGYNIST CRIMINAL ACTS should LEGALLY BE forced TO BEAR THE FETUS OF THEIR RAPISTS… AND/OR THE FAMILY MEMBER WHO RAPED THEM…...........
IF THAT doesn’t SUGGEST MISOGYNIST HATRED OF FEMALE VICTIMS OF MALE-CAUSED/MALE ORIENTED ILLEGAL CRIMINALLY ACTIONS AGAINST THE VICTIMS, TO you, JUST WHAT does IT SUGGEST?
THAT FEMALE VICTIMS OF VIOLENT CRIMINAL ACTIONS CAUSED BY THE MALE RAPISTS, ETC should BE LEGALLY TOLERATED?
PLEASE, FOR YOUR own SAKE,CONSULT AN ATTORNEY!
Historian-
Why should an innocent baby be killed in its mother’s womb because its father was a rapist?
God bless you. I will pray for you tonight. I know your intentions are sincere. Jesus loves you.
Hi HISTORIAN,
I believe we have some sort of misunderstanding here. I was merely agreeing with you about the importance of everyone being able to make up our own minds about what we believe without undo pressure from outside sources. I’m note sure how the topic of rape came up but you are correct. Like 80% of the women in America, I have never been raped. If you have, I am truly sorry and hope that the man involved has been duly caught and punished.
As a historian, I’m sure you know the importance of siting your sources. I would be glad to read any articles that you can pass on of any practicing, mainline Christian claiming that it is appropriate to rape anyone. In fact, you should probably forward copies of such comments to the FBI for proper investigation.
As far as anyone being forced to bear a child that is the product of rape, I realize that this is a very difficult subject. However, I happen to have a friend that was herself conceived as a result of rape. She and I are both happy her mother chose to punish the man that perpetrated the crime, not the little girl that resulted. Speaking of difficult issues, what about sex-selective abortions? Should a woman be allowed to terminate her pregnancy just because she doesn’t want a girl? Doesn’t that strike you as somewhat unjust?
Finally, you suggest I consult an attorney. I’m not sure why. Are you planning of suing me for disagreeing with you? My sister is a constitutional law professor and she assures me that I have a First Amendment right to speak and believe as I wish. She is also a wife of a Baptist pastor and homeschooling mother of three, but unlike some women, I don’t think that makes her conclusions any less valuable.
When I was 21, I landed in the hospital three times. One time, for the birth of my first born son. I guess I could have died the other two times, but I was too lame to get that. We didn’t have a lot of money. One of the gifts I was given after the birth of my son was a giant box of baby clothing from another young mother who gave birth to her son after rape. I still think of her, and her generous gift to me, but that is just a drop in the bucket compared to her son who must be 26 now; just a little bit older than my beloved son. God bless her, and her generosity.
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Historian, I am sorry that he or she hurt you. I’m not even saint enough yet not to say he or she (plural?) doesn’t deserve some HUGE JUSTICE (pardon me for shouting). I wish you peace and blessings. I hope you can learn to forgive. I know, it’s hard, but it will help you get past it. The all caps are o.k. Let it out. We can take it. It can’t be even a fraction as offensive as what you are angry about.
Good retort Susan to screaming historian, you SHOUTED also but answered her points.
MY MAIN RESPONSE; Each of us whether baptised as babies or joined the Catholic Christain Community is in a conversion mode. That includes dropping some de facto atheistic attitudes. War is an example- how can the wars at least as far back as Southeast Asia be justified with the horrific loss of human life, on to Central and South America and then Gulf 11 and since? Each human being is made in God’s image, Jesus says when we ignore Him in others’ hurts- imprisoned, sick, hungry, naked - add AIDS and refugees and mass aerial destruction (Matthew 25) we are ignoring/killing Him, liars and murderers John’s letters call it. I do not know the actual amount but someone has calculated I am sure the cost of growing food, clean water, fixing roads and building bridges and providing mass transportation would be paid over and over, and provided jobs instead of the selling of arms, biilding the aircraft, carriers, nuclear subs and killing our men and women and “the enemy” and dumping cash into the whole system. Then we see the number of mainline Christian denominations, who are more and more marginalsed because of their leaders’ abandonment of teachings on marriage and sexuality in general. That includes many self-proclaimed Catholics who vote for that same anti-Natural Law and anti- Consistent Ethic of Life social-political-moral agenda. From womb to tomb.
Even as a retired and handicapped adult I face the atheism, hostility and insulting hateful speech in every medium to my beliefs which had to be strengthened, examined and defended for a long time as they arose and I grew older and wiser.
Thanks LoneThinker. I actually wish now that I hadn’t responded in all caps. I didn’t mean to shout, I was just trying to “meet her where she is.” It didn’t occur to me until later that by writing like that I came across as so aggressive.
Caps are SHOUTING on e-mails!! Hugs. I get so frustrated at times on different blogs with totally irrational language, it takes me a few breaths and count to ten to reply. I taught all my life in the USA and found that Rational Discourse is not as common as Common Sense should be for intelligent humans. Even on the University campus with faculty and certain House occupants, elected at the State and Federal level.
I was raped, two times three years apart. I understand why women would not want to carry a child that was conceived as a result. The months (years) of follow-up, especially if you prosecute, hang over every part of your daily life until it the legal garbage is finished and then endure long after, even if only popping up from time to time. I am lucky that I was not traumatized as horribly as many are. And lucky that I was able to prosecute the second rape—even if I wasn’t able to do it the first time, when I was younger.
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I understand why compassion moves us to want to take away any further pain and, indeed, unwitting submission of our bodies to something we chose not; namely a pregnancy. I understand. Even so, I myself couldn’t take a morning-after pill, afraid it would cause an abortion (the science is leaning toward not, but then it was confused). I couldn’t figure out how to make a child “go away” to save myself added suffering. Emotionally I know I was better prepared than others to handle a pregnancy from a rape, and I know I have that privilege. I do not take it lightly and I do not condemn those who think abortion is a solution to a rape. But my intellect tells me about that privilege, and it also tells me that an innocent person ought not bear the guilt, and death sentence, for an adult with free will.
It seems we converts/deconverts have a lot in common. This analogy resonated with me (an atheist)—it describes very well how I, and I think many atheists, feel when deconverting from Christianity to atheism. It’s entering a whole new big scary world of reality, but there’s SO much you have to work out when your intellectual foundations (and social circles) change so radically. This helped give me some perspective that conversion in any direction can be a scary, wonderful ride. Thanks for sharing :)
@Corita, I don’t even know how I landed here on this thread, as I choose never to mark the “notify me” box…I’m so sorry you suffered what you did. Thank God you have those that love you, and help you feel stronger than death. What a blessing.
Actions, words and ideas are right or wrong. Moral relavitism makes them right for both of us, even if we contradict each other, and are convinced the Moon landing was actually staged on a movie set. JESUS said His yoke is easy and burden light. Humanly, physically and socially it is not easy to stand up for Truth, Justice and Right against the “In Crowd” but with HIM carrying us, that burden is light. Faith, trust and constant prayer do think, say and do as HE wishes is what it is all about.
Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great.
If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate.
—Monty Python.
If you don’t want your kids, send them off for medical experiments!
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