Ceasing to Believe in God

This post is not about myself. It's about a good friend of mine who has stopped believing in God. We met around two weeks ago. Over the course of our meeting, we talked about politics and he mentioned he regularly reads my blog which is rare among my friends.

Among the things he shared with me was that he no longer believes in God. I'll admit it did not surprise me because atheism seems like something very appealing to people slightly younger than I. He said that belief in God doesn't make one a better person as he know people who do believe in God that are not nice people. He's right in that sense though. There are many people who practice their faith on Sundays and forget about it for the rest of the week. Likewise, there are a lot of people who don't believe in God who are genuinely nice people!

I didn't go in depth into the logical reasons there are for belief in God - we didn't have that much time. But I did share something I consider to be a good practice whether one believes or does not believe in God. To demonstrate this, I'll go back to my college years where I posed a question to one of my old teachers.

I asked him, "What is the utilitarian purpose of monks praying in a monastery?" One could easily see the work of missionaries and see that what they do has some value to society. But the monks' prayers doesn't seem to do anything for people who don't believe in God. My teacher came up with answers like, "Monasteries can be a tourist spot which can generate income for the people." but the same can be said just about anything! He then proposed that monasteries provide an escape for people who are sucked into the problems for the world. They provide a nice place for calm meditation and reflection.

I was satisfied with the answer he gave me as no other place offers peace and tranquility the way a monastery does. An empty church can get close but seeing monks pray and be at peace does have a contagious effect on the people around them.

I told him that if he ever feels down and low, he can always go to an empty church and pray. As he doesn't believe in God, I told him he can reflect there. It's the peace and quiet in the church that can help with any sort of reflection. If one feels bored, he can always walk around and enjoy the art in the church - even small churches have artwork that easy to appreciate. Best of all, it's free!

My friend is a fallen away Catholic but I told him the doors are always open. Whether he wants to reflect or collect his thoughts in the churches, or go to confession, or hear mass on Sundays, no door will keep him out. We parted ways that night, I still a Catholic and him, still an atheist and both of us still respecting each other's views.