Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Welcome, Rechelle

Rechelle, at My Sister's Farmhouse, is a former fundamentalist, homeschooling Christian who has become an atheist, and is being very open about it. Her Parable of the Hole in the Curtain, (I'll include a bit below the fold) about losing her faith, is just amazing. It is amazingly well written, amazingly honest, and an amazingly clear description of what it is to realize that you just don't believe anymore.

Rechelle is no longer accepting comments or emails due to the hate mail her honesty has earned her, but I would like her to know that we know where you're coming from. We support you in your journey, and more than anything else, we appreciate your honesty. Every atheist that stands up to be counted, even if only on the internet, is a step forward for all atheists. We are people, too. Our experiences are valid, our beliefs (or lack thereof) are valid, and we are not going away.

Thank you, Rechelle, and welcome to Hell's Blogroll. (And feel free to come on over and bust out with a well placed "shit".)

Excerpt from the Parable of the Hole in the Curtain:

The holes in the curtain appeared whenever the woman read the bible. Whenever she read about god asking someone to kill their child to prove their faith. Whenever she read about god condoning slavery or misogyny or the murder of women (and not men) for having sex before marriage or for being a homosexual or for working on the sabbath or for disobeying your parents or for having sex with an animal (the animal has to be murdered too of course). She tried to ignore these old laws that were written by the same god who is also Jesus and instead focus on the new laws. Because those old laws were clearly written by an insane person and not an eternal god of love and mercy who longs for a relationship with human beings. The new laws were a little better, but they still condoned slavery and misogyny and quite often they didn’t make any sense either.

So she tried to focus her belief on miracles. She tried to believe that god impregnated a thirteen year old virgin with his god seed and grew a mini-god inside of the virgin. She tried to believe that this same mini-god seed son had been crucified, died and then was RESURRECTED FROM THE DEAD because this is how god shows his love for us. He kills people. Innocent people. A lot! She tried to believe that even though the bible tells the incredible story of Jesus and all the miracles that surround his life and especially his resurrection FROM THE DEAD this amazing event did not make one single Roman history book. Which is kind of like the U.S. landing on the moon and not being mentioned in the history books in Canada.

The woman began avoiding that room with the window altogether. She didn’t want to watch the shredding curtain fall apart. She stayed in other rooms. Dark rooms. She threw herself into working for her church. She became an elder. She taught Sunday school. She served on committees and directed choirs and organized plays for her church.

But it was impossible. There was a room in her house with a light filled window. And a curtain that was full of holes. She couldn’t forget it was there.

6 comments:

  1. An easy parable, and a very clever one. Kudos to Rechelle on so many levels, and welcome amongst us godless, baby-munchin’ hedonistic heathens! Too bad she doesn’t allow comments (suggestion: try using a commenting platform such as IntenseDebate where you can insta-filter through any spam or hate mail, leaving only the valid stuff behind), or I’d be one to drop a congratulatory and welcoming note. As would doubtlessly many others. So, consider this to be it.

    (PS – I didn’t know it required a well-placed swear to be included in your blogroll. Oh dear, was my inclusion a cheat, then? D=)

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  2. What a wonderful post. Since her comments aren't open, hopefully she's reading some of them over here.

    Although I didn't grow up in an evangelical home, nor was I home-schooled, I can really connect with the curtain parable. 13 years of Catholic school and going around with blinders on... then finally all the little things you've been ignoring add up and *poof*. Everything looks so different. Mostly for the better. There's some anger, too. (Especially from a Catholic standpoint: oh my Quantum Field, billions of dollars of gold and treasure sitting in Vatican City and millions and millions in cathedrals throughout the world and majorly Catholic Central and South America are the way they are? WTF??)

    A really lovely post. And a hearty shame about the hate mail and unchristian comments. The best Christians I know are atheists, agnostics, and Buddhists.

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  3. Another welcome for Rechelle from down here in Darkest America... on the off chance that she actually reads this. You're not alone, you're not the only one who's gone through this, and it does get easier (and better) as you go.

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  4. You're not alone, you're not the only one who's gone through this, and it does get easier (and better) as you go.

    Quoted for truth.

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  5. Since she is no longer accepting comments, here is one in response to one of her last posts.
    I am a Christian. I have taken the time to dig into apologetics, to truly consider the person AND diety of Jesus Christ, before placing my faith in Him. Unbelief is your choice. Conviction and faith are mine. Free country. But seriously? You say you want your children to have the OPTION of unbelief. You say you're not forcing your views on them. You deny God, but say your kids should be free to choose. Yet when you asked little Jack, "Who are they praying to?" and he said, "God", your very intolerant, assuming response was, and I quote, "THERE. IS. NO. GOD." So you have the "facts" and we Christians have it all wrong, yes? How blind you are to your own intolerance and judgement. Your "factual" statement is nothing more than your new religion, what you choose to give your heart to, your unbelief. And Rechelle, I have to say, you believe in your "NO GOD" by f-a-i-t-h,EXACTLY as I believe in Christ by that very thing, faith. Your intolerance extends to judgement too in implying that Christians intend to do you harm. Seriously? SERIOUSLY??? Please get a grip on reality (and you Christians have it all wrong? Um...okay.) Yes, there are some very radical people in this world who take their beliefs, opinions, convictions ,etc., to the exteme, to the point of bringing harm to others. But your generalization of a CRAZY CHRISTIAN (and to be politcally correct, let's skip the "crazy" and call it a mentally ill person, shall we?)...your paranoia projected onto "some crazy Christian" is so very, very offensive and just plain WRONG. And yet you're quick to point out the wrongness of a prayer to the God others choose to believe in. Wow,......just wow.

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  6. Someone just blarghed all over my screen. Can’t … read … blarghed … text …

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