Growing up, you would have been unable to detect any hint of religion in my home other than a Christmas tree and a Bible on a shelf. Moving frequently because of my dad’s military career, a church was often the easiest way to find a pre-built social group. I took my own sons to church for the same reason, and sent them to a Lutheran school. I recall ‘undoing the damage’ for certain aspects of their science and history classes, but generally was satisfied with their education. But we left religion and discussions of it at the church door.
When my oldest son Richard was a high school senior, his father left the family. In his pain, Richard embraced a group of kids who befriended and nurtured him, through the large Southern Baptist church in our city. Within a couple of years, he was baptized, attended mission trips, spoke of becoming a youth minister, and considered transferring to a bible college. The military intervened, and he left for boot camp and several years of high-tech training and service.
In the meantime, I had abandoned my decades-old habits and began to supplement my skeptical and science reading with New Atheism. However, Richard declined my offers of God, the Failed Hypothesis by Victor J. Stenger, and my Sam Harris books. He thought the titles were a bit too…offensive. He avoided discussions on the topic, instead preferring to answer “I believe what I believe.”
Ever been on a submarine? The personal space for an enlisted sailor is approximately 24” depth by 50” long by 4” high. Everything that you carry on a six-month deployment must fit in that space, including your clothing, computer, equipment, any souvenirs you buy, any care packages you receive, and your books. Richard was usually able to fit four books into his space, but only by sacrificing a few extra pairs of socks. He reported that of the 150-plus men on a sub, about half of them read books of any kind, about one-half of those actually brought books on a deployment, and maybe 10 of them had books he found worth borrowing. It’s a desperate plight for an avid reader.
Being the naturally devious mother that I am, I bought Richard a Kindle and loaded it with books I thought he would enjoy: Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, Jared Diamond, Tolkien, some classics, some of my own favorite science fiction authors, and a few specially selected books such as Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion. He received the Kindle a couple days before his boat set sail, and was able to put some additional books onto the device. That was about 20 months ago.
Richard kept the Kindle with him at all times and eventually worked through the 30 or so books during that six-month period. He avoided reading the Dawkins book however, because, like the Stenger book, the title made him uneasy. As a believer, you don’t easily dive into materials that are opposed to your deeply held worldview, whether it’s religion, a political viewpoint (listening to Limbaugh when you’re a liberal), or reading a science journal when you’re convinced vaccine manufacturers are money-grubbing capitalists out to damage your children. Eventually, longing for something he hadn’t read four times, and on the recommendation of a fellow sailor, Richard started on The God Delusion. Having access to him, via the gift of a Kindle, helped deconvert him. He now describes himself as a non-believer.
Talk to Richard now, and he’ll tell you that with a home full of science fiction and science books, and parents with engineering degrees, it only makes sense that he thinks critically and skeptically about all issues, including religion. But he will also tell you that reading Richard Dawkins made him realize that he could not reconcile his beliefs about the scientific, natural world with what he was told in the Baptist Sunday school class. Not everyone needs or wants an e-book reader of any type. Not all of my friends are open to reading Bart Ehrman or Christopher Hitchens, but they might accept a copy of The Demon-Haunted World or Why People Believe Weird Things. It’s important to help people learn to think critically, and then trust them to arrive at their own conclusions. Books are a fantastic tool.
(The Kindle, books and authors mentioned in this post can be purchased through the JREF Amazon Store at http://astore.amazon.com/thejamesrandi-20. Every item you purchase, once you enter Amazon via this link, earns a commission for the JREF and costs you nothing more.)