20 Questions for Theists

[Gabriel Syme]

Hi mate

1) Why are you a theist?

I believe in the existence of God.

2) Were you born in a religious home?

It was half-way religious.

Ie my mum was religious, but my dad was not. None of my Dads family was religious, but my grandmother was on my mums side.

I suppose this counts as "yes", though its important to note that only a minority of my family had faith when I was growing up. In no way was my childhood 'mega-religious'.

3) If you answered "yes" to #2, do you currently subscribe to the religion you were raised in?

Yes. Again, I would add a qualifier though - I was never really interested in religion as a youth, and stopped going to Church age 16, which was as soon as I could.

I didnt deeply resent Church, and sometimes I did like bits of it, but overall - as a 16 year old kid - I felt it was boring / irrelevant and that I had better stuff to do.

After many years of thinking about it, on and off, I eventually returned to Catholicism in my late 20s (28 or 29). Best decision ive ever made!

I never considered myself an atheist or agnostic during the years I was away - rather, the whole thing was a complete non-entity for me, I was wholly disinterested and my mind was elsewhere.

Even saying I was an atheist would have represented way more time than I was prepared to give the subject!

4) Have you ever considered other religions/philosophies at some stage?

Yes, but not in a particularly serious manner - see below.

5) If you answered "yes" to #4, what were they?

Shortly before I began to seriously think about Catholicism in my 20s, I briefly looked into Hindusim, but not in a serious or deep fashion.

This was not an attempt to find God on my part, it was an attempt to find a justification / defence for the fact that I enjoy smoking marijuana (a sometime part of Hindu culture).

I also like Indian/Hindu culture, food and women generally haha!

Some pretty cheap / self-interested reasons there, eh?

6) What reaffirms your beliefs as being correct over other religions/philosophies?

A great many things.

1) Catholic means "Universal" - ie for everyone. It stands to reason that, if God exists, then he wants a relationship with all his children. Unlike Catholicism, some other religions / philosophies are exclusive.

Eg, I learned that some Hindus do not accept converts - for them, you can only be a Hindu by being born a Hindu. Such is clearly a man-made, exclusive system.

2) Catholic Christianity is the only religion to have been instituted by God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ.

3) Catholicism is hugely intellectually satisfying. Its moral arguments are well considered and informed by the best knowledge available to humanity.

For example, Catholics are currently heavily criticised over all of homosexuality, abortion and contraception, because our values and opinions here diverge from secular opinions.

And yet, in every one of these cases, our position is borne out by Science and empircal data. Secular society is shown to be ignorant in comparison. The difference comes because Catholicism argues from the stand-point of "what is the truth?", whereas secular society argues from "what suits me?".

The former outlook is one which values impartial knowledge - the truth - the second is a purely self-interested outlook, where all that matters is a persons self-interest, which eclipses even the truth.

For me, the great solidity of Catholic moral positions casts credibility on the faith of the Church.

7) Do you ever doubt from time to time the truths of your religion?

I recognise that I might well be wrong about the existence of God, but I do not think I am.

Sometimes I attempt to identify parts of my analysis which may be weak, or illogical, but its stood up well!

8) Do you read your religious/philosophical text(s) daily?

No. I think about God and faith daily, and pray daily, but do not read the Bible or other religious books daily.

9) Explain why you answered yes/no to #8

I am not obliged nor particularly inclined to read religious texts daily.

10) Do you believe your answers to the past 9 questions sincerely?

Yes, most sincerely.

11) Who would win a fight between a theist and an atheist? Street rules, of course.

Ooh, it would depend on the circumstances. Both are capable of a good deal of violence, sadly.

12) How do you like your eggs?

Fried, with mildly soft yolks.

Add - tomato ketchup, a slice of potato scone and a dry roll = bliss.

13) What did you think of Inception?

The film? I aint seen it.

14) Favourite mythical creature?

Dont have one.

15) Favourite book?

Phew so many.......

If I had to pick, maybe "The Man Who Was Thursday" by GK Chesterton, or "Catch 22" by Joseph Heller.

16) Favourite band?

I like Metal, funk, pschydelia and folk music mostly.

Its hard to pick just one band, but I will go for AC/DC - who I fell in love with aged about 11 or 12, and who have never let me down since.

17) Indoors or outdoors?

Outdoors (weather permitting!)

18) Summer or winter?

Summer (not much difference where I live though lol).

19) If you could travel in time, what year/era would you go visit and where would you go?

Maybe the Colonial Era, (America), in an attempt to prevent the American Revolution.

Or the Reformation era, (Europe), in an attempt to prevent it (or at least its extent, especially in the UK).

Or maybe directly before the battle of the Milvian Bridge (just outside Rome, a few 100 AD) to see what it was that Constantin saw, which made him convert to (Catholic) Christianity.

Or maybe Id go to 1995, and nail that amazing girl I liked, but was too hopelessly shy to talk to properly.

Yes, I like that - 1995 it is! lol

20) So far, have you enjoyed your stay at AF.org?

Very good thanks. I have found most people pleasant and fun to talk and debate with.

I have been in one or two "rows" and I regret my part in them.

I think the fourm is good and convers a lot of excellent discussion topics. Although the forum is branded "atheist", I would say its breadth and depth could meant it could be branded various other things - eg a debating site, or a general chat site.

Nice to meet ya
Cheers
GS