Unsure whether my time at AF and TTA has been positive or negative.

[Confused Ape]

And I just don't know if I can hold my tongue any longer. I just don't have enough faith to pretend I might wake up and believe one day, any longer.

God On The Brain

DAWKINS: If you ask the question 'what's the survival value of religious belief?' it could be that you're asking the wrong question. What you should be doing is asking what's the survival value of the kind of brain which manifests itself as religious belief under the right circumstances.

I'm guessing that you just don't have the kind of brain which manifests itself as religious belief. Nobody knows why humans evolved to have religion but it's very likely that this kind of brain was naturally selected for in the dim and distant past. A different kind of brain doesn't mean that there's something wrong, however, because there are different brain models. Some people have a talent for mathematics or music etc while others don't.

Realising you don't have enough faith to pretend any longer is a major step forward in accepting who you are as an individual. Maybe the next step is figuring out exactly what you're angry about and asking yourself if there's any point to being angry about it. For example, if your personal genome doesn't equip you with a 'religious belief' brain is there any point in being angry about genetics?

There are some things which are worth being angry about but anger can be used as motivation for doing something useful. Are you concerned with human rights? If so, join a human rights organisation or just sign petitions demanding that something's done about things. Organisations which work for change need the weight of public opinion behind them.

When it comes to dealing with people who have religious beliefs, maybe regarding them as individual human beings could help. Does Person X say that they can 'feel' God's presence? If so, their brain probably produces subjective experiences of something which they interpret as being God. Other people could be clinging onto wishful thinking beliefs because they aren't ready to cope with the reality of a universe where there is no karma or divine justice.

This doesn't mean you should always hold your tongue, of course, but how we say something is just as important as what we say. You're the only person in a position to judge if it's the right time and place for you to say something, though.