Faith Guardian, you might want to take a look around you -- at some of the other posters here like Split Rock, Thaumaturgy, Nathan Poe, and California [something].
These guys, at one time, were where you are now -- i.e. Church-going believers who read their Bibles.
But at some point in their life, their allegiance to science led them to having questions that their undershepherds couldn't answer, and the cognitive dissonance was so great, they are now no longer believers -- (guys, please correct me, if I'm wrong).
In my case, since I was called out by name there, I'll tell you what the millieu was:
I was a scientist and like so many scientists around me had no problem between my science and my faith. My faith, however, was not providing me with anything like "comfort". It was, if only because of some quirk of brain chemistry, providing me with almost non-stop feelings of guilt and failure.
Perhaps you've heard of a fine little mental illness called
scrupulosity which afflicts some. Supposedly Martin Luther suffered. However our paths diverged somewhat.
For me religion was always a matter of "fact" and that I had to force-fit the world into those facts, no matter the cost. Then one day I started to entertain the idea that maybe that wasn't the way I had to do it. I could maybe try looking at the thing "t'other way 'round" if you will.
If I started from "no God" and worked through the world around me. Turns out it made a lot more sense
to me.
I still have a lot of Christian friends (in fact almost exclusively so), whom I greatly respect and whose faith I would never want to take away from them.
I would hope beyond hope that anyone who finds themselves at a crossroads between belief and non-belief makes the decision solely based on their own gut. Their own motives.
As an atheist today I would
never in a million years want to eliminate someone's faith from them. I would never want to "de-convert" someone. But I'm glad for the atheist authors out there whom I've read to show me that my thought processes weren't
sui generis. That I was walking down paths others had found worked for them.
I spent a lot of time reading the history of the Church and the Bible (sans Apocrypha) and came away with a very different view than I started from. But that's just for me. I've found atheist authors who have helped me feel less alone.
I don't think I could be an agressive atheist "proselytizer" like Sam Harris, Hutchins, Dawkins, or even Penn Jillette. But I'm glad they are out there to give the other side of the story for those who find themselves questioning.
Atheism isn't for everyone, but by the same token atheism isn't a direct outcome of scientific training either. As I said I know many many scientists who are christians. Some of my dearest friends in the sciences are christians and I'm glad they are who they are.
Follow the path your questions take you and only go those places you feel comfortable in. Faith helps a lot of people. But for some of us it was harmful but opened a door to show us another path.
