Coming Out of the Creationist Closet
On Sunday, for the first time ever, I told my older sister that I am no longer a creationist. She did not seem pleased.
The reason it came up was that she was telling me about how she’d seen Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, speak at a local church that morning. My sister loves him. Since I’d been looking for an opportunity to bring this up, I told her that the only thing I didn’t like about Bobby Jindal was that he was a creationist. At first she didn’t know what creationism was, so I explained to her that I didn’t take the Genesis story literally anymore, and that I accepted the theory of evolution.
I thought that she sounded mad, but she said she wasn’t. I was very nervous and kind of shaking a little bit. She said she was surprised. I was actually surprised that she was surprised, because my sister is Catholic, and the Catholic church famously accepts evolution. I said, “As much as I’m into science?” She responded, “Yes, but you were also into God.”
She asked me how long I’d “believed” this. I tried to explain that it’s just not possible for the Genesis story to be literally true, and that this was based on evidence, but I don’t think that really matters to her. She said, “So you don’t think that God had anything to do with it?” I tried to explain that that wasn’t really the case. I am not very good at explaining things.
Then she said, “Well, all I know is that we need politicians in office who believe in God.” I don’t agree with this, but I said “yeah” and let the conversation move on.
It was a difficult thing for me to do, because I really had no idea how she would react. When I first got my lungfish, I explained to her how lungfish are more closely related to humans than to most other fish, and even sent her some cladograms illustrating this. She did not seem to have a problem with that idea. I guess most people compartmentalize their knowledge like that. I know I did.
Now, I do not expect my sister ever to give me a hard time about this. She’s just not that kind of person. But, to be fair, if she did give me a hard time I would be totally deserving of it. She raised me from the time I was 13 until I got married. I was a know-it-all annoying fundamentalist teenager, and on several occasions gave her a hard time about her Catholicness.
I’m glad this has finally been done though. And I’m glad that I don’t have to reveal this to my grandmother. My mother still doesn’t know. My wife’s mother knows that I accept evolution, but I don’t think she knows that my wife does. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, I guess.
Does anyone else have any coming out stories they’d be willing to share? They don’t have to involve creationism or religion.
Stumble it!
May 16th, 2008 at 7:20 am
Well, you’re halfway there, now all you have to do is weigh the evidence that there is a god and see if it’s heavier than a feather… or something like that.
As for “coming out of the closet,” my mom’s family is a mix of atheists and catholics and no-commenters, so it was pretty easy. My father’s family, were I to announce my Atheism widely, would probably pray that the demons that are “leading him away from god” would leave in the name of some rabbi who may or may not have existed and has become a mythical godling.
P.S. Isn’t the rejection of creation and th acceptance of god/religion major compartmentalization?
May 16th, 2008 at 7:49 am
It kind of is, depending on how you look at it.
I don’t claim any empirical evidence of God. I basically just hope God exists, and if he interacts with the physical universe, it’s in ways we could never hope to identify. That’s the best I’ve got right now.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:10 am
I don’t think the rejection of creationism and acceptance of God have anything to do with each other.
I do not follow an organized religion, but I do know that if I were to believe in God, that connection would be most personal and not really something definable. On top of that, it wouldn’t be in a book, and I assume no one else would experience it quite the same way. Maybe that’s egotistical, but I imagine that each person’s relationship with God is a unique thing; I’d hate to see it cheapened like a commodity.
I don’t really have any coming out stories; I’ll note that I’ve been going through some recent transitions of trying to become a better person in general, and this has had a positive effect on my relationship and friendships.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I’d also like to add that my anger w/ creationism stems from the fact that I still identify w/ Christianity.
“If I was a religious person, I would consider creationism nothing less than blasphemy. Do its adherents imagine that God is a cosmic hoaxer who has created that whole vast fossil record for the sole purpose of misleading mankind?”
-Arthur C. Clarke, British author of some note