College essay contest: Honorable mentions

Freethought Today December 1, 2011 | Anonymous Why I’m not a theist By Vicky Weber FFRF awarded Vicky $200 for her essay.

Walking to work one day, I was handed a brochure tided aYour Moment of Truth.” It told me to imagine myself on a game show with a chance to win $1 million. All I had to do was answer 21 questions. The catch: Everyone in the whole world was watching, and you had to tell the truth.

Questions got harder along the way, with the last one asking, “Are you a good person?” The brochure said that everyone’s reality is facing the Creator on Judgment Day. How could the answer to the final question be anything but a resounding “no”?

There are many well-documented arguments against religious faith. We can approach religion from the perspective of logic, reasoning about the probability of teapots circling Mars. We can delve into the science and explore the wonders of biology and natural selection. We can parody religion, worship Invisible Pink Unicorns and share stories of being touched by His Noodly Appendage.

I am not a theist because the arguments against faith are overwhelming, and because the benefits of freeing one’s mind and society as a whole from dogma are enormous.

Religion spends its energy making us feel guilty instead of encouraging us to improve ourselves and our societies. No matter how much a person works to please God, God will never be satisfied. So why bother?

Instead of making people feel guilty for being alive, imagine a world in which people viewed this life as their only life and their only judgment coming from the society around them. In such a world, people would be free to think and dream and do “good works” for the merit of doing good works, not any eternal reward. go to web site college essay topics

To the person handing out proselytizing brochures on the street corner: Yes, I think I am a good person, because while I am not perfect, I work to make this world a better, more rational place. To do that and seek truth in a world saturated with religious superstition is hard.

As a proud atheist, my moment of truth is every moment of every day.

Vicky Weber, 21, grew up in Fort Atkinson, Wis., and will graduate in 2012 from Ripon College with a communication major and minors in politics and government and nonprofit business management. She plans to attend graduate school for library and information science. She serves as secretary for Ripon ‘s newly formed chapter of the Secular Student Alliance. Her interests include sewing, knitting and following politics.

Why I’m not a spiritualist By Molly Hernandez FFRF awarded $200 to Molly for her essay.

The kids on my street attended church every Sunday, bible study on weekends and, as we got older, youth group on Wednesday nights. While they were singing hymns and praying, I was listening to ancient Tibetan chants that drifted from one room to the next in our feng shui house.

My parents would discuss the latest path to enlightenment over breakfast and ponder which energy seminar to go to on the weekend. I remember helping my father lay copper around our home, to shield against geographic stress lines, whatever those might be. I’m not sure he even knows why we put them there.

My mother was far more emotional and was convinced that every bad thought or feeling was a psychic connection. She called it “tapping in,” almost as if she were hacking a computer.

As the years passed, I grew to recognize the unorthodox environment in which I was raised. As my awareness of psychological behavior grew, my parents’ spirituality became more eccentric, and with it, our backyard. What started with a copper perimeter developed into a garden of stone pyramids, sculptures of angels and a tree that they believed had the spirit of Ganesh, due to its elephant-like shape. Every year on holiday visits, I observe more energy devices and effigies, mirroring the rising household tension. An exponential equation: Stress equals statues squared.

The concept of relying on an unsupported theory for peace of mind is puzzling, but people continue to seek answers within their faith. It’s no surprise why people feel at ease after prayer or meditation. Religion provides a false sense of stability, which, in turn, creates a feeling of control.

It is science that governs our world. Evident in every grain of existence, science rules the processes and systems of our universe, including belief systems. Religion is nonsensical and unsupported? This is why I choose logic over faith.

Molly Hernandez, 21, attends Front Range Community College, Westminster, Colo., and is pursuing a geology degree. Raised in San Antonio, Texas, she enjoys snowboarding, playing guitar and making jewelry. site college essay topics

Religion creates a feeling of control.

A different approach to religious debate By Jacob Kovacs Jacob was awarded $200 by FFRF for his essay.

To understand why my father is religious despite having a master’s degree in engineering and why it was so easy for me to lose my religion at age 16 – with virtually no exposure to atheist sentiment and scientific argument – I’ve had to go beyond the simple explanations usually offered in discussions among atheists.

I discuss religion in terms of need. I don’t debate the existence of god or the source of morals or many other things, although I could. I don’t debate those things with religious people, but I think about them or discuss them with nonbelieving friends. I don’t confront people about broad aspects of religion, although I’ll confront vigorously any specific applications they make that I disagree with: gay rights, reproductive rights, tax policy, etc.

Instead, I ask myself: Why do they need religion?

I look at my dad’s religious conversion as a process driven by trauma that he didn’t know how to cope with any other way. Trauma from family abuse (far too common), trauma from war (ditto), insecurity as a new husband, new father, new graduate and newly-deployed soldier. Religion was his fallback option for addressing those issues.

Religious arguments are camouflage, and atheists’ counter-arguments never seem to get to the source. They’re largely wasted energy. You can’t argue needs into disappearing. Wliat you can do is skip the argument and attack the needs head-on.

I’m not a Christian because I don’t need to be. I’ve found many other things that address my needs far more specifically and effectively. I don’t mean to give people the sense that my atheism isn’t logically supported in my mind. I’ve had the opportunity to be in college, study science, major in mathematics and economics, and I definitely could contest religion on those grounds.

But given my experience of exiting religion, I prefer not to. I focas not on argument but on problem solving. I’m vocal about my lack of belief, and about what has taken its place in my life.

Jacob Kovacs, 23, Olympia, Wash., attended South Puget Sound Community ColIege for two years and is transferring to Evergreen State College. His goal is to complete a B.S. in applied computing and mathematical sciences (mathematical economics track). “I’m interested in bringing my quantitative, analytical perspective to the cause of social justice, particularly civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. My hobbies are blogging and working out. ” Too much work to turn reason off By Sofia Ross Voloch Sofia was awarded $200 by FFRF for her As one of the lucky few raised without religion, I remained pretty unclear on the concept until about age 12. I seem to remember keeping a strange internal distinction between the concepts of “believing in something” and “thinking something was real.” Believing, I thought, was like clapping for Tinker Bell during a production of “Peter Pan” – you clap not because anyone is literally dying, but because you agree to pretend that someone was. You clap because if you don’t, the woman playing Peter won’t be able to say her next line, and the play will grind to a halt. I knew that Christians clapped for eternity in heaven, but I just didn’t fully grasp that they thought Heaven.Was.Real.

I have an atheist (culturally Jewish) father and a mother who recently converted to Buddhism. Being anything other than a nonbeliever would have required actual exertion on my part, waking up early and schlepping to a synagogue or church. I am definitely lazy. I’m an atheist, but I haven’t put in the work necessary to be an effective member of the freethinking community. Or have I? This is supposed to be a persuasive essay, so let’s see if I can’t persuade.

Hey, believers: Becoming an atheist is easy. Just consider the question of the existence of god and take the null hypothesis. Sleep in on Sunday. Stop worrying and enjoy your life.

With minimal effort, you, too, can make sense!

Sofia Ross Voloch, 20, grew up in Austin, Texas, attends Austin Community College and plans to transfer to a four-year school. “My major is French. I’m fascinated by French history and literature. I enjoy reading, writing speculative fiction and drinking coffee. ” Hey, believers: Becoming an atheist is easy. Just consider the question of the existence of god and take the null hypothesis. Sleep in on Sunday.

Anonymous