Thoughts in a Haystack

Science taught me now to look for natural explanations for natural phenomena, and to eschew supernatural explanations. The study of comparative world religions and mythologies from around the world showed me that other people believed just as passionately as I did that they were right and everyone else was wrong about religious beliefs that are mutually exclusive, which means that they can't all be right and that perhaps I (e.g., Christianity) was wrong. I also did not like the arrogance of certainty that I saw in myself as a Christian as well as in my fellow Christians, and how intolerant of other peoples' beliefs we are. Finally, thinking like a scientist made me wonder how to deal with specific Christian claims, such as the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, etc., which in conjunction with my study of other religious beliefs and mythological stories, seemed so obviously the product of human story tellers. The fact that all the central tenets of the Judeo-Christian belief system have antecedents in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome (floods, Virgin Births, Resurrections, etc.) was an obvious indication that we created God and not vice versa.

- Michael Shermer, interview in Journal Chrétien, March 23, 2008