Freethinking is Not Atheism

In the past week I was bombarded by a multitude of people and things around this issue of thought versus faith. Clearly God wanted it discussed. After all, there are no coincidences...

It unsettles me when someone associates "freethinking" with atheism and only atheism. This is frankly bizarre. How can one group of people be universally freethinking? It doesn't matter what the group is, there will be people who are dependent on the thoughts of others as well as independent thinkers. This is a given. There is no group of people who doesn't have this spectrum (even academics, bless their hearts, have dependent thinkers in their midst!).

Thought and faith are not mutually exclusive.

The idea that I am incapable of thinking critically or analytically because I happen to ascribe to a belief system is silly. This is like the false assumption that scientists cannot be believers. Science and faith are not mutually exclusive. In fact, many scientists do believe.

I would argue, rather than weakening my faith, my ability to ask difficult questions and struggle with them makes my faith stronger. It is, after all, easy to be told what to think and accept it without question. People like that, as a general rule. It is much harder, and takes a stronger person to wrestle with difficult questions and come out with their faith in tact.

Consider, once I left my father's house (I say father because he is the one who told me I couldn't attend any other church or faith community until I left), I decided to learn more about other faith traditions. I went on to study them in great detail. I considered becoming a Sikh. I considered becoming a Muslim. I considered going off on a wild gallivanting path through Wiccan ritual. I considered believing in nothing. I wrestled with all these things and more. I questioned everything I'd been taught. I have a miniature religious studies library upstairs that few people can boast. I read holy scriptures and I listened to testimonies and talked with people. I came to several conclusions.

1. Religion is cultural. The institution provides a framework that speaks to a given place and time. Therefore, all religions will not speak to all people.
2. Religion has some truth. The question is, how much truth and what are the misrepresentations? Then, can you live with the misrepresentations present?
3. My beliefs don't have to follow the strict party line. I can believe things that don't necessarily agree with the dogma of a given community. This is a common practice, otherwise we'd have a lot more Catholics in the world (just saying, natural family planning only goes so far).
4. I'm still a Christian.

Now, to reach these conclusions I had to do things that most people would find impossible, if not simply difficult. I had to throw away preconceived notions (Immaculate conception? Seriously?).  I had to consider ideas that were incredibly foreign to my understanding (Reincarnation anyone?). There were many times when I just wanted the voice of God to come out of a cloud and show me what was true and what was not. In the end, I was the one to struggle with these questions. I was the one to come up with answers.

Now tell me, am I not a freethinker?

Before anyone assumes that all religious people are sheeple, please remember my story and how I wrestled with my faith by asking difficult questions and studying religion comparatively. There are more people in the world like me. Do us a favor, and do not assume we cannot think for ourselves, and we won't assume you can. :-)