About Me

I decided that before I jumped into some of the more substantial posts about my thoughts on religion, I would give a little bit of information about my background. I am a graduate student in physics at a major University in the Midwest. I come from a Jewish family that started out moderately religious, and is now Orthodox. Consequently, growing up I was a firm believer in God and received a rather extensive religious education, which I feel is extremely helpful in understanding why people are drawn to belief, and also where it can be shown to be logically flawed. Some of the smartest people I know are able to apply fantastic intellectual feats in a effort to understand Talmudic intricacies, and yet also believe that the Earth is less than 6,000 years old. I have been able to see that religion is not simple mental laziness, which means that although it may seem easy for atheists and agnostics criticize religion, without having experienced it firsthand, or understanding exactly what people believe and why, it is often difficult to do so effectively. Some of the most compelling reasons to be skeptical of western religion come from the Bible itself. That is why the ability to quote chapter and verse is as useful, if not more, to the atheist than it is to to the believer.