Journalists too often park their critical faculties when reporting on a religious story. They will report a 'miracle' as if it was a fact, whereas if even one actual miracle was verifiable, universities throughout the world would be studying such an alleged setting aside of the laws of physics.

Nor should journalists give a free ride to priests, clerics or other religious leaders saying unverifiable nonsense like 'God says' or 'God told me'. Even milder versions like 'the Church teaches' must be challenged. The Church taught things in the past that it now knows are laughable and ridiculous.

Journalists shouldn't be mouthpieces for the Big Lie of religion. They shouldn't collude in the Big Lie or allow professional religious people to speak nonsense without challenging them.

Any school which claims to teach religious education but which then sees all or most of its pupils take first holy communion and confirmation has not engaged in religious education. It had indoctrinated children into a particular faith.

People now realize that it was wrong of society in the past to allow priests, nuns and lay teachers to beat children in schools. They know that that it was wrong to turn a blind eye to the sexual abuse of children. But as a society or a species we have yet to awaken to the harm done to children's minds and thinking to indoctrinate them into a religion. It is child abuse to do so. We have awoke to abuse of the body through corporal punishment, abuse of the dignity of the child by child sexual abuse. But we have not yet awoken to the violation of the human rights of a child to learn to think for themselves by indoctrinating them into religions.

Journalists must do far better than many currently do. They must interrogate the dogmas, myths and nonsense held as true without a shred of evidence that permeates society.

They should not be intimidated by not having a degree in theology. As I mention in this interview, conducted by Gerard Conningham on the Freelance Forum Podcast, and reproduced in the Losing My Religion - Trust your Doubt podcast, theology is the only 'oly' about something that doesn't exist.

Pat Byrne interviewed me last Thursday, 4 July, 2024. We discuss my dream of becoming a priest when I was an adolescent: ‘Doctor, teacher or priest? I decided to do the best of them all: become a priest!’

We chat about married priests, and coming to the realization that the Catholic Church would never allow its priests to marry. And my shock of realizing the Big Lie of all religions. And how losing religion and finding myself has been the story of my life.

We also discussed the vow of obedience. ‘It was almost harder than celibacy. With the vow of obedience, you are expected to believe that the decision the Superior makes is the will of God.’

I decided that didn’t make any sense. They were fallible human beings. Yet their decisions could be detrimental for me or anyone. You know yourself better than anyone else. I know myself better than anyone else knows me. Yet you’re expected to believe that their decision is the will of God?

I speak about the benefit of studying philosophy and theology. It gave me the intellectual basis for my non-belief. For instance, the first resurrection story in the earliest canonical Gospel, the Gospel of Mark, had no account of the ‘Risen Jesus’. It was added years later.

I personally came to my honest judgement that religion is a Big Lie. I felt resentful that I had been indoctrinated into religious belief as a child.

I never wanted to be a teacher and certainly not as a priest. I couldn’t see the point of being celibate, obedient and poor in order to teach! There were lots of excellent lay teachers out there.

But after nine years in a seminary you’re not qualified to do anything. Ironically, I went into teaching and taught religious education. I loved that there was no attempt to inculcate faith in the London school where I taught. It was about teaching pupils to think for themselves.

We discussed my move to England, meeting Ruth and falling in love. We’re married now more than 30 years. And I’ve written a song about losing religion and finding myself and the love of my life: So Glad I Married You.

My documentary on RTE, From Belief to Unbelief, was 40 minutes. Afterwards, I realized I couldn’t tell my story in so few minutes. So I wrote two memoirs In My Gut I Don’t Believe and Saved By A Woman. Then I wondered if I could share my story in a more compact way, so I wrote a song about it.

I wrote it with The Rayne and Andrea Patron. The first verse tells the story of my seminary years, which, in my first memoir, took over 80,000 words. The second verse, in one compact verse, tells the story of my next six years, that took me another 80,000-plus words in my second memoir. That one is about meeting Ruth.

I found it very emotional when I first heard The Rayne singing it.

‘And,’ interjected Presenter Pat Byrne, ‘it will touch deep inside a lot of people, I’m sure, because it’s an absolutely beautiful song.’

Pat finished the interview by playing our new song. Hope you like it.

Click here for Spotify Link to So Glad I Married You

Click here for YouTube Link to So Glad I Married You

Click here for iTunes, Apple Music and Deezer links to So Glad I Married You.

The second part of guest appearance by Joe the Human Substack author, Joe Armstrong, at North West Humanists, Sligo, Ireland, on 3 March 2024, invited by Gill Bell, Convenor, Humanist Celebrant and Biodynamic Psychotherapist. Relaxed interview format, with readings from the second book, Saved by a Woman, in the memoir series Losing Religion, Finding Myself, by Joe Armstrong. Available in Kindle, Paperback and Hardback editions. This is a slightly edited version of the second half of the public event. Both the first half and second half, and the full event, can be seen in three separate videos on YouTube. As well as readings from the second memoir, the Q&A session led to interesting discussions about the indoctrination of children into religion and how hard it is to rewire one's brain after indoctrination. A member of the audience had himself been a student for the Catholic priesthood in the early 1960s, and his experience was difficult; as was the experience of seminarians of that vintage who didn't get ordained. Their was a feeling of shame and embarrassment in the era of the so-called 'spoilt priest' (someone who left before ordination). There was also an interesting discussion on the word spirituality and its ambiguity; how it is meaningful if applied to feelings or moods of the human spirit but meaningless if applied to a so-called 'Holy Spirit' or supposed 'spirits'.

First Part of Gill meets Joe interview. Joe Armstrong, author of the memoir series Losing Religion, Finding Myself (https://www.amazon.com/-/en/dp/B0C71Q2XK7?binding=paperback&qid=1617184162&sr=8-1&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tpbk) is interviewed by Humanist Celebrant and Biodynamic Psychotherapist Gill Bell (humanistgb@gmail.com), Convenor North West Humanists (Ireland), in Sligo, Ireland, on 3 March 2024, four days before the launch of his second memoir, Saved By A Woman (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0954661028?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tpbk_1&storeType=ebooks&qid=1617184162&sr=8-1), in the series, Losing Religion, Finding Myself. In this, the first half of the interview, Joe reads from and discusses the first book in the series In My Gut, I Don't Belief (https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/095466101X?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tpbk_0&storeType=ebooks&qid=1617184162&sr=8-1), exploring how Joe Armstrong transitioned from committed believer studying for the Roman Catholic priesthood to outgrowing all religious beliefs. No longer a believer in any God, he is convinced that this is our one and only life; and that life is even more wonderful freed from supernatural beliefs and superstitions.

Do many priests and bishops feel that religion is a money-making ‘scam’? Are clerics too deeply embedded in religion to reject it? Do priests ‘know well’ that the whole thing is based on nonsense? Are there as many atheologies among non-believers as there are theologies among believers? How difficult is it to be searingly honest in public? Does a lack of self-esteem predispose people to religion? Does religion offer a sense of control – if I say my prayers my sick relative won’t die?

Do people commit to religion believing it’s the best way to be good? How does leaving religion affect your psychological health and relationships? Where will the Church be in 20 to 30 years’ time - what’s the endgame for the Church? Are religious congregations heading for extinction?

Do Humanist celebrants touch people’s ‘souls’ at births, marriages and deaths? Is leaving religion like looking through the Looking Glass? Do former believers undergo a baptism of fire into Humanism? Tolstoy said that abandoning your religion was like walking out into a Russian winter snow without a coat. Is that true? How can you know that you are right to abandon your religion? What does it feel like to realise that, in your head and in your gut, you don’t believe in God? Is it therapeutic writing about the experience of transitioning from belief to unbelief?

These fascinating questions are addressed in this podcast. They were asked at a live event, by people attending the launch of the acclaimed memoir by Joe Armstrong In My Gut, I Don’t Believe. It was hosted by the Humanist Association of Ireland and compared by Eamon Murphy. For reviews of the memoir, click here. To read or listen to interviews about In My Gut, I Don’t Believe conducted in the media, click here. For the author’s website, click here.

#Humanism #agnostic #atheist #exCatholics #Ireland #InMyGutIDontBelieve #JoeArmstrong #BeingGoodWithoutGod #memoir #Unbelief #Religion #Beliefs #LeavingReligion #HumanistCelebrant #HumanistWriter #FreedomFromReligion

A million people gathered in Dublin in 1979 for the first ever papal visit to Ireland. Humanist celebrant and former student for the Catholic priesthood Joe Armstrong reads two episodes from his acclaimed memoir In My Gut, I Don’t Believe.

In Episode 9, he offers his perspective on Ireland’s then best-known clerics, Bishop Eamon Casey and Father Michael Cleary, both of whom had clandestine relationships and fathered children, causing scandal to what was then innocent Catholic Ireland. He also reads Episode 29 on celibacy, loneliness and desire in the seminary. ‘I was experiencing my loneliness. My desire for intimacy was heightened. I craved an emotionally interdependent, physically expressive relationship.’

Interviewed by Eamon Murphy at the book launch, hosted by the Humanist Association of Ireland, the author also reads one of the several humorous moments in the book.