I was listening to The Atheist Experience #503, from several years ago and one tiny little bit struck me… Ashley and Matt were commenting about people going to church to constantly be reinforced in their faith, and it got me thinking.

When I need to tally my bills or how many yarns I’ve sold, I do not go to the local elementary school to be reminded about how to add and subtract.  I do not need a refresher course like Remedial Math101 each week to help me remember what I already know.

When I sit to type on my computer, I don’t need to go back to Ms. Ovington’s 11-grade typing class to remember where Home Row is.  I don’t need to return to USAF Tech School at Shepard AFB to learn about power typing as a Communications Center Specialist on the old Kleinschmidt teletype machines or the Western Union machines.  I can practically type in my sleep and spent almost 20 years power typing as a word processing technician, typing 6-8 hours a day at 80-120 wpm (depending on the material).   Even when I got Carpal Tunnel Syndrome with subsequent nerve damage so I couldn’t always feel the keys, my fingers still knew where to find the right ones.

These, and so many other things, I know.  I don’t need to go be reminded.  The things that I know, I have instantly ready access, and I know how to access the Internet to find a forgotten bit or detail.  These are things that I know that I use all the time, or even things I rarely need to use (like how to sew a button, or dig a drainage ditch, or whatever it may be.  I know, and I know that I know.

People who know things just go on and use what they know.  They don’t need to keep relearning it over and over and over again.

Christians claim to “know” their god is real.   So why do they need to go to church two or three times a week to be reminded?  Why do they need to go get pumped up, or “get revived”, or “have their faith restored”??  Is it because they don’t really know but just get off on having their superstition reinforced?