Reasonable Doubt
Why I Won’t Teach My Child to Believe in God
My journey from undoubting faith to disbelief, in four acts
Genesis
A tall, slender man turns his mule off the main road. He rides down an inner track before turning onto a dirt path. His mule grunts with familiarity as they pass field after field; fields bearing fruits and vegetables that Jamaicans have lived off for decades since they were taken from Africa. Bananas, oranges, yams, breadfruit, pawpaw, and others burst from the ground bringing news of a successful harvest.
The man, William Case, only in his mid-twenties but a full grown man all the same, stops in front of a piece of land, tying his mule to a wooden post before walking down a narrow path, crops as far as the eye can see welcoming him back. This is his land; his first piece of earth. Maybe he knows that it is the beginning of something larger than himself, larger than digging his hands into black soil in the hopes of feeding his future family; larger than the speeches he has yet to deliver to his people who will listen to his words with unyielding confidence; larger than the truck he will purchase, the town’s first automobile, and use to transport people, the harvest, and anything else that requires more than a mule’s hooves. Maybe he knows this, but it is…
