The World Beyond BetterMost > Anything Goes
Atheists: Come out, come out, wherever you are
Sheyne:
My mum thinks its "terrifying" that I choose not to live my life as a Christian. And to that I asked her: "what is a Christian?" And the blank look I got really amused me. My mum doesn't attend church, save for Christmas Day (which is so "token", if you ask me and she gets rather shitty when I point this out) and her only reason for calling herself a Christian is that a) she believes in Jesus and God; b) she has read the bible; c) approximately 55% of her time, she tries to do right by other people. (the other 45% she's a nasty nagging bitch).
So is she a Christian? I don't know.
But she's never stopped trying to get me to believe in God. If my son does something new (even if I've have spent months slogging away in my efforts to get him to do so), its "God's influence" that has contributed to his development. Give me an effing break.
I have been almost mugged twice in my life. I say "almost" cause my knowledge of taekwondo got me out of both situations without being hurt. Yet, despite having run-ins with those drugged-crazed, knife-wielding maniacs, the scariest person I ever met in my whole life was this 30 year old leech who latched onto me at my first - and subsequently only - ballroom dancing class around 12 years ago. Turns out she was a Jehovah's Witness. Now I met this girl for one night only and I didn't know ANYBODY else in that room. Yet this girl tracked down my phone number - somehow - and my address and for nearly 2 months, pestered me to join her church. She phoned 2 or 3 times weekly. She sent pamphlets, timetables and all sorts of other shit to MY HOME. And it wasn't until I threatened to call the cops and get a restraining order against her that she desisted.
Faith is one thing. Allowing it to cloud your rationality is another thing entirely.
ednbarby:
I hear you, Sheyne. Some of the worst people I know call themselves Christians. (Some of the best, too, of course.) And some of the best Christians I know are atheists.
isabelle:
Put it this way: find me ONE religion that has humor, and I'll join in an eye-blink!
nakymaton:
--- Quote from: Lynne on May 30, 2006, 01:29:33 am ---Still, I label myself 'agnostic' because I have this inherent resistance to telling other people that I think they are 'wrong'. And anytime I say 'I don't believe in God' to someone I know does believe, I feel like I'm criticizing their own personal choice.
--- End quote ---
That's a really good point, and I usually describe myself as "agnostic" (or more often, simply avoid saying anything about my own religious beliefs or non-beliefs) because I feel that way too. (I'm a scientist, too, and I don't particularly want people to try to prove the existence of a deity through science. I think there are some things that science simply doesn't have anything to say about -- I wouldn't want people to assess beauty through scientific tests, for instance.) I don't mind other people's faith. I've known a number of people who get a great deal of joy and strength from their faith, and who use tenets such as "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" to guide their lives, and who are really wonderful people to be around. And they could almost sell me on religion, with the examples that they set. But I've known wonderful people who are atheists, as well; I don't think that religion is the only thing that can guide people to be genuinely good.
But when it comes down to it, I'm not really uncertain, not in my own personal beliefs. Perhaps "tolerant atheist" would be a better label for me? Still, I get tired of people offering me eternal life (as if there isn't something really, really cool about having my atoms get used by a tree or a bug or a volcano or something), or telling me that "everything happens for a reason" (and not meaning that the reason has to do with gravity or climate change or plate tectonics or lots of people being mean to each other).
ednbarby:
I called myself an agnostic for years, telling myself that there was a part of me that felt a pull to something bigger than myself that I just couldn't shake. But I came to realize last year that for me, that something was my own fear. My own fear at being disowned by society. All those years of having Christianity ingrained in and etched upon me had taken a toll, I guess. It took realizing that that same society had disowned their own countrymen and women after Katrina last year to make me see that I truly don't care what they think of my lack of faith anymore.
I respect those of you who are tolerant of others' religious beliefs very much. I am, too, until they try to sell me on them. I've always seen religious beliefs (or lack thereof) as being personal and private and nobody's business but our own. But I think the current administration in this country has only served to empower those who think it's their right not only to know about, but to convert, us heathens. I find them coming at me from every direction about it, now, and I'm tired of it. I don't think those who have faith are wrong. OK, secretly, I think they are. But I don't know they are. But I do know that for me, as far as I am concerned, there is no God. As hard as it was for me to finally come to that last year, I found that once I had fully accepted it in myself and was no longer willing to back down about it when backed into the proverbial wall for the sake of being accepted by others, I had peace of mind.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version