atheism

[alison]

I will point out an observation I have made of those who do not have a strong belief in some type of faith. Heidi, this is not directed at you but at friends of mine and other people dh and I have come in contact with IRL. Dh and I have both noticed a discontentment about them. This is especially true of many residents we know. Those that have a strong faith (any faith) seem to have a much easier time dealing with everything that comes with residency. They are more positive and happy than those that strongly profess against faith. I find this to be true also of my SAHM friends, they are just more settled an more able to handle the ups and downs of parenting. This is not to say that those who have faith don't go through difficult times, we do. It is just an observation I have made over the last 10 years or so.

Interesting. I think for some, religion offers comfort. And that's great if they can find it in religion. Different strokes. I think it's up to us (dh and me) to make residency work. I would not credit faith for getting us to where we are - it's studying and work, work, work IMHO.

[houseelf]

Joseph Campbell rocks. He also has done several very good interviews on PBS.

Kelly

[reciprocity]

I consider myself an Atheist Catholic. I just have not been blessed with faith in general. I do my best to live life a certain way, in accorance with the tenets of Catholicism, but I don't honestly believe in anything remotely supernatural. I guess what I lack in faith I make up for in hope, because I think it would be nice if there were a god, but as it stands I don't really buy it.

[mommax3]

When I hear that someone is an atheist, honestly, my first reaction is curiosity as to why. As in, are they actively rejecting the idea of God, or did they come to that conclusion more passively, never having understood what the fuss was all about in the first place. My next reaction is usually to wonder if they will think I am stupid/weak/easily led if I let them know that I am NOT an atheist. Last of all, I do feel a kind of sadness for them, (not pity) just because I have found a lot of peace and comfort through my faith and can't imagine living happily in this world without my belief system.

I count atheists among my friends, and have no problem doing so.

Sally

[Vishenka69]

I'm totally with Heidi all the way on this. I also think that part of the reason why I tend to stay away from Judaism is that there's the whole "OMG, who are your children going to marry!" hysteria. It's hard for me to get on that bandwagon but when I say that I don't care, I get practically stoned. It's huge debate between DH and I but I also believe that we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

It's just hard for me to understand how an intelligent, reasonable adult can believe in organized religion. To me believing in God is like believing in Santa Claus. Only difference is that nobody was killed in defending how Santa Claus should be called or whether or not he travels with reindeer.

[alison]

When I hear that someone is an atheist, honestly, my first reaction is curiosity as to why. As in, are they actively rejecting the idea of God, or did they come to that conclusion more passively, never having understood what the fuss was all about in the first place. My next reaction is usually to wonder if they will think I am stupid/weak/easily led if I let them know that I am NOT an atheist. Last of all, I do feel a kind of sadness for them, (not pity) just because I have found a lot of peace and comfort through my faith and can't imagine living happily in this world without my belief system.

I count atheists among my friends, and have no problem doing so.

Sally

Interesting! I think for the most part we practice the same religion that our parents practice. So, since I was not raised to believe in God or any other force, I simply don't. To me, it's all a leap of faith. I don't choose not to believe, although one could say not believing is in itself a form of belief...

I never felt compelled to figure out whether I am missing something, nor did I actively seek to to find out what all "the fuss" is as you put it.

[alison]

Oh, and the thing about weakness/easily led/gullible, I'm not really sure. However, I will say, that I don't understand what God has to do with sports, as in "God was with me today when I won this tennis match."

[Vishenka69]

When I hear that someone is an atheist, honestly, my first reaction is curiosity as to why. As in, are they actively rejecting the idea of God, or did they come to that conclusion more passively, never having understood what the fuss was all about in the first place. My next reaction is usually to wonder if they will think I am stupid/weak/easily led if I let them know that I am NOT an atheist. Last of all, I do feel a kind of sadness for them, (not pity) just because I have found a lot of peace and comfort through my faith and can't imagine living happily in this world without my belief system.

I count atheists among my friends, and have no problem doing so.

Sally

Interesting! I think for the most part we practice the same religion that our parents practice. So, since I was not raised to believe in God or any other force, I simply don't. To me, it's all a leap of faith. I don't choose not to believe, although one could say not believing is in itself a form of belief...

I never felt compelled to figure out whether I am missing something, nor did I actively seek to to find out what all "the fuss" is as you put it.

What she said. I also never felt that I was missing anything and had no desire to find out what the fuss was about. I believe that everything that happened to me was a result of my or another person's doing. I believe that nobody but me has a control over my destiny. If I happen to walk by a construction site and a brick fell on my head, well it was me who chose to walk there and it was the carelessness of some construction worker that caused the even to happen. I don't understand what role God would play in that.

[alison]

Yes, the brick on the head is a good example of how I don't think God has anything to do with what I/we do.

My impression (which I obviously would not share with the person unless asked!) would depend on whether or not this person was a former Christian.

Former Christian: I would feel some sense of sadness (I'm just being honest). I would assume (perhaps incorrectly) that this person had a horrible experience with the church and/or some Christians from a church which turned them away from faith. The hardest pill to swallow is that Christians are far from perfect and are sometimes the most unpleasant, judgmental, and hypocritical group. Church is very imperfect and you encounter the same type of "tweeny" behavior as your kids do in high school. What I often have to remind myself of is that church is not about me, it's not about the other people, it's about God. It's about me carving out a time during my busy week to focus on Him. And I'll continue to be honest. . .if we became friends (because I do have friends who are Atheists and this would not be an issue for me) and she seemed to be in a searching mode, I would recommend the good Philip Yancey to her.

Lifelong Atheist: I would pray for her. I would not try to "convert" her and impose my beliefs on her but I would pray for her without her knowledge. We could absolutely be friends and just agree to disagree.

I wish I could write more coherently. I guess I should be thankful that I am able to type at all after the sleepless nights with a teething baby.

Interesting! I think for the most part we practice the same religion that our parents practice. So, since I was not raised to believe in God or any other force, I simply don't. To me, it's all a leap of faith. I don't choose not to believe, although one could say not believing is in itself a form of belief...

For some, yes. Others rebel against what they were raised with, and others still just make their own decision. My mother was (what she referred to) as a lapsed Catholic, but believed strongly in God and Jesus as the Savior. Jesus is where things have always gotten lost for me - that's the leap I can't take. I was taken to church as a child (lots of them), never liked it, never felt comfortable, never *believed*.

As to Sally's question about thinking the religious are gullible - I do not. I do tend to scoff (privately) at the people who seem to swallow religious doctrine as a whole w/o doing their own questioning / considering and agreeing to the conclusion. With no offense intended, I'll pick at KarrotKake's own description of her (to this point) Catholicism of what usually makes me grumble. I see that as more of a blind following. Some people find comfort in the rituals / routines (heck -even I love midnight mass on Christmas Eve), which is fine -- but if the same kind of follower tries wear their faith as a badge .... that grates on me. For people who are clearly invested in their faith, I see no gullibilty at all. I just see them as a devoted person.

I realize this sounds a bit like I feel as though others need to *prove* their faith to me -- and I don't actually feel that way at all. I'm just trying to explain the background workings in my head, and how I still wholly respect those who chose to practice organized religion while not liking the institution as a whole.

I also have trouble with the peeps who make a fuss about going to church each and every Sunday, but M-Sa are spent in rather un-Christian ways.

[Vishenka69]

Lifelong Atheist: I would pray for her. I would not try to "convert" her and impose my beliefs on her but I would pray for her without her knowledge. We could absolutely be friends and just agree to disagree.

But what exactly would you be praying for?

[Vanquisher]

Former Christian: I would feel some sense of sadness (I'm just being honest). I would assume (perhaps incorrectly) that this person had a horrible experience with the church and/or some Christians from a church which turned them away from faith. The hardest pill to swallow is that Christians are far from perfect and are sometimes the most unpleasant, judgmental, and hypocritical group. Church is very imperfect and you encounter the same type of "tweeny" behavior as your kids do in high school. What I often have to remind myself of is that church is not about me, it's not about the other people, it's about God. It's about me carving out a time during my busy week to focus on Him. And I'll continue to be honest. . .if we became friends (because I do have friends who are Atheists and this would not be an issue for me) and she seemed to be in a searching mode, I would recommend the good Philip Yancey to her.

This is me. I believed in Christianity (the whole nine yards) until I was an adult and began to question my beliefs, and I could not wrap my head around them and reconcile them. It had really nothing to do with other people's treatment of me.

I could not believe that there was an invisible man in the sky that watched everything we did.

I could not reconcile childhood illnesses, disease, poverty, famine, natural disaster, and war with an all-powerful being and loving being.

I could not understand the paradox of wrath of God with God's love.

I could not believe in all the supernatural elements of it all.

Rather, what made sense to me was scienctific explanations of the universe, free will, chance, chaos, coincidence.

I do think that a man named Jesus may have walked the Earth a couple thousand years ago. I do believe that he probably had some friends and made it into some books, but I do not believe that he healed anyone supernaturally. I do not believe that anyone ever lived to be 600 plus years old. I do not believe that the earth was created in seven days. I do not believe that a man put two of every species of animal on a somewhat small boat and repopulated the earth that way, etc.

My falling out with the church had zero to do with the church and more to do with what the foundations of those beliefs actually are. After I left the church, I started to become more and more cynical about the money involved in the whole operation of it and other things.

[Sheherezade]

I don't believe in an invisible man either. :> I interpret most religious writings as analogy or teaching stories. That's my own take. I don't know that fundamentalists are wrong - but that isn't for me. I don't think all religion has such a literal interpretation. I can see that if you are looking for a literal description, it would never reconcile with the natural world and science.

Personally, I became more of a believer as studied science. It's hard for me to grasp that chance created such incredibly elegant and intricate systems. That's led me to a stronger belief -- because scientific explanations are currently lacking. How could evolution and chaos possibly have created such intricate methods of cell signalling that turn two cells in to a living being? ALl the proteins involved-- that intricate messaging, splitting, pathfinding. It's truly unreal. My own wacky ideas were re-inforced by the idea that there must be something else. I guess you can say I lost faith in science alone-- or if nature was that awesome, then that was God. Again....that's just my own personal experience and take on the world. I was not raised in any religion, so I never had a faith system thrust upon me to reject. Maybe that helps?

Oh, Angie don't bring science into it. You know it's all about santa claus. :P