A simple question:
"Are atheists as common in there atheism as Xtans are in their religion?"
The other day I was talking to a freind about God. His family is atheist and his sister has announced that she is a witch. Apparently during the argument that followed she said a bunch of stuff about atheists, about how they are stubborn, about how they demand everything in a ledger or encyclopedia or somehow "proven". But my friend got pissed off when she said that atheists don't like love.
I pointed out to my friend that his father had said many times that love is bollocks, and that people in love are only fooling themselves. And my friend said, "Yeah, but what does that have to do with atheism?"
I tried to explain to him that when their father says he is an atheist, she is making the same kind of association between the label and the person that atheists make about other people. That didn't go over well. I tried explaining that his actions as an atheist affect how people see atheism. He didn't understand what I was talking about.
So I tried 9/11. Not every Muslim wants to blow up the U.S.A. But that only got him more upset because he thinks all muslims do want to blow up the U.S.A. I asked him how he decided that, and he said that, well, they blew up our towers, didn't they?
I asked him if that was fair to extend to other Muslims, and he pretended he didn't know what I was talking about.
I tried explaining to him that what he was doing to Muslims was the same thing his sister was doing to atheists. We almost came to fighting right there.
In the end, I don't know what to tell him. But I started thinking about it and I was a Christian before I was an atheist, and he's been raised to despise religion.
So I thought maybe it would be a good idea to figure out a few things about atheists. For the longest time I could walk into a room full of atheists and know what to expect. Not any more.
So it hit me that maybe atheists aren't "Atheists", and that we all use the same word to describe things that are not the same.
Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and others do this but not in the same way.
For instance, Christians agree that Jesus is Savior. Religions believe God exists. But Buddhists do not see Jesus as the only way to God.
What do atheists believe and agree on? "There is no God" sounds good but what beyond that?
The only thing I can think of is that my friend and I are two different people with two different sets of experience. Even though we both call ourselves "atheist" we don't seem to agree on much anymore.
So, quickly, I was a nondenominational Christian until I was about 10 or 11 when my folks got divorced. We weren't welcome in our church anymore, since my mom had a boyfriend, and we stopped going. I'm not sure I ever really believed, but when I stop and think of my friend's views, I can't agree that these people are all stupid. I mean, when I get right down and compare it, my friend has gotten as stupid in his atheism as some of the congregation was about its religion. And in the meantime, I've even got a tract that I found in a restaurant that has a contract I can sign that awards my soul to Jesus. I keep hoping atheism doesn't get that stupid, but I'm now surrounded by a bunch of friends who want to see religion wiped off the earth, and I don't know where they get it.
So whats the deal? I say I'm an atheist, who else uses the same word? Does it describe the same thing?
The God Slayer
"Are atheists as common in there atheism as Xtans are in their religion?"
The other day I was talking to a freind about God. His family is atheist and his sister has announced that she is a witch. Apparently during the argument that followed she said a bunch of stuff about atheists, about how they are stubborn, about how they demand everything in a ledger or encyclopedia or somehow "proven". But my friend got pissed off when she said that atheists don't like love.
I pointed out to my friend that his father had said many times that love is bollocks, and that people in love are only fooling themselves. And my friend said, "Yeah, but what does that have to do with atheism?"
I tried to explain to him that when their father says he is an atheist, she is making the same kind of association between the label and the person that atheists make about other people. That didn't go over well. I tried explaining that his actions as an atheist affect how people see atheism. He didn't understand what I was talking about.
So I tried 9/11. Not every Muslim wants to blow up the U.S.A. But that only got him more upset because he thinks all muslims do want to blow up the U.S.A. I asked him how he decided that, and he said that, well, they blew up our towers, didn't they?
I asked him if that was fair to extend to other Muslims, and he pretended he didn't know what I was talking about.
I tried explaining to him that what he was doing to Muslims was the same thing his sister was doing to atheists. We almost came to fighting right there.
In the end, I don't know what to tell him. But I started thinking about it and I was a Christian before I was an atheist, and he's been raised to despise religion.
So I thought maybe it would be a good idea to figure out a few things about atheists. For the longest time I could walk into a room full of atheists and know what to expect. Not any more.
So it hit me that maybe atheists aren't "Atheists", and that we all use the same word to describe things that are not the same.
Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and others do this but not in the same way.
For instance, Christians agree that Jesus is Savior. Religions believe God exists. But Buddhists do not see Jesus as the only way to God.
What do atheists believe and agree on? "There is no God" sounds good but what beyond that?
The only thing I can think of is that my friend and I are two different people with two different sets of experience. Even though we both call ourselves "atheist" we don't seem to agree on much anymore.
So, quickly, I was a nondenominational Christian until I was about 10 or 11 when my folks got divorced. We weren't welcome in our church anymore, since my mom had a boyfriend, and we stopped going. I'm not sure I ever really believed, but when I stop and think of my friend's views, I can't agree that these people are all stupid. I mean, when I get right down and compare it, my friend has gotten as stupid in his atheism as some of the congregation was about its religion. And in the meantime, I've even got a tract that I found in a restaurant that has a contract I can sign that awards my soul to Jesus. I keep hoping atheism doesn't get that stupid, but I'm now surrounded by a bunch of friends who want to see religion wiped off the earth, and I don't know where they get it.
So whats the deal? I say I'm an atheist, who else uses the same word? Does it describe the same thing?
The God Slayer