I was watching a video with Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris talking and the Question was asked what is the end game of debating religion- what does a win look like? Then two other things happened that prompted this post. First was a comment on a previous post that mentioned trying to de-convert people and where I stand, and then at work there was a conversation about hating religion and why I have a BA in religion if I am an atheist.
I may seem like an in your face Atheist that must be yelling at everyone and telling them that they are stupid. However, this is not the case. I created this blog so I could have a space that I can express my thought and feelings because in my regular everyday life I do not tend to express these thoughts (I think them, but I to keep my mouth shut). The same with Facebook or any other outlet, I may get upset but I will just grumble while I scroll passed a post and I leave the friend or family member alone. I also will not post or share any anti-religious or Atheist material so I do not offend anyone. (Although I will “like” certain things) The only “action” that I take is that I am open about being an Atheist.
Having said where I stand in my day to day life I have been giving some thought to being a braver more outspoken Atheist. I get told all the time that I need Jesus, that I need faith. I have to put up with and respect what other people say and post so why am I so afraid to make people put up with me?
The one time that I said anything was the holidays – I posted a photo of my tree decorated and said “Our yule-tide tree all decorated!” and right away I got responses about making it a Christmas tree and for the rest of the season posts like “It’s Merry Christmas not Happy Holidays” were directed at me.
Further, at work the extremely devout employee expects the schedule to work around his church needs, expects it to be ok when he tells people to follow the Bible or that the way they live is wrong, expects it to be ok to challenge the music on the radio because it does not exalt God but at the same time everything offends him and everyone else has to watch what they do or say if he is around.
Why do so many people think that it is alright for the religious to constantly try to convert others and to wear what they believe openly, but if an Atheist does the same they are offensive and should keep it to themselves. Just let people believe what they want, but Atheists are the only ones that are told to do this – if two different religions meet they are not going to be told to just be accepting they are allowed to think that they are right.
Let me try to explain it this way – If you had a friend who joined an adamant Big Foot group would you accept that? Perhaps you would be-grudgingly accept it but I imagine that your “eccentric” friend would not be going to many more parties. It turns out that people who have crazy theories are not the same kind of people that get invited to social events. Why is this? Well it is disturbing to be around someone who does not have a grip on reality. If this same friend began going on Big Foot hunts regularly and started to devote large amounts of life to this group would that make you happy? I would say no. I would be sad if my friend was wasting life searching for something that is not there.
However I want to make an important point. If religion was like a Big Foot group then it wold be ok, you can have whatever crazy belief you want if you keep it to yourself. However this is where Big Foot is actually better than religion, because religion is incompatible with being kept quiet. No other group gives you instructions for how to live, how to think , how to act, or how to treat others. No other belief system opposes reason, science, human rights and progress. No other belief has a consequence like ETERNITY in torment – by it’s very nature having such specific instructions and such dire punishment requires this belief to be in the forefront of living. (and in case it is not obvious No belief system should be allowed to have any of those things. This is why we can all agree that cults are bad.) This is where a Big Foot group would be preferable to Religion because believers are constantly looking for proof. Imagine that, even they know that no one will believe them without proof (why should anyone?) and so they keep relatively quiet until they can prove why they are right. That is a belief that I do not have to agree with, but that I can accept.
So after much thought I decided that for me a win would actually be de- conversion. Would I ultimately want no more religion? Yes. Empty Churches? Yes. (Although they would make great museums or libraries maybe they could be converted.) I would call it a win for all Religions to be put on the mythology shelf. All the music and art and architecture can still be beautiful art and can still be appreciated but I think that the world would be a better place if myths were just myth. There is a small part of me that worries about the large amount of people that claim to only be good because of Religion, but I think that if current Atheists can be good without God then so can most of the rest of the world.
Atheist Ramblings 