It’s been too long since I have posted anything (darn being busy always getting in the way!!) but I wanted to share some things that I have come across recently and hopefully this will get me back into posting.
This is an old article but I was just recently pointed to it by a friend of mine.
We were having a discussion about Atheism (my friend is religious) and my friend pointed out that there is treatment for someone like me now. I was stunned, which kept me from saying the many things that I should have said and instead the conversation ended. I know that my friend was trying to be helpful and was not trying to be totally insensitive but I could not help but picture the reaction that I would get if I suggested to her that she be medicated because of her beliefs. I continue to wonder why people think this sort of comment is ok, however I was more stunned to learn that she was somewhat right. Freethinking has now been classified as a mental illness and there is treatment available – is anyone else terrified by how this can (and probably will be) mis-used. I get these sort of off the cuff remarks often, and I am expected to just brush them off, but I am also expected to not make such remarks that would offend them. another one was at a restaurant with a different friend (maybe I need better friends?) talking about my husband and how we want to improve out life and see the world and my friend responds “but your both Atheist, so what is the point?” My only response was to say “I think we have more of a point to life than you do, but I’m going to pretend that was a joke and not get into it” and the conversation was dropped.
Around the same time as these conversations my husband and I have also been discussing our life and what we want out of life, and we have settled on an open marriage as being best for us. Our main concern in sharing this with people is that now we really are going to get the stereotype of Atheist’s who have no morals, and we get enough problems with that already. We are discovering that doing what makes you happy when it is not what is accepted as the norm all of a sudden becomes really hard and that really takes away from the potential for being happy. Why is it not ok that I happen to be bisexual, and Atheist among other things, or that I do not want children and we do want an open marriage. These are my choices and none of them hurt anyone, in fact these choices have been made after a lot of searching for what would make us the most satisfied and happy but since they conflict with what is seen as normal then they must be wrong, and there must be something wrong with us. People tell me not to worry what other people think and that is great in theory but there is no way it is actually possible – not only will everyone give you an opinion but often times people go out of the way to impose what they think you should be and tend to cause more of a mess then anyone needed. I think that if anything is a mental illness it would have to be not being able to accept that people are different and trying to force your idea of happy on everyone else.
A friend of mine was just recently introduced to the movie Jesus Camp in a class and it got me thinking about Childhood Indoctrination again – this is a topic that comes up from time to time but since I do not have children and I am not usually around children often the ideas tends to get forgotten. I am still always surprised when a child tells me that they know about Religion, and then even more surprised when they do not know much about the world around them.
I would like to first say that this film scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it. I had to pause the movie and come back because I got so upset I had trouble watching the whole thing. Obviously I knew that Religious belief starts at a young age, but I had not thought much about the kind of life that set up for the children. I was fortunate enough that while my mom was Religious she was not very outspoken about it, I went to Church and Sunday school but it was not until I was put in Catholic School in 7th grade did I really start to take a hard look at Religion. Up until that point I had assumed that everyone knew about Religion, and Church was not a bad place to go and have sleep-in retreats and activities but I never thought that anyone took it all seriously. For me God was like Santa and I assumed that everyone grew out of it. I learned very quickly that I had been wrong and I started asking a lot of questions and I began exploring and “trying out” various different religions. This did not endear me to my classmates and needless to say I was not very popular. When I finally reached college I took Religion classes right away – I had to learn more, there was and is something about Religious belief that fascinates me and I want to find out how people can believe. It was this desire to find out why and how people believe that I came to learn about Indoctrination.
As someone who likes to learn I was immediately concerned with the effects that only knowing one point of view could have. I did more research and started to get interested in the Evolution vs Creationism debate in schools. I should have at this point been beyond surprise but I was not – I was blown away that this debate was on going. Knowledge is the most important tool that anyone can have, and it still makes me sad that this is with held from so many children because it does not agree with Religion. How can we expect the future generations to do great things if many of them will not grow up understanding how the world works? They will grow up not learning to question and investigate and I think that is terrifying and dangerous. I want future world leaders to be smarter than me, smarter than everyone – not to lean on Belief but to rely on Proof. How else can they be expected to be efficient leaders?
As I moved through my college years I also became more active in politics and began to develop an interest there as well. I had not gone looking for Religion in Politics because I had been sure that Separation of Church and State was not an issue so I focused on other issues that interested me. Once again I was surprised, every issue seemed to have a Religious based debate – every candidate had to profess religious faith. Of course they usually profess the same faith – the dominant faith. I have found that of course this is the same with most adults. Every person that I have met who is extremely devout is the same faith that they were raised in and for the few that are not the same I have noticed a few things, either the family was not very Religious to begin with, the child has changed from very devout to a bit less so, or the change has come at great cost to the family and is often a point of stress. I have met people that hide what they believe from family members because they do not want to tear apart the family.
Part of me feels that this sort of change should not be hidden from your family, that the love of a family should be such that it is ok to be your own person and that instead of causing problems the family would just learn something new and move along. I do realize though that the way I think it should be is not the way that it often turns out. Somehow faith is so strong that it can over power the natural instincts of a family to love one another and to be happy. I think that in order to change Indoctrination and Religious fundamentalism the key lies here – this absolute strength has to be shaken and even Religion were to stick around the world would certainly be a better place if the certainty, hatred and fear were to be removed.
How would such a task be accomplished? This does not strike me as an individual issue – I think that this is a societal problem. Religious people expect everyone else to also feel the same way that they do. People are always surprised when they meet me and then later find out that I am an Atheist. However, this is exclusively a religious problem. Whenever a political topic or any topic of interest comes up most people tend to try and gauge where the other person stands before they get too into discussion. There is a caution that is taken because no one assumes that everyone will agree. I know many families that the children grew up to be a different political party, and while election time dinner conversations can get awkward no on is afraid of tearing the family apart. The special status of Religion to assume that everyone knows you are right, and the special exemption from discussion that these ideas try to hold is the first step in creating a more accepting system.
I have just recently (in the last few years) become aware of another problem with Indoctrination. I learned about hell and sin as a young adult and since I had nothing to base these ideas on I was not affected. I never worried about upsetting God or getting sent to Hell. I did not have to learn the terrible stories of the Bible until I was in High School. It seems to me that Indoctrinating children places a terrible burden on them. They have to worry about pleasing parents and not straying from the path which can inspire fear and guilt. However, greater than that is the fear of upsetting God and going to hell. There is a scene in Jesus Camp where the children are asked if they are doubters at school or if they do bad things when no one is around and they children are told that God is always around. Many of the children start crying, one boy in the film cries often because he says he has a hard time with faith. Children have enough to deal with just learning how to navigate life and who they are – it is too much to try and ask them to also navigate this mess of belief and faith that they can’t possibly understand.
Now, to make it clear I am not advocating that children be brought up Atheist, I think that they should be allowed to decide for themselves. Talk to our children about what you believe and sure take them to Church but do not make them pray or recite or fear. Let them learn that other Religions exist and if they want to explore that they should be allowed. Answer the questions that they have instead of getting upset. Then when they get old enough they can decide it they want to join the faith or not. I must have tried on 5 different Religions before I finally settled on none. My mom was not the happiest (especially in my Wiccan phase) but she let me explore and she tried to support me that is the greatest gift I could have asked for. I got to learn about people and the world in my own way.
Children do not need to grow up with guilt and shame. They do not need fear to keep them in line, Children should be proud of who they are becoming and look at all the options they have with excitement. Children do not need to be saved or born again (they were just born not all that long ago after all) they have not even begun to do bad things or good things yet and the children that do begin to become bad or good should do so because that is who they are and not because they are afraid. “With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil — that takes religion.” Steven Weinberg
Several things that have happened recently that I want to bring attention to. I am going to mention them in the order in which they happened.
The first was the start of the court hearing about gay marriage. While the verdict will not be until June I was impressed by the show of support on social media.
On top of this I only saw a few of my friends posting anti-gay pictures. Now I am sure that lots of anti-gay non sense was shared and I just was happily spared because of the friends I have but I was still pleased. It makes me proud to be part of a time that is fighting for change. According to the data people around 30 or in college towns were the ones who had the highest rate of change, and it encourages me to see the up and coming generation coming out in support of these issues.
This sort of thinking that children raised by same sex couples is child abuse and similar ideas is very quickly being exposed to be the thinking borne of religion and the excuses outside of religion are scarce. Some examples. (11 out of the 20 photos mention God specifically.)
These three people spoke about about religion and they were taken to jail on charges of blasphemy. I know that these sort of laws are still around, but I was still surprised to see this sort of thing happen in modern day. I have to say that I felt like a bit of a coward, here people are risking life and freedom to speak out for change and I will keep my mouth shut at work when someone super religious is saying stupid things just because I don’t want to cause trouble at work. I am inspired by fellow Atheists who have been hurt or arrested because they speak out.
This topless Jihad had something like two dozen Femen activists protesting the threats against Amina who caused a stir by posting a topless photo online. These women were also protesting Islamism in general and the way that women are expected to behave and be treated. I support these women fully, women should be able to dress however they want and to express themselves however they want.
I have heard responses to the protest today saying that being topless is not a protest, and they were just being rowdy. I don’t agree – sometimes to get attention to an issue you have to be loud. If someone is screaming at you the only way to be heard at all is to scream back. However I will agree that feeling like you have to show a lot of skin is just as unfair as being forced to cover up. Neither was to dress is better, I have known women that fell more comfortable dressing modestly and women who love to wear as little as they can get away with. Being confident and comfortable is what is important, feeling as though you are noticed and valued no matter how “sexy” or “modest” you are is important.
There is a lot that could be said on all of these issues, but what kept coming to mind for me was I can’t believe that this sort of thing still happens today. Really? This is 2013 with all that we know and all the great advancements that people have made these ideas are outdated and protests and movements like this should no longer be needed, we should be well past all this. However, since these Religious issues are still dragging people back I am glad that there are people that are still willing to stand up and be brave and fight. I continue to be inspired by such people and keep working on myself so that I can count myself among them at some point.
I went to an event this weekend that featured Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Bill Nye and others and felt so inspired. Since the event previewed a movie that is not out yet, and we were asked not to share too much I thought that I would instead gather other inspirational quotes and share them here as a way to spread the feeling.
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.
So this video has been popping up on Facebook and other websites:
For many people that have been sharing this video it is frightening proof that Satan is out there and is coming for everyone. However, to me there are so many things in this video that point out the flaws of this theory and show the terrible ignorance that Religion allows people to be comfortable with.
First I think that it is important that people know what Satanism is. There are a few different types of Satanism. I will look at two:
-LaVey Satanism (An Atheistic belief system that sees the self as the “god” figure in that you are responsible for you own actions. Followers of this belief system focus on the material world and the rituals or worships that they do focus on worshiping themselves and what they desire. They do not endorse cruelty specifically but they feel that you should only be good to people that deserve it and not waste your time on those that do not. ) Click the Images to enlarge for some of the core Satanic beliefs.
-Luciferianism (Theistic followers believe that Lucifer is actually the good guy in the Bible and he cares for humans and he wants people to enjoy life and be happy. He endorses knowledge and success. Atheistic followers have a similar view as Sanists but they have slightly less emphasis on the physical and take a bit more of a spiritual approach.)
The video mentions Anton LaVey specifically so they are definitely trying to draw on the first of these types. However this type of Satanist that they want to make people afraid of dies not actually exist. Now, I can not say this 100 percent as true because I am sure there are some crazy people out there that have seen the movie version of Satanism and try to summon or sacrifice in order to be rewarded. There are crazy people everywhere, and they should not be allowed to represent a larger group.
Anton LaVey was a showman, and he thought that Religion (especially Christianity) was terrible and foolish and he tried to make a mockery of it on purpose. The Black Mass and the inverted cross were trying to show people that all that symbolism is silly – but no one saw it that way. No one looked at him and thought “wow that is silly, I should quit.” The churches condemned him and made people afraid. If you think about it the opposite of believing in God is not Satan – the opposite is NOT believing at all.
One more quick point about Satanism before I get back to the video, the pentagram is not an evil thing. Pagans use the pentagram as a symbol of unity and energy it is not some demonic thing, but since the churches also condemned Pagans the pentagram was also seen as evil. For many Satanists the pentagram is a very physical symbol (5 elements, 5 senses so on) and when inverted can mean facing your inner darkness and taking control or of giving into the physical world and being “subservient” to your carnal self.
Now that a basic understanding (and I stress BASIC. Satanism as a worship of the self is very personal and can be extremely different for each individual) of the actual beliefs is out of the way I want to get back to some other points in the video.
The video talks about the sweater that Jay-Z wears that says “Do what thou wilt” I would like to first point out that this says do what THOU wilt, not do what Satan wilt or any such nonsense. This quote is telling people to do what makes them happy and I fail to see how that is a bad thing, the video says that this means going against what God wills but if there is a God then wouldn’t he want you to be happy?
Crowley thought people should find purpose and they should go after it fully. He was not as into carnal desire and instant gratification as some Satanists but he thought that if you could find what you really wanted you should the do that one thing and be happy. This finding of what you truly wanted involved a lot of inward contemplation and sometimes meant that you would have to give up instant gratification for a greater purpose, but all of it focused on this one life and was never giving things up for some un foreseeable reward – only give things up for a greater reward that you can actually be sure of getting.
This saying from him also invokes a common Pagan saying (which is in part where he got the idea) that is used in many castings.
The “it harm none” is vital here however, because Wiccans believe that if you do something that will harm someone else it will come back to you three times worse. With this sort of rule there can be no room for casting dark or hurtful magic.
Finally the video focuses on Sasha fierce, who is the Demon/Alter Ego of Beyonce. Now this strikes me as just nonsense but I am going to address it anyways. It seems to me that everyone has an alter ego, some people may have several. This is normal, every situation requires slightly different behavior. Think about how you may act at work or around your family, and then how you may act around friends or at a party. I would imagine that while you are the same person these situations are going to have you acting differently. In order to be a performer worth watching you would need to be loud, and fearless and some people may not be that way in day to day life. So like anyone who would be taking on a role they would change to fit the situation. Beyonce is the only artist I know of that has given this change a name but I have heard many interviews of performers that say they feel a calm that takes over and then they can go out and give a good show. Actors do this as well when they “get into character” and I would imagine that to be necessary.
The sort of thinking in the video strike me as outright silly, but it seems to have grabbed some attention and that saddens me. I want to point out that this should highlight what I have mentioned in previous posts about the harm of Religion – there is a very serious push for giving up this life for the next. What is the harm in being rich or famous? Celebrities may be annoying sometimes (and I think being obsessed with them is also silly) but they are not hurting anyone. Do what makes you happy! The only time I find celebrities as being a bad thing is when they are no longer happy with what they are doing but they continue to do it anyways just for money. Acting or Singing is a job much like any other and these people are just trying to do what they enjoy. Fame comes with a big paycheck, but it also seems to come with just a big of a price (no not your soul, I am referring to privacy and being micro analyzed). Someone who has not met these people or been famous and is watching these videos that makes worldly success and pleasure a terrible thing should take a step back and think about what they are doing.
Am I sure that Beyonce does not worship the devil? No, of course not. I have never met her. However she has done many gospel songs and talks very positively about God. So I doubt it. There is the possibility that she is mocking religion on purpose but I find it much more likely that she was not intentional in this conspiracy and she has said some unfortunate things that got taken out of context (and apparently made some unfortunate faces while on stage).
I was watching the above episode of the Atheist Experience on YouTube and the host said that he does not blame the religious for what they think because they had little choice in the matter. He said that instead he thinks of them as victims and feels sad for them, at first I agreed with this idea. However, the more I thought about it the more I changed my mind. I now think that anyone over the age of say 20 or 25 should not qualify for this pity. In the modern world there is no reason that once a young adult is able to gather information and think for themselves that they should still cling to Religion. There are shows, movies, articles, blogs ect that will help you find your way out of religious beliefs. Atheists are all around and usually more than willing to talk to you about how to live without God. Once all of these resources are made available to a young adult and they are too lazy or too un willing to look at them and consider what they see then they are no longer a victim, they are now willfully ignorant and probably passing this on to other people. I think that this willful-ness is inexcusable.
The other idea in this episode that got me thinking was when the caller asked about the responsibility of Atheists to care about the environment. I tend to agree with this caller, while the host is correct in saying that Atheism does not make you believe anything in particular I think that it should come with some responsibility that could bring people together. Here are the main responsibilities that I came up with that I think should go along with Atheism and why.
– respect for life. (ie no murder, or hurting others) Why? because Atheists believe that this is your one and only shot at the beauty of life and that should carry a heavy weight. Once someone is gone there is no do over, no afterlife so this life should be of the utmost importance and treated as such. Death should be a big deal to an Atheist, however since it is inevitable there should be a major effort to make the time you have worthwhile for yourself and for others. This also means that research into extending life would be important, as who would not want to be around for as long as possible? This respect for life as the most important ideal could lead to breakthroughs in medicine and if applied well enough could extend as far as standard of living. If there is just one shot at living, well everyone would want to live to the fullest so there should be a push in leisure, technological ease of life, and a general increase in standards of living so that this one life can not only be long but can also be happy and fulfilling.
(Side note, I have also decided that it is upsetting to me when the religious mourn heavily when someone dies. If they are in a better place and you will get to see them again shouldn’t you be happy for them? Stop being so selfish, if your best friend or spouse moved to a beach house in Hawaii with no cares at all and you were going to meet them there soon would you cry about it? I think not.)
– respect for the planet/environment. Why? Once again this is the only shot at life you get, and the planet is kind of essential for sustaining life. By taking care of the planet we can sustain our own lives for longer and we can sustain future generations who we should be worried about looking out for, don’t they deserve a shot at life? This sort of mentality could also serve to foster a sense of inter connectivity with those around us (past, present, future) that people seek in religion so much.
(This idea is also unsustainable in many Religions because if you think that Death is not the end all and only a step to a better place what is the big worry. Dead? That’s ok! You get to be with God. End of the World or Planet? That’s ok! The end of the world means the prophet comes back and the chosen ones go with God. So really in Religious ideology the more we take care of the planet we are just pushing our meeting with God away and so this would not be a priority.)
Now this is not a particularly good video in itself, but it did get me thinking on one point. The hosts of the show get asked by the caller if Hitler gets punished for his evil deeds. Initially both of the hosts try to say that yes he did in his death but the caller then makes a great point that everyone dies so how does that work as a punishment? I think that this is something that a lot of people feel they want – someone who has done wrong should be made to regret that action, they should suffer. However, I really liked what the female host of this show said instead in that the punishment did not matter, what mattered was that the evil that he did stopped. This really struck me. I do think that someone who commits violence against another person should be removed from society so that the can be prevented from hurting others but I think that this idea of punishment is unnecessary. Prison is often seen as a punishment and a way to make criminals suffer, and I do not think that it needs to be seen that way – this should just be a space to remove dangerous people to. Do we really think that making a criminal suffer is going to change anything? It will not undo what was done. It will not make them change how they as a criminal are. So what is the point? Many times criminals who are supposed to spend this time suffering to develop feelings of guilt or sorrow actually end up feeling just the opposite. Many criminals come out of the system worse and more angry.
While it may make some people feel better for a moment to see someone that hurt them getting hurt this is not a beneficial reaction. The idea of justice seems synonymous with revenge, people want to get justice for the families or the victims that were hurt by hurting the criminal. While listening to this caller this also struck me as another central idea in religion. Many bad people or bad actions do not get punished in life, these people will live the violent way that they are and they will not regret it and some may not even get caught at all. The idea that God is watching and he will know is comforting and it removes the responsibility of doing something about these actions from people who are alive. The idea of “they will get what is coming” does two things. First it approves of the revenge and punishment idea as an acceptable way to react. Second it shifts that responsibility to be not our problem. Sadly, Violence and crime in the real world is everyone’s problem and perhaps rather than worry about punishment we should worry about prevention. Instead of worrying about how to make the bad people suffer, worry about how to make the good people heal.
I am always amused when I tell someone that I am an Atheist and they immediately ask if I am sad that this life is all we get and if I am not strong enough to handle the truth of God. To this I always laugh, because I believe the opposite.
That is not to say that I am not sad or afraid about death, of course I am. Only an Atheist can grasp the true terror that is death, the knowledge that there is nothing and this beautiful gift of consciousness and experience will be gone and unless you do something truly great (or horrible) in a short time there will be no memory of you, no impact, nothing. Thinking about this too long is utterly terrifying but at the same time it can be inspirational. If no one else will remember you and there will be little impact then there is all the more reason to make your experiences count and to impact those around you while you can so that in some way there will be a lingering effect. (This also plays a part in my feelings about Atheist morality and where that comes from, but that is another post.)
As for this disbelief and fear playing into being not strong enough to handle God, well this is what really makes me laugh. It is clear that religions originally came about to explain things that people did not understand. It was common for people to attribute everything like the sun and rain to deities and to try to influence the out come by praying or offering. As people moved on and learned about the world around them these beliefs fell away and were replaced by knowledge and new belief systems emerged. However still, there is no explanation or comfort for the idea of death (and I think that this is because there isn’t one) so modern religions remain. A good look at Judea-Christian religions will reveal an absolute obsession with death. In fact the entire belief is the way you should get through life in order to get to a good death and afterlife. The emphasis and rules for living is only so that there can be an even bigger emphasis on dying. Christianity even takes this a step further and worships death in the story of Jesus. To me this shows that those who cling so strongly to faith, even when there is so much evidence against it, are clinging because they are afraid of what life without it would mean. Many believers will say that they feel sorry for an Atheist because the life “must be so empty and sad” and for me this shows that they are unable to grasp what it means to face the harsh and frightening realities so they cling to the comfort of faith.
Now in the theme of my blog, while I think that clinging to something that is false just for comfort is silly I also have a deeper problem with this. Many believers are convinced that Jesus is going to return while they are alive and so they have very little concern about what this world looks like and what the current generations will be leaving to the future. If the focus is on struggle and getting to the next life then there is no reason to have real world concerns that will have any impact on things like medicine or the environment and this is very scary to consider when reasoning non believers try to improve the state of the world against the inaction of those that are waiting for the next world.
Atheist Ramblings 