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Even if you completely changed your mind about your current Christian faith, would you feel comfortable with openly "admitting" to friends and associates that you were then an "atheist"?
in other words, do you believe that, in the general American cultural experience, it would be socially unacceptable to be known as an atheist, given the general demonization of that "breed's" reputation for being of the "unethical and immoral Evilâ„¢" people?
If so, does that then disallow you from even considering all the factual evidence against a mythical and never-to-be-seen God?
I will be interested to see the responses, at least from those who can get past "that would never happen to me so I'm not going to think about it -- I can't hear you lalala". I know that it was a factor in dissuading me, though ultimately it proved far less problematic in practical everyday reality than it seemed in between my ears.
I would venture to say that most of the problem is that you have to accept the whole theist worldview / cosmology / theology, or none of it -- and you are afraid of the consequences of being wrong. Even if you don't believe in a personal devil or a literal hell, Christianity tells you that some decisions have eternal consequences and this fake portentousness deflects from the potential benefits of unbelief in this life. In fact the need to shift the focus beyond this life tells me that Christianity recognizes the weakness of their value proposition with respect to this life. There's no need to invent another life if that weren't the case.
going from Christianity to Atheist..........hmmmm.
would i tell anybody? I think they would know, by my reaction of a Jesus picture. It would also depend, if I could even join, how many times a day would I have to say to myself Jesus doesnt exist. How many people would I need to tell the are mentally deficient and delusional in hopes of making making my point that JESUS IS A MYTH. Would I be slayed by my Atheist cult leader if I didnt reach my daily quota of internet insults against the religious community. Would I be prescribed skin cream for constant rash I break out into every time I pass a church. Would my leader join up with the UFO community, cause they believe Jesus is a myth too! I dont know, wait wait, I gotta stop for a second so I can say JESUS dont exist! Whew, there I feel better, I thought I was gonna need an enema. Have a good day ;-)
going from Christianity to Atheist..........hmmmm.
would i tell anybody? I think they would know, by my reaction of a Jesus picture. It would also depend, if I could even join, how many times a day would I have to say to myself Jesus doesnt exist. How many people would I need to tell the are mentally deficient and delusional in hopes of making making my point that JESUS IS A MYTH. Would I be slayed by my Atheist cult leader if I didnt reach my daily quota of internet insults against the religious community. Would I be prescribed skin cream for constant rash I break out into every time I pass a church. Would my leader join up with the UFO community, cause they believe Jesus is a myth too! I dont know, wait wait, I gotta stop for a second so I can say JESUS dont exist! Whew, there I feel better, I thought I was gonna need an enema. Have a good day ;-)
What?
How does an atheist react to a picture of Jesus? Personally I see a picture for it's artistic merits, or lack thereof. Some religious art is amazing.
Why would an atheist have to tell themselves repeatedly daily that Jesus doesn't exist? I don't have to try to convince myself that many things don't exist, why would this be any different?
Why would an atheist have a leader? There is no dogma to follow, or beliefs to teach.
Why would an atheist break out in a rash at the sight of a church? It's a building. Some have beautiful architecture. Atheists aren't like vampires that shrink away from crosses.
Even if you completely changed your mind about your current Christian faith, would you feel comfortable with openly "admitting" to friends and associates that you were then an "atheist"?
in other words, do you believe that, in the general American cultural experience, it would be socially unacceptable to be known as an atheist, given the general demonization of that "breed's" reputation for being of the "unethical and immoral Evil™" people?
If so, does that then disallow you from even considering all the factual evidence against a mythical and never-to-be-seen God?
Yes, I think I would be comfortable, but I think it has to do with where I live and the people I know. Someone else in another place might give you a completely different answer. All but one of my five living siblings are atheists. Many of my coworkers are atheists, and so is one of my closest friends. I live in New Jersey and work in the city/the NY metro area. Non-believers are not odd or uncommon here, and further, I work in a very multicultural environment with Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Jains, and people whose beliefs or lack thereof I am unaware of because one's religious beliefs are nobody else's f'ing business and it's rude to inquire into such personal matters unless someone volunteers that information. I am Christian--likely not as you define/view Christian, not that it matters--but if I decided I did not believe in God any longer and made such a proclamation to the people I know, it would be met with a mighty ho-hum and a yawn.
Your second paragraph doesn't apply, because most people I know, Christian or otherwise, don't have that point of view about atheists. (I said, "most". I can think of a born-again, fundamentalist uncle who probably has all your eternal roasting spits assigned by number already as his personal service to God.)
The readers of this particular forum are not really an appropriate audience for this discussion since I've found it will usually give rise to tiresome cliches about sky fairies/daddies and whatnot, but I will offer that I have desired through many times in my life to be atheist and to want not to believe in God, and that has not worked for me. We do discuss that sort of thing and our struggles with belief and unbelief in the Christian circles in which I move, and we embrace the discussions of the realities of church history and scripture and how they affect faith.
How does an atheist react to a picture of Jesus? Personally I see a picture for it's artistic merits, or lack thereof. Some religious art is amazing.
Why would an atheist have to tell themselves repeatedly daily that Jesus doesn't exist? I don't have to try to convince myself that many things don't exist, why would this be any different?
Why would an atheist have a leader? There is no dogma to follow, or beliefs to teach.
Why would an atheist break out in a rash at the sight of a church? It's a building. Some have beautiful architecture. Atheists aren't like vampires that shrink away from crosses.
My sentiments exactly, what a ridiculous viewpoint.
I know that the question is posed to Christians, but I think I can speak to this quite well since I'm a fairly new "convert" to atheism after being a Christian for 40+ years.
I don't cringe when I see a picture of Jesus or have an anxiety attack every time I pass a church because if I did my permanent residence would be the loony bin because I live in the South and there's a dang church on every single corner. I'm not kidding. I view my newly found release from the bondage of fear and guilt (Christianity in a nutshell) as something worth talking about, but only to the right people. I've had so many great conversations/debates with friends and acquaintances, not to "deconvert" them but to enlighten and inform.
But there are those I will NEVER divulge the truth to, mainly to keep them from worrying and fretting over my "soul" condition (there's that fear thing again). Namely, my mother and other relatives because my entire family is Christian. So I settle for the sharing of information to those that are open-minded enough to handle it without thinking I'm demon-possessed or just being "stubborn" and "unreasonable", like my closer friends and here at C-D.
Even those who know where I stand now have great difficulty realizing that I'm not just being difficult and that if they talk enough about Jesus or the Bible that I'll most certainly "believe" again. NOT. This lack of belief took a long time to become a reality, mostly because of that fear and guilt that I had such a hard time letting go of. I"m freeeeee, I'm freeeee!!!!
That's what I want to shout from the rooftops.....the most freeing experience is to put that which you have been taught on the back burner long enough to seek and discover the world that we currently live in and THIS life. Not some imagined "next" life and what may or may not happen. What about now? Right now? I'm not well educated but I betcha I could go toe to toe with any so-called bible thumper and have them walk away scratching their heads because I've learned a lot, I know the bible pretty well so their arguments from that source just don't have a leg to stand on and I make a pretty good argument.
The posters who say things like the one here that we're responding to are gripped with fear and guilt and until they can actually "see" that Christianity or any other religion is bogus, there's absolutely no proof for any of it and that they've been duped.....well there's always going to be this battle of (from their view) "good" vs. "evil", them being good and us heathens being evil. I know this because that's what I used to believe. That atheists are the most vile of creatures and are to be feared and ignored at best. The only real "fear" is that something an atheist says may actually permeate a religiously saturated brain, even for a moment. Those are the moments that we don't actually get to see because all that turmoil is going on in someone's head, which is exactly where Christianity wants to keep it. It's simply a rouse to control the masses and to keep them in constant fear so they WON'T question anything.
Somehow I broke through those chains (it wasn't easy and I still struggle sometimes) and I can't stress enough how it has freed my mind, my thoughts, my very being. It was mainly a struggle in the beginning because I didn't want to let go of the idea of Jesus and his teachings, the ones that make sense anyway. But we won't go there.
No one has the answers, no one. All I know is that Christianity or religion in general is definitely not the answer for me. I wish there were something profound that I could say about all this but there's really not, just that learning and growing should never be discouraged as it was for me and many others trapped in the same kind of thing. Free yourselves from the bondage and discover the world around you.
It's not about good or evil, it's about people and life right here, right now.
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