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I didn't have one a-ha moment, but more of a long process that led to my realizing I was at least an agnostic atheist, and then, recently, completely atheist.
As a child, my family liked to watch those horrible nature programs the OP mentions and I also remember wondering why a supposedly loving god would create such brutality. Why would a god create us with a need to eat at all? Or have bowel movements, for that matter? Wouldn't it have been more sensible to have us be able to live on air or water?
In my teen years, I began to realize I am gay and spent many hours worrying about my eventual eternal damnation in hell... I couldn't figure out what was so bad about me that deserved that, but fear and religion kept me from coming to terms and being okay with being gay until I was 32.
Also, around 32 I opened up the bible to a random page and the first thing I laid eyes on were some instructions on how to punish rapists and rape victims. IIRC, if the woman could prove she screamed, the rapist was killed. If the woman could not, she was killed. Wait, what!? It was just so cruel and nonsensical. I have read some of the bible, and I've seen other such passages, but to open randomly to one just seemed to illustrate to me that there really are a lot of those in there. I began thinking that real or no, I would want nothing to do with any god that would endorse such things.
By the time I was 40 I was pretty secure in at least agnosticism, and I became more of an atheist I progressed through my 40s. I'm 46 now, and I think I'm there. There seems to be greed, violence, avarice, and suffering literally everywhere. Certainly the antics of some of the 'Christians' here in the U.S. as of late have made this a sad and scary time for me.
I find it odd that I have come out as gay, but am still reticent to 'come out' as an atheist. Most of the people I know are very religious (or at least they attend church services regularly). However, some of them sure hate immigrants and people of color. But... Jesus was supposed to be Middle Eastern, wasn't he?
Great. We agree that the Bible cannot be taken as a literal history.
Our difference seems to be that you view the Bible as having some amount of truth, while I view it as a piece of fiction lacking supporting evidence. I know you aren’t the OP, but I don’t see how viewing the Bible as fictional constitutes dogma. Or how it means I don’t have belief in anything.
Dogma? If church dogma comes from an interpretation that is incorrect, then the dogma is incorrect. But you can still believe in something without the existence of an ancient book affecting your belief. The Bible writers were just stating their own opinions at moments in time. They might have disagreed with themselves years later.
Anyway, the fact that I like the Bible personally is beside the point. If a person could get fundamentalists to realize that the Bible has value (which they already believe) but was not intended to be literal, then it seems like he would be making his job easier.
But most of the arguments made by atheists regarding the Bible are going nowhere.
I find it odd that I have come out as gay, but am still reticent to 'come out' as an atheist. Most of the people I know are very religious (or at least they attend church services regularly). However, some of them sure hate immigrants and people of color. But... Jesus was supposed to be Middle Eastern, wasn't he?
Welcome to the forum.
Interesting post overall, and many people have drawn parallels to the process of coming out as gay and that if coming out as an atheist. I think that atheists are 20 years behind LGBT in terms of social acceptance, and the only thing that will change this is more people coming out as atheist.
I remember talking to a coworker many years ago. He leaned over and told me, in a hushed voice, that one of our IT guys was.... an atheist. This was in a workplace where the HR person was openly lesbian, the accountant was gay, the overall boss lived with his wife and his other wife, and one of the office support staff was a transitioning woman. Nobody blinked much at any of the various sexual or gender identities, but several people were scandalized at the atheist IT guy, and then once people realized we had TWO atheists including me, wow, that took some adjusting.
I find it odd that I have come out as gay, but am still reticent to 'come out' as an atheist. Most of the people I know are very religious (or at least they attend church services regularly). However, some of them sure hate immigrants and people of color. But... Jesus was supposed to be Middle Eastern, wasn't he?
I'll tell you a funny story about that. When I was a principal we had a girl in our school who had muscular dystrophy...or one of those similar debilitating diseases. But despite her speech and motion difficulties, she had a wonderful personality and was delightful to talk with...and smart as a whip. One day she came up to me during class change and said, "Is it true you're Buddhist". While it was no secret that I was Buddhist, it was something that rarely came up except occasionally by a faculty member. I answered that I didn't talk about my religion in school, and that seemed to satisfy her. Until the next day when she was back with the same question. Finally, to get it over with, I simply said, "Yes, I'm Buddhist and still a bit christian". She then asked, "Why would you want to be a member of an Asian religion?" I said, let's see...you're a christian I know. Why would you want to be a member of a Middle Eastern religion?" There was a momentary look of confusion, and then it was like a light went on in her head. "I get it!", she said, and it was never mentioned again.
I think overcoming dogma is a big part of why someone could become an atheist.
If you would pay attention to what the atheists in this forum say about themselves, you wouldn't make such a ridiculous statement. Go read all the threads about how they became atheists. Most of them were Christians who developed doubts about the claims of their religion over time until they realized they simply didn't believe any of it. Some of their stories are heart wrenching.
If you would pay attention to what the atheists in this forum say about themselves, you wouldn't make such a ridiculous statement. Go read all the threads about how they became atheists. Most of them were Christians who developed doubts about the claims of their religion over time until they realized they simply didn't believe any of it. Some of their stories are heart wrenching.
I can't picture how a story about a person deciding whether or not to believe in a religion is really that important. If that's their biggest problem then I don't think their story could really considered "heart wrenching".
But I'm not following you about how this has nothing to do with believing in dogma. Isn't dogma the core reason that causes atheists to question the existence of God in the first place? I can't see how one person believing a higher power causes that much pain for someone else. And if it did, then he should be glad that his problems are not any bigger than that. It's not as if anyone is pointing a gun to their head and demanding anything from them.
I'll tell you a funny story about that. When I was a principal we had a girl in our school who had muscular dystrophy...or one of those similar debilitating diseases. But despite her speech and motion difficulties, she had a wonderful personality and was delightful to talk with...and smart as a whip. One day she came up to me during class change and said, "Is it true you're Buddhist". While it was no secret that I was Buddhist, it was something that rarely came up except occasionally by a faculty member. I answered that I didn't talk about my religion in school, and that seemed to satisfy her. Until the next day when she was back with the same question. Finally, to get it over with, I simply said, "Yes, I'm Buddhist and still a bit christian". She then asked, "Why would you want to be a member of an Asian religion?" I said, let's see...you're a christian I know. Why would you want to be a member of a Middle Eastern religion?" There was a momentary look of confusion, and then it was like a light went on in her head. "I get it!", she said, and it was never mentioned again.
Sounds like one of those moments when all the BS of being an educator feels worth it! Light bulbs forever!
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