Atheism...meh...who cares?

[lewisnotmiller]

So, the thread title was my somewhat dubious attempt to generate some interest. Basically, I'd just like to talk about my favourite topic here...myself! Sorry on length, just working through some stuff in my head, so thought I'd share in case of broader interest.

Background;
I've been an atheist as long as I can remember thinking about religion, even when I was young, and raised loosely Christian.
The form of my atheism seems to slowly change. Develop, I hope. Gain nuance. Subtlety even.

Thing is, now my atheism has evolved to the point that it's crossed from subtle to uninformative.
I'm thinking it's growth. It could be old age bringing me to a point where I don't give a crap about some things that previously seemed important, of course, but I'm going with growth for now.

Religion was a big ticket item for me to consider when crossing the line from teen to adult. My mum and sister's broadly Christian approach seemed completely hypocritical to me, nevermind that they were (and are) both awesome people, and very good citizens of planet Earth.

I had to go one way or the other, just because of the way my brain/personality is. Either I embraced a religion, be it of a major, recognized form, or a private form, or I rejected it, basically. I couldn't really bring myself to 'half-embrace' it.
(As in, 'sure I believe in God, and the Bible. No, I don't follow any of it, or go to Church. I just try to live a good life.')

And at that time, at least, I basically equated God and religion. Concepts like Deism were foreign. My fascination with religion and politics consumed a lot of my reading time during college. Strangely, I dated Christian girls, but not Communists...lol...

Made my decision, which was that atheism continued to make sense to me...never really was in doubt, but I felt like the exercise of checking out religion more seriously was well worthwhile.

I had a disdain for religion, but actually respected adherents of many religions. Courage of one's convictions, even if I disagree with those convictions, is something I have always valued, but particularly in my more earnest years.

My fascination with religion slowly evolved. Rather than looking at whether they held truth, I looked at their impact. Their value. Just because I didn't believe they were ultimately true didn't make them worthless. Maybe the world would be better if everyone followed Jainism (for example)? I mean, I never really thought that, but it was possible. And what really interested me was religion's ability to motivate and form groups amongst us. The psychology of it. The direct, practical impact.

I remain, as I ever have been, an atheist. But where once I thought it was almost a badge of rationality triumphing over superstition, now I simply see it as a badge. It say about as much about me as most of the badges I wear.

Almost 40, Australian, male, white, atheist, incredibly good-looking and charming...ahem...

I don't take pride in being white. Nor in being male. I think I've reached the point where I don't take pride in being an atheist either. Not that I'm ashamed of it either. Not in the least. It's just gone from something I thought was the start of a story to barely registering as a byline.

Weird. So, yeah...atheism...meh...

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Hello, LNM! Thanks for the tale; I like to hear about peoples' own experiences. I like the perspective you've developed. Thank you for sharing!

 

[s2a]

So, the thread title was my somewhat dubious attempt to generate some interest. Basically, I'd just like to talk about my favourite topic here...myself! Sorry on length, just working through some stuff in my head, so thought I'd share in case of broader interest.

Background;
I've been an atheist as long as I can remember thinking about religion, even when I was young, and raised loosely Christian.
The form of my atheism seems to slowly change. Develop, I hope. Gain nuance. Subtlety even.

Thing is, now my atheism has evolved to the point that it's crossed from subtle to uninformative.
I'm thinking it's growth. It could be old age bringing me to a point where I don't give a crap about some things that previously seemed important, of course, but I'm going with growth for now.

Religion was a big ticket item for me to consider when crossing the line from teen to adult. My mum and sister's broadly Christian approach seemed completely hypocritical to me, nevermind that they were (and are) both awesome people, and very good citizens of planet Earth.

I had to go one way or the other, just because of the way my brain/personality is. Either I embraced a religion, be it of a major, recognized form, or a private form, or I rejected it, basically. I couldn't really bring myself to 'half-embrace' it.
(As in, 'sure I believe in God, and the Bible. No, I don't follow any of it, or go to Church. I just try to live a good life.')

And at that time, at least, I basically equated God and religion. Concepts like Deism were foreign. My fascination with religion and politics consumed a lot of my reading time during college. Strangely, I dated Christian girls, but not Communists...lol...

Made my decision, which was that atheism continued to make sense to me...never really was in doubt, but I felt like the exercise of checking out religion more seriously was well worthwhile.

I had a disdain for religion, but actually respected adherents of many religions. Courage of one's convictions, even if I disagree with those convictions, is something I have always valued, but particularly in my more earnest years.

My fascination with religion slowly evolved. Rather than looking at whether they held truth, I looked at their impact. Their value. Just because I didn't believe they were ultimately true didn't make them worthless. Maybe the world would be better if everyone followed Jainism (for example)? I mean, I never really thought that, but it was possible. And what really interested me was religion's ability to motivate and form groups amongst us. The psychology of it. The direct, practical impact.

I remain, as I ever have been, an atheist. But where once I thought it was almost a badge of rationality triumphing over superstition, now I simply see it as a badge. It say about as much about me as most of the badges I wear.

Almost 40, Australian, male, white, atheist, incredibly good-looking and charming...ahem...

I don't take pride in being white. Nor in being male. I think I've reached the point where I don't take pride in being an atheist either. Not that I'm ashamed of it either. Not in the least. It's just gone from something I thought was the start of a story to barely registering as a byline.

Weird. So, yeah...atheism...meh...

I accept you as being bored, and kinda boring.

You are "nonreligious".

OK.

Anything else?

Would you care to meet some homeless drunks I know?

Now THEY have some stories to tell...

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I accept you as being bored, and kinda boring.

You are "nonreligious".

OK.

Anything else?

Would you care to meet some homeless drunks I know?

Now THEY have some stories to tell...

Rofl...
Yeah, fair enough. I can be less boring, but a brain dump is a brain dump.
Happy to meet homeless drunks if they're happy to share the bottle as well as stories.

 

[ArtieE]

I remain, as I ever have been, an atheist. But where once I thought it was almost a badge of rationality triumphing over superstition, now I simply see it as a badge. It say about as much about me as most of the badges I wear.

If you were trying to describe your position to anybody else using the least amount of words you could simply say: "I am an irreligious atheist". That would cover your position as you describe it here.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

If you were trying to describe your position to anybody else using the least amount of words you could simply say: "I am an irreligious atheist". That would cover your position as you describe it here.

Actually, I think it would.
But given the people I'm generally around in RL, that would immediately be followed by some sort of comment like...
'Of course...that's what atheist mean!'

Erm...so...just atheist. Everyone seems to assume irreligious anyway, even though it's not stated or necessarily true. Bit of a different story somewhere like this, of course.

 

[Secret Chief]

Nice dump.

One could stick a- in front of lots of words but we don't. This particular one has clearly gained traction though.

 

[Sees]

Hey bro, thanks for this post. It brushes up against some ideas I have been pondering about recently during my daily forum browsing.

Ya' know I personally think theistic stance, thoughts, and feelings get too much spotlight. How much it influences the overall worldview, morality, etc. of a person varies so greatly. Most people in my life, and probably most others, tend to keep it tucked in pocket throughout the day - as with religiousness/irreligiousness in general. I think our real badges are our significant experiences, interactions, and connections regardless of how firm or flimsy we are on theism or atheism. It all has it's place though.

 

[Michael Colton]

I can relate to losing a certain level of emotional fervor. My worldview has not changed nor did I ever take 'pride' in being an atheist in the first place, but the level of emotional 'fire' I have about topics related to religion, atheism, antitheism, etcetera, has dwindled considerably.

I still support what I support, I am still politically involved now and then, but much of the righteous indignation is gone. Over time, I think I just realized that it did nothing productive to be emotionally charged about things all of the time.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I can relate to losing a certain level of emotional fervor. My worldview has not changed nor did I ever take 'pride' in being an atheist in the first place, but the level of emotional 'fire' I have about topics related to religion, atheism, antitheism, etcetera, has dwindled considerably.

I still support what I support, I am still politically involved now and then, but much of the righteous indignation is gone. Over time, I think I just realized that it did nothing productive to be emotionally charged about things all of the time.

Hmmm...that's similar to what I mean, but perhaps slightly different.
I think overall I'm as passionate about things as I ever was (ie. quite a bit less than angry atheism stereotypes would suggest...lol).
But being passionate about atheism seems a kinda strange notion to me now. Not just for me, but full stop.

So, I can see why people can be passionately anti-theist. Or passionately theistic. Passionately secular...humanistic...etc.
But atheism is just such an uninformative tag, ultimately.

I think it's just a case of age lending perspective. Atheism, for me, is not in any sense a reactionary position (in the way anti-theism is). Hence, no great passion. Neither is it a proactive position, in the manner of strong religious or political belief. Hence, no great passion.

 

[Michael Colton]

Hmmm...that's similar to what I mean, but perhaps slightly different.
I think overall I'm as passionate about things as I ever was (ie. quite a bit less than angry atheism stereotypes would suggest...lol).
But being passionate about atheism seems a kinda strange notion to me now. Not just for me, but full stop.

So, I can see why people can be passionately anti-theist. Or passionately theistic. Passionately secular...humanistic...etc.
But atheism is just such an uninformative tag, ultimately.

I think it's just a case of age lending perspective. Atheism, for me, is not in any sense a reactionary position (in the way anti-theism is). Hence, no great passion. Neither is it a proactive position, in the manner of strong religious or political belief. Hence, no great passion.

I would agree, though I also believe antitheists in various forms are not helped or supported by their fervor. One can be an antitheist without being a stereotypical reactionary.

But yes, someone being 'passionate about atheism' is an odd notion. It typically is a sign that they are confusing the term atheist with humanist or antitheist.

 

[s2a]

Of course!

That's what an atheist means!

 

[Leo]

Although rationally, I am an atheist, I consider myself a humanist. This is because when relating to other people, humanism has merit in terms of human relationships and how we interact. Of course, when reading scientific and les-than-scientific literature, the rational inquiry part of myself is at the forefront.
Atheism, to me, is only an identity where theism abounds. If there were no theists, the term atheism would lose its meaning. Only been out of Christianity for six months or so, but was basically atheistic for the past many years, doing my AmeriChristian dad / husband duty all the while becoming more and more skeptical of the entire religious process, not just the Bible and its god(s).
I look at it like this: Atheism is just not a theist. Rationalist or skeptic has to do with the tools of rational inquiry. And humanism has to do with how we relate to one another, and ethics.

 

[s2a]

Leo said: "I look at it like this: Atheism is just not a theist. Rationalist or skeptic has to do with the tools of rational inquiry. And humanism has to do with how we relate to one another, and ethics."

An interesting "qualification" you posit as some distinction, but it's not. Your inference, (albeit not a specific claim) is that atheists have no concerns or interest re: the human condition in general, nor specific ideals with the course of humanity. Both are false conclusions (just to be clear).

Rationalism AND skepticism are the very traits that the entirety of humanity can solely call upon as human beings to sort things out. Believing in a "god" (or "gods") is what makes our species oftentimes embrace supersticion and myth over available and testable evidences that are otherwise dispensed as unevidenced fear and ignorance. Sure, this begs the question as to whether or not an ostrich is actually safer when he buries his head in the sand, or just feels safer. As a species, we are evolved to eschew fear and embrace what is knowable, testable, and to present the best facts as we understand them today. IN virtually every available circumstance and scenario imaginable, we can speak aloud and confidently declare no need nor requisite explanation to declare "God(s) did it".

We don't

Despite every evidence known, everything has an end.
Everything.
Even matter absent and devoid of life.
Rocks. Stars. Galaxies.
Everything.

Will a "belief" in a "god", "force", "energy", "spirituality" change that?

If you "believe" it will, it may. But only as long as that "belief" survives.

 

[Revoltingest]

Almost 40, Australian, male, white, atheist, incredibly good-looking and charming...ahem...

Wow! Your almost exactly like me....except that I'm well over 40, not Austrailiastanian, hideously coarse, & socially graceless.

Anyway, atheism.....meh....not that different from so many believers. We only differ about insignificant things which don't exist.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Maybe the world would be better if everyone followed Jainism (for example)?

Almost 40, Australian, male, white, atheist, incredibly good-looking and charming...ahem...

Yes, religion has its uses and the Indian religions have stressed on things that make for a peaceful society. I am a strong atheist but not an anti-theist.

Why has Australian film industry not taken advantage of your personality?