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Deidre's Journey

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
So, I'm not great with keeping up with journals but this one, I would really like to keep it going as to keep up with my experiences now. I think after leaving faith five years ago, and eventually identifying as an atheist, I didn't realize how empty I would feel after being tested with something like my grandmother's death. Fast forward to now, and after returning to faith a little over a year ago, I realize that much of my belief system is really little more than a security blanket and wishful thinking.

I'm tired of my mind logically identifying as an atheist but my heart afraid to leave the pseudo-comforts of faith. I convinced myself that I had a spiritual experience in order to feel that comfort, again.

Time to get real and if I'm going to identify as an atheist, then I'll have to find ways to cope with the stresses of everyday life as one.

Back on the path to self discovery.
Welcome back!
May equanimity replace the stress.
 

The Holy Bottom Burp

Active Member
I have no religion either, but religion or no death of loved ones is just a hard thing to deal with. I'd question the level of "comfort" people get from religion when faced with the death of a loved one, religious people cry at funerals too, even if their religion says the "departed" is now in paradise. Religion can look a touch two dimensional in the face of death, it does to me anyway, so I don't bother with it.

I'm at a time in my life when I've not had to deal with the death of many people I love, but unless I'm hit by a bus tomorrow I expect to be dealing with a lot more in the future. I cant say I'm looking forward to it, but I expect I'll deal with it in the way most people do. I'll grieve (and grieving is so important to release the emotion) but then I'll remember with warmth the sunshine that person brought into my life, into the world. Then I'll smile again.

Religion doesn't matter, people matter.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
I'm not to good in replying to a full post. I have to chop it up to understand it.
So, I'm not great with keeping up with journals but this one, I would really like to keep it going as to keep up with my experiences now. I think after leaving faith five years ago, and eventually identifying as an atheist, I didn't realize how empty I would feel after being tested with something like my grandmother's death. Fast forward to now, and after returning to faith a little over a year ago, I realize that much of my belief system is really little more than a security blanket and wishful thinking.

That, I understand. Though, mine was a bit backwards. I had the comfort before my grandmother passed and after she did, that's when I awakened to the religion I had practice wasn't one that spoke to my heart just to my emotions. I lifestyle that helps with both and a security blank helps.

I'm tired of my mind logically identifying as an atheist but my heart afraid to leave the pseudo-comforts of faith. I convinced myself that I had a spiritual experience in order to feel that comfort, again.

Let me ask (someone asked me this when I stopped practicing Catholicism), what experience did you want to have that you felt was "pseudo"? Someone told me that not all Catholics define god the same way. I was shocked. People define god in the way that speaks to them.

What is the difference between a real experience and a fake one?

In spirituality, experiences aren't like a science. If they speak to your emotions, maybe that's what was supposed to happen. If someone almost stepped on my foot and I said ouch even though they didn't touch me, that "pain" and reaction isn't wrong or fake. Another perspective it just means I'm glad my body is working to where if they did step on my toe I'd realize it before it gets worse.

Emotions pseudo or not plays a lot in spirituality, especially in supernatural religions. Christianity is just one of many but I don't see a need to label yourself atheist. You can still have the emotional experiences and not attribute them to any god. It's just your relationship with life. Attribute them through gratitude.

Time to get real and if I'm going to identify as an atheist, then I'll have to find ways to cope with the stresses of everyday life as one.

Do you think identifying yourself as an atheist would help?

Once can be realistic with identification and say if I spent my paycheck on going to the movies and forgot I need to buy food, that stress of being broke is my lack of responsibility rather than the devil. If I did something that benefited me to where my values were uplifted, that was my action rather than god's.

It's not quite an atheist thing, in my opinion. It just means if you don't have another religion you're attributing what happens around you to the actual physical and emotional cause you can test in this life. It's just taking god out of the attribution equation.

I honestly don't know how one can identify as an atheist. I do know that being an atheist, I guess, lets you see life as it really is and it takes a lot more effort to see the good nature in life than one would if they believed in god. Since god is already defined, there is no work on the believer. When one is an non religious atheist, finding gratitude is a bit harder.

I think you can do it. I understand the need to identify. In general, though, it's an option. If you honestly don't believe in god, find your values and beliefs and use them as foundations for your actions.

"When your values are clear to you, making decisions become easier." ~Anonymous
 

RoaringSilence

Active Member
So, I'm not great with keeping up with journals but this one, I would really like to keep it going as to keep up with my experiences now. I think after leaving faith five years ago, and eventually identifying as an atheist, I didn't realize how empty I would feel after being tested with something like my grandmother's death. Fast forward to now, and after returning to faith a little over a year ago, I realize that much of my belief system is really little more than a security blanket and wishful thinking.

I'm tired of my mind logically identifying as an atheist but my heart afraid to leave the pseudo-comforts of faith. I convinced myself that I had a spiritual experience in order to feel that comfort, again.

Time to get real and if I'm going to identify as an atheist, then I'll have to find ways to cope with the stresses of everyday life as one.

Back on the path to self discovery.
forget all isms , focus on you - what would i be like as an atheist = a happy person . what would i be as theist = a happy person. then pick any ism and adopt what is useful for evolving /expanding your qualities.
if your brand of theism is fear/reward based ..( fear of hell fire / ticket to heaven ) then you need to come to terms with your fear or greed of reward .. ask yourself if you are strong enough to never fear ..are you easily swayed by greed of rewards .. can you live with a god that is angry or jealous for getting no worship for eternity.
if you find yourself short of the courage to step out and you feel you want the easier deal in order to stay happy. then don't quit...and re program back into faith ...shut all doors to any challenges.
if your brand of theism is karma/re-births based - then ask yourself do i care what will happen to me in next lifes ? and if you feel you have the courage to take responsibility of your actions in any number of lives.
if the truth of today is divided on some believing in x others in y ..then you did nothing wrong by making 1 or the other choice or none at all.
 

Deidre

Well-Known Member
Thank you for your comments and thoughts to what I'm going through. It's not as bad as it might sound. lol I've been through a spiritual type of ''journey'' before, and that's when I eventually identified as an atheist. Agnostic, but an atheist, then. For those who were raised by very religious parents, you know how fear can be used as a tool to create belief. To manufacture belief. After all of the exploring of different faith beliefs, and coming back to Christianity, and now realizing that all along I've really been most afraid to just stand on my own,facing life's stresses...despite the fear...has been really sobering and kind of exciting, all in one.

I think about ISIS and how they believe that their beliefs instruct them to kill non-believers, homosexuals, non-Muslims, etc. And then there are all the innocent middle eastern Christians, who believe that if they die at the hands of ISIS, they are somehow martyrs. I can't help but wonder, what kind of God would want this for his children? Why are the Abrahamic faiths so built around fear, violence, enslavement, etc. The OT is not a kind book, and even before I abandoned faith the first time, I never took the Bible entirely literally. It sounds more like a bunch of depraved mad men in some chapters who wanted an excuse for their depravity. The NT is way more promising, but why is the world in need of a savior? Why is it necessary to have a human sacrifice atone for everyone's sins? The problem with Jesus' death and resurrection is that as a Christian, you are still required to do this...this...and that...in order to be considered ''worthy'' of heaven. Fundamentalists will say that if you just believe, you will be born again, and saved. I thought I believed that, this time around...but, it still doesn't make sense to the rest of the story. If God wanted a fool-proof story to make sense to his people, why does it never seem to make sense? Why is there so much violence between varying religions, competing for who has the right belief?

So, much of my issue comes in that my mind doesn't match up with my heart. My heart can make excuses for the Bible, for Christianity, for blind faith, but my mind can't. And I guess where I'm at with it all, is that I can no longer believe like that. I can still tell myself that God is there, he loves me, he's looking out for me, etc...but I'd have to recreate who God even is to me, at this point. And then it still comes back...he's a mere invention of my mind. If I feel God is love, he is? If I feel God is about judgement and reward, he is? He can't be all things to us all. If he is, then he's nothing at all. Just a creation to comfort us.

So, that's where I'm at. :heart:
 

Deidre

Well-Known Member
forget all isms , focus on you - what would i be like as an atheist = a happy person . what would i be as theist = a happy person. then pick any ism and adopt what is useful for evolving /expanding your qualities.
if your brand of theism is fear/reward based ..( fear of hell fire / ticket to heaven ) then you need to come to terms with your fear or greed of reward .. ask yourself if you are strong enough to never fear ..are you easily swayed by greed of rewards .. can you live with a god that is angry or jealous for getting no worship for eternity.
if you find yourself short of the courage to step out and you feel you want the easier deal in order to stay happy. then don't quit...and re program back into faith ...shut all doors to any challenges.
if your brand of theism is karma/re-births based - then ask yourself do i care what will happen to me in next lifes ? and if you feel you have the courage to take responsibility of your actions in any number of lives.
if the truth of today is divided on some believing in x others in y ..then you did nothing wrong by making 1 or the other choice or none at all.

If there is a god, how can he be all things to us all? Wouldn't he just be then, what we want him to be? Or expect him to be?

If there is a god, I have a feeling none of us are even close to guessing what he might be. That's why religions are dangerous, they create concepts of gods, but only as far as a human's imagination can take that god. If you are a ruthless dictator, you might think that a god would be similar to you. If you are a loving, benevolent soul, your god might reflect that imagery.

I'm reminded of Nietzsche's quote: ''Is man merely a mistake of God? Or is God merely a mistake of man?''

I understand what you're saying, though.
 

RoaringSilence

Active Member
Thank you for your comments and thoughts to what I'm going through. It's not as bad as it might sound. lol I've been through a spiritual type of ''journey'' before, and that's when I eventually identified as an atheist. Agnostic, but an atheist, then. For those who were raised by very religious parents, you know how fear can be used as a tool to create belief. To manufacture belief. After all of the exploring of different faith beliefs, and coming back to Christianity, and now realizing that all along I've really been most afraid to just stand on my own,facing life's stresses...despite the fear...has been really sobering and kind of exciting, all in one.

I think about ISIS and how they believe that their beliefs instruct them to kill non-believers, homosexuals, non-Muslims, etc. And then there are all the innocent middle eastern Christians, who believe that if they die at the hands of ISIS, they are somehow martyrs. I can't help but wonder, what kind of God would want this for his children? Why are the Abrahamic faiths so built around fear, violence, enslavement, etc. The OT is not a kind book, and even before I abandoned faith the first time, I never took the Bible entirely literally. It sounds more like a bunch of depraved mad men in some chapters who wanted an excuse for their depravity. The NT is way more promising, but why is the world in need of a savior? Why is it necessary to have a human sacrifice atone for everyone's sins? The problem with Jesus' death and resurrection is that as a Christian, you are still required to do this...this...and that...in order to be considered ''worthy'' of heaven. Fundamentalists will say that if you just believe, you will be born again, and saved. I thought I believed that, this time around...but, it still doesn't make sense to the rest of the story. If God wanted a fool-proof story to make sense to his people, why does it never seem to make sense? Why is there so much violence between varying religions, competing for who has the right belief?

So, much of my issue comes in that my mind doesn't match up with my heart. My heart can make excuses for the Bible, for Christianity, for blind faith, but my mind can't. And I guess where I'm at with it all, is that I can no longer believe like that. I can still tell myself that God is there, he loves me, he's looking out for me, etc...but I'd have to recreate who God even is to me, at this point. And then it still comes back...he's a mere invention of my mind. If I feel God is love, he is? If I feel God is about judgement and reward, he is? He can't be all things to us all. If he is, then he's nothing at all. Just a creation to comfort us.

So, that's where I'm at. :heart:
well imo its a great place to be.. you are perfectly placed to seek and explore which is always a positive thing..now you could choose to find out on your own or take help from others ,..take a flower from every bouquet , make one of your own and sell it as Deidre's bouquet ..or don't market it just collect and tell no one and let them wonder why you smell so fragrant.
 

Deidre

Well-Known Member
I'm not to good in replying to a full post. I have to chop it up to understand it.
lol Hi Carlita :D


That, I understand. Though, mine was a bit backwards. I had the comfort before my grandmother passed and after she did, that's when I awakened to the religion I had practice wasn't one that spoke to my heart just to my emotions. I lifestyle that helps with both and a security blank helps.



Let me ask (someone asked me this when I stopped practicing Catholicism), what experience did you want to have that you felt was "pseudo"? Someone told me that not all Catholics define god the same way. I was shocked. People define god in the way that speaks to them.

What is the difference between a real experience and a fake one?

In spirituality, experiences aren't like a science. If they speak to your emotions, maybe that's what was supposed to happen. If someone almost stepped on my foot and I said ouch even though they didn't touch me, that "pain" and reaction isn't wrong or fake. Another perspective it just means I'm glad my body is working to where if they did step on my toe I'd realize it before it gets worse
I agree, but we can love people, animals, nature...why do we need to create a supreme being, or the idea of one, to feel love?

Emotions pseudo or not plays a lot in spirituality, especially in supernatural religions. Christianity is just one of many but I don't see a need to label yourself atheist. You can still have the emotional experiences and not attribute them to any god. It's just your relationship with life. Attribute them through gratitude.
I agree, I'm not ready to label or identify with it just yet, but my mind is there. It's been there for a while, but my heart needed more. :( But, now...I don't want fear or lack of what I'm familiar with, to be mistaken for love of a god. On some level, maybe I'll always hope that a god exists, hope is a very good thing. But, we also live in the real world, and it's important to view ourselves as capable, and not wait for an outside being to swoop down and save the day.

Do you think identifying yourself as an atheist would help?
It would probably be more ''true'' to how I'm thinking about it all now, than not. But, I have a friend who is a spiritual atheist...and that I can totally get. I believe we are all connected, and that the unknown is very mysterious and exciting to think about it. I don't only live for the now, but I think about the footprint I'll leave behind. That kind of connection to the universe makes sense to me.

Once can be realistic with identification and say if I spent my paycheck on going to the movies and forgot I need to buy food, that stress of being broke is my lack of responsibility rather than the devil. If I did something that benefited me to where my values were uplifted, that was my action rather than god's.

It's not quite an atheist thing, in my opinion. It just means if you don't have another religion you're attributing what happens around you to the actual physical and emotional cause you can test in this life. It's just taking god out of the attribution equation.
If you remove god from the equation...in every single equation in your life where you placed him, would the outcome of those events have gone differently? Would you be different? I think for me, that in some ways, faith has weakened me, in terms of not being able to make sound decisions. I'm often torn all the time and second guessing, always feeling unworthy. Christianity has a way of making believers feel like without God, we are nothing. On some level, that sounds beautiful but on another level, it can erode one's self confidence, in a very slow subtle way.

I honestly don't know how one can identify as an atheist. I do know that being an atheist, I guess, lets you see life as it really is and it takes a lot more effort to see the good nature in life than one would if they believed in god. Since god is already defined, there is no work on the believer. When one is an non religious atheist, finding gratitude is a bit harder.
I know far more Christians who judge everyone, and see the 'plank in their brother's eye and not their own' ...than atheists. That's a fact. lol

I think you can do it. I understand the need to identify. In general, though, it's an option. If you honestly don't believe in god, find your values and beliefs and use them as foundations for your actions.

"When your values are clear to you, making decisions become easier." ~Anonymous
I think that my values will always be my own. I don't need the ten commandments to keep me in line, and it's amazing that way back when, people actually needed them. But, in all honesty...is it more likely that two tablets of rules came from a burning bush, or were they just sound and just laws to keep the masses under control...but the idea of an angry god was tossed in to bring about more obedience? lol
 

Deidre

Well-Known Member
well imo its a great place to be.. you are perfectly placed to seek and explore which is always a positive thing..now you could choose to find out on your own or take help from others ,..take a flower from every bouquet , make one of your own and sell it as Deidre's bouquet ..or don't market it just collect and tell no one and let them wonder why you smell so fragrant.

This is so beautiful, I love how you worded this. :)
 

RoaringSilence

Active Member
If there is a god, how can he be all things to us all? Wouldn't he just be then, what we want him to be? Or expect him to be?

If there is a god, I have a feeling none of us are even close to guessing what he might be. That's why religions are dangerous, they create concepts of gods, but only as far as a human's imagination can take that god. If you are a ruthless dictator, you might think that a god would be similar to you. If you are a loving, benevolent soul, your god might reflect that imagery.

I'm reminded of Nietzsche's quote: ''Is man merely a mistake of God? Or is God merely a mistake of man?''

I understand what you're saying, though.
if i gave you these answers i could be leading you towards one side or the other..so that would be a bias'd view.
. if i read your reason to quit correctly .."you Realized" that it wasn't the right path. now..trust the very same "realization" and turn it up a notch .. the same force that made you "realize" that you were in the wrong spot ..hasn't left..its been with you always ..and shall remain..so turn towards THAT and the answers will pull you where you belong ..
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
lol Hi Carlita :D


I agree, but we can love people, animals, nature...why do we need to create a supreme being, or the idea of one, to feel love?

I agree, I'm not ready to label or identify with it just yet, but my mind is there. It's been there for a while, but my heart needed more. :( But, now...I don't want fear or lack of what I'm familiar with, to be mistaken for love of a god. On some level, maybe I'll always hope that a god exists, hope is a very good thing. But, we also live in the real world, and it's important to view ourselves as capable, and not wait for an outside being to swoop down and save the day.

It would probably be more ''true'' to how I'm thinking about it all now, than not. But, I have a friend who is a spiritual atheist...and that I can totally get. I believe we are all connected, and that the unknown is very mysterious and exciting to think about it. I don't only live for the now, but I think about the footprint I'll leave behind. That kind of connection to the universe makes sense to me.

If you remove god from the equation...in every single equation in your life where you placed him, would the outcome of those events have gone differently? Would you be different? I think for me, that in some ways, faith has weakened me, in terms of not being able to make sound decisions. I'm often torn all the time and second guessing, always feeling unworthy. Christianity has a way of making believers feel like without God, we are nothing. On some level, that sounds beautiful but on another level, it can erode one's self confidence, in a very slow subtle way.

I know far more Christians who judge everyone, and see the 'plank in their brother's eye and not their own' ...than atheists. That's a fact. lol

I think that my values will always be my own. I don't need the ten commandments to keep me in line, and it's amazing that way back when, people actually needed them. But, in all honesty...is it more likely that two tablets of rules came from a burning bush, or were they just sound and just laws to keep the masses under control...but the idea of an angry god was tossed in to bring about more obedience? lol

I'ma come back and re-read, but I was thinking of how I handled the two. In my case, it was a bit more easy because I didn't have a religious background and/or indoctrinated as many ex-christians are. The four year indoctrination was enough for me! Good experiences but I can see why people would have bad views on it given the nature of Christianity and/or the Church.

What I did going back to CA (Anonymous), I studied the bible, then I really reflected what and who I thought god really was. I never believed in god so I never got that head start; but, they defined him as jesus and I believed in spirits so that kinda worked out. Then as I reflected, I realize beyond a symbolic view, god is life.

If you think about it, you don't have to drop your belief in god because if you replace life in every place where god is in scripture and the church (and make pronouns It rather than He), it's the same thing.

When life loves you (or you find love in life), you have the benefits of gratitude and salvation of your self in return.

When you go to church you are going to a group of people/body/mass that worships or that communes in gratitude and love for life as one body.

When you read scripture and see god so loved the world, you think god? How can god love the world? Then you think, wait, god can't be separate from his creation. He is an image of his creation. Mirror. So, basically life is loving life. It's a tongue twister. It's combobulated way of saying life in itself is a product of love and that love is a product of life itself. The creator (personified life) is basically a cultural way of saying you are loved.

You don't have to drop that as an self-acclaimed atheist. To me, the only thing you're really dropping is interacting with the community and using language that you don't identify with. Heaven is when you die with a smile. Hell is when you have regrets or unrepented things that separate you from life. No one knows what the afterlife may bring.

As an atheist you don't have to drop the heaven/hell thing because it just means either you're connected to love/life or you're not. Just people want to die with a smile. My grandfather and grandmother passed away smiling.

I don't know what denomination you went to as a christian, but if I went back, I'd be catholic. For me, I'd have to learn how to identify with god/life as I know it by experience and I have to identify with sacrifice and salvation/eucharist by how I live my life for the good and repent/forgive myself and others for the things I've done that broke humanity not just myself. The Church teaches all of that. I just wish they didn't use death of millions and sacrifice of a person to do so. Shrugs.

But being an atheist, you don't have to drop that. It's just different terminology. When you go against your values (sin), you learn how to forgive yourself and forgive others if need be. It's a gratitude for living and when you separate yourself by that sin, you separate yourself from love and that love is life itself (if we want to think of it that way).

As an atheist, you can still repent. You can still be saved. You can still worship. In my opinion, it's really the community and language you may have friction with because they want to do and say things X way when you only understand them in Y way.

That's okay.

On RF, you see so many definitions of god that as a strong atheist myself, I just throw my hands up and say "huh??" Okayeee... if you guys say so. The closest I got was Brahma but then that's just surface level. Pagan gods, forget it.

Anyway, the meaning and influence of christianity you don't have to give up as an atheist. It's mainly the community, scripture, and language that is different not your connection with it if you still feel that. My connection was broken when I studied the history of Christianity, it's influence on our societal laws, equality of people for centuries, and how it influences people in my immediate environment. I can't represent christianity.

But everyone is different. Reflection is good. I love labels. Lesbian is cool, but I'm a gay woman instead. Some people use Queer. It's a personal choice. To me, it defines me in all aspects not just sexuality.

If atheist does that for you, go for it!

The only thing that can stop you is falling asleep reading my post. :p
 

Deidre

Well-Known Member
@Carlita - It's interesting, we have some parallels to our lives, so you understand me. :) I will say though, that I won't need to repent, for I will be my very own goddess! Buwahahaha!
Venus.png


(isn't this what non-atheists think of atheists? lol) jk! There are beautiful things within Christianity, but you know what? Those are human things. Human creations. Humanity is quite beautiful, and if a god created us...which it's possible ...I just don't think it's Christianity's version, anymore. I really think I'm officially done with religion, at the very least. lol

@syncretic - true! I think part of the reason is our culture is saturated in faith based laws and beliefs. One of my friends who is an atheist, and has always been an atheist, often says that he feels like an outcast when he tells people who ask his beliefs, that he's an atheist. Which is weird, considering atheists make up the third largest organized group in the world, now....next to Christianity and Islam. :dizzy:
 
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sayak83

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
So, I'm not great with keeping up with journals but this one, I would really like to keep it going as to keep up with my experiences now. I think after leaving faith five years ago, and eventually identifying as an atheist, I didn't realize how empty I would feel after being tested with something like my grandmother's death. Fast forward to now, and after returning to faith a little over a year ago, I realize that much of my belief system is really little more than a security blanket and wishful thinking.

I'm tired of my mind logically identifying as an atheist but my heart afraid to leave the pseudo-comforts of faith. I convinced myself that I had a spiritual experience in order to feel that comfort, again.

Time to get real and if I'm going to identify as an atheist, then I'll have to find ways to cope with the stresses of everyday life as one.

Back on the path to self discovery.
Wish you the best. I would recommend humanist resources as New atheist ones focus too much anti theism and science.
 

Deidre

Well-Known Member
Perhaps some day you will find the path/religion, whether it is theistic or non-theistic, that serves to help you flourish in life without feeling like a security blanket. When you do find that, it is an amazing thing. Know that you are definitely not alone in struggling with the issue of human deaths. How cultures handle the issue of death is not really a function of (a)theism, though it might be a function of religion and of culture. As a culture, I gotta say Americans are really darned dysfunctional when it comes to dealing with human deaths. But a rant about that definitely doesn't belong here, so I'll end with offering my blessings on your life's journey. :D

Hiiii!! :) I hope you're doing well. Thank you for saying this, and yes, we don't handle death too well in the states. lol But, it isn't so much death that we struggle with, as much as the huge void of where the loved one was, that we desperately try to fill? My grandmother sheltered me from how my dad (her son) treated me, and while I've grown to love my dad now, it wasn't always the case, so she was always there for me. My mom has always been there, too, but my grandmother - ah, she just got me. She never judged me. When she died, as an atheist then, I really struggled. And then a few months later, a friend had died, so it was a weird year of turmoil, and emptiness. But, that is part of life...pain is part of life, it shouldn't be something that we try to escape into something else. I'm actually past the pain of it all now, it's been over two years, but now I see why I ran looking for answers, but the answers were always in me. :blush:
 

Deidre

Well-Known Member
Wish you the best. I would recommend humanist resources as New atheist ones focus too much anti theism and science.
Thank you :)
When I identified as an atheist the first time, I had this need to ''preach'' to others ...guide them away from faith. Dare I say, argue with theists, at first. But, that's not fair of me, considering I totally understand why people cling to faith, and it's not wrong, really...it's just wrong for me. And that's how I see it. I don't want to become Dawkins-esque in my approach to it all, I feel differently now.and don't believe that anyone can ''correct'' another in their beliefs or lack thereof. You have to come to the answers on your own.
 

sayak83

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
Thank you :)
When I identified as an atheist the first time, I had this need to ''preach'' to others ...guide them away from faith. Dare I say, argue with theists, at first. But, that's not fair of me, considering I totally understand why people cling to faith, and it's not wrong, really...it's just wrong for me. And that's how I see it. I don't want to become Dawkins-esque in my approach to it all, I feel differently now.and don't believe that anyone can ''correct'' another in their beliefs or lack thereof. You have to come to the answers on your own.

As a friendly suggestion the term "clinging to faith" conjures a bunch of desperate people clutching at straws to prevent drowning and comes off a slightly patronizing and often incorrect.

If you look to develop a comprehensive worldview to buttress your atheistic inclinations I would recommend that you mine the excellent philosophical thoughts (religious and secular) of both East and West along with science.
To that end I am linking an excellent podcast series where professional philosophers cover all of Western, Islamic and Indian philosophy.

https://historyofphilosophy.net

Specifically on current thoughts on science and naturalism, the series of video discussions below would be an excellent resource

Moving Naturalism Forward: Video

Finally if you love science, one cannot do better than the world science festival videos
Video Library | World Science Festival

Happy exploring!
 

Deidre

Well-Known Member
That's true @sayak83 - ''clinging'' was a bit much. Maybe...clutching? :D

jk!!

I clung to faith, and had someone called me out on that, I wonder if I would have been offended. Hmmm.

Good night, friends. Thanks for listening and being here for me!!


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