As many current atheists, I used to be a person of faith. When I left that behind, I wondered what it was that ever made me into a beiever in the first place. I was never forced as a child to go to church, read the bible, or pray. My mother on ocassion used to go to church, but my father never, ever did. So what was it that caused me, and others I knew of like upbringing to suddenly decide that we were going to believe in something that wasn’t part of our experience to that point?
I was recently involved in a thread on Twitter concerning those that we have referred to, at least in the past, as Social Justice Warriors (SJW’s). I found that, along with myself there are many more that refuse to engage with those people because it never leads anywhere due to the fact (as I see it) the conversation is not honest. We can have disagreements, and often do, but the exchange should never devolve into name calling, even threats.
Since the new Congress has been sworn in, I’ve read a few articles about the makeup of the new body, in both houses. The concern seems to be that there are no open atheists in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. When I read stories about this I wonder what the concern happens to be exactly? It’s not like we atheists are a large voting bloc and of course, if we would like to see atheists in our Federal or State offices, atheists have to actually run for office, don’t they?
I recently read an article that caused me to pause. It is an essay in Quillette that tries to explain how and why people seem to be drawn to the spiritual even as we leave traditional religion behind. I don’t disagree that yes, more and more people are leaving the traditions of their parents and grandparents behind, and yes, there are people that want to believe in something, and gravitate to other forms of what I refer to as mumbo-jumbo, but it was one paragraph that specifically caught my attention.
Sometimes you just need a break. A day or two, sometimes longer, and that’s why we have vacation days from work. We all need a little break from the day to day, get away if we can, and have some time where we’re not thinking about anything in particular. Blogging isn’t difficult, there’s always something to write about, but on occassion, it’s important to stop typing, and just do something else for a bit to be able to come back stronger.
As we close out 2018, is there a sense with anyone that atheists have made any significant progress over the last 12 months or are we, as we have always seemed to be, left on the trash-heap of the least respected people on the planet? I always look for something positive accomplished by ahteists, either individually or more so as a group to determine if the public perception has moved positively in any way.
On social media, specifically Twitter, I’m always looking for other atheists to follow. I don’t just follow all that I see in other tweets or in recommendations, I actually look at the persons profile, as well as take a quick scan of some of their recent tweets, before I decide whether I want to follow this atheist or not. I look at the tweets mainly of course to determine what they are discussing on Twitter. Would I be interested in being part of any of those discussions? If so, then yes, I will follow that individual. If not, maybe I’ll look another time.
So I guess this is my Christmas Eve, Eve post. Something I don’t understand, are some atheists that absolutely refusing to celebrate Christmas. I know that there are some that think that if they do, then they are somehow perpetuating a religion that they have rejected. I tend to disagree. Christmas has become less a religious holiday than a cultural experience., as well as a commercial venture (which I’m sure upsets many fundamentalists).
I’m a former Evangelical. It’s been a long time since I rejected what I thought was a belief that would not only provide for me in this life, but in the next as well. When I was older, in my early 20’s, I began to question that same belief. I worked hard to believe, I wanted to believe, but after a time, not overnight, I came to the conclusion that I just could not accept what I had been told all my life was the truth.
I wonder how many reading this would agree that religion is evil. Yes, I said that. It doesn’t matter which religion it is but those countries that have majorities in one or another always seem to be exposed for what they are. It’s not love and peace, more obey what we say or else. There are still Christian countries that have laws against blasphemy. In Muslim countries, it’s actually illegal to renounce Islam – that person may be jailed, even killed.
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