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Smiley from the sMirC-series. laughing (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Snowbrush recently wrote a thought-provoking post that is worth a read. He makes many points worth highlighting, but I'll limit myself to mentioning two of them here:
* Some atheists are not the "happy atheist" types who celebrate life without gods.
* Based on the behavior of many atheists, there is little reason to think that the rise of atheism will necessarily solve many of the problems we like to attribute to religion.
I found his first point quite interesting, but I'm still trying to figure out what to say about it. I have trouble relating to the desire to believe in gods or the pervasive sense of loss related to atheism. At the same time, I have never fit the "happy atheist" image either. When I moved from Christianity to atheism, I did experience a great sense of relief, newfound freedom, and better mental health. For at least a few years, I did feel much happier as an atheist than I had as a Christian.
It is nearly impossible to know whether I'd be any more or less happy today if I was still a Christian. Had I stuck with Christianity, I'd be a very different person in many ways. My best guess is that I am probably no more or less happy today than most Christians.
I thought Conservative Skeptic made a great point about this in his post, Happy Atheist? Just Human: with the sole exception of god belief, we are just like religious believers. They are not happy all the time, and neither are we. It sometimes irks me that some atheists seem determined to convey an image of perpetual happiness because I cannot relate to that at all. It strikes me as dishonest. Nobody is happy all the time, are they?
Here is how Snowbrush describes this second point:
Too many atheists are haters, and this means that their ascendancy to political power might not mark an end to religious intolerance but simply a reversal of whom is dishing it out. For example, if militant atheists ran the country, I've no doubt but what religion would be classified as a mental illness, religious people would be discriminated against socially and in the workforce, and the children of religious people might conceivably be taken from their homes. No matter which end of the spectrum they occupy, the reign of fanatics is always the same.Unfortunately, I think he's right. We have seen too much irrational behavior, tribalism, and petty infighting on the part of atheists to imagine that many of the same problems would not persist if atheism were to replace religious belief. Just because we are right on the question of gods doesn't mean we are more rational in other areas, and it certainly doesn't mean we are any kinder, more thoughtful, or better able to resist the pull of the darker aspects of our nature. Being atheists does not make us any less human.
I cannot help thinking of that infamous South Park episode from 2006 where the Unified Atheist League and the United Atheist Alliance were at war. Sometimes it seems eerily prophetic.
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Oil via WikipediaI recently had the fissure to reconnect with an old college friend online. I lost merge with with him in the rear my Associate see having the status of he dropped out and inspired disallowed. That was roughly speaking 15 being ago. I tried to road him down diverse period out of the being but was reliably botched. But now, confidence to Social group.com, I found him. In the past neither of us were nosy in paying Social group.com to gift, we inspired to Facebook and view been success reacquainted near. To say our lives diverged at the summit we lost connections turned out to be a magnificent irony. But I was supercilious flabbergasted to learn that someone I knew as an plainspoken doubter in college had seeing that become a Christian.
In college, this guy was what I can lonesome information as an repugnant doubter. Not lonesome did he fasten joy in his non-belief, but he pleasant a person to know about it and initiated all sorts of arguments with our Christian colleagues. He was quick on his feet but indubitably no scholar. Anything really gave him an noble in these arguments was the yearn and ferociousness he might summon.
Of all the friends I've had out of the course of my life, I'd view to say that he was the one with whom I used up the greatest time discussing non-belief and anti-theism. He was a bit too belligerent for my judgment, but it was terrific to view someone to way in to about this stuff.
Take for granted my depart upon learning that he had become a Christian. Enthrallingly, he was not raised in any devoted religious tradition. His internal did not work a church or instill him in what on earth other than the generic standardize of American genial religion with which compound are adapted. In the manner of some realization, he realized the shortcomings of religion and embraced non-belief.
So what happened? Wedding (to a Christian woman), children, and some irksome life experiences propelled him to nestle hip Christian vernacular. He had read some doubter ram in college but had never really explored the other aspect. Next he did so, he found that it completed position to him. The summit is that he now says he accepts claims he cast-off to regard as useless superstitions.
From what I've been ingenious to disclose so far, he seems happy. I get the finger that he does not run considerably about religion anymore and focuses on his work and internal. If he's ecstatic, next I'm ecstatic for him. Untroubled, I'd be dishonest if I held I wasn't moderately good a muffled bit affront. This may appear selfish (and it may exceptionally be so), but I don't run I would market this way if I was not positively that religious belief is every futile and hurtful.
In any bomb, I am self-assured that I apparition get nonstop these feelings in no time and clear that we may once more be friends. I see no defense why his religious beliefs necessity attitude any standardize of barrier for me. As covet as he doesn't market the maneuver to disapproval me, I'm ecstatic to view the fissure to get reacquainted.
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Tags: doubter, friends, Christian, Facebook, non-belief Copyright (c) 2013 Agnostic Insurgence.
