I was having a conversation the other day with an acquaintance of mine and the subject of my atheism came up. I won’t go into details, but I was told that I shouldn’t advertise the fact that I’m an atheist. Now since this conversation was in a professional capacity, I was forced to bite my tongue. But this has happened before, and I have decided to use my blog as the avenue to talk about this.
Do you know any atheists? I do and of course since I am one that’s not surprising. Let me tell you something about what an atheist is, and how an atheist thinks.
First of all, many christians, upon finding out that I am an atheist, tell me that they’re going to pray for me. To an atheist this is quite offensive, and of course counter-productive. Prayer is a waste of time. I’m not going to sit here and talk to myself (or an imaginary friend) and pretend like that will solve my problems. That’s just irresponsible and childish, if I may say so.
The next point more or less directly applies to the conversation I had that inspired this post. Many religious people (in this country mostly the christians) have a very negative idea about atheists. I’ve been told that I can’t possibly be moral without belief in a god, I’ve been told that basically I should be ashamed, as if I had some sort of weakness of mind (quite the opposite actually). Let me approach these points with a list of rebuttals:
- How can you be moral without belief in a god? Let me answer that question with one of my own. Why do you need a god to be moral? You mean to tell me that the only thing that makes you a “moral” person is fear of hell/sin/whatever? The very fact that you need some sort of reason to be a moral & decent human being speaks volumes about your own idea of morality, if you even have one.
- Should I be ashamed for not believing in a god? Well, once again let me answer that question with one of my own: Are you ashamed that you do believe in a god?
- Do I have some sort of hole, or fault in my mind/heart because I don’t believe? Now this one is the interesting question, and I believe is at the very heart of the whole idea of atheism. It is precisely because I have no fault or weakness of mind that allowed me to realize my atheism. Taking control of one’s own thoughts & life is a very empowering experience, whereas giving up and saying you should just count on some sort of god is, in my opinion, a huge sign of a mental or emotional weakness.
We as human beings need to stop hoping some god will save us. Look around you! Things are pretty messed up in world right now. A blind hope or faith that everything will be OK just because some god wills it to be is bound to be the downfall of all mankind. We need to take responsibility NOW and leave outmoded, dis-proven, medieval, tribal, and ancient ideas of the world behind; so that we can solve our problems and ensure that our children (and their children) have a peaceful, clean, beautiful world in which to live.
So no, I am not ashamed to be an atheist. Nor do I have problem with “advertising” that fact. If there were more people who thought as I did, maybe things would start to look up. We’ll see.
“Faith means not wanting to know what is true.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
molly
Harriet Cotter
dotlizard
The Aviator
Eric
The Sexy Angie
Julian
Very well written, and I agree with your points of view. Good Job!
I completely agree with you!
I also completely agree… but found the whole thing incredibly boring… us Atheists need to get more imagery going, you can’t just keep talking about lacks of gods and minds and expect to keep anyone’s attention.
Even Nietzsche, for example, had Zarathustra and the eagle and serpent and snake and mountain and Jester and well, you get the idea.
@oldmixcoatl thanks for the comment! I agree, sometimes atheism can seem boring, and this is something atheists should consider. Why? Well we need some way to educate people, and the more interesting or entertaining we can make that education the more people will listen.
I realise, in an incredible display of stupidity, that I spelled atheist wrong… it’s late…
@Savage also, and I say this as a former Christian (as a child), if they’ve clung to a cycle of ritual that’s sustained them and encouraged them, it’s a much better thing to offer them a far more interesting sustenance and encouragement than to simply show that what they have is false, and therefore take it away from them.
@oldmixcoatl: no worries, I fixed it. You should be able to edit it for about 5 minutes after you post it though…
I am an atheist and I am not offended at all if a christian says they are going to pray for me. I just say, “Ok, knock yourself out”. I honestly don’t care if they do or not.
Just because they say THEY are going to pray, doesn’t mean that you are being asked to talk to yourself.
You might think it’s a waste of their time to pray, but that is their business to waste their time however they choose. It is not for them to say you should be religious, and likewise, it is not for you to say they should not be.
You seem very evangelical. With a need to convice the ‘other side’ that your views are right. Very much like christians do. I doubt this tactic will convince many christians to be atheists. In my opinion, the best service you can do the world is to lead by example by leading a good life and practicing tolerance and understanding. Remember that most christians are brainwashed and are not (for one reason or another) thinking for themselves. There are plenty of people who are ‘on the fence’, who simply need to know that they aren’t the ‘only one’ who has doubts about their religion. The more atheists that own their own non-belief in gods, and say so outright, the more accepted it will become by society in general.
@Atheist: I get offended by it because it’s meant in a wholly demeaning way 99% of the time. These people attempt to make themselves sound like better people than you, and they say they’ll pray for you as if you’re cursed, or sick, or something.
Also the greatest danger now facing mankind may not be harmless religious people, but it is definitely the type of thinking that leads people to be religious that is quite dangerous, in my opinion.
acquantaince is spelled acquaintance. =)
Now Mike, you are right of course, but ask yourself why you hate Christians. Obviously, if there were a monotheist god he would have to be reviled for producing more pain and suffering than we can possibly grasp. But Christians would point out that he had also produced all the wonderful things that Christians hate, like lust, gluttony and sloth, and also promises eternal life (or damnation). They might also point out that if their god were magically erased from history many cultural artefacts would vanish too eg the Sistine Chapel, Handel’s Messiah or Milton’s Paradise Lost.
Oh at no point do I suggest that we erase all memory of religion, just that we treat it as we treat all the other myths out there.. as something that people used to believe in.
I grew up in a christian background, and the fundamental type… those where the idea of eternal damnation was present day to day. I didn’t directly become an atheist just like that (and in fact, I don’t know if I am one still! although I do consider myself an unbeliever), but I had to go through a process of self-questioning… and I went through a christian disappointment to a church rejecting-but-christ accepting state. Finally I got over all that and I’m where I am,
What happens then? I have a lot of christian friends, and by a lot I mean most of them, and when they find out that I’m an atheist –that I backslid according to them–, they say they will also pray for me. Sometimes, they even hold my shoulder and pray in front of me. What do I do? Close my eyes, think of how stupid this waste of time is, and get over it. They’re not going to change me, and they’re too unreasonable to be changed -change requires thought.
Anyway, I think that you shouldn’t be offended when they pray for you. It’s the only solution they can think about for almost any problem, and that you’re an atheist seems like a problem to them. Just point to them that you’re not a problem, that you’re not sick, your not condemned. You’re perfectly fine and need no prayer. Tell them to sincerely dialogue with you, openminded. Respectfully.
The day you are able to do something like that, give me a call because you’ll be the first! Haha!
Next time someone tells you they’re going to pray for you, tell them you’re going to fart for them.
At least those who respond to farts are real.
“First of all, many christians, upon finding out that I am an atheist, tell me that they’re going to pray for me. To an atheist this is quite offensive…”
As an atheist, I find it offensive when other atheists try to generalize and make me out as offended by something I’m completely ambivalent towards.
Lighten up, Francis.
Allow me to further explain my statement.
Imagine I was an atheist telling a christian about my absence of belief 400 years ago. Their answer to that would not be that they will pray for me, rather they would most likely torture me, or burn me alive for my “heresy”. Now, granted this an extreme example, perhaps even a bit of hyperbole on my part.
But I would argue that the central point remains valid, that point being that a christian’s reaction to a confessed atheist is at best derision, and at worst outright hostility. The fact that nowadays this usually manifests as a hollow promise to pray for me (I’m sure they never really do) doesn’t change the fact that they are passively-aggressively judging me. Judging me to be evil, or sick, or somehow less than human.
Given that point of view, I don’t feel it’s necessary to lighten up.
You misspelled God, its with a Capital G. And you have to refer to Him with a capital letter too, or else He will get mad at you. Don’t want His anger to upset you.