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10:13pm Dec 25 2011
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Normal User
Posts: 655
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Ah, feeling a bit guilty to necro-post like this. :|
But anyways, I just decided fairly recently that I am really atheist (specifically, agnostic atheist) and felt a very joyful pang of, "Gotta join this club!" XD
But at the same time, I feel rather sad right now, actually. Where I go to school, most people are fairly tolerant (at least of atheists) so I always thought it was "normal" and a perfectly "acceptable" thing in America (as in, people didn't freak out if you were atheist.) But a few minutes ago, I just learned that atheists were in fact a minority here in the US, and that kind of makes me sad. :/ As well as feeling rather out of the loop.
When I was very, very young, I guess I basically made up my own beliefs. They weren't creationist, but rather, involved several higher beings that lived up in the sky and just helped people, and tried to stop the "bad people." But there was no afterlife, people just died if they died, unless they got extra lives (like a Mario game or something.) My parents are Buddhists (albeit follow the additional deities in addition to the philosophy) and are okay with the idea that I'm not very into religion. I'm Taiwanese (of the Mandarin Chinese sort) and I just can't read any Chinese, preventing me from ever reading any of the things that were said during temple visits. I also never really had any of the beliefs explained to me, and I never asked in fear that I'd be scolded, so I ended up just not really knowing about it. Eventually as I got older, I dropped the beliefs I made up from my younger years, and now I'm pretty much agnostic, though loosely aligning with taoist beliefs. (Come to think of it, my parents are Taoist Buddhists. Hmm.) A load of my friends were Christian but I never liked the idea of a single God, and I especially didn't like the idea of a hell. Maybe because of some of my mom's rantings I had some sort of bad impression on Christians at the time so I was subconsciously led away from Christianity in the end, but either way I also didn't like the idea of writings that, according to things on the news and media, seemed to have lots of controversies in its texts. It just bugged me. I figured I'd much rather be free to choose what to believe, which is what led me away from religion altogether. So that's my story.
My boyfriend is atheist, and my other close friends include a couple of agnostics and a Hindu (who isn't very religious anyway.) Of the people I've met, I just find people of that sort easier to talk to. And I've met so many that I even thought atheists were almost a majority. O_o
I just hate it when people cite the Bible or something when they're talking publicly (like not within a church or temple, etc.) To me, it feels like they don't realize that their religion isn't some universal standard, but rather just one of many. I don't know if I'm just overly sensitive or something, but to me it's a kind of intolerance, especially when quotes from religious texts are used as arguments or statements or such.
I went to Barcelona once and a man came up to my parents and I and tried to persuade us that Buddha was God... it really ruined my day, I never had that kind of an experience before.
I don't think humans are inherently bad (it's not like we're born wanting to kill people), but that they tend to get worse as they get older due to society. (So maybe in that sense they are terrible.) But even then, religious wars aren't just because of the manipulators, but also because of the followers who just don't know any better. I don't think that would really make them bad. Just an extra comment I wanted to make.
Sorry for all the disconnected ramblings. :/ Just kind of scrolling up and down and commenting down here. lol
they/them/theirs :)
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3:26pm Dec 27 2011
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Normal User
Posts: 98
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Maybe the surveys that cited a minority of atheist wasn't accurate. It's possible that people were more willing to just 'pick something' or there was a bias. It seems like a lot of people are atheist.
If I had to choose, I'd be a Buddhist. I have Buddhist, Christian, and Jewish friends/relatives. It's really cool. =P
I remain an atheist though, just because I don't feel like practicing. idk I don't feel any need for religion and have other things I'd rather fill time with. |
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7:15am Jan 20 2012
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Normal User
Posts: 338
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I'd like to link to an excellent (very old) blog by Joe the Peacock entitled "How to Actually Talk to Atheists (If You're Christian)." I've had Christian friends thank me for showing it to them, and at least one Christian blogger ("Bishop Alan") has also praised it and linked back to it.
http://joethepeacock.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-actually-talk-to-atheists-if.php
The ti
tle is accurate. It's not an attempt to convince anyone to lose their belief or faith. It's not written in praise of atheism. It is what it says it is: an effort to help Christians understand more about us. It's not mean or derogatory, and it's not inflammatory. Good stuff, for believers and non-believers. The more we understand each other, the easier it is to respect and love each other, right? :)
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10:53pm Mar 21 2012
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Normal User
Posts: 32
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I am an atheist as well, for many reasons, but I get along great with people of other religions as too... I've got quite a few christian and jewish friends at school!
Need a SILVER MYOTIS for Kir! Please Rmail me if you\'re selling one 8D
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11:25am Mar 24 2012
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Normal User
Posts: 655
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Jzbelle> I did check out that blog post and it's really great. lol
There are a number of Christians in my high school who unfortunately are somewhat inconsiderate. There was some guy who stood up in the middle of health class and shouted, "Bullies are possessed by Satan!" or something like that. It was horrible. But then I also hear a lot of atheists bashing Christians and then it gets bad there, too.
they/them/theirs :)
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8:46pm Mar 25 2012
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Normal User
Posts: 1,651
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I'm not Agnostic, but I am somewhat Atheist.
I know, that sounds funny, but I am a Christian, but am also seeming to doubt that there is only 'one god' and other 'god-like' figures, such as 'judge of the dead', etc. I think, [or know] that there is also somewhat out there, that may not be 'God' or what I expected. I do believe that there is an afterlife. But, I don't know, I'm sort of like, iffy. I'm not sure if that whole post made sense or not, or I'm just really too young to understand it anyway.
I am online..
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9:12pm Mar 25 2012
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Normal User
Posts: 126
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I'm an atheist. I've been one all my life.
uwu
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9:17pm Mar 25 2012
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Normal User
Posts: 655
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Ahaha, and you guys do know that last week was Atheist Week, right? XD
they/them/theirs :)
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2:12am Jul 7 2012 (last edited on 2:17am Jul 7 2012)
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Posts: 1,645
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Guys, get ready for a huge long post.
I think I just started out with no religion. I'm Chinese and I don't think the government "Officially" allows one, but most people still practice Buddhism, and other religions in china if the said religion doesn't interfere with the government. Which is silly.
My Global teacher really enlightened me this year. I realsed just how ignorant the world really was before you take an Global history class, you really don't know like everything, like you don't see the full picture until then and you don't realize that you don't see the full picture.
It's like being ethnocentric, and ignorant. All people are ethnocentric, we can't help it, it's just some people are more ethnocentric than others.
There are tons of types of ethnocentrism, this would to be easier to explain with examples.
The first type would be what most people would think like, and what the British thought when they went out to make colonies, the mentality would be like "I'm so good, I need to make everybody else just like us! They are so different from us, the must have no values and are barbaric!"
The second type was what the Chinese thought during the Ming Dynasty It was more like "We are so good, and we are so much better than everybody else, that we don't need to have anything else."
But raising children has nothing to do with religion, you are not born into your religion,you are raised into it. You base/raise your children on your culture, and it's impossible to not think about anything that has to relate to culture, your world "your oyster" is all culture.
I don't mind other regions, it as you learn you realize how similar the other regions are to one another, so you realize just now not different they are.
Like Judaism is the mother religion if you will, Christianity branched off from that, then Islamic religions also branched off from that. They all have the same word for "God"
"Allah" "Yahweh" and "Jehovah" all mean the same thing.
My teacher said the most true thing "The competition between Muslims and Christian can be seen as a form of sibling rivalry!" I when the bible said that everybody is related to someone is true after all.
and Jesus Christ is called "Christ" and Christians are called "Christians" not because "Christ" is Jesus's last name, but because Christ means savior, and Jesus is Jewish!
I'm don't think I have too much opinion in what I wrote, I think more fact? I just feel like if people knew all the facts they would be less likely to judge everybody so fast and be more accepting, I think the more you know, the less you fight, because you understand each other and there is no need for fighting anymore.
Yep, I think that's it.
I'm sure there are many other things I can go on about but lD who would want a history lesson from me right?
[edited spelling errors]
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6:26pm Jul 21 2012
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Normal User
Posts: 195
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This is extremely personal, but there is literally no where else for me to talk about this without being harassed.
Note: I'm not trying to pick on Christianity in particular, it just happens to be the religion I have the most experience with.
I'm a closet agnostic. I was raised Christian (no particular denomination), just that I'm supposed to believe there's one God who loves me, and if I do bad things I'll burn in Hell. I keep my non-belief a secret because I live in the Bible Belt (southern USA). One awkward situation where I lied to protect myself: At work a random woman asked me about what church I go to (I said no, I work two jobs + college = busy) and then she asked if I knew Jesus (I answered yes, I know his teachings). I know she just wanted to save me/follow her beliefs, but I hate it. If I went around asking people around here if they knew the teachings of Islam, Hinduism, or any other religion, they'd be offended. It was okay to pass out Bibles at my public high school, but people would be all in arms if a Quran or Torah was passed out. If I came out about believing what I do, I'd be told how wrong I am, followed around by people trying to save me, etc. I'd rather peacefully live my current life than worry about one that has no proof if it exists at all. This is not to say I don't believe there could be a higher power. If there is something, I want proof. If the god/gods are so powerful as many religions make it/them seem, sending down one sign of proof wouldn't be too hard... but that is why it's called faith, and that's why I don't have it.
I've studied so many religions/history that I find them all to be systems to help people cope (give people a moral code to live by)/explain natural events. Who says that out of 100+ religions, the one I just so happened to be raised with is the true one? I find that very self-centered and egocentric. I'm more likely to listen to someone who has studied/questioned many religions and chosen one of their own will than listen to someone who blindly accepts what they were taught since birth. I'm scared to tell my parents and a close family friend who is extremely religious, who I know will freak out and probably hire someone to exorcize the house. I sometimes think it would be better to reveal what I believe on my death bed than let it be known now. I've seen it spread love, but I've seen more of the hate. I despise using religion to hurt people. I despise using religion to tell me I have no morals. I just want it to go away in my life. :(
Something will be here eventually.
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12:43am May 10 2013 (last edited on 12:47am May 10 2013)
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Posts: 4,093
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Hello everyone. <3
I love what a quiet, respectful fanclub this is. Thank you for putting in that religion is not to be bashed or flamed, Fizzeh. Religions aren't inherently evil-- only people can turn it into a bad thing for themselves and others, depending on their actions.
I myself am an atheist and always have been. I don't believe in any higher power and I don't believe there's a possibility of it existing. That said, I completely respect people who do, as long as they also respect my lack of beliefs. My best friend growing up and still now is Christian and I have good friends who are Muslim and Hindu. I have open, friendly discussions about their religions and not once have we had any issues. I actually enjoy learning about them, I just don't believe the stories they tell actually happened, and they respect that.
I love everyone's thoughtful posts here. Friendly Atheists abound ;o; I know some religious people are the root of many of the world's social problems right now, but I'm so glad to know that there are people who don't judge the entire religion based on those groups.
I do hate that religion has become an organization for many people, though, and I hate the organization that it is. Like the Pope. Oh, how I hate the Pope.
I also dislike the inbalance in religions. Christianity may be a majority, but that doesn't mean it should be privileged and valued over others. There are advertisements in my city transit buses for Christianity-- quotes and all that. But if one put up an Atheist ad, there would be protests. If one put up a Muslim ad, there would be outrage.
And that makes me angrier than most things.
So hello! <3 Time to bring this thread back.
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Eh, Kitty, I agree completely. I'm sorry you have to hide like that. When you do tell them, make sure you are living by yourself on a stable income so that they cannot do anything to punish you, such as making your home life terrible.
  
Dustfeather -> Sparrow -> Universe |
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