Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?
Comments
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Brenda,
'Atheists believe that in life there is an element of chance. Accidents happen, it is not a sign of the wrath of God. Atheists take comfort in knowing that there is NO PLAN.'
Strongly agree with that comment.
The second one, 'Atheists often have relationships with people who have alternate lifestyles.' I am not sure it is necessarily true. I believe that there is tolerance of alternate lifestyle, there isn't a written rule of what is lifestyle is good or bad. There are a lot of atheist where I live, some pretend to be alternative, but mostly just a lot of scientists and scholars, married with kids and pets, mostly cats,
.You don't mention the belief in creationism versus evolution. Isn't that at the root of the differences?
Refreshing thread.
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Larousse,
Thanks for the comment. I'm not sure if evolution vs creationism is at the root of the difference, but you're definitely right that atheists don't believe in creationism! I'll put that on my list of "talking points."
I had started the list in a random order, and after I posted here I changed the order so that the beginning points were more specific to atheism, and the later points more in general for a liberal religion. The point regarding alternative lifestyle was in the second group after the shuffle, as I think that there are theists who still can be liberal about lifestyle, adopting a view of god as a creator who loves all his "children." I had a lesbian Catholic friend a while back, and I felt like I had to do mental gymnastics to follow her logic around her religious belief, but there you go!
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We just got the book Godless in America in the mail today...
Should prove interesting reading
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I believe ...
... in the power of walking on the beach on a perfectly clear day and pretending that I'm a person not a patient. So restoring.
that's all
susan0 -
I appreciated reading your comments. The pain kindness can bring is sometimes too much. I sometimes feel it is just easier to deal with BC without a lot of people knowing. Letting some loved ones know is often much to emotional for me but I feel this obligation to care for them and I know they will be hurt at some point if I don't tell them. I feel that having a strong unquestioning belief in religion must make things easier but I don't have this nor will I.
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I appreciated reading your comments. The pain kindness can bring is sometimes too much. I sometimes feel it is just easier to deal with BC without a lot of people knowing. Letting some loved ones know is often much to emotional for me but I feel this obligation to care for them and I know they will be hurt at some point if I don't tell them. I feel that having a strong unquestioning belief in religion must make things easier but I don't have this nor will I.
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Yes Gardenlady, I feel too that the obligation to care for the loved ones through is hard, and I wish now that I had told fewer of them. Some of them end up hurting me with their inability to cope, so it would have been better if they didn't know after all.
Like the atheist list thing we have going on! I agree with your points Brenda, and with the addition of evolution. I have to come clean here now and confess that I am either an atheist or a pagan....in other words there is either no divine or multiple divinities. I just don't know which yet. I suppose technically that makes me agnostic.
One thing I'm sure of is that my breast cancer sure as hell is no "God's plan" for me, as I've been told by well-meaning friends.
Enjoy coming back to this thread.
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Well, of course I can't stay quiet when the talk turns to cats. Little Cleo came to us from a Rescue organization on December 2, 2007. I thought I saw something back of her ear (she is black) and put some Neosporin on it. The next few days, the spot got bigger. Long story short, I took her to the vet and it was ringworm. I had to keep her in the garage all alone (I spent as much time with her as I could, but remember, now it is 2 weeks before Christmas). I had to give her medicine twice a day and bath her 3 times a week with SULPHUR, poor little thing, she never scratched me or anything. What a wonderful cat she was, and she didn't really know me from Adam.
Fast forward, she is adorable. She plays with our Whippet, tries to do what he does, all he knows to do with her is bring a toy, stand in front of her and wag his tail. Nothing happens, so he turns around and leaves and she jumps on him. It is hilarious. They are best friends. She tries to carry things in her mouth like he does, and just yesterday, she tried to play with one of his toys, just not her thing. She loves water, rushes into the bathroom when anyone is there and has fallen in the tub twice. She was reaching for the water. She also sticks her paws into any drink she sees, obviously, this is a problem! We know where those feet have been!
It had been so much fun with her, she is black with 4 white feet and completely white whiskers. She had a white belly and a half ring around her neck. But when she sits on a black chair, tucks her paws under her, and closes her eyes, she is invisible. 3 times, in the morning, she has very gently tried to open my eyes. I feel this feather like paw, gently pulling my eyelids up. I did not believe this the first time, but the second time, it blew me away. Needless to say, we love her to death.
Gentle hugs, Shirlann
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Shirlann, what a cute cat that Cleo is. My wandering Choco is having a wonderful time now that it's warm and folks are out bar-b-quing. He'll show up at any party and beg for a juicy morsel of meat. What a spoiled baby!
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Just noticed this thread and wanted to say that I am somewhere in the atheist fold and find it particularly hard to have friends and family telling me to pray for support. My 85 year old mother is a product of her environment but the rest of them are aware of my ideas on religion. I get my true support from friends who have survived cancer and my husband and son who believe as I do. Today my hair is beginning to drop out steadily and I sure wish science would come up with a solution for that!
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collector, I am with you. I find it hard to keep quiet sometimes. This has been on my mind a lot lately and I often feel like I don't belong or I feel odd that God is mentioned so much on these threads. I wasn't raised in the US and find it difficult to get used to. I respect everybody's belief but I don't want to always hear about it.
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Hi, Collector and Larousse, and welcome,
I think that "Godspeak" has become much more common and acceptable in the last eight to ten years. Or, it could be that's about the time I started being bothered by it. We're certainly not going to change anyone's mind, but at least we can speak our thoughts here.
Brenda
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It's nice to see this thread bumped up again . . . it's been such a great source of support for a lot of us. I've been kind of hunkered down, keeping life as normal as possible during chemo (and posting mainly on the April and May chemo threads). One more AC to go (this Thursday), then 4 Taxols.
Collector, what kind of chemo schedule are you on? I hope the hair drop isn't too traumatic. Although I didn't find it as hard as most, I hated the daily mess in the shower, and seeing myself totally bald for the first time (I finally had a friend come over and shave my head) was tough.
Brenda, I just read your signature (revised since the last time I saw it), and am so happy you're on chemo break. My fingers are crossed, too.
Linda
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You're right, the godspeak stuff has become so acceptable. I yearn for the days when religion was not a polite topic to bring up. I am on T/C for 4 treatments over 12 weeks. June 9 is my second Tx. After that I get 6-7 weeks of rads and then 5 years of an AI - probably Femera which I am not real happy about. My hair is sort of drizzling out steadily at this point but it's getting to be more than a drizzle. This is Day 16 so I expect it to go before Monday. I really dread the scarves and caps. Bought a wig and had it trimmed but HATE it. Probably won't wear it at all.
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ladies i know its your right to believe this but arent you scared knowing you have bc all i can say is shame on you for not beliening in our all mighty god sorry but this is how i feel and it hurts me to see someone not believing i will still pray for you ladies and i still love you deb from ky
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Of course I'm scared having bc. That has nothing to do with the fact that I'm an atheist.
"shame on you for not believing in our all mighty god"(slonedeb)
Is that supposed to be a reflection of Christianity???
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sorry westie i didnt mean nothing by that i just wish the best for you ladies and i love all of you i took it off deb from ky
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Cheers, deb. I think it's safe to say we are all stressed out and dealing whichever way we can.
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Well, I didn't read the comment, but I do think it's odd that so many religionists have felt compelled to come on here (read back to the beginning) to proselytize, but over in the mets/recurrence forum there's a thread called "for women of faith" and there haven't been any non-believers on there to disrespect their conversation.
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Yes, it is sad, and quite annoying. It's very hard to be a non-christian, let alone atheist in this country. What we need is freedom from religion.
We can have faith in ourselves and take comfort from each other in this thread, which is why I like to come here. And I'll never have to wrestle with that awful question "why did gog let me get cancer." That's a relief! Also love to come here for the cat stories!
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Meant to say "god", not "gog". LOL!
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That was funny, though, I thought he was an alternatative.
I find it very difficult to hold my tongue (or my typing fingers) when someone says that this (cancer, etc, or whatever) is "all in God's plan." If God were all powerful and all knowing, I can think of quite a few instances where his design and his planning are flawed. How could you believe that a loving god would allow all the suffering of innocents in the world? And if there were a god, and he had the power to alleviate that suffering, and didn't, then why would I feel called to worship him?
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There is also "dog", as seen on some bumper stickers around my town.
Agreed Brenda.
I have faith in the people who are working hard in some laboratory, trying to figure out why some cells go astray and develop tumors. I am also trying to have faith in a future administration that may devote more spending to cancer research and less on war.0 -
Yeah on other threads where people said they believe dog will heal them, I had to write back and tell them that science will heal me.
The cats are unhappy today because it's raining and they can't go out. It's not supposed to rain in San Diego in May. Not only that their dumb human is out of the bonita flakes treat. And that human won't get more till the weekend because the best stuff can only be found in an inconveniently located store. How can anything be inconvenient when it will make them happy?
susan0 -
Oh susan- LOL, as you know, royalty tolerates no excuses. Not even in the weather.
I sure agree with you, Brenda. If there is a god, (s)he is not all-knowing, all-powerful, and/or loving. Not someone I care to worship.0 -
Just checking in to make sure you guys are all ok (within the parameters we've been given)
susan0 -
I'm on Day 11 of my second T/C infusion. The second time around has been a little harder but thankfully my G/I system is under control. I have a mile case of IBS which was made worse when I started chemo. Other than feeling terribly tired, I guess it's my attitude that is suffering the most. The bald look sucks and it's hard to get enthused about social outings. I am an avid stitcher and my needlepoint groups are keeping me sane along with a 3 mile walk on the treadmill each morning. I envy you all with your cats. We used to raise dogs and I miss having a buddy or 3-4 buddies to be entertained by. I do know that adding a new dog to the mix of my life right now would NOT be a good idea, however.
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Hi sisters, thank you all for your candor. In this country, you can believe or not, your choice. Many, many people have either many doubts and questions or just can't honestly believe in anything. I think the key here is honesty. And everyone should feel completely comfortable with their own decision. Since this decision is theirs, very personal, and nobody else's business.
The comment, "I will pray for you", is a little annoying, when you don't agree with this approach. But in a sense, we hear a lot of stuff we don't agree with.
Anyway, how comforting to find this thread and know that people feel free to speak their minds. We are so lucky.
Hugs, Shirlann
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Susan, thank for bumping the thread. I had my first of 4 taxoteres today - I'm hoping (but not praying) that this phase of my treatment goes as smoothly as the AC, which I finished two weeks ago. SEs were mild and manageable.
My red blood counts are definitely trending down, though. If they don't reach a plateau, July and August may turn out to be a LOOOONG couple of months. So far, though, I've been able to get out and run (with a few walk breaks if it's especially hot or there's a hill or I just plain feel pooped) every day.
Best to all,
Linda
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Collector & Linda - I am sooo glad I'm past chemo - you guys have my best wishes. Hold on there.
Collector - haven't you gotten attractive stuff for your head? After trying it on once at home, I decided I hated my wig & just went after some hats. It becomes a style statement. Some people know what the hat means and some don't. The best reactions I've gotten were from this sparkly newsboy hat from headcovers.com.
Now that chemo fatigue is over I've started commuting by bike again. It's an electrified bike so it's cheating somewhat, but the exercise is coming back slowly. It's hard when the radiation has burned the bottom of my breast so I can't wear a bra. Any exercise while flopping around is a bit painful.
And if anyone wants an overweight brown cat with nipple magnets at the bottom of his feet (how he ALWAYS manages to step on them is beyond me) let me know.
susan0
