Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?
Comments
-
Tamantha--If someone did that to me, I would be livid. No one should have the right to impose their religious beliefs on someone at a weak moment and that is clearly what these nurses are doing. If this is a religious outpatient surgery office, and if they asked in advance, that would be one thing, but in a secular space--totally unacceptable.
0 -
One more comment. Why weren't the nurses tending to patient's medical needs? These women should have been fired.
0 -
Oh, I dont think what they did was wrong-- they did ask her first before they prayed.
If she had said no and they did it anyway, or kept pressing her on it, then I would say they were wrong.
0 -
Kaloni - I'm not so sure about the attitude thing - keeping one alive. I think what may be keeping me alive is my medication. I believe it helps us mentally to live each day and try to make the best of it but I'm not sure that it makes a difference physically. That would mean that those not doing well have the "wrong" attitude or are not trying hard enough to be positive or they'd be better.
0 -
My name is Lesley and I had a lumpectomy gland thingie op 2 weeks ago and I do also wish I had religion to cling to but I don't. This does kind of leave one in a predicament. I pray to a higher being but I can't do the religion / church thing.
0 -
Hello - I am new to this site and you seem to be so positive and full of good advice. I'm glad I found this site.
0 -
I agree - when I'm filling in the hospital forms and it say religion I put in not applicable.
0 -
Bill Mahr has completed a documentary about religious beliefs around the world. It's called "Religulous." I'm looking forward to seeing it. He interviewed a senator, whose name I forget, about the Garden of Eden existing 5000 years ago and "talking snakes," asking "Do you really believe that?" The senator said "That's possible." Bill commented that he was more than a little worried about people like that making important decisions for the rest of us.
0 -
Why I LOVE the UK!!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/21/religion-advertising
0 -
Well, damn, Sandra! I haven't been on the boards for a month and saw this today and just had to tell you ladies about it! But you beat me to it!!!!!
Brenda
0 -
Analemma,
Sorry to steal your thunder, but it just goes to show: Great minds think alike.
In addition to the wonderful bus picture with the promotion for atheism (amazing enough) there are also some listings underneath for some other interesting sites, including the Pantheism site, which I did not know about. I liked the Pantheistic literature, some of which delved into the human need for a sense of community and how religion addresses that need--though at too high a price. Some good stuff to read and consider.
0 -
I wasn't going to do this as I've been reading this thread off and on for the last few days and it was a little testy there for awhile - but seems to have calmed down - the Richard Dawkins bus ad pulled me in! :-) Great book for those of like mind or those with open minds...Another good one is "Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris. That would be for any of us that are newly diagnosed that read anything other than information about BC!
0 -
Joan--thanks for the recommended reading (though I suppose that's like preaching to the choir). I will look for Harris's book as I am always trying to arm myself, living as I do, in OC, CA, promised land of the Bornagins. Welcome aboard. Sorry you are having to deal with BC. It can wreck your whole day. It looks like you're catching it at an early stage at least.
Regards,
Sandra
0 -
Hi girls. I'm very glad I found this tread. I've spent the last couple of hours reading all the posts. Despite all the differences of opinion of prayer and whether or not people believe in G-d, the only really important thing here is that we are all fighting the same battle, with or without our customary "reinforcements." Whatever gets you through your treatment to the end, whether it's the love of friends and family or the special love of cats (I have three) as long as you are surrounded by positive friends, positive thoughts and positive engery -- that it was matters. Oh, and quite a bit of humor goes a long way also! Keep up the thread. It is most interesting and most illuminating.
Corinne
0 -
One of the problems I have with religion is the way it takes away responsibility from the self. Having faith in a higher power and praying a lot will not get you through breast cancer or any other traumatic life event. Learning as much as you can about your condition and making sure you get the best treatment will. Do you think Dr. Dennis Slamon and his research team developed Herceptin because they prayed a lot? Wrong. They did it by working long, hard hours for many years. And by having faith in their own ability.
0 -
Dudess, thanks for posting this. I personally believe in a creative force, some form of higher intelligence. I used to be a fundamentalist Christian, and I think that, for me, that believe system perpetuated a lot of fear and judgment of others. I think it actually harmed me spiritually. So now my "Bible" is the natural world.
Whether or not you believe that God is behind them, I think contemplation of the harmonic forms of nature can be very comforting. I am a science geek, so for me, gazing at images from the Hubble Space telescope is my version of going to church. I don't know if that's the sort of thing that would comfort you--a sense of continuity, a sense of yourself being part of the the whole complex, amazing pattern. But I know it brought me tons of comfort during tx. And that kind of wonder doesn't really depend on the presence or absence of a diety.
Here is an astronomy image that I constantly went back to for comfort during my diagnosis and treatment. It really gave me a sense of perspective:
http://www.rense.com/general72/size.htm
In the meantime I hope you find some comfort from the friendships you'll find on this board.
Best wishes,
Ace
0 -
Sort of puts breast cancer into perspective!
0 -
Ace, thanks for the image. I'd seen that long ago. It really does point out our hubris in thinking that anything we do matters much in the big picture, doesn't it? I mean, I feel a big responsibility to be a good person, and to take care of the earth and my family and other people. But even if we humans destroy our planet like it seems we are determined to, it still seems like it's insignificant to the Universe when you try to comprehend the sheer vastness of it all.
0 -
But everything we do does matter in the big picture. Or at least in our little one pixel part of the picture.
Sort of like one of these LCD monitors. My monitor at work has 1764000 pixels. There is one bad pixel - it shows up green. Every time I look at the monitor, the first thing my eye goes to is that one bad pixel.
Breast cancer is a bad pixel on our screen. Ok, when you multiple the 1764000 pixels by all the monitors ever made, it's a small thing. But it certainly does color the way we see our chunk of the vastness.
And a belated happy halloween guys,
susan
susan
0 -
Sandra - "preaching to the choir"...made me LOL whether you meant it to or not and yes, that is exactly what it is...BC can wreck a persons day but early detection put me in a relatively good position with this day-wrecker!
Ace - Loved the link to "Size of our World" and forwarded to husband and 12 year old son who will also love it - perspective indeed!
Susan - Also loved the pixel analogy - really hit home - thanks!
This is the second time I have been on this thread and I have this odd sense of connectedness that I don't often feel. Thank you for that. As my life gets back to normal (or the new normal for all of us), I find myself having less time to spend on here but I will get back at least once a week as a committment I've made to and for myself.
Have a great week everyone - it's to be in the 70's today here in central MN - that is truly appreciated by us hard-core midwesternerers who could just as easily be knee-deep in snow in the first week of November - yeah!
Joan
0 -
Hey you guys - too much silence for too long. Hope that is a sign that you are out doing things that are fun.
Obligatory cat story: last week I emptied out the contents of my shredder into a brown paper bag instead of the plastic bags I usually use. Laziness kept the bag up in that room instead of making its way down to the dumpster.
Well today, Chaco discovered the bag and dove in head first. It was the bestest toy he'd seen in years! We won't talk about how lovely the room looks with shreddings scattered all over the place. Chaco had fun & I had fun watching him (Chaco was the brown guy who used to be my avatar)
susan
0 -
Hey susan..good to see you...
rainy day in Paradise, san diego style...
we had a flower show here is weekend..I took pix
0 -
Another one here. If christian friends offer to pray for me I don't mind, but I've never believed in a god. I'm an artist, and tend to look at things with awe and gratefulness and love, but to attribute it all to a god seems all wrong to me. I admit I could be wrong, but if it does turn out there's a greater being or force "out there" I'm inclined to think that most, if not all, religions have the details all wrong.
There are many paths up the mountain, and I'm glad to see there are many walking a similar path to mine.
0 -
Hi dudess --
I was diagnosed 18 months ago, so i never checked out this site before. Thank you for posting your comment!!!
I'm actually a Roman Catholic, practicing and all -- but for me, that has nothing to do with breast cancer! People die of bc every day -- why should God pay more attention to me than to them? I can't quite believe God will do extra for me and let all these other wonderful people suffer ... yes, i believe in divine providence, but i also don't believe i can ask for special consideration... weird, probably, but i'm a scientist, and i don;t believe God suspends the laws of the universe lightly. Certainly not for me...
I'm stage 1, but i don't think that's the point i doubt i'd think differnetly if i was stage 4. Because of widespread atypical ductal hyperplasia i had a mastectomy and am suffering from depression as a result... i still don't think it's God's job to intervene directly on my behalf.
Much as i like this site, i do find the references to trusting God problematic.
0 -
mouser,
Thank you so much for your post. I really appreciate what you said, particularly since you are a practicing Catholic. I get so frustrated at some of the posts I read where women say that they have been cancer-free (or even cured of BC) thanks to God. I read those posts and wonder: Well what about the all the women who post in the mets thread? What about all those wonderful, brave young women with very young children who I've watched suffer and die of BC, in the time that I've been on this board? Most of them were Christians and believers; why did God not save them? Did they not pray hard enough? Were they not 'worthy' for some reason? I think it's shameful that anyone would suggest that one's survival might be related to how much faith one has or how strong one's belief is. To me, anyone who says something like this is implying that they are better than those who don't do as well (those who have a recurrence, those with mets) because their faith is stronger and God has chosen to save them. That's such garbage and, as a non-Christian, it seems to me to be to be such an un-Christian thing to say.
0 -
Well said, Beesie!
0 -
Here's a link to an article I just read online. It's Paul Kurtz, from the Center for Inquiry, discussing the lack of need for a god-belief for morality. I agree.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2008/11/is_belief_in_god_essential_for.html
0 -
He's right - we can all name wars that were fought over religion. Don't know of any fought over ethics.
Sorry to read about your new problems - hope they are nothing. Or that someone comes up with some magic bullet for us 3Xnegs.
0 -
I am not a "believer" in any particular doctrine, especially having attended seminary/graduate school for 2.5 years. That took the believin' out of me. (I know where the skeletons are buried)
I have learned to be gracious in accepting prayers though I don't believe in them. However, I have a fundy sister who believes my bc is due to my having rejected Christianity and hasn't spoken to me for about 8 years now. Well....no loss there eh.
I am so thankful that I have the support and encouragement of many friends and family and that this doesn't depend on whether I conform to their religious point of view.
0 -
I grew up in a Catholic household, since I turned 18 I wouldn't consider myself a complete athiest, I don't think that there is a guy in up in the sky somewhere controlling our lives. I believe in what is infront of my face, what I know is there because of my senses. I accepted other people's prayers for me when I was diagnosed, it's nice, but I don't know that it works. Honestly, super religious people scare me.
I believe in true friends and my family, that is the only religion I need.
0
