Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?
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Welcome, rossileo18
Any way you find courage is great. It's all about personal choice. I have found a lot of strength in my chickens. They are content just to be alive and get something good to eat, and watching chicks hatch and grow gives me joy to see renewal of life. No human sacrifice required!
Another school mom recently gave me a calendar with blessings. I asked my son, "Does she not know me?" He said, "She means well." He is a sweet kid, but this is part of the whole "pray for people" thing. I thought this was a neat breakdown of why it's not OK.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godlessindixie/2015/02/10/whats-wrong-with-telling-an-atheist/
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Good articles. Thanks for posting.
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Split-bean, I loved your post about your chickens. My friends and family never understood what pleasure I got from having my girls (and rooster) in the back yard. I used to sit for hours and just watch them. I had several that were lap chickens and came running to sit in my lap for a while when I went out. I even had one that loved coming in the house for morning coffee and reading the newspaper once in a while. She would have come every day if I had gone to get her. I've had several flock over the years but don't have any now. They would be a great comfort, I'm glad you have them.
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When you say you'll pray for me, you're telling me that this isn't about me, it's about you. You're suggesting that of all the things you could do, the one that will make the most difference is casting a vote for me in the Heavenly Miracle Lottery. You're making this about your little religion, not what I'm going through. You're tapping into a kind of hubris I can't muster by suggesting that of all the thousands of gods and religions, yours is the correct one, and you're in so good with your god that you're actually going to change his mind.
Exactly!
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I too take take much joy in the natural world -- the picture of the panda in the zoo rolling in the snow, the deer running down the streets of DC (?) unimpeded by cars. I was in Argentina at a penguin colony before my recurrence was diagnosed and the beauty of the coastline and the rhythms of the birds as they went on with their lives was just so peaceful. And yes, there is nature in Chicago too, but it's a little harder to find.
I do have some comments on the 'praying' for the you phenomenon. I'm more forgiving than some of you are, but no time to write. I am supposed to be working.
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I didn't have this when I was diagnosed but I found it after my younger brother died of cancer. Now it helps me with his death and it helps when I contemplate the eventual end of mine.
Every year I get a bit less orderly.
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Ananda, I like that. Sort of my belief system. I also remember that for the caterpillar it's a death and for the butterfly it's a birth.
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I had a friend who tried to save me via email. She was in a different State. She was so insistent and badgering that I had to end our friendship. I came away from the experience understanding how people can be forced into cults. It was awful through email but if I had been surrounded by people just like her, I don't know what I would have done. In my opinion, people are right to be wary of evangelicals. Some are good, friendly people and some are truly frigntening.
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Yes, taken too far, both Christian evangelicals and Muslim extremists meet at a really scary place.
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Atheists sometimes wonder why other atheists stay silent about their lack of belief. This is why.
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See that just wouldn't happen over here I don't think (New Zealand). I tell everyone I am an Atheist and no one even bats an eyelid. Most of my friends are too because I try and hang out with intelligent people haha!
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And...New Zealand has Haka.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhhedH6wK6I
And...New Zealand has the All Black.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiKFYTFJ_kw
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And I believe New Zealand has fewer guns. Actually most people have fewer guns that we do.
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Yes aren't we an awesome little country?
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We have very strict gun laws Wren44. My 21 son is getting his gun licence at the moment. You have to sit a test at the police station, then a policeman has to come to your house and make sure you have an adquate gun safe that no-one can break into and somewhere else to store your ammunition. Then they interview someone in your family etc. to make sure you are the kind of person who can be trusted with a gun. We do still have problems, but nothing like you guys are suffering.
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We've been so quiet here!
Fizz- that is how it should be! I grew up around guns, and my dad was reaaaaally big on safety. He made sure we had no access to anything without supervision, etc. I just can't understand why people are so opposed to common sense gun laws requiring things like training, testing, inspecting, etc to ensure that guns are less likely to be in the hands of a maniac. Pretty sure we have not gone a day in the last 15 years without hearing about some mass shooting in our country. It is insanity.
I love Haka. So moving.
NZ just sounds like an amazing place to live, and it sure is beautiful. My BF has family in AUS, maybe we should just scoot a bit to the right and move to NZ
Hope everyone is well, and feeling good.
xo- jeni
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It has been quite here. I think I'm a bit distracted by the Presidential election. It's a train wreck.
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I think train wreck is an understatement
i'm actually trying to ignore it now, focusing on the local elections, and things that bring me joy. the bigotry and hatred that i see in my fellow americans is disheartening.
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I'm checking our ballot initiatives and reading them word for word. One of them wants to change the ballot. If a local office has only one person running, they want to leave that office off the ballot. Sounds efficient, but in reality it's a way to eliminate write-ins. In small towns, write-ins can get elected.
It is important to pay attention to the local stuff because those elections affect every day life.
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my daughter-in-law was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer 2 1/2 years ago. Her spiritual journey is quite confusing. She holds onto her belief in witchcraft & other such related stuff and Mormon ism at the same time.. Recently, she has given up her other beliefs and has become extremely devout mormon. My son is an atheist. She has been in denial of her cancer for almost 2 years and even after being hospitalized and told by 3 different doctors she had less than a month to live, she refused all treatment until finally she accepted a type of hormonal treatment. She started to improve and convinced my son to.believe she was on the way to complete recovery even though the cancer had spread through her whole body. It was when the pain in her spine was beyond relief and she had gone blind due to cancer in her brain she finally said she thinks she's going to die and she started hospice. Meanwhile, her belief in Mormon ism is greatly intensified and she started taking some kind of herbal treatment. That was about 3 months ago. But again she started to recover and was even able to go on a 4 day vacation trip. My son said she was doing great. Yesterday, I came home and found my son overwhelmed with tears because she had gone for an mri and some tests and reports that the cancer is completely gone from most of her body except her spine. There is still a little in her brain but it too is shrinking. She has since the beginning wanted to tell the world she is so special that God performed a miracle and healed her. Now it seems like maybe it's true. My son has been taken on such a Rollercoaster ride for 2 1/2 years. I don't know how much more he can take. He believes she is healed and he asked me if it's possible there really is a God. I'm agnostic and all I could say was maybe. The thing that really makes me angry is I'm a pseudo-scientist and I do not believe she is going to be miraculously healed. She has repeatedly given everyone false hope and I can't stand to see my son suffer so. But when it's all said and done and she is healed without the aid of modern medicine, maybe this will bring us all to God and the promise of eternal life.
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Or maybe not.
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I hope your daughter in law continues to recover. I don't have belief in any gods but I don't think we know all the answers when it comes to the workings of the mind on the body. Some spontaneous healing of cancer has been linked to exposure to virus and bacterial infection. The link appears to be so strong that there is now experimentation with virus and bacteria being introduced into patients with untreatable cancer.
No one really understands the placebo effect which was first identified by nurses during the Crimea War. Nurses were running out of morphine and started diluting it. The reduction of pain stayed the same regardless of the dilution until some wounded soldiers had elimination of pain with the injection of saline alone. It appears that there is something going on with your DIL whether it is the placebo effect or the effects of infection. If it was a god, then why doesn't this god provide relief for all good Mormon women or for that matter all faithful who pray for relief of suffering?
Epicurus asked this question about evil (cancer is certainly evil) almost 2000 years ago.
- Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
- Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
- Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
- Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
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Happy Birthday, Wren!
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Happy Birthday, Wren.
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There are days like today when I would give almost anything to be one of the non-thinking faithful. At least there is a possibility in finding solace in a higher power, that at some point, wrongs would be righted.
*sigh*
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Hug
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To quote George Bernard Shaw: “The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.”
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Welcome, KB870. Is 870 your area code? We might be neighbors.
I have a friend from high school who occasionally contacts me via email. We live in different states. It really bothers her that I'm and atheist. Just my impression, but I think it's because my unbelief threatens her belief in some way. I tell her I don't want to discuss religion and she stops for a while. Then every email we exchange has just a touch more god comments until I tell her to stop. Then the cycle begins again. I don't want to stop emailing her because I think she is very lonely.
I am not "out" in my local community because I fear backlash. I live in a town where most of the population think one can't be a good person and be an atheist. It's just not worth the hasle.
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I like the rule to celebrate any holiday if it has food. I'm lucky to live in a place that understands a weekend hike in the mountains is a religious experience for many. Very different from Houston where we used to live.
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Wren, I'd give my eye teeth to live in WA right now instead of TX. It's so horrid here right now. Be glad you escaped when you did and that Canada isn't too far if you have to escape. I've basically had to excuse myself from every family event for the rest of my life since they are not only overly religious, but honestly think trump is a decent human. how they can equate those 2 is beyond comprehension.
My heart is completely broken by their ignorance, and sometimes outright bigotry. Trying to heal from stage2 of my recon that has not turned out well. And a person who is a big part of my social circle- only 44, has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer with mets.
I just want to run away. Which makes me feel selfish. having a hard time putting my big girl pants on over this damn compression/torture device.
i'd def be happier drunk than sober at this point.
but i know that at the end of the day, i am glad i woke up early in life.
anyhow- welcome KB870- hope you can find some camaraderie here. I don't think this group is usually this morose- i'm harshing everyone's mellow right now. I promise not to do it for too long.
xoxo
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