Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?
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Note that SUQu...is very new to this site as of January of this month, was diagnosed about 3 months ago and had mastectomies less than a month ago. First of all let me say to you SuQu that I am sorry you have to be dealing with the cancer traumas that led you to bc.org and that your posts here opened conversations about the heart of this thread. This is not a place I want anyone to feel unwelcome, if respectful of the purpose of this thread, which I think you are.
(((hugs))) to you in your recovery. I too had a double mastectomy so my hugs are very gentle
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This is a post by "thedudess", the founder of this forum. I found it on the very first page. I left off the name of the poster she was addressing.
"I find your post close to insulting, of course you have a right to your own opinion and I respect that. I have stated I do not have a problem with other peoples beliefs however when they simply disregard my own feelings, it shows to me they really do not care about my own. You state "I hope you understand", I also hope you understand. I am in no way wanting to start a stink, I have enough on my plate today, just didn't expect to find this here."
Clearly she intended this to be a place for atheists to talk without being lectured to by believers. That said, I think it's ok for believers to post as long as they don't try to judge us.
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Ananda - RIGHT ON!!!
Clearly she intended this to be a place for atheists to talk without being lectured to by believers. That said, I think it's ok for believers to post as long as they don't try to judge us.
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👍👍👍
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I guess I just don't see anything in "Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?" anything that says "Hey Christians, come on in and tell us what you think about atheists" or even "Let's discuss all kinds of beliefs." Perhaps, if enough people are interested, there could be a new thread for those interested in comparative beliefs. But please don't turn this one atheist-friendly corner into that.
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I don't think anyone is going to change the purpose of this thread.
“Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.”
―
Christopher Hitchens,
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever0 -
I consider my self to be a non-theist. Atheist sounds like it is anti religion. I think it's ok to be religious but I don't participate or believe in any. Just don't place religion on me. I believe I can be very moral with out it.
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ananda - how funny about dogs & cats - and how true.
Lisa - I actually like that definition. "non-thiest"
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How about this? It appears that humans love labels.
The Pew Research Center has the following definitions and even has a quiz so you can find where you fit.
http://www.pewforum.org/2018/08/29/the-religious-typology/
http://www.pewforum.org/quiz/religious-typology/ I am Solidly Secular.
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Humans also love quizzes. I am a Religious Resister. Great quiz, thanks Ananda!
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I usually call myself a nontheist, too. But I'm willing to pull the atheist card when anyone tries to get religious at me without an invitation.
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I call myself an atheist. I'm not anti-religion I just don't have any interest in religion. I respect other people's right to believe however they see fit. Please respect my right not to believe. It's that simple
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Although I’m not offended by people telling me that they are praying for me, it is nice to have a thread that is solely atheistic. (If pressed for specificity, I’ll tell you that I’m a nontheistic Buddhist Quaker.) I am a member of a Quaker Meeting which has a sizable atheist contingent, occasionally attend a Unitarian Church, belong to a Rationalist group and have attended many a Buddhist mindfulness retreat. All that to say, I think of myself as a spiritual person but don’t believe in gods or other supernatural beings. It’s helpful to know there are like-minded folks here
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I got solidly secular too but I do like the idea of reincarnation. I also have a specific distrust of religious groups in general, it’s been my experience that the majority are judgmental and corrupt. Seems like I’m always nicer to them than they are to me.
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I am not a religous person, my kids go to Catholic school, their Dad is Catholic. My mother, according to my Dad, was a budding 'bible thumper'. My Dad was born to an Irish immigrant and (i'm not sure where Grandma was from) in a dirt floor shack. He was pronounced still born yet 20 minutes later the paper they wrapped him in began to move and small mewling noises could be heard. My Dad has since passed away and my Mom is still here. Without any religous training and pressure, I find myself a very strong Agnostic. If i read the definition properly it means I don't belive in a singular god so to speak. I truly believe in the Human Spirit, and that all that we are can't simply dissappear when we die. There is something there that makes us 'Us'. Not a very straight forward answer I'm afraid and I don't discuss it much with anyone as it's not a popular opinion.
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I was raised Catholic, educated in parochial school by very sweet nuns, but never set foot in church except for weddings and funerals since I was 20 years old. I did a lot of searching and especially like Quakers but found that I didn't really believe in a god. I read many of Joseph Campbell's works and found his interpretation of myth very useful. I decided that a knew a lot about Western religion and history but nothing about Eastern religion. I started by reading the Tao te Ching which I found fascinating. I read part of the Analects of Confucius but got side tracked by work so I just learned enough to understand why it was and is such a part of Chinese culture. I ran across a book called "What the Buddha Taught" by Walpola Rahula andwas impressed by some concepts and skeptical of others. As I studied I found that I rejected rebirth/reincarnation and a few other concepts but found the ideas about how the mind worked to be very useful. I am not spiritual. I don't believe in a soul or eternal self, but I believe in the beauty of the world.
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I'll stick with non-theist..
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wren,
Have you read Joseph Campbell's "Power of Myth"? I think you would enjoy it.
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I too have read The making of Myth and for me the title is everything - Myth. Whether we call ourselves spiritual, or believe in spirit, it is all a myth that makes people feel better. I am neither spiritual nor do I believe in spirit. I'm just living my life with as much compassion as I can muster at the moment so that the chemicals, hormones, neurotransmitters etc in my incredible body provide me with a feeling of comfort and well being. I think that when I die, I will be as conscious as I was 200 years ago or 20,000 years ago, meaning not at all.. Consciousness dies when I die. For me there is a period at death nothing more.
One of the benefits I've found in this thread as well as others, is that I find myself thinking about much that I would have let pass, but when I am, in a way, forced to write it down if I want to participate in conversations I learn something about myself and I love that process. Thanks to everyone for sharing and challenging paradigms.
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I really love this thread and these discussions. I am so appreciative of everyone’s viewpoints and belief systems - it all gives me such good food for thought and to chew on and ponder at length.
Stephen Hawking - a brilliant human, did not believe in god or anything spiritual. He believed that when we die, that’s it!
I love to trip out on nano-physics type stuff and think about how we could be sharing electrons with someone or something several football fields in distance away...we are all waves of energy and light and gas and matter.
The baffling thing to me is how our bodies are made up of so many different cells that differentiate into different organs, tissues, etc and how do we stay together in form and not just ooze out into the world? Some type of forces are acting upon us that science doesn’t explain. Not that it is any type of spiritual force, but science just hasn’t been able to figure it out yet. Very fascinating!
I also really love hearing about people’s experiences with being very religious and then waking up. Becoming woke from the hazy dream that religion puts as a veil over peoples eyes. I love that people have awoken!!
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Here's another reason for our little corner of atheism: there's nothing like getting cancer to make you picture your life possibly coming to an end. And for us on this thread, it is a real end. Full stop. No deathbed conversions or state of grace bypasses. Ours is a totally different point of view on the whole experience. There is no punisher or rescuer in our cancer story. There is no ever after where it all gets fixed. We have to live well and thoughtfully now, because now is all there is.
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I have no fear of death, but I worry about the dying.
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DS asked me if I was afraid to die. I told him I wasn't afraid to be dead, but worried it would be icky and hurt.
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I know an awful lot of people who say they believe they have a spot in heaven waiting for them and yet who are terrified of dying. Shouldn't they welcome it? I am not afraid of death, but I am hopeful I have more time to see my kids settled in their adult lives. And I agree with santabarbarian - not have the out of a god makes living NOW more keenly important.
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I like the idea of becoming one with the universe at some point. Stardust.
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I love that Alice!
🤩🤩🤩
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“We are stardust, we are golden
We are billion year old carbon
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden"From Woodstock by Joni Mitchell. I think she explores a variety of spiritual directions without being literal.
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All the iron in our blood cells was generated in the moments after the big bang. We are part of the universe and the universe is part of us. I may have posted this before. If I did excuse the repeat. This is what I want read at my funeral.
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All the iron in our blood cells was generated in the moments after the big bang. We are part of the universe and the universe is part of us. I may have posted this before. If I did excuse the repeat. This is what I want read at my funeral.
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That is beautiful Ananda. Our energy will go on forever. A scientific perspective on eternal life.
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