Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?
Comments
-
Beautiful -- I love the ocean, the coast. Thank-you for sharing them.
0 -
It is beautiful right here in San Diego..I just love it..
0 -
What beautiful photos! And such interesting conversational topics! I'm going to have to check in here on weekends, too, so I won't miss out on such great thought-provoking posts. Also, I'm sending that Christianity poster to all my atheist friends.
0 -
Photos of the beach are beautiful! I'm originally from southern CA (Lakewood--Long Beach area) and I sooooo miss the beach, living here in CO. But it's beautiful here too. So here's my chance to show Colorado and my pookies. Dawnn, I have 2 German Shepherds--I want a poodle next cuz they're shedless and smart!
0 -
As far a moving the thread or keeping it where it is - a question.... how many of us who post here are recurrent or metastatic? I usually post on the Stage IV forum, and I'm not sure how many form there, know that this forum is here. Konokat, Lisa SDCA, and who else? The main reason for moving it would be to make it visible to new people who have come to the website not as "just Diagnosed." I do get tired of the prayers and spiritual inspiration that inundates the rest of the site.
And the chickens are doing well, thanks to whoever was asking. Soon we have to work on enlarging their accommodation for winter.
Brenda
0 -
I was recurrent (sort of...new primary), but I first found the thread in the Active Topics at the top of the login screen. I was so surprised to see it, I just about dropped my coffee cup! LOL
--CindyMN
0 -
Linda~Your dogs are beautiful. My Molly is a Belgian Malinois. They are becoming the new standard of working dog because they have a insane disposition. Sort of a Jack Russell in a German Shepherd's body. NUTS.
The mountains in your photo are beautiful! I have been in the flat south for so long, I get excited when I see a hill!
Brenda~Where do you think the thread should be moved to? I am newly Dx(May) and Stage 1, but I found this thread on the active topics page. To be honest with you, I never post in the Stage IV threads out of respect. I don't even read them, I believe that there should be a place for the girls to go & discuss personal issues with-out some wing-nut Stage1 girl popping in there with hugs & prayers.
These boards after all, are very public & any Dick or Jane can just read all of our thoughts. Being new, I may see things differently...but I do see a lot of questions being posted by earlier stage girls, asking later stage girls to reassure them that they are not progressing. I find this heartless. A sort of please tell me I am not sick like you questions.
It is just my personal opinion but, I believe that there should be a closed forum, that only Stage IV ladies can get to, so that they can discuss their feelings and fears with-out dumb ass (hugs).
I like this thread, and I have never really looked at who was what stage until you mentioned it.
Then there are threads like for sweet Heidi. She has always been happy and helpful, so upbeat, it breaks my heart that she is scared and struggling. I feel as I have no right to even tell her I am thinking of her & her children. WHY?
What do I say amongst the prayers & rosary beads being thrown around? Hi, I don't know you, I don't believe in God, but I want you to know you are in my heart?
I'd get stoned. Really, because if that is how she finds comfort, in God, would not my presence piss her off?
There are dozens of threads asking for prayers for ladies, I am excluded from these because I do not pray? Can I not care or feel pain for my new friends because I don't pray to a Jesus?
I have seen this bastard disease up close and watched it squeeze the life out of my father. My hope is that I have the strength to die such a brave death as he. Just because I am a early stage girl today, doesn't mean I don't understand a little.
I won't ever know' until someone tells me I am stage IV. Just like non-cancer people will never know. People say the dumbest crap. I don't want to be one of those people who say dumb crap.
So, the point to my ramble is, I like this thread, I enjoy each of you and feel like I have friends who understand my thoughts...if it gets moved away, will we all still be welcome?
0 -
Linda -- I love your dogs. Oh my, that's the view from your home? Wow! So beautiful -- I can almost smell the fresh, clean air!
Hehe -- I don't know if any of you saw my hissy-fit thread on the stage IV forum about advice to metsters. It all started with another thread and a rah-rah, convince your mom to fight for the family's sake when Mom said she didn't want to fight any more. Pissed me off -- I say respect the woman's choices, don't throw guilt on the woman with what she's going through! It's all about Mom now.
I think everyone should feel free to rally around Heidi (and Cyn, etc) -- who cares what stage you are. It can only cheer someone to see us, anyone, thinking of her. But if it were one of the God Squad meanies who really doesn't like me, I'd stay away out of respect.
It's all about context. If I were in hospice and hoping to slip away peacefully then someone said "you can beat this!" I'd take the last of my strength, hunt them down, and throttle them with my IV line! Then it would be peaceful! ;-))) But best wishes, prayers (except those for my "salvation" - that would require another roadtrip to throttle someone!!), whatever, are always nice. Does this make sense?
I skip the prayers (as opposed to prayers and best wishes) threads unless I know the person well. Yesterday I broke that rule -- there was a prayers thread for Mrs_SunneeDayz. She touched me so profoundly with her "Confessions of a Hospice Patient" (I only posted to her that one time) that I just wanted to wish her well. I thought so long about whether I should post anything, and decided I would. I hope I didn't offend anyone. I don't think Mrs_SunneeDayz would be offended, and that's what counts.
Re. moving the thread -- I also found it in active topics -- it's easy to find. And then, someone can always do a search for atheist, agnostic, non-believing hellions to find it.
Another prayer circle popped up. This time in Stage IV. Now there are three -- how do they keep up? I think it would be so time consuming to make the rounds. Why's it OK to have prayers threads all over the place? At least in the latest one the first poster made a point that all religions should be welcome, not just Christians. If you're not particularly religious a new person might think it is a Christian site and leave!
0 -
(((Dawnn)))
Even though the women may not always agree with each other here, I can't imagine any of the women would not wish to hear your well wishes just because you don't believe in their God...the same way that even though I am not a believer I appreciate people's sentiments when they say they are "praying" for me...I've explained my views in a previous post so I won't ramble on about that.
And IMO just because they ask for "prayers" doesn't mean you have to, or they expect you, to send their type of prayer...even positive energy I would think would be appreciated.
Of course, I may be wrong...but if I were a christian and you said "Hi, I don't know you, I don't believe in God, but I want you to know you are in my heart" I would feel blessed...
At bc.org, we are I think women with bc first and everything else second, are we not? Well wishes for any woman on here shouldn't be shunned or negated...no matter what we believe in spiritually.
Hugs
Peggy
0 -
I guess I would like for us to be acknowledged as a group under Recovery, Renewal, and Hope, not just as a single thread, but as a topic "Thoughts for the non-religious" or something. Then, we wouldn't be limited to one single thread. And this topic is unrelated to our stage of breast cancer. I admit, it's unlikely that we would be acknowledged as a separate group, and more than there's going to a group of Muslims or Jews. And, the Bible thumpers probably don't think there's any hope for us heathens, anyway.
Just keep it where we are. We'll have to keep it active.
0 -
I was curious about the words atheist, heathen, infidel and pagan; each of these is a pejorative term widely used by the believers of one god. What a shame that in order to raise their profile and keep their "flock" together, they must denigrate those who do not believe as they do. That was the last thing Jesus would think of doing. "Love thy neighbour as thyself" he quoted from the Old Testament. There isn't a whole lot of love going on in the world, but there sure is a significant amount of hate. I often think of this when I hear the pious ask WWJD?
I'm sure there were some Greeks who didn't believe in the Greek gods, and Romans who didn't believe in the Roman gods! Today, those gods are considered mythological.....
Just keeping the thread going.....
P.S. Annalemma -- glad to hear the chicks are doing well!
0 -
Dawnn--thoughtful post! I do read the Stage IV posts, but it's because I've been hanging around here for a good long time and have met many of these ladies, mostly cyberly, but some personally at get-togethers. There are many I met prior to their Stage IV dx, so I check to see how they're doing. I rarely post there, but if I do it is pretty generic--thinking of you...no wails or lamentations to the almighty for intervention. I did shake my head just a few days ago at running across so many threads devoted to prayers--wondered if this whole site is turning into some kind of revival meeting! This particular thread is so refreshing and I am enjoying the many insights and shared thoughts--things I've often thought or wondered about, but never had anyone to "talk" to! Thanks to you all. If the thread is moved, I think we'll find it without any problem, but I still think it is fine where it is.
junie
0 -
I love the Greek Gods.
Isn't it interesting that Cronus ate his children because his fear of them taking his rule away was so great. A fear put in place by a prophecy.
In the aftermath of their freedom...Zeus & Poseidon made out okay, that poor Hades....did he get the bum deal or what??
Is hell even mentioned in the bible itself? I am fairly certain Hades is. Certainly could explain where the ideas of heaven & hell came from. Since Hades was the God of the underworld, people feared him, as they feared the unknown that came with death...good or bad they all went to the underworld with Hades.
Christians promised life after death, easing the fears, raising their numbers. Don't want to be Christian, well, in that case we shall have a war & kill you all...
Offering someone immortality is something that should be left to the vampires.
0 -
Has anyone ever read Dante's "Divine Comedy"........very interesting. Originally in Italian, the English translation is not too bad.
btw, my SO named his two pups Dante and Virgil. hehe!
0 -
Chiardi translation? I liked that one. And the Blake illustrations are great, but personally I'm partial to Dali's.
0 -
I read it in Italian years ago. My SO read Norton's translation and quite liked it. The Italian version took me quite a while to get through.....I was born in Italy but was raised here so Italian really is my second language. It sounds so pretty in Italian.......while envisioning horrific scenes. LOL!
0 -
I enjoy this thread a lot too, even though I just have LCIS.
It would be difficult to have a different forum on each religious belief (or lack thereof.) I'm happy to find it where ever it stays or goes, as long as I'm welcome to read/contribute.
0 -
Seems like most people want to keep the thread here, which is fine with me. However, if we ever *did* move, I would vote for the Support and Community category, because it's full of other BC.org minorities: African-Americans, lesbians, singles, Canadians... <grin>
And it would be nice to have a variety of threads going. But I'm fine with how we are now.
--CindyMN
0 -
Moving to the Support & Community would be an option, as well as having a catagory of our own so we could run several topics with-out boring some with pictures of our dogs
I read a interesting article in the new Newsweek, We Are All Hindus Now, while at the plastic surgeons office today;
It begins;
America is not a Christian nation. We are, it is true, a nation founded by Christians, and according to a 2008 survey, 76 percent of us continue to identify as Christian (still, that's the lowest percentage in American history). Of course, we are not a Hindu-or Muslim, or Jewish, or Wiccan-nation, either. A million-plus Hindus live in the United States, a fraction of the billion who live on Earth. But recent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God, our selves, each other, and eternity.
The full article is here.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/212155
It is way too long to copy & paste here, but I thought some of you may like to finish reading it.
Good night, ladies.
0 -
I love it when I see a dog, cat, landscape -- it's like a little visual present on the thread.
Yesterday I did make it down to Cape Cod -- Buzzard's Bay to be specific. Well, it ain't the Caribbean, but the water was so warm. Nothing like lying on the beach, digging your toes into the sand...swimming out far and just floating... I didn't get to do my nature worship -- too many vacationers -- but I enjoyed feeling the power and vastness of the ocean.
0 -
Dawnn - loved the article!
0 -
Meg,
You changed your picture, I almost didn't recognize you
I wanted to tell you how hard I laughed last week when you assured us all you weren't praying for any of us. That was the funniest thing EVER!
While I was getting a Zometa infusion yesterday, the woman in the chair next to me, she was so old and very very sick, she wanted to touch my hair. I have waist length dark brown hair, she had a scarf, bald from the chemo, I am sure...
My heart just ached when she told me how beautiful I was, how much she loved my hair and then asked me to pray for her. It SUCKS! It SUCKS big fat dog butt that I can't pray for her, that there isn't some magic man in the sky who could answer my wishes and help that sweet old woman feel better.
I won't even get started on the children I see at my cancer center. IF there is a God, I have a few choice words for his actions. The religious tell you it is the devil making the children suffer, or that old woman sit in that chair alone with no family there to love her,
Well, I call BULL CRAP, if a God can create the Earth in 6 freaking days, he can kick a little devil ass and stop the suffering of his "children"...
I hope I see her again, I hope I can hold her hand and make her smile, life is a bitch sometimes, isn't it?
And yes, for the record I am crying, I am terribly sad that I can't do anything to help all of you, I am crying for that woman all alone and how much this freaking disease changes us all, what god we believe in shouldn't matter for a moment, we should support each other with-out question.
0 -
Just thought we need a cool place to have a rest...
and enjoy the roses
0 -
...nice SoCal...and here is a picture of a butterfly I took a couple of months ago in my back yard...
0 -
Very nice!!
0 -
Lisa, you have such a wonderful eye! Coronado is beautiful - we loved visiting it a few years ago.
Dawnn, I know exactly what you mean! I was a volunteer at PMH (Toronto's cancer hospital) for many years. One patient I still remember so clearly, a 13-yr-old boy with brain cancer. We had many long talks, and he was amazingly accepting of his illness, knowing that rads was only extending his life for a few months. He wasn't religious, so we didn't have to deal with the prayer thing, but he had definitely achieved a state of grace for which I was so very thankful. Praying always felt to me a selfish act; I would ask myself "Why should I ask God to listen to me, when there are so many others worse off?" Needless to say, that was when I was quite young.....
0 -
I'm a stage 4 gal too and an atheist and sometimes forget to check here. I love this topic; makes me feel even more connected to those who believe the way I do about religion.
Carla
Crystal, MI
0 -
Hi, all, I am glad that I found this thread! Once in the middle of chemo-oblivion I thought I saw it mentioned then could not find it, but that is probably because of the chemo state I was in. I am too tired still to read more than the last page or so, but I can assure you that I will be back. I tend to call myself a person with "nontraditional spiritual beliefs" when talking with others I meet, many of whom are so entrenched in religious dogma that they can hardly have a meaningful conversation about religion/spirituality/agnosticism/atheism/whatever else might fit in this "territory." My reference about my spirituality primarily revolves around connection to nature and some ideas about a universal life force (whatever the heck that might be), and I am generally careful about how and when I share that part of myself. I am weary of people telling me they will pray for me so that I will find "salvation" and not be doomed to hell for all eternity. I imagine that you all have heard all this before, so I will try not to ramble.
When asked to pray for people, I do tend to tell them I will hold hope for them or keep them in my thoughts. When told others will pray for me, I just tell them I appreciate being remembered. If someone asks if they can pray WITH me, I tell them that prayer is not what I need from them and I usually find a substitute request (one easy to fulfill). Yes, sometimes it gets awkward, but I try not to compromise my integrity and then face the resulting regret. I do have to say, because I really want to get it off my chest, that I absolutely shudder when I read the expression "another angel has departed" (or a version thereof) on BCO.org after someone has died. I hope no one ever says that about me when I die! I'll stop for now and check with you all again, soon.0 -
Yes, Brenda (I'm a Brenda, too) I cringe at the thought that I'm gonna be on the angels list, or that someone will say "Analemma is an angel now." Freaks me right out. My husband and I just say, when I'm dead such and such. I'll say, "when I'm dead you have to keep the flower gardens from becoming a mess." Or he'll say, "I'm sure going to miss bringing you coffee in the morning." I believe without a qualm that my death will be the end of my individuality, and that my matter and energy will go back to earth and stardust. I'm perfectly comfortable with that.
I'm on a Pantheist forum and one of the discussions is "are there Pantheists in foxholes?" I think having terminal breast cancer is pretty close to a foxhole and I haven't had the slightest inclination to pine for eternal salvation. I think I'm gonna be ok just leaving life. Not happy about it, because I like it pretty darn well, but not afraid of damnation and hellfire, either.
0 -
Sige~
The butterfly photo is amazing, I can't imagine the colors being that clear and bright in real life.
Just lovely.
SoCal~
One of my rules with my children is always to stop & smell the roses. It matters not where we are, I make them all stop & smell them. When we were at Sea World a few months ago, people were standing in line to see the dolphins, my kids & I were smelling all the roses, boy, we got some crazy looks. I wonder how many people actually notice the landscaping in theme parks. The giant Shamu shaped hedge doesn't count, I mean flowers
I use to have a miniature rose that bloomed white and slowly turned a soft lime green. The bunches of baby green roses were just remarkable. I also had a fruit cocktail tree, it had been grafted so that grapefruit, lemons, limes, tangerines & oranges all grew on the same tree, it was unbelievable in the winter when all five fruit were mature hanging off of the tree, I loved that tree. Hurricane Charlie put an end to both of those plants.
I wish I had thought to take photos....
I may have to buy a camera this week.
I apologize to all of you for my emotional boohoo earlier, I was over whelmed and took it out in a post...I hear that smashing dishes is great for relieving stress
0
