Atheist unite!!

[safire]

I'm an atheist, but I was raised with weird mixtures of Christianity and agnostic views. I never had bad experiences with religion, but I'm going through a lot of hard things without it, and I often wish I could believe in a higher power. I just cant. There's too many variables and unanswered questions and things that don't make sense, as well as the fact that I've come to see organized religion as something far too manipulative and toxic to be something I want to be involved in. I wish i could believe because I see other people being so grateful to have "god" help them through and people who know that something is on their side and that they're not alone. However, I've done a lot of healing on my own and I'd rather have a brutal truth of reality than some bs that my abuser will be punished in hell or that God has a plan and I was abused because he "only gives the hardest battles to his strongest warriors". I get through PTSD because I am strong, resilient and I have healthy coping mechs, not because God gives me strength. My abuser hurt me because he's a shitty person, not because god planned it. Religion is an aspect that, as much as I sometimes wish I had, I'm glad it's not a part of my life or my healing.

 

[FireSign8]

Even the word pray gives me the creepy crawlies, although I know it's most often expressed wi...

I feel the same about this word pray vs prey. Makes ya wonder where the root meaning of the word came from & if translation was in some way lost or hidden from modern man. Bible comes from Byblos, which just mean papyrus "paper". Nothing special about that. Just another coded book of words for a social order that no longer exists. Sad that these things just keep getting worse as time goes by. I was once told by the group who were laying hands on me that my soul would forever be lost to the devil unless I took Jesus as my god & savior. I faked it & spoke the silly words I heard them all muttering & they finally let me go & praised their God for answering their call. WTF were these fools thinking. Teen challenge in the early days. I would rather have dinner with a cockroach than ever eat in a church again with people who are so oneway on their road to salvation. Leave me out of that train to nowhere!:joyful:

 

[FireSign8]

I agree with you. (My personal belief is Christian based). I was turning away because I was horrified...

You say your cousin belongs to a church that unites all religions - including atheism??? Dude, no true atheist would ever call themselves a religion, nor be part of a church that attempts to strip them of their personal power. Just some FYI from this atheist. Please share the name of this "Church" so people can drive in the other direction.

 

[Deleted member 37474]

You say your cousin belongs to a church that unites all religions - including atheism??? Dude, no tr...

Would it help if it is a community of people who gather to share readings and the good of all people groups, writings, people that wish to just embrace an open minded acceptance of others?

 

[FireSign8]

Would it help if it is a community of people who gather to share readings and the good of all people gro...

Oh no...another hidden group that is akin to a cult. Like I said, (IMHO) no true atheist needs to hang with people who engage & embrace in groups with "follower" mentality. It is counter productive on so many levels. Sounds like a manipulation practice for the weak minded seeking a bond with fellow humans. I would call this the new Bond-Age! But that's just me. Being judge-mental.:roflmao:

 

[Cleopatra]

I just though about to create this thread because many of us has been manipulated with religion and spir...

Hi,
I just want to say that since gods are just imaginary beings created by people who want to control others, everyone actually does live without gods to protect and guide them.

 

[Deadman]

One of my favorite magicians and atheists: Penn Jillette: Reading the Bible (Or the Koran, Or the Torah) Will Make You an Atheist

 

[Deadman]

More from Penn: Penn Jillette on Islam

 

[bellbird]

Not sure if this thread is still actively frequented, but hello fellow atheists :)

One of my flatmates, a devout Christian, told me a couple of nights ago that I 'technically don't deserve anything good to happen to me because as a non-believer I'm a sinner and how could there be "justice" in the world if good things happened to people like me'
[context: I had mentioned I'm having nightmares and she told me she'd pray for me but it wouldn't actually do anything because I'm not a believer].

Yep.

Part of me (which I feel is more of an internalisation of what I suspect people would say if I was to kick up a fuss) tries to justify her behaviour by saying she just must not be a very "Christian" Christian.
But how can that be when the bible which Christians base their faith off is so ambiguous and full of contradictions that it seems every church, if not every person, has a slightly different interpretation of what the scripture actually means. The same probably applies to most religious texts, I would think, though I'm best versed in Christianity given my schooling, and talking about Christianity specifically seems the most relevant to this context.

I mean her words literally echo the bible. Just one example:
John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Does that not then make her a very "Christian" Christian indeed?

Regardless, her words really affected me. With my depression, I have a hard enough time warding off internal thoughts/[mis?]perceptions that I don't deserve good things, without someone literally telling me so.
Do I talk to her about what she said and how it has affected me? I don't want to leave my flat, I love this place and it is the most safe I've felt in a place before.
I don't think she meant it with any malice, I honestly think she just believes every word in that book as fact, not that that excuses her to say something like that to someone.

Thoughts?

On a side note, it would be nice to connect in general with atheistic sufferers of PTSD. Sometimes I feel it is harder for us, particularly in traumas that involve death. I have no self assurance that I will ever see my friend again. Which really really upsets me somedays. But I am comfortable in my lack of belief, nonetheless.

 

[Chiqui]

From my point of view, she is not a friend at all. I have found religious people very damaging for my self esteem and recovery. She owns the TRUTH??, she knows nothing about ptsd and mercy and is stupid.

 

[somerandomguy]

*waves*

Thanks for resurrecting this thread from the dead ... after significantly longer than 3 days though.

One of my flatmates, a devout Christian, told me a couple of nights ago that I 'technically don't deserve anything good to happen to me because as a non-believer I'm a sinner and how could there be "justice" in the world if good things happened to people like me'

I have found that tons of believers are like this - religion is just a socially acceptable way to express bigotry and hatred.

I grew up in a very devout Catholic family and rejected it by the time I was 14 or 15. I just couldn't bring myself to believe a human being rose from the dead, much less was God, and everything Christian kind of fell apart for me from there. My parents were horrified and guilted and shamed and hounded me, but I wouldn't budge. Many years later, I had the distinct pleasure of having my father tell me that I had been right about everything.

These days, if I identify as anything, it's as a Buddhist, but I don't believe in any of the rebirth dogma or the divinity of Buddha or what have you. I find the Dhamma works well for me, but I'm still an atheist.

So I'm very glad to have found this little group!

 

[bellbird]

She owns the TRUTH??, she knows nothing about ptsd and mercy and is stupid.

True.

Thanks for resurrecting this thread from the dead ... after significantly longer than 3 days though.

:D:D:D

religion is just a socially acceptable way to express bigotry and hatred.

Absolutely.
Sometimes I become less vocal about my lack of beliefs (though it's not like I'd ever go up to someone on the street and start a debate with them), but other times I remind myself that my position of having no belief is punishable by death in 13 countries The 13 countries where being an atheist is punishable by death which is just appalling.