*refers to a song by Psyche, youtube it if you're interested
So, my question from yesterday's post seemed to have piqued some curiosity. I guess I should have been more specific... When I asked if you believed in God, I rather meant God as in a deity, a higher power or being, or even gods plural if you wish.
In my mind there is a clear distinction between "deity" and "religion" as to me, the two are mutually exclusive. You can believe in both, in only one of the two, or in neither; you don't have to believe in religion to have faith in a higher being.
I'm not sure what I believe in. I've not seen or experienced any evidence of "God" and I certainly don't believe in religion, however I'd like to believe we are all linked by some higher power out there... maybe Karma? I mostly do believe in a spiritual afterlife of sorts, of reincarnation and the like - but not linked to a God or to religion, if that makes sense to you.
And then again, this wavers depending on the events going on in my life at the time ;-)
The funny thing is that close to 80% of the world's population has Faith, they maybe don't all believe in the same thing but they believe in something.
I don't mind being part of a minority, and I totally respect what the majority is doing as long as it works for them. Like they say: "Whatever makes you happy!" It's when faith and religion come to blows, browbeating and fanaticism that I draw the line. Don't push your beliefs on others and everybody will get along just fine.
Aetheists get crapped on all the time for being "religion haters" and whatnot but really, they represent 20% of the pie. How many wars can they spurn in the name of Nothing?
On the other hand, crusades, religious wars, sects, screaming preachers, kids with bombs strapped to their chests in the name of their God... the extremists that poison it for everyone. That's just wrong, plain wrong.
Love your Gods but please, respect those that love other Gods or don't believe in them at all.
Is that so difficult?
/end of Crawls Back Into Non-Conformist Cave post/
12 comments:
I believe life presents itself to people in many ways and its what happens to each person in life that determines and builds to (or takes away from) their belief system. I dare not judge anyone on what they believe - I think it is more relevant and purposeful that each person simply become aware of who they are. Many people spend so much time pretending to be someone they are not and taking on values that are not their own that they dont quite know what really exists inside of themselves to say what they truly believe. So Christian, Muslim, Agnostic or Atheist, etc - believe what you will...its YOUR life, YOUR choice and no one should make those decisions for you, no one can experience your life or be in your shoes ...thats what I believe :-)
It's Just me said it well. I am in my 30s now and while I have so much to learn and experience, I feel like I am more steady in who I am and what I believe.
Princessb
The thing is a lot of atheists are just as forceful as bible thumpers. They think that just because they're preaching nothing, it doesn't count. How many times have atheists put down religious people because of their beliefs? How many times have atheists blamed religion for things rather than blaming the misuse of religion instead?
When I was a self-proclaimed atheist, I never saw what I was doing as pushing my religion on other people. I never saw myself as closed-minded and intolerant.
But now that I've cracked open a Bible, I have it done to me. Constantly. Atheists telling me that reading the Bible will make me dumber, make me more intolerant, and atheists dissociating with me because of it. That's not tolerance. Not even a little bit.
And then there are those who, when they find out I'm reading the Bible, tell me to quit reading that "garbage" and read things like "The God Delusion" or go watch "Religulous" instead.
I also realized that "pushing religion" onto an atheist means saying the word "God". That's all it takes.
"God be with you," is pushing religion on you.
"God bless you," is also pushing religion on you.
"Jesus loves you," too.
I know it because I used to get offended when people "Godded" me in some way.
Why are people so defensive? If you don't believe in something, why is discussing it off limits?
We can talk about Santa Claus. How old were you when you stopped believing? What version of Santa do you like the most? Or even whether or not you believe in ghosts. That's ok too. Talking about ghosts doesn't mean you or I are pushing our ghost-related beliefs onto each other.
But the minute God comes up, all of a sudden it's pushing. I told people to listen to a sermon, if they so choose, and provided a link, and honestly, it was a good sermon, really, really good. But I doubt if even one of my blog readers clicked it. And on top of that, my readership dropped by 85% for the next week.
Why is that pushing? If I posted an anti-religion video people would watch it, but the minute it's pro-religion, the minute it paints religion in an awesome and beautiful light, no atheist wants any part of it. It's pushing.
What if Christians are just trying to tell you something that is important to them? Like me talking about my dogs. Nobody says I'm forcing them to buy a dog.
Well, on the other hand, you see how people react when you talk about raw, right? How many people said, "Techno pushes raw. She thinks people who don't feed raw are bad owners"? All you're doing is talking about something you care about and people get offended and shut down before they hear a word.
That's religion and atheism.
I wish people wouldn't shut down. Nobody is pushing you into anything, except maybe consumerism, but nobody seems to mind that.
You are you and be confident enough in who you are to allow people to speak what they love, what they are passionate about, and what they can teach you, even if it's not what you believe.
The best relationships are the deepest ones, and how can they ever get there if we refuse to try to understand each other at this fundamental level? How can we all be true friends to each other when one major aspect of ourselves is never approached with empathy?
The problem is all of us have boundaries around our beliefs. Why? Is it because we don't know? We really have no idea. Is it because to be around somebody who seems certain of everything when we are not is threatening?
Sorry for the novel. *runs away*
Great post. I agree with you on most points. and no one should ever push thier religion.
I am a faitful person. I am a spiritual person. But I am not a religeous person. You can be all that you/we want to be.
Oh - and here's a good rule of thumb:
"Stand for something, or you will fall for anything!"
Simply put: know what you believe and if you dont, explore!
:-)
Yes. It's human nature to hate others who are different.
It's in our blood.
That's how you protect the apple tree you found from the other tribe of apes so you can feed and they can go hungry ;)
This is just in response to part of Prin's post. I don't call myself anything, but others would label me agnostic or atheist. I don't mind "God bless you" or such things, but please, please don't give me Jesus loves you. Maybe I'm sensitive to such things, but I've heard it from people who say it in response to a tragedy in order to comfort the other person. Newsflash to those who say it...it doesn't help. It actually made me feel as if the person was brushing off things. And frankly, people don't say "santa loves you" because it would come off as absurd.
I think it's great that people find comfort in religion, and that those who do want me to feel what they do. But I won't. Just like some people don't like pizza (silly example, but it is what it is) some people will never want or need religion.
I was raised CAtholic, btw, and have read the bible and done my homework with people who do have graduate degrees in theology. I wish I could believe it, but it's just not for me.
Princessb
Thank you all for your thoughts, discussions and opinions.
I'd respond individually but my brain's whacked right now so just know that I value your comments!
Wait until you hear about my walk home from work tonight... holy cow. Did I mention Karma?
I'm an atheist, and that's about all I care to say about it. I don't question religious people about their beliefs, why they believe them, etc, and I don't like having mine questioned. It's just one of those things I prefer to keep to myself.
I believe in God certainly. But feel religion & the bible are world's apart. I believe in the Bible, but don't agree with many religion's teachings - find them hypocritical.
I think humans have a spiritual need for sure.
And that everyone has free will to choose whatever they wish. I would never ever bag someone out for being atheist/agnostic/a religion I didn't agree with. We should all respect that each other has their own beliefs on life and God.
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