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Comment by kara on December 13, 2012 at 9:52pm

Hi I'm semi new, I've been a lurker for a while and just starting to get active. I have been on and off atheist for a long time my Father has always been atheist but my main caregiver my mother was very superstitious and religious as was my step father so I have been raised with very conflicting ideas. I have been through a spiritual phase which i would characterise as neo-pagan and historically inspired but I am entirely atheist and becoming comfortable with the peace that brings. so that's me can't wait to get to know some folks.

Comment by Patricia on December 13, 2012 at 1:35pm

Some interesting reading if you haven't found them already, Tabitha.....

whywon'tgodhealamputees.com

thejovialatheist.com

thegodlessbastard.com

thehappyheretic.com

I can't remember this site's name, but if you type ''vincent m. wales'' into your search, I think it could lead you to his writings, if he hasn't taken them down. 

And of course Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Michael Shermer, Victor Stenger, & David Mills who is a member (friend) here on AN.

Lots of really good learning out there & I keep finding new ones all the time.

Comment by T Andrew Klatt on December 13, 2012 at 10:10am

I appreciate Tabitha’s comments about Wicca, Gerald Gardiner and the “old religion.” I would add to this list Chares G. Leland’s Aradia or the Gospel of the Witches, a classic of amateur folklore collecting, that it is believed that Gardiner and other’s used in the creation of their “traditions.”

The Wicca, neo-pagan or neo-shamanistic movements just go to demonstrate (at least to my way of thinking) how we human beings go about creating religions. It is an interesting phenomenon to observe. The UFO/Alien abduction crowd is another perfect example of how humans seem to create false correlation out of unexplainable or misperceived events into religious or spiritual movements. 

Comment by Tabitha McCoy on December 13, 2012 at 9:10am

@Future Well, yeah it was like that. I grew up my whole life raised on the fact that there is a god. I've struggled since then, going back and forth saying, "Oh, there's no god--and it's fantastic! This universe came about naturally, and it's so beautiful!" Then going back to thinking, "Wait...what if there is a god? I'll burn in hell for what I've thought and done!" I have been raised my WHOLE LIFE around people who believe in god. Finally coming to the understanding that there really isn't a god or gods, it felt like there was a veil being lifted from over my eyes. I felt like I could see clearly, and life was beautiful, exactly the way it was. I felt angry for being lied to my whole life, too, but then I realized that my parents and grandparents believed for the very same reason I did--for fear of hell, and because they had been indoctrinated as a child.

@Patricia My mom would scream if she found out what I've been reading these past years. Then i moved in with my step mother--a very Christian woman--and she is much more lenient, and I can even have open conversation with her about my beliefs--or rather, my lack of.

@James People back in those days also used witchcraft accusations for political reasons--"My opponent is a witch!" and his opponent would be burned or hanged and that was that.

Comment by James M. Martin on December 11, 2012 at 11:06pm

And then, again, Tabitha, the Hebrews called them poisoners for the same reason that the Inquisition burned many "witches": they administered abortifacients.  Many of these had to be tinctures and such and might therefore be regarded as "poisonous" to the extent that they "killed babies." Narrow minded superstition was standard.

Comment by Patricia on December 11, 2012 at 1:17pm

I found lots to read when I learned my way around computer too, but I was not buying what I was hearing right from a small kid in moronism. I tried to believe, but it just wouldn't ''take''. I began reading almost anything I could get my mitts on, unbeknownst to my parents, who didn't pay enough attention to know what I was doing anyway. NOTHING I read ever pointed me towards belief! I'm 66 next month & have stayed in my no belief in crap state continually, & gotten even more so after having internet. 

Comment by Future on December 11, 2012 at 10:06am

Then, I found atheism while browsing the web when i was 16

 

That's a very curious statement, Tabitha.  You make it sound like the lack of belief in god(s) is a concept that only arises when it is brought to one's attention from an outside source.  When I first heard the word "atheism", and found out what it meant, all it did for me was give a common name to what I already knew I was.  Believing in god(s) was just something that I could never honestly do, at any age.

Comment by Tabitha McCoy on December 11, 2012 at 9:26am

Hahaha! The Wiccans that say they have ancestors from the old days are full of it. Witches and pagans in the old days were wiped out, and then Gerald Gardner, a British civil servant, came over seas and basically reinvented the pagan religion of old and renamed it "Wicca". (There has been much dispute over where this word came from...some say it means "Witch" others say it means "wise"...I have no idea)

But yeah, long story short, Wicca was BASED on the "Old Religion". I don't know what percentage of it is actually really and truly connected to ancient religions. I'm pretty sure the Old Religion had a lot of animal and/or human sacrifice involved.

And I'm not sure about Hebrew witches...maybe they did, they just called them something else. Maybe they were classified as poisoners.

Comment by James M. Martin on December 10, 2012 at 10:58pm

Thank you, too, Tabitha, for the note on mistranslation.  Wiccans I have known said that their ancestors invoked the elements to raise the storm that destroyed the Spanish Armada. If there was no Hebrew word for witch does that mean the Hebrews had no witches?  "Poisoner" kind of changes the scenario a bit. 

Comment by Tabitha McCoy on December 10, 2012 at 9:54am

Why thank you, James! I do love my feline name. And actually, the verse in the "booble" (that made me giggle) that you referenced was actually mistranslated. There was no Hebrew word for "witch" at that time, and it was actually "poisoner". King James (III?) altered it for his own gain.

And yeah, Paganism is as "good" as Christianity, whereas both are full of ancient myths and give some a feel-good (maybe not Christianity so much) feelings for an emotional security blanket.

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