Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jonathan Kraus on May 25, 2009 at 6:30am

I am drifting away from anger as the length of time since living in the jungles of Africa increases. Basically it 'varies inversely as the square of the distance'. And now that I have you guys I feel loads better about being in Springfield. :)

Permalink Reply by Celtix1234 on May 25, 2009 at 12:22pm

I am drifting away from the anger, as well, as I realize that they are infected with a meme, and they really can't help it. I was once in their shoes. However, I did not use my religion as a means to screw people, knowing that I could just apologize to God and be done with it, like I feel so many Christians do. And I did not judge people on things like their sexual preferences. It's traits like that that have me prefacing the word "Christians" with the word "Fucking". It seems like every time I come across what seems like a good Christian, they end up disappointing me. Of course, it could be that since I am surrounded by Christians, the potential for abuse from them is higher, simply because of their numbers. Maybe if I was surrounded by Buddhists or atheists, I'd have a more realistic view, but for some reason, and this is probably wrong, I feel like I could trust a fellow atheist more, since the ones I know tend to answer to an internal value system, and thus take responsibility for their actions.

Permalink Reply by Celtix1234 on May 25, 2009 at 12:22pm

I forgot to say "awwwww": "And now that I have you guys I feel loads better about being in Springfield. :)"

Permalink Reply by John-Henry Beck on May 26, 2009 at 8:52pm

I think I waver between the two to some degree. I may be leaning more toward the 'angry' side these days now that I know I'm an atheist and, more importantly, that I can see the effects of religion. It feels like living under a stuffy wet blanket. I can see enough to see the possibilities of a better world. But the blanket is so restrictive.
I could compare it to my experience with smokers. Ideally I like to think that's all up personal choice. But then I see someone littering the street with their filthy butts, or find so many locations I might like to go require putting up with a haze of poisonous smoke filling the room.

Permalink Reply by Brian Cain on May 29, 2009 at 3:36pm

I have only been able to make it to 1 meeting, and that was several months ago, but I wanted to chime in on this.

My mom is Catholic and once a week as a kid sent me the neighborhood Catholic church to learn about the religion and eventually lead me to my confirmation. When I was still in grade school I told my mom I didn't believe in god. Needless to say I never did get confirmed. I drifted aimlessly through my early teen years, but started making friends with a lot of Christians around the age of 15. I liked having friends, and wanted to fit in so I went to church with them regularly. I was baptized as a baptist, confirmed as a lutheran, and even made my way back to the catholics in my 20's. I tried really hard to believe, but after many years realized that my entire life I have never believed in any form of a higher power controlling over our lives. For a long time I thought I was missing out on something, and fit in to that angry category. Now-a-days I find myself just frustrated. You cannot argue logically with someone over religion. I finally came to understand that faith exists outside of logic, and has to be personal to be real. I had to find my own beliefs and live my life according to that. My faith is not from a book or someone else dishing it out for me in sunday sermons. My faith came from my experiences and contemplation.

Faith is simply belief in something without supporting evidence.

Permalink Reply by Corey Garrison on June 1, 2009 at 7:23pm

i have always been an atheist, only just recently have i gone from passive to aggressive in my views on religion. this is, of course, due to relentless oppression and abandonment by "friends" and "family". just last week a man pacing through my house ranting "i love god, dude. i love Jesus" went with me to a local Korn concert where he then offered me a cigarette, a beer and a joint. after i refused all these things he tried to hook me up with a woman old enough to be my mother and looked to be meth addicted because "shes fuckin horny so she'll fuck anyone" after declining this offer he looked very upset and disappointed with me. moments later he was engaged in a fist fight and was removed from the shrine. after the show was over he offered to to drive me home (he was so drunk he couldn't walk) and after telling him no for the 5th or 6th time he became enraged and called me a fucking idiot and sped away


if my anger towards people of religion who believe they are better than me just because they have an imagination and i do not is just a phase. it is one that will not end soon if things continue on as is