When I made the decision to become the Phoenix Atheism Examiner, I had to accept that it was going to be much more than a title. I assumed that writing this column was going to invite hate mail from a few readers and possibly alienate me from some friends and family, but I am taking that risk. It’s not, after all, the most popular point of view in this country today. After publishing my first two articles under this new title, which were mostly only informational in nature, I saw my aforementioned assumptions come true. If some people only used to dismiss or ridicule my views before, they are shunning me entirely now. They’ve made me feel as if atheism is somehow a dirty little secret.
This article is not specifically a “coming out” story for me. I have been an atheist for a long time, and although I have not kept it a secret, I wasn’t really public about it until about a year ago. What I do want to discuss is a little about how I arrived at atheism by sharing some of my experiences and thoughts. I hope those of you out there who are still “in the closet” as atheists will find some courage in what I have to say.
Growing up, the vast majority of my mom’s side of the family was, and still remains Catholic. My dad’s side were believers, but as far as I knew, not steady church goers. As a baby I was baptized in a Catholic church and I did attend a Christian pre-school, but I don’t remember a thing about either of those events. In our house, though, we never attended church and religion may have been an occasional topic of discussion, but it certainly was not a significant part of my upbringing (I can hear my mom’s Catholic guilt groaning right now). This is a very important point. The information and support were always available, but I was allowed to think for myself and to choose my own path.
None of my childhood friends and I ever really discussed religion, but many of them and their families were church-goers. Looking back, I can remember the uncomfortable, somewhat condescending looks I’d get from their parents as they were getting ready for church on Sundays and it was clear that I didn’t attend. It wasn’t until I reached high school that I started to realize the magnitude and the impact of religion on people’s lives. It was then that I began to question religion. They were actually very simple questions, such as: “If God loves us, why did he create diseases?”, “If God created EVERYTHING, doesn’t that mean he created the devil?” and “If men wrote the bible, how do you know it’s true?” Every time I asked those questions, I never received logical answers. It always came down to the infamous ‘leap of faith’ explanation.
I spent all of my 20s and my early 30s trying out different churches, asking more questions, and studying a lot about religion. The more I learned and the more I experienced, the less believable it all was. I found that the claims for religion being true fall apart quite easily under even the simplest of critical thinking and reasoning. Add historical and scientific evidence to the mix and it’s just a fact: religions are man-made myths. I found myself thinking, “Gee, if religion or belief in God is SUCH an important part of someone’s life, you’d think they would really put more rigorous thought into it.”
That’s when it hit me.
When I say there is no God, it doesn’t offend people because of their religious beliefs. It offends them because I am saying that they are wrong about something. It’s an issue of personal ego, which is a more accurate term here than pride (although I’m certain many of them will disagree). I am asking people why they believe in supernatural myths that don’t have a shred of evidence as to their being supernatural. I am asking people to apply the same standards and measures of reasoning and logic to their religion as they would apply to any history book, police investigation, legislation or personal financial investment. I am asking people to abandon the comfort that comes with pack mentality – that desire to be associated with an accepted majority. This is understandably one of the most difficult things for people to do. I’ll end this by taking it one step further and saying that I think most people secretly know what I do about their religions, which suggests to me that atheism is really their dirty little secret, not ours.
Comments
I have personally found how hateful so called Christians become when you announce you don't believe in a god. I don't believe it has to do ego, but more to do with the fact that they realize you may be right. Many Christians have built an entire house of cards on the unrealistic belief in a god. Your statement may cause their card house to crumble.
I was never baptized. My father was non-practicing Catholic and mother a Southern Baptist. They agreed to leave it up to the kids to choose our religion later in life. Armed with that head-start, I choose agnosticism and later atheism as my religion... Is it possible to be a DEVOUT atheist!?
Interesting story. My family wasn't very religious either. We celebrated a couple of holidays a year but rarely did anything else. By the time my parents belatedly decided I ought to go to Hebrew School to study for my Bar Mitzvah, it was too late. I was too old to take the crash course of religious indoctrination seriously.
If you click on the link "Anger and Arrogance on Fox News" under Videos/Films on the right side of the page, you'll see the epitome of the seething anger and contempt they have for atheists. She is so full of bitterness, you'd swear the female host's head is going to explode. And of course, O'Reilly is his old, hypocritical, narcissistic self. He repeately calls the Washington governer "disrespectful", while insulting this woman's co-hosts over and over because they weren't out of control angry like her.
In the "Atheists Should be Treated Like 'Trolls'" video, the same host actually professes her fear of Christians losing "control" of society.
The absolute lack of any understanding regarding the Constitution and their completely biased hatred of anything outside of their beliefs is nothing less than frightening. These are the types of people who control the sheep and use the pack mentality to bully others.
I love the irony of "Satan's alphabet"... i.e the fact that you are listed FIRST on the list of Religion Examiners!
I've been meaning to welcome you and your discussion, John, and this is the perfect place for that. In youth, I rejected rigid religious construct, but never conflated God with religion or religious authority. Long story short, I accept that some people reject God, or even god, as the center. Some who reject god still accept spirit as the center. I find comfort with God, spirituality and liberal religion without rigidity, rules, or demands--only conscience. In my experience, atheism includes conscience, so it's cool! I don't know the basis for your ethics, but neither do you need to understand the basis for mine. We should be okay with each other's beliefs, or lack thereof!
Debbie Jordan, Phoenix Progressive Examiner
You don't offend me because you've choosen your own path. Just as I don't offend you because I have choosen my own path. God gave us "Free Will" and we are both exercising it. God Bless you John. I have a 14 week old named John. I will pray for you but will you pray for me? Can Atheists pray, and if so, what are they doing if there is no God?
God is an imagined supreme being bolstered by which ever ancient template (scripture) one chooses to believe in. We hope children grow out of having imaginery friends, but its considered rude or 'evil' to expect the same from adults. Non belief in God is an attack on the imaginery friend. Be careful! Every imagined God differs regardless of ancient template.
I would have to disagree slightly with your position on Atheisim. I am an Atheist myself but being an Atheist does not mean actively disbelieving in God but having a lack of belief for the existence of God, a small change in words and grammer but it does mean completely different things.
Any well educated Atheist will usually admit that they cannot catagorically deny the existence of god as we lack the emperical evidence to do so.
However being an Atheist is a neutral starting point as there is no emperical evidence to prove the existence of god and logically (based on available evidence of eveything else in the world) god does not exist. The burden of truth lies with the claimant, which would be the religious who claim that there is a god, rather than the Atheist who generally takes the view that it is highly unlikely that there is a god and so won't waste time worrying about it.
This is still different from the agonostic who just sits on the fence and hedges their bets.
I gotta admit, I like your conclusion that Xtians are secretly closet-Atheists, but have to disagree. I think their anger toward Atheists stems more from fear than from pride. A denial of God/Faith based on reason is going to adversely affect the belief system of any rational human being who considers it. Each point is another chip at a religion whose staunchest believers readily admit bases strongest arguments from an unproveable first cause. Even the fact that an Atheist can exist challenges the existence of a God: If Joe the physicist views God as an unneccessary hypothesis, who is Joe the plumber to contradict him? And if the latter's faith is in danger of being lost, there's more than a philosophy at stake. He'll lose his soul, his afterlife, and his hope of reuniting with his loved ones in Heaven.
There is no God.......
John 6:54 - No, we don't pray. We "wish" and "hope" - sometimes silently in our heads over and over I guess... It's very similar to your prayer - except we don't expect a mythical being to intervene.
Excellent article, once again. People seem to want to attack your "ego" argument. I disagree with them, in that ego is a part of anyone's belief systems, and therefore, cannot be so easily discounted.
I recently attended a Gay Pride celebration in a neighboring town...the skins heads were out em masse as were the crazy, uneducated, mindless "christians". The "christian" motto o' the day was, "Truth is only hate to those who hate the truth"...if they would only allow what few brain cells they have left, swimming aimlessly around in their tiny little heads to activate momentarily, they would see the ridiculousness of that statement!!!! It IS the truth that they fear, more than anything!!
I marvel, still, at the power of false belief in this society...it's galvanizing!
"God" is the proposition that life has magically always existed from nothing in the form of an all-knowing, all-powerful supreme being.
God is impossible, and cannot exist.
In fact, if it did exist, what would it be? Energy? IN what form? What *IS* this "god" thing people speak of? Is it even a thing?
I cannot disprove the Flying Spaghetti Monster because the attributes are physically possible, but the attributes of a god? Impossible.
Square circles cannot exist... just like god.
I often ask people "What is god?" - they can't answer.
They usually say, "God is the creator" - I say that's a title not a desription.
They say "God is a spirit" - I point out that spirits are also undefined.
They say "God is not physical" - I say tell me what it IS instead of what it is NOT.
They say "God made the universe" - I say tell me what god *IS* not what you claim he did.
Bottom line - Christians (and all believers) don't even know what they believe in. When pressed, they'll admit it.
"Ok, it's a higher-power, something greater than myself."
Michael Jordan is greater than myself.
The sun is a higher power.
I still don't get it.
I know plenty of evangelicals and it's never occurred to me to think of them as shrinking violets, heh heh! In fact, I think it's more important to evangelicals to feel that they are under siege and attack (you know, by things like saying "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas" or by challenges when they try to put Creationism in school curriculums) than worrying about the freaked-out feelings of anyone else! I think they yearn to feel like a persecuted minority even in communities where they're not a minority or persecuted.
I feel sorry for them sometimes. It requires hard work to feel like you're a martyr when you live in a country whose constitution guarantees religious freedom.
You made an interesting claim that was not well supported ,"claims for religion being true fall apart quite easily under even the simplest of critical thinking and reasoning".
This is an assertion. Perhaps you would be up for debating it with a fellow examiner? See my article on "Evidence of God".
Phoenix Protestant Examiner
Hi John, I'm a fellow examiner (Phoenix Spiritual Examiner)and want to say welcome. I realize and accept that the open spirituality that works for me is not for everyone. With 6 billion people in this world I do not believe there is one belief system meant for every person. I enjoy diversity. We all have a voice and can learn from one another. Diversity exists in nature and as humans we are a part of that diversity.
Its unfortunate that throughout human history various religious groups have endeavored to force their beliefs and worse their 'control' upon others who have different viewpoints.
I look forward to reading your articles John and admire your courage in discussing a hot topic.
John: great discussion here.
The Glovner: Salient point about knowing whether God (or god) exists. Only God knows if She exists. No one’s personal belief affects reality.
Altheismer: Good point about the nature of god. Those of us who believe perceive God’s nature through our own experiences and limitations, like the blind men touching different parts of the elephant and concluding it’s different things. I perceive God as intelligence and spirit, which is unseen--and for many, unperceived. God is my personal perception. My belief is personal, and doesn’t depend on others’ perception. It’s okay that some choose non-existence perception.
Hugh Kramer: Freedom “of” religion also means freedom “from” religion. Too many who call themselves Christian don’t understand that.
Torie: Good to see another Examiner welcoming John to the discussion! We should be free to state our case, explain our position, in safety.
Debbie Jordan, Phoenix Progressive Examiner
To SMeehan:
Yes, claims for religion being true fall apart quite easily. First with evidence, secondly by logic.
Claim: the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God.
Where is the proof of this? Don’t answer the question with another question, and don’t change the subject. Just show us the proof.
Claims (the basics): Virgin birth, resurrection, miracles.
Where is the proof of these, and why haven’t they ever been replicated? Also, these same – exact claims were the foundations of hundreds of myths and religions that came well before the Abrahamic religions, and this is irrefutably documented.
Claims: the key players and stories (Jesus, Moses, the Ark, etc.)
No evidence of them outside of the Bible. The very few written accounts, if any, have been discounted time and time again.
Anything that could be considered a “smoking gun” (e.g. The original Commandments) is forever conveniently missing.
As always, the burden of proof lies with the claimant.
By logic:
The Bible contradicts itself. Telling characters in the story to partake in killing, rape, slavery, and all the other examples of “bad” morals do not support the idea of a “loving” God.
The Gospels not only contradict each other, but also have inconsistencies within them.
If God loved us as his creations, why all the death, disease and creation of evil?
This could also go under the ‘evidence’, but what about prayer? Why aren’t all prayers answered? If prayer could persuade a “loving” God to heal someone’s cancer, why not heal ALL cancer? Or better yet, why create cancer at all?
The examples are endless.
As I have stated before, the time for entertaining outrageous religious claims in the absence of evidence and allowing the tired distraction game to continue is over. Let’s stick to the facts.
Atheismer: I perceive "God" in the physical universe I am a part of. The analogy (put forth by Schopenhauer, Poe, et al.) would be that the universe is the body of an immense lifeform and is comprised of an inconceiveably vast number of smaller individual lifeforms; much as our physical bodies are comprised of individually living cells (which are, in turn, comprised of smaller, animate matter). However, the immense "God" entity/universe would have no more cognizance of our presence than we would of the subatomic particles comprising our cells. (And, on an interesting sidenote: "God"/the universe could also by hypothesized as being but a subatomic particle in an even greater being ... and so on, and so on and so on...)
I really dopn't understand why God is such a big issue with atheists. Okay you don't believe. Thats great go on with your lives. Isn't there more to life than trying to disprove God all the time?
By the way Dave....God is love. Plain and simple. You have to experience it for yourself by praying. Other people can't experience it for you.
Kelsy,
God isn't a big issue with atheists, people's belief in God is. There is a very big difference. We would love to go on with our lives, but religious folks continually force their beliefs into secular life, which affects all of us and goes against the Constitution. It is clear that even in the face of overwhelming evidence that God and the Bible are nothing more than man-made mythology, some people will ultimately choose to say they believe in it anyway, and that really is fine - as long as they stop trying to mix it with secular law.
We don't care if someone claims to believe in a supreme kitten who lives on Jupiter. But once they start telling us what is appropriate as far as sex, race, a woman's body and things like that, they need to do one of two things:
1. Provide evidence that the kitten on Jupiter is real, so as to legitimize their authority over us.
or
2. Adhere to the Constitution and stop forcing their beliefs on others.
Plain and simple.
As atheists we do not dwell on God, as John already said. However, we do hate it when doctors are killed in the name of God, etc... Do you realize how many laws (some old, some new) are based completely on the ridiculous belief in a god or gods?! That is what we are talking about here...
Religion is nonsense. Work hard so that someone else can get rich because your reward is in the next life.
It's the sheep who should be ashamed.
I agree 100% its an ego thing. i've always said this .
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