My personal form of atheism: A self realization

[capri0mni]

There's a post I wrote four months ago for quietconversation (access-only locked comm) that the radio interview yesterday brought back to mind, with more thinky-thoughts and wonderments layered on top, so I am currently reworking it for a more public audience. That's gonna take a while.

The post is mainly about the intersection of modern medicine and ancient religion (Paleo-Pagan, rather than Neo-Pagan), and I mention that I'm atheist.

I've since realized something: It's not that I think God(s) is(are) a fiction. God(s) may or may not exist. I might even take the existance of some form of Deity as fact without too much fuss or argument.

But I've discovered I don't need to believe in God(s) in order to have a warm and loving relationship with the Universe of which I'm a part. And it's the insistance of the many of the loudest theists that I must be incapable of love without God (and their particular God, to boot) that gets my nostril hairs in a knot.

Ya know?

Comments

[rob_t_firefly]

You are wise. :-)

[capri0mni]

D'aww!

(Snuggles you)

[jesse_the_k]

What r_t_f said.

(I'm imagining the level of dexterity required to braid nostril hairs. It is awesome.

[capri0mni]

Hee!

Well, it sorta happens automatically, when I get frustrated at willful ignorance, and the WTF energies start to cause sparks in the brain -- kind of like when static electricity causes socks to tangle, coming out of the drier.

[pebblerocker]

Yes -- do people really need a mystical parent-figure to tell them to be nice to each other and try to do the right thing?

[capri0mni]

This.

Although, based on the way atheist characters are written for TV (at least, and the American TV I've seen), it seems some people think that without a mystical-parent-figure to tell them so, people would never recognize that a rose is beautiful or sugar is sweet --

That unless you believe that God created a tree as part of a Great Divine Plan, then somehow, when you look at a tree, all you see is chemical compositions and molecular structures, so what does it matter if it's cut down to make room for a parking lot? And if you don't believe in God, you won't understand why people have funerals, or weddings, or birthday parties.

From this atheist's point of view, it seems like theists (the loudest ones) really believe that "The Universe is beautiful because our Daddy made it, just for us. Because we're Special!" And if the universe wasn't made for us, then it must be ugly and cold. It can't be beautiful because it simply is.

Maybe people who think like that really do need a mystical-parent-figure to keep them in line...