gord
24th September 2009, 12:01 PM
Um, the title is my febrile attempt at humour...
I guess my point is Im kind of shocked that in this day and age in Australia, that there should be such a stigma against people who honestly admit they don't believe in God.
If I were to walk around the inner city or suburbs of Melbourne wearing a T-shirt that said "God is a Delusion" or "I am an atheist' or even "Atheism Rocks!".. I'd be afraid of attracting a violent response.
Why should 'coming out' be such a painful process.. there shouldn't even be a need to come out.
Id love to see buses and bustops here advertise 'Theres probably no God, and no afterlife.. so enjoy life and be kind to each other' .. and Im kind of sad that Athiests have the status of a suppressed minority which needs to use the law to assert their obvious (constitutionally guaranteed?) rights.
ok, ... a little about me.
I was raised by lovely salt-of-the-earth Catholic parents, got a lot of morals from stories of Jesus life when I was a child, went to church but rebelled and refused to go at age 14. Experimented with new age ideas, but always had a love for science and art, while maintaining a publicly agnostic / tolerant view towards religion. I don't feel I have the right to impose religious or non-religious ideas on other people, as that would oppose the prime directive of 'questioning'.
At age 40ish :] I now have a young son, and I wanted to think about whether to bring him up with some experience of religion or not - perhaps some visits to church, some stories from Jesus' life, such as "turn the other cheek", forgiveness and perhaps some of the Buddhist ideas which might help him understand his heritage, as his mother was from a largely buddhist social background in asia. This prompted me to read Dawkins' 'The God Delusion', which kind of crystallized my own views.
In particular, Dawkins idea that it is basically mental abuse to indoctrinate children and label them according to their religion, pretty much was the decider for me. Honestly theres not much reason, apart from fear of judgment, for me to say I'm agnostic rather than just say I'm an Atheist. I was amazed to discover that 'Athiest' is such an emotionally charged term, I might as well say Im a terrorist or anarchist, it seems.
Ive thought about it and I don't see the value of 'coming out' to my parents, as I think it would be hurtful to expose them to that truth, when otherwise they are great people and have been ideal parents in other ways. Because of their beliefs they'd see this as a failure to bring me up well, and it would cause them unnecessary anguish in their twilight years.
To others I think I just have to say it how it is, if it comes up naturally, and especially I think we need to fight to keep the Church out of School and State. But I guess I realize I may lose one or two close friends because of their religious beliefs - to whom the difference of being christian, jew or muslem is reconcilable, but believing in No God is something similar to criminal activity.
Bit of a rant... I guess this has been building up for a while.
lovely to meet you all and discover this place,
cheers,
gord.
melbourne
I guess my point is Im kind of shocked that in this day and age in Australia, that there should be such a stigma against people who honestly admit they don't believe in God.
If I were to walk around the inner city or suburbs of Melbourne wearing a T-shirt that said "God is a Delusion" or "I am an atheist' or even "Atheism Rocks!".. I'd be afraid of attracting a violent response.
Why should 'coming out' be such a painful process.. there shouldn't even be a need to come out.
Id love to see buses and bustops here advertise 'Theres probably no God, and no afterlife.. so enjoy life and be kind to each other' .. and Im kind of sad that Athiests have the status of a suppressed minority which needs to use the law to assert their obvious (constitutionally guaranteed?) rights.
ok, ... a little about me.
I was raised by lovely salt-of-the-earth Catholic parents, got a lot of morals from stories of Jesus life when I was a child, went to church but rebelled and refused to go at age 14. Experimented with new age ideas, but always had a love for science and art, while maintaining a publicly agnostic / tolerant view towards religion. I don't feel I have the right to impose religious or non-religious ideas on other people, as that would oppose the prime directive of 'questioning'.
At age 40ish :] I now have a young son, and I wanted to think about whether to bring him up with some experience of religion or not - perhaps some visits to church, some stories from Jesus' life, such as "turn the other cheek", forgiveness and perhaps some of the Buddhist ideas which might help him understand his heritage, as his mother was from a largely buddhist social background in asia. This prompted me to read Dawkins' 'The God Delusion', which kind of crystallized my own views.
In particular, Dawkins idea that it is basically mental abuse to indoctrinate children and label them according to their religion, pretty much was the decider for me. Honestly theres not much reason, apart from fear of judgment, for me to say I'm agnostic rather than just say I'm an Atheist. I was amazed to discover that 'Athiest' is such an emotionally charged term, I might as well say Im a terrorist or anarchist, it seems.
Ive thought about it and I don't see the value of 'coming out' to my parents, as I think it would be hurtful to expose them to that truth, when otherwise they are great people and have been ideal parents in other ways. Because of their beliefs they'd see this as a failure to bring me up well, and it would cause them unnecessary anguish in their twilight years.
To others I think I just have to say it how it is, if it comes up naturally, and especially I think we need to fight to keep the Church out of School and State. But I guess I realize I may lose one or two close friends because of their religious beliefs - to whom the difference of being christian, jew or muslem is reconcilable, but believing in No God is something similar to criminal activity.
Bit of a rant... I guess this has been building up for a while.
lovely to meet you all and discover this place,
cheers,
gord.
melbourne