Questions about Atheism: Answered

I posted a blog a week ago welcoming questions about atheism in general and my atheism and received 8 questions. Below are the 8 questions with my answers. If you have anymore questions after reading this or need me to clarify anything please let me know I will be happy to help.

I hope you enjoy and I hope it gives you a little more information about myself and possibly other atheists.

1- What was your upbringing like? Were you raised agnostic?

My very early life was Christian based. My mom was living with my aunt and both were single moms. I don’t remember a whole lot about that time as I was quite young, not more than 3 or 4 years old, but I do remember the 2 moms would load all 6 of us kids up and we would go to church. I remember learning songs like “Yes Jesus Loves Me,” but that is about it.

As I grew older I know God was mentioned from time to time and I had a Bible Stories for Children book. I remember a couple of the stories from that book but being most interested in Sampson and Delilah for some reason. I also remember being extremely confused about the concept of a holy trinity and how God could be God AND Jesus. The whole thing boggled my poor little pre-teen mind.

God wasn’t a daily thing in much of my life but it was present from time to time. Once in awhile my mom and my brother would go to church. I can remember going a time or two but thinking it was silly to need to go to church to worship someone that I was told was “everywhere” so I didn’t go very often.

So, long story short, I was raised semi-Christian but not in a way that directly influenced my belief or non-belief in God. I would say at that point I was closest to being a deist as I figured a higher power was possible to start the world but I didn’t really think of it as the Christian described being.

2- At what point in your life were you able to put the label of agnostic on your beliefs? What events (if any) led to that?

I am not really sure I can pin this down. I remember as a 6 or 7 year old child being a bit “creeped out” that God watched us all the time (as I was told). I wondered if he would watch while I showered and such and that didn’t leave me with a good feeling.

I can say I have always been a skeptic so I never really believed the way most people that do, do. I thought it was a neat idea etc but I didn’t actually expect anything to come of my prayers and never heard God speak to me etc.

It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I started really identifying as an atheist, but mostly because I hadn’t really thought about it much until that time. I also took a class 2 semesters ago about Genesis and that really cemented it in for me. I am of the mind that you can’t take part of the Bible as literal without accepting all of it as literal (how do you tell myth from what is real otherwise?) so even the idea of Noah’s Ark seemed silly and unbelievable to me. There was also a lot of messed up stuff in Genesis upon further reading that turned me off quite a bit.

3- What do you want me to know about you and your beliefs?

I am not sure really. I would want you to know that I don’t think people that do believe in a God or gods are foolish. I understand why many believe and why it would be a positive thing for some people and know of at least a few Christians in particular that are amazing, wonderful people and feel as though they can give that credit to Jesus. I am completely okay with that.

I like to think of all people as people so I have a difficult time when religious groups (not just Christians) act out against gay rights or women’s rights etc.

4- Are there things I do in my day-to-day life (apart from the obvious prayer before meal type situations) in which I am pushing my (general my) beliefs on you without realizing it?

The only time religion really impacts my day to day life is when it applies to politics. One really touchy issue for me is gay marriage, which some Christians are using the Bible to fight against. There is no real downside to gay marriage from my point of view. More income via marriage licenses and weddings, happy couples able to get married, etc and the only reasons I have heard against it are that the Bible is against it/God doesn’t like gay people, or that it “breaks down” the fabric of marriage because a “marriage” is between a man and a woman. I really dislike when other peoples religions are used to force through political agendas.

5- What is the point of anyone being alive if we are just to die and go nowhere?

Why does there have to be a point? I don’t think there is a specific purpose to my life. I am living because I was born that way and I want to live, I enjoy life, I like watching my kids grow up and I love the smell of leaves in the fall. So far as I know my purpose in life is to enjoy it while it lasts, because I only get so much of it, and to try to have a positive impact on society.

6- How can you be sure that there is NO god? because we are talking about atheism not agnostic.

You have to be careful with these terms because while they complement each other, they are not dealing with the same topics. Theism deals with belief, gnosticism deals with knowledge, so I'm actually an agnostic atheist(the vast majority are agnostic atheists), because I both do not claim to know if a god exists and also do not believe. There are also gnostic atheists(not very common) who both do not believe and also claim to know there are no gods. So to answer the question I am most certainly not sure, but being not sure has nothing to do with the truth of the claim or my belief in it. Agnosticism must be qualified, one can be agnostic toward many things, I'm agnostic with respect to leprechauns as well.


7- Is there a way to prove to people that there is NO God?

First of all you can’t prove a negative, but aside from that I highly doubt it. The burden of proof is always on those that claim a position, its not my job to prove or disprove. I also don’t really think there is a place for proof in the world of theism, its all about belief and faith. I can’t prove your personal belief “wrong” because it just a belief.

If I said to you can you PROVE that Odin wasn’t a real Norse God? That he never existed? Wouldn’t you ask the people that believe in Odin to prove he is a true god instead of you trying to disprove it?

8- What is the foundation for morality for an atheist? How can an atheist fight for certain standards and values (i.e., liberty, equality, protection for children, etc)? In other words where do these standards come from and how can they be expected of others?

The morality for most atheists comes from what societies deem moral, if you want to be allowed to stay in your community, you need to follow the rules and be a decent person. It is as basic as what is taught to every child in grade school, treat others the way you would want to be treated. If you want to be around people and in society then you need to do things that don’t get you kicked out. If you kill someone, those in your community will remove you from society by putting you in jail etc. It is about making yourself look at life from another persons perspective and thinking about what you would want if you were them.

This can be seen throughout history, but most recently with slavery. Slavery was once acceptable and the morals of societies at that time did not have anything to say about it, or considered it normal. I’m sure I don’t have to point out that at the time the Bible was written slavery was normal and acceptable, as long as you followed the guidelines. I don’t think God has ever told us that slavery is wrong and immoral, our medical knowledge has simply improved and it became obvious that other races(or lower status families) weren’t “sub-human” and society subsequently deemed it immoral to treat people as property. Today it’s homosexuality, my morals already guide me toward “they are people too and should have the same rights as any person”, and society is slowly moving in that direction. I already mentioned above about religion being one of the main (if not the only) group against gay marriage.

In other words I fight for liberty and equality for all people because I want to be treated equally and have liberty. Its actually quite selfish as I am trying to behave the way I want other people to act towards me.

As to how it is taught, it doesn’t really need to be. Even a young child learns without prompting that if you always steal toys from your buddy, your buddy won’t like you and won’t play anymore.

I’ve seen some amazing videos of teaching in Japan showing very young kids being left alone to resolve issues on their own instead of being broken up and told how to resolve by an adult. They end up resolving the problem the same way many species do, the group excludes the individual that is acting without regard to the group, that individual realizes their mistake and makes an attempt to make amends so they can be a part of the group again. I try as often as possible to leave Mr. A and Ms I alone to work out their own problems, and they almost always work out a mutually beneficial solution all on their own. We don’t need teaching and instructing to be good to each other, its hard wired into us to learn it, and when someone doesn’t participate they are removed.

Project 365 Day 7 + Religion

This book came in the mail today. It came for my children and it came for myself. I admit to knowing very little about how others think the world was created. Growing up I had only ever been exposed to the Christian/ Jewish/ Muslim idea that God created everything.

As I grew older I learned about the Big Bang Theory and saw specials on National Geographic about how the universe might have been formed. However, I still had no real idea of what other countries/ religions/ groups of people thought happened to create the Earth.

Then around Christmas I got the question I wasn't yet ready to answer in depth from my 4.5 year old. He said to me, "Mama, who is Jesus?" I am guessing he had heard it on television or in passing from someone at a store, but I am not really sure where he heard this name or why he wanted to know who it was, but he asked.

I have answered questions about how he came out of my belly and why girls have different organs than boys, but this was a question I wasn't prepared for quite so young.

Anyone who knows me with my guard down, my closest friends, know that I am an atheist (For anyone that is confused that means LACK of belief in all religions/gods. Nothing more or less. It doesn't mean I worship the devil, since I don't believe in a devil.). Anyone that knows me on facebook has probably had suspicions but it has never really been stated outright. I had planned on a little more time to go over the story of the Bible with him and I hadn't really planned on having to gear it towards a 4.5 year old child, I had planned on maybe 6 or 7 years before this came up.

In any event, I gave him the basic rundown about how some people thought Jesus was the son of God, then of course had to explain who God was and how some people thought he created the Earth etc. I stressed that there were other people that believed other things, because I wanted him to have a rounded view of what is out there, as that is something I never really had. However I realized, when he asked what other people thought, that I only had one thing in my tool belt other than God/Jesus and that was science. I told him about (a 4.5 year olds version) of the Big Bang Theory and told him I would look for more. So I went to Amazon to order this book with other creation myths, and the book came today with beautiful pictures and a great number of stories. Now the book seems to be geared more towards older children, maybe around the age of 10, but if I have learned anything from my kids, it is that curiosity knows no age. One morning early this winter, first thing in the morning, my 2.5 year old asked me how frost was made, so I should know by now that I have kids that want to know everything they can about anything around them.

This of course all brings to light my own thoughts on religion. For some reason, a lot of people seem to think that being an atheist is a bad thing. I am sure it relates to worry that I am going to burn in Hell or something of that nature.

Now, I have had a few conversations with various Christians before and there is one question that seems to be asked the most, what do I think will happen to me when I die?

Now of course, unless I turn into a vampire, I am going to die, as is everyone and everything else on Earth. It is the only real certainty in life, so I can see why this question would come up especially since a great many of the world religions focus on some sort of life after one dies.

The answer to that question, for myself, is that when I die that is it, I die. My wishes are to be cremated etc. but I don't expect to find myself face to face with God to have him banish me to Hell because I didn't believe in him. I expect to return to what I was before I was born. I don't remember anything from before I was born, because I didn't exist. I figure it will be much the same when I die. I know this isn't glamorous or exciting, but with any luck the memories I made with others will live on through those that knew me.

The other thing I see questioned a lot with atheism is morals. Now, I have been lucky enough that no one that knows me has asked me where my morals come from, but it seems to happen a lot in the internet world. If someone that knew me asked this, I would be slightly horrified because that would lead me to believe they thought I had done something morally reprehensible.

I get my morals from the same place others get theirs, from general society. Society is people working together and as a society ages, it learns what does and what doesn't help the society as a whole. Killing someone in cold blood obviously doesn't help society. I don't need a legal system to tell me that, neither do most people. This is where the golden rule, that I learned in grade school, comes into play. Treat other people the way you want to be treated.

It seems pretty simple when you break it down. I don't want someone to steal from me, so I don't steal from other people. I don't want someone raping me, so I don't rape other people. I don't like when other people lie to me, so I don't lie to them and so on down the line. These are the important parts of a functioning and healthy society.

Now, none of this is to say I have any real problem with religion, because in general I don't. I understand (at least to an extent) why different people believe different things. In general it makes these people feel good about themselves, it helps them feel secure, it comforts them, and it offers an answer to both the creation of the universe and to what happens when you die.

I only have three issues with just about all religions, and they really aren't about the religion in question, they are about the person that is supposed to be practicing said religion.

The first is praying to the chosen deity for help with something extremely trivial. Example: "Please God/Allah/Buddha/whomever let me find a parking spot at the mall today." This drives me crazy. Why not tack on "...and please end world suffering" to the end of that? Just about everyone knows there are children starving all over the globe. There are people dying of cancer everyday. If your biggest worry is something trivial like getting a parking spot or what football/baseball/basketball team wins the next game...well, that is extremely disappointing. It also doesn't help the global society.

The second issue I have is a "give credit where credit is due" situation. I had this talk on facebook recently and the example I used was the recent Chilean miner rescue. I saw things all over the news and on facebook and from people on the streets thanking God for rescuing these people. I saw only a handful thanking the rescuers that spent days on end digging these miners out, or the engineers at NASA that built the capsule that got them out, or to the people that sent money to help fund all of this. I see this a lot in weight loss as well, for whatever reason, I see people thanking God for them having lost 50 pounds. Why not thank yourself? *You* did all the work. God may have been what motivated you or what you thought of while exercising but it was still YOU that put in that effort. I also know that people from many religions think that thanking God/ etc. is like thanking the people because he "works through" these people. What about the people that don't believe in whichever deity? Does God still "use" them in these situations? If he does, doesn't that bring up issues of free will? I can promise you that some of those engineers from NASA that helped save the miners didn't believe in God. I am sure some of them believed in the Jewish God or the Muslim God or just in karma.

The third and final issue I have with religion is when people force it upon my children in one form or another. This is where my Mama Bear instincts kick in and I will get fierce. People that know me, know that in general I am a very "go with the flow" sort of person but once in awhile someone will step on toes and I will roar. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. This can happen in the street, from family, from friends, from school, or from my kids' friends parents.

At this point I hope the readers would know that I do plan on teaching my children about religion, about ALL religions, or at least as many as I can get information on. In an ideal world I had wanted this all to wait until my kids were a bit older but as I have learned from the both of them, I need to be ready now for a talk that might come later, or it might come after nap, I will leave that up to them.

Someday there will probably be more on religion from me, but at this point I am running out of typing time.