Monday, July 17, 2006

My World View

I am not religious. Or to put it more bluntly, i am an athiest. I don't believe in any supreme being guiding my life. Sometimes i wish i did, because some things would be easier, but i just don't. Religion makes no sense to me.

Having said that, i don't usually feel any animosity towards religious people, just for being religious. I think of religion as being similar to art, i believe that it stems from the deep well of creativity and the need to know and be known that humans possess.

I don't often volunteer information about my non-religious state. I resent that many people equate atheism with immorality. I had someone ask me once why i would bother to behave morally if there was no reason for it (their words). No reason beyond basic human decency. In truth, i have a pretty rigid moral code.

Why this came up today is that i have one friend (and i use the term friend in a casual sense) who always tries to engage me in religious argument. She did it today and i finally said "
Is there ANYTHING that i could say to you that would cause you to give up your religion?"

Somewhat horrified, "No, of course not."

"Well, there's nothing you can say to be to convince me the other way either, so please stop trying."

Sigh. Now she is angry and hurt.

Julia Sweeney came to town recently and did a show with Ira Glass (I am an NPR junkie). It detailed her journey from Catholicism to atheism. It was so much more intelligent and scholarly that i would ever be able to come up with. If you ever get the chance, you should check it out. Also highly recommend her movie "God said HA!". You can Netflix it.

Before i go, i do want to say that yes, i do believe in spirituality, however you would like to manifest it. Yoga, meditation, exercise, family, etc.....

5 comments:

Tracy Helgeson said...

We lived in Utah for 10 years and you can't believe the proselytizing that we endured. I ended up really resenting it and insisted we move.

And I am also a very spiritual person, I believe strongly in "the Golden Rule" and am very moral. But the organized religion thing is NOT for me.

Good for you responding to your friend that way. Maybe she'll get over it if she thinks about it for a bit.

Anonymous said...

i am with you 100% and i no longer care to discuss it with anyone becuase like you said, i'm not going to be swayed and have no interest in defending or explaining myself to anyone who is of a polar opposite view. what's the point?

when i was in grade 8 i told my roman catholic best friend that i was an atheist and she was SO upset. it never even occured to me anyone would care what i believed. why would they? that was my first clue that yes, people did in fact care and care a lot.

meno said...

Tracy, I guess i am not sure if i want her to get over it unless she also stops trying to save me. Don't know how you lasted in Utah for 10 years. Wow.

honestyrain, my daughter has a friend who regularly tells her that she is going to go to hell because she doesn't believe in god. Nice huh?

The Daily Gus said...

Dude rock on. I like your response of, "I'm not gonna change your mind, so stop trying to change mine."

I was raised to be an atheist, and the first time I went to church, well, I wrote about it here:
http://styrofoamkitty.com/?p=59

I'll bring over some zukes ASAP. I have a great fritter recipe that involves using a whole lot of parmesan cheese. And you know, what isn't made better by the addition of cheese?

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