Quote of the Day, Department of Religious Affairs

[bloodyrosemccoy]

“When I say I realized I was an atheist when I was a teenager, I’m simplifying things a bit, because I was always an atheist. My big revelation wasn’t so much a realization that I was an atheist as it was a realization that other people weren’t.”

This quote was brought to you by our discussions of churchgoing at work. My coworker was totally cool with my being an atheist, because he’s one too, but he was also puzzled by the idea that I had been raised that way. Who knew atheism could be the default setting?

Comments

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Mom gave me some explanations of religions (a lot of "Some people believe that ___" explanations"), but I always thought of them as explanations people used in the past before they knew better. (It also took me years to realize that sexism and racism hadn't ended with the civil rights and feminist movements, which obviously were when people simply came to their senses.)

The social aspect is a huge advantage. I was a lot more aware of that, mostly because it's hard to miss living here.

How was your moral code influenced by religion? Just curious--were you worried about hell, or was it more just the advice they gave on ethics, or what?

[kadharonon.livejournal.com]

I think it's more the advice they gave on ethics. Also, the Parable of the Good Samaritan just kind of lodged in my brain at a young age. I don't think I've ever been worried about hell... which really bothered some of the people I went to high school with, let me tell you.

I don't think I really realized that maybe going to a church was a social thing for my parents, rather than a thing they did because they believed in God, until I sat and wrote that comment above, but thinking about it... yeah. We stopped going to church when I was about 10 or 11, and that was when we'd been in the area for 2-3 years, and my parents had a sort of social life.

Over the past few years, my dad has become a rather militant atheist. The vocal and embarrassing sort of militant atheist. To the point of actively discriminating against people who are religious. It's been mildly horrifying, because I think I'm more of the "You've thought it out? It brings balance/comfort/joy to your life? You're not actively harming anyone or anything by practicing it? Go for it." sort of atheist.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

Ugh, your dad too?

[kadharonon.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what it was, but yeah. I keep trying to find a delicate way of saying "Dad, you're the atheist equivalent of a fundie Christian shouting from a street corner about how all the people on the street are going to hell," but there really isn't one.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

Mine used to be the "general disdain for organized religion, actual anger reserved for political fundamentalism" variety, but he's turned into the "open hostility to all religion" type.

Honestly, I think some of it may be hedging after saying things particularly disparaging of Islam. Sort of an "I'm not racist, I hate all religions!" thing. It's usually things in the news that set him off: articles on Middle East violence and/or corruption, child-molesting Catholic priests, and right-wing fundamentalists light the fuse.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I had wonderfully cartoony ideals when I was a kid. I still try to live by them, but I have to remember that not everyone does. ;)

I think a lot of our problem is that we still have a lot of leftover behavioral responses FROM our evolutionary path, and not everyone overrides them even though they're no longer adaptive and may not be ethical now that we can make that choice.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Exactly! We got ahead of ourselves. Agriculture is really useful in some regards, but it needs some additional adaptations that just ... didn't happen at the same rate. (The one that I always think of is how the switch from nomadic to stationary lifestyles led to serious problems with sanitation. When you're on the go, you don't really need to worry so much about where you put your poop, because it tends to decompose quickly enough. If you build a house and live there all year, that's a lot of poop piling up. Took thousands of years to even START figuring out that was a problem.)

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

I love this pairing of comment and icon. Because I, too, grew up with ridiculously lofty ideals (and occasionally have trouble remembering/believing how narrow-minded some people can be)... and I attribute it in large part to the fact that the only TV shows I ever watched were educational things like Sesame Street... and Star Trek TNG.