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]

HAHAHA yes. Or when they assume you're an atheist because you hate god. Which ... yeah, the logic needs work there.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that bugs me about pretty much every "atheist" character in a Hollywood movie. They're generally Christians who had some sort of traumatic experience (tragic death of a loved one, usually) and who are mad at God for it. That's not an atheist, that's a whiny believer.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Bonus points if the atheist decides, in a moment of vulnerability, that Maybe Miracles Do Happen After All.

Also, nobody ever LIKES being an atheist in Hollywood. If you do find a Hollywood atheist who somehow actually doesn't believe in god, they still think the Christian god would be a GREAT thing to have but they just can't believe it because they are cynical.

There's also that false dichotomy presented between atheism and the Judeo-Christian god. Atheists rarely are required to justify themselves against Hinduism or Voodoo or any religion practiced largely by nonwhite folk, and yet Hollywood people just can't IMAGINE what objections they might have to White Western God. Which to me sounds like, "Well, obviously you don't believe in djinn or leprechauns or the chupacabra, but WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE AGAINST UNICORNS NOT TO BELIEVE IN THEM?!"