Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?

Wren44

My mother died when I was 4 and I was told that God wanted her in heaven. Later when they told me in Sunday School that God loved me, my thought was that he sure had a funny way of showing it. I had a discussion with my boss in a mental health agency and saying I preferred to believe in random chance rather than someone who would squish us individually like ants. He agreed I had a point.

ananda8

WorryThePooh

wanderweg that reminds me of when our son had liver cancer as a toddler, he was saved by modern medicine, chemotherapy and surgery, not by any god. People said to me, God must have saved him because he has a purpose for him in life. I didn't know what to say to that, especially after spending months getting to know the parents of other children who sadly did not survive. Did they imagine God couldn't think of any 'purpose' for those children? I find such thoughtless comments by religious people, totally repugnant.

Spookiesmom

My cousins oldest kid fell in a pool at 18 months old, nearly drowned. A few more seconds she would have died. Should have. Would have been better. Had the brain of a 3 month old. When it happened cousin organized prayer chains. God will heal her if we pray hard enough long enough.

She lived to be about 21, fully grown, brain totally dead. Their god didn’t heal her, I couldn’t understand why not. Prayer is supposed to “work”. Why would a loving god let this happen, to an innocent baby?

That did it for me.

wanderweg

And there are some theologies that would say that she wasn't healed because her (or the congregation's) faith wasn't strong enough. What a crock of victim-blaming shit.

Worry - when my son was a toddler we discovered he had to have urgent brain surgery for a chiari malformation in his skull that allowed part of his cerebellum to herniate into his spinal column. I remember when we were waiting for the MRI results that would tell us what was going on, people at work would tell me they were praying for him and everything was going to be fine, the results would be negative. I pointed out that whatever was there or wasn't there had already been decided, we just didn't know yet. No magic was going to change that. Not so long ago, it would have been a fatal condition. I am indeed thankful (he graduated from college last year!)- but my gratitude went to his skilled neurosurgeon, modern medicine and the devoted staff at Children's Hospital.

ananda8

I am watching the mini-series, "Rome", on Amazon Prime. It is supposedly very accurate in the depiction of the culture of Rome around the time of Julius Caesar. People of that time worshipped their gods with as much faith and as little understanding as people do now. Religion will always be with those who need it. Too bad they keep trying to force it on others.

AliceBastable

I saw a huge cloud the other day, and in the center of it was a donut hole with what looked like a giant cat head looking through. Now we know who is really running things.

Yogatyme

Religion is the opiate of the masses. Karl Marx

MinusTwo

Alice - I can just picture that cloud w/cat. Thanks for the image & the chuckle.

AliceBastable

MinusTwo, I was expecting to see a giant paw come through that cloud hole and start batting cars around. But I can turn the most mundane things into bizarre head movies.

To everyone with the good sense to hang out here, I hope you have a nice Thanksgiving. I think of it as a harvest feast, and my gratitude is to the earth and its stewards..

Spookiesmom

HAPPY THANKSGIVING y’all.

Miriandra

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! May you enjoy wonderful food and wonderful company.

MinusTwo

Thought this quote from the Nevada Barr book Boar Island was particularly appropriate.

"People tended to either keep their crazy to themselves, or gather with others sharing the same delusion. Churches, synagogues, temples, covens, mosques: If enough people believed a thing, it was declared sane. One person speaking to invisible beings was a nutcase. A thousand was a cult. Ten thousand, a religion"

Mavericksmom

I wouldn't say I am an atheist but I don't believe in organized religion as they feel more like God clubs to me where people can have their power trips.

I do believe in more intelligent life “out there." I am conflicted over life after death, but since that can only happen after death, I guess someday I will find out.....or not!

My oldest sister passed away after having breast cancer and lymphoma at the same time, getting both into remission, then getting MDS from the treatments for the other two.

I feel her presence and real or in my mind I don't care because it helpsme, so whatever, it's good. Example, the short version, below.

When I had BC in 2003, a year before my sister was diagnosed she sent me a clear stone with a silver angel inside. I carried that stone with me in my pocket to all my appointments, through chemo, radiation, follow ups. It reminded me that I was loved by many and by my sister.

I work in a middle school and gave away that stone to a sixth grade student who suffered from panic attacks. It helped her tremendously and years later she told me she was taking good care of that angel.

I never regretted giving the stone away but years later I searched and searched for another one like it. I could never find one, some similar but not like it.

Then last fall after my mammogram and ultrasound that showed an area of concern, as I sat waiting for copies of my films and reports, the nurse navigator handed me a little gift bag and inside was a stone exactly like the one my sister had given me. I felt my sister's presence and knew She was with me.

Now one can logically explain that event, but the feelings were real.

While I do not consider myself to be religious, I do think my moral standards, the core of who I am, were shaped by my religious upbringing.

I majored in science, so I tend to lean towards science, but I don't think one has to cancel out the other. I am acutely aware that for everything I know, there is soooo much I don't know. I just don't attribute what I don't know to the presence of the God I was raised to believe in.

I have been a member of three different Christian religions, but don't belong to any now and have no desire to. I believe in good, love, compassion and being truthful and honest. For me, that is enough.

ananda8

ananda8

magiclight

Celin

Is anyone still here? This is just the spot I was looking for.

Spookiesmom

Yup just a quiet time.

ananda8

Celin,

We have quiet times for some reason. The one of the sister atheists will speak up and off we go. Welcome.

MinusTwo

TrIshyla - would it be OK for me to copy the posts from the Progressive site over to here? It is a great post and very relevant.

Trishyla

Of course, MinusTwo. Copy away. I just wish I knew who to attribute it to.

Trish

MinusTwo

Here is the quote Trishyla posted. Something to think about;.

"A religious person will do what she is told - no matter what is right, whereas a spiritual person will do what is right, no matter what she is told."

ananda8

wanderweg

MinusTwo - I had a boyfriend once (who was Southern Baptist) who said to me, “I don’t get it - you’re anatheist, but you’re a better Christian than I am.” I think he was seeing the difference between religious and spiritual.

Spookiesmom

Euphoriaa

🤣🤣🤣 OMG He looks soo worried...

Yogatyme

haha!

ananda8

This is the year in photos from the New York Times. Surprisingly, the world was not all about politics although of course politics is part of it. Many of these photos provide links to the articles they represent. Many of them will represent things happening in the world that we never new about or noticed. Take your time going through them. They are sorted by month and you can always quit and go back. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/world/yea...

magiclight

Ananda, agree that the NYT photos and the links are outstanding. So many of the photos reveal the violence occurring throughout the world. A bit disheartening after first going through them and definitely need revisiting them and the associated stories. Thanks to the brave photographers whose images give voice to human experiences -the joys, sorrows and pain.