Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?

ananda8

The photo and article on the winter marathon across Lake Baikal and the photo and article on Scientists Drift with the Arctic are two of my favorites. Here are the links to the articles.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/24/world/europe/ru...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/climate/mosaic-...

I subscribe to the NYT because of articles like these. I have greatly reduced my reading on politics because I was becoming depressed. I am reading articles on science and art because they bring me up.

AliceBastable

Spookiesmom, isn't there something in the Bible about "This too shall pass?" Ow.

Spookiesmom

Hahahaha Alice!! I think you’re right. Ow!!!

ananda8

I am so tired of seeing people point at the sky all the time. I wish more would follow Matthew 6: 5-6 ---

⁵ And when thou pray, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

⁶ But thou, when thou pray, enter into thy room, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which sees in secret shall reward thee openly.

MinusTwo

What I find interesting is that so many of us who are now atheists - or at least secular humanists - have an extensive knowledge of the Bible. And many of us spent years studying comparative religions - in addition to studying the Bible. Nice to believe that we are open & welcoming as long as the discussions don't include proselytizing or others pushing their views as the only truth.

DivineMrsM

Occasionally I read some of this thread. In moving past my Christian beliefs which especially at the beginning was a scary transition for me five-ish years ago, I come across more and more people who seem to be walking a similar path as me. It goes a long way to making me feel less alone, especially because where I live is a heavily religious area. I cannot say I'm an atheist, still lots of gray areas there, but I'm definitely not Christian.

Today this article popped up on my news app amd I wanted to share it with someone, and I thought of this thread.

Millennials Are Leaving Religion And Not Coming Back

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/millennials-are-leaving-religion-and-not-coming-back/

Spookiesmom

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

MinusTwo

Thanks Divine. I found this comment particularly interesting.

"...(we) talked a lot about how we came to see all of this negativity from people who were highly religious and increasingly didn't want a part in it." This view is common among young people. A majority (57 percent) of millennials agree that religious people are generally less tolerant of others, compared to only 37 percent of Baby Boomers.

ananda8

The number of people recognizing that they are atheist or agnostic has been increasing every year. I use the word 'recognize' because I think religion is a construct that started out as an explanation of the unknown and to overcome the finality of death. Later it became a tool for those who wanted power and control. People are recognizing that religion has become more and more controlling and is using politics as a means for control. Mixing religion and politics is always damaging to religion. The mixture has resulted in people leaving religion unless compelled to outward compliance by force. It is my opinion that the big lie that a liberal democracy is attacking religion is an attempt to frighten believers into actually restricting non-believers. That is what Dominionism is all about. This explains why Trump started hanging out with Dominionists. https://www.texasobserver.org/dominion-theology/

santabarbarian

Yikes

DivineMrsM

I agree with your comments, ananda:

I think religion is a construct that started out as an explanation of the unknown...Later it became a tool for those who wanted power and control. People are recognizing that religion has become...more controlling....people leaving religion unless compelled to outward compliance by force.

DivineMrsM

I can remember having brief, fleeting reasoning in my mind as a young girl when I learned the Bible was written by “men who were inspired by God,” learning that these writings were found on dead sea scrolls. And maybe it was because at a young age I bristled at oppressive male authority, but fleetingly, I thought, “now wait. Who are these men ‘claiming’ God spoke to them? Why are they being held in such high esteem?Why are they even being believed?”

But at the time, I never verbalized my critical thinking and reasoning skills to anyone. So the train of thought left as fast as it came.

DivineMrsM

I've read that there are even priests who fall out of belief in God, but they are stuck, having taken vows of poverty. Not having a single other place to turno, they continue with their priestly “career" even tho they no longer believe.

magiclight

Whenever I listen to religion scholars, lay or ordained, my takeaway is that they do not believe that the one god of their religious tribe is really the 'one' Nothing unsettles the scholarly mind like uncertainty. But, they have careers and loyalties in a particular religion and even those who take no vows of poverty would struggle making it on their own.

DivineMrsM

Has this stand-up movie by Julia Sweeney (of SNL fame) been mentioned? It is called “Letting Go of God” and I personally thought it was so well done, so clearly thought through with many aspects of religion addressed. All with a wonderful and warm sense of humor and respect. It’s something that verbalized a lot of the jumble of concepts that run around in my head, and it’s that’s helped me move past Christianity with less guilt.

magiclight

Looks most interesting and I will watch it later as it is a bit over 2 hours long.

pingpong1953

Thanks for posting that quiz. I scored 13 out of 15!

ananda8

DivineMrsM,

I don't think diocesan priests take a vow of poverty.

DivineMrsM

Magiclight, it is long and I ended up watching it over a couple days, but well worth viewing.

Vilma65

MinusTwo

As I said on the other thread - really put's all those thoughts in your face!!! Thanks for posting.

ananda8

Just found this on Facebook. I had to share because for a long time it's something I have thought about prayer.

AliceBastable

Ananda8, that hits the nail on the head! Prayer is such a self-serving concept.

Spookiesmom

santabarbarian

hahahaha

Trishyla

So few christians are even aware that most of their rituals were stolen from the pagans they were trying to convert. And boy do they get defensive when you point it out to them, as I do every chance I get. The older I get, the less patience I have for willful ignorance.

Spookiesmom

Yeah, they really don’t like it when you fire back facts.

Miriandra

magiclight

Happy Festivus!

DogMomRunner

It's time for the airing of the grievances