Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?

I love this thread. So, there's an interesting article about how it was conventional treatment that cured Chris and not all the alternative/positivity/prayer baloney: https://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/wark.html

It blows my mind that people will have surgery and then say they "refused" conventional treatment and healed themselves. What the hell do they think the surgery did? And I hope we do soon get to a point where we have less damaging treatments - none of us are thrilled about the burning of radiation and the altered chemical weapons of chemotherapy. But it's the best we have and if we need either or both, I'm glad they are there.

The idea that the cancer "industry" is purely motivated by money and doesn't really want a cure is a kick in the face to all the many dedicated oncology providers and researchers. I watched my breast surgeon give a talk on current treatments and she teared up as she talked about her passion for working with women who have breast cancer and her role in getting a clinical trial going for TNBC to bring top tier research to our neck of the woods. You can't tell me that she doesn't want a cure with everything in her. And yes, Big Pharma is a huge money-making proposition. But does that mean the drugs have no value?

So, I'm calling bullshit on the idea that those of us who don't rely on prayer and happy thoughts are somehow less evolved and just blindly willing to poison, burn and mutilate ourselves. It's an empirical question and I'd love to see people enroll in a trial where they might get prayer-only.

And Hiking - your former BIL is nuts!

I remember watching a show once where a woman had been in a car hit by a train when the car got stuck crossing the tracks. Her husband and brother were killed. She told the interviewer that God had protected her. And all I could think was, "Wow! So God must have really disliked your husband and brother!"

Santabarb… A bit delayed in response, but Yes, Yes, Yes, agree. '' I'd love to see a randomized double blind clinical trial offering treatment vs prayer. Nobody would join!!

SoCal - Congrats to your son! I did ask a few friends to go with me to some appointments. Not chemo, but they took me and waited with me for a few appointments when I was still unable to drive. Two of them went in with me for meetings with the oncologist, because I wanted a second set of ears. One friend (who was a pretty new friend at the time but who'd been through it herself) took me to my port surgery, waited through it, helped me dress afterwards, and insisted on sitting with me back at home for an hour to be sure I was okay. I was deeply grateful.

I have seen so much improvement in treatment over the past 18 years, since my diagnosis.

Speaking of improvements in treatment, I am having a thyroidectomy this Tuesday because they highly suspect one or two nodules are cancerous. But they cannot prove this either way as indeterminate findings are not uncommon with thyroid nodules. This makes me crazy, but two expert opinions support the surgery. I feel that they remove thyroids today like they used to remove uteruses. Worried that I am still in an archaic time. I am still always amazed at how little we do know. And then at other times, amazed that we have robots doing surgery!

If there is no cancer, I will thank god. If there is cancer, I will blame my prior archaic treatment for bc, radiation. Lo

Just to be clear, my thanking god is a spin on what Nan had just said about thanking god when things go well and blaming something else when it does not.

TB...oops, I got that wrong with my tunnel vision.

I am admittedly shocked at some of the things I've read on this forum. What awful representatives of their faith to suggest, for example, that a Christian would pray for someone despite their being atheist (in theory, wouldn't those be the ones most needing prayer?) or using scripture to defend hateful rhetoric. That's the antithesis of most New Testament teachings. I embraced a Christian lifestyle for 8-9 years before finally admitting that I would never be able to ignore my analytical thoughts that made it impossible for me to believe in a deity made man magically absorbing the world's sins and being resurrected. As others have mentioned, one of my greatest struggles was the contradiction between being omnipotent, yet not answering earnest prayers. I hated hearing, "God is good all the time." As others have noted, if you get credit for the good stuff, you must accept blame for the bad. While there were sanctimonious, "a little more special Church Lady" types, most were people trying to live compassionate, moral lives. Christian beliefs inspired people from my church to step in and constantly give of themselves. Did they benefit in terms of feeling good about themselves? I'm sure they did, but I don't know how I would have gotten through a challenging health crisis several years ago without them helping me and I'm grateful. I don't like demonizing (you should forgive the expression!) Christians any more than I like to see atheists or agnostics painted as soulless creatures who lack a moral compass.

A major reason I visited this forum was curiosity about how others who don't believe in a traditional God face death and suffering without the assurances offered by a belief that there is some better world ahead without pain or fear. Will we never have an opportunity to reconnect with those we've loved? Will those who commit horrific evil in this world and escape justice never be punished? To me, those are questions religions try to answer. Not unlike the song title from years ago, I now ask myself, "Is that all there is?" Worded differently, is life a b**ch and then you die?

Lyn

I don't fear death nor feel sad because I won't "see my loved ones" when I die because of two things.  I have studied Theravada Buddhism for years.  By that I mean I have read the discourses of the man we call the Buddha and I concur with his opinion that we are a sum of things but not an eternal thing.  This concept is called anatta which is translated as "not self".  The second thing is my relationship to the universe.  I do not consider myself separate from the universe.  The universe isn't out there and I'm here.  Everything in the universe includes me and my departed loved ones.  I have posted this several times on this thread, so I hope I'm not boring anyone.  This essay written by physicist explains it better than I can.

I have several close friends who are very religious and attempt to live their life according to their belief system. If a person chooses to state, "I will pray for you" I will continue to stay thank you or no comment. Yet I will continue to speak out against sanctimonious religious fanatics. I respect your right to practice your faith. In my eyes it's very simple. Respect my right not to believe.

Yesterday while listening to a comedian he commented that people who attend rallies for causes they believe in but are not part of those groups, maybe like Black lives matter, #metoo, LGBTQ rights, to mention a few, are the courageous ones. Personally, they have nothing to gain, but know we are all connected.

I also agree w ananda's comment. Parenting/modeling is what imbues good values.

One of my oldest and dearest friends is actually a Christian Scientist -- about as far from atheism as it is possible to be. She is an incredible, vivacious, non-judgmental, hilarious, irreverent, fun person who is well aware i am an atheist and has no problem w/ it. It actually never comes up. I love her - she is amazing. We've been dear friends for 40 years. I basically go on how fun and how trustworthy people are... and she is A+ in both departments. If all super-religious people acted like her we'd have zero religious strife.

Philosophically, I think that Humanism as a "philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism and empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or superstition' grounds my ethical being/behavior more than religion ever did.

ananada- I've always believed humanistic this the same as atheism. I did hear some speakers on NPR speak on the subject. I'm going to check on the website.

Ananda, Jo, Hiking...thanks so much for your wonderful input re: humanism that I'm now looking into each of the references. As we all have experienced, one thing leads to another with the wonderful web.