Hmm... I haven't posted in this thread yet, because i wasn't quite sure where to begin... so maybe if i just start typing, it will come out.
Short answer, I am an atheist with Buddhist and Secular Humanist leanings.
Long answer.... It took me a while to realize what I was. I have ALWAYS been an atheist, (the definition being lack of a belief in any god, and I've always lacked that belief) but it was not something I put a label to until I was in my mid teens. Until then, there was no thought in my mind as to what I was. I was just me. My personality, values, etc. all came from sources other than religion, (except possibly indirectly) and I never really gave it a second thought. It's not that i wasn't aware of religion... It's just what I was, it was never labled by my parents as anything because it wasn't a huge thing to them (my mother is ex-catholic, my father is a second generation atheist himself), and it made sense to me. I knew other people were religious, I mostly encountered Christians, sang religious Christmas carols at school and family gatherings, (though Easter I was convinced was all about bunnies and eggs for a long time. Never knew it was associated with the resurrection of Christ, orany pagan religion, for that matter, for a very long time) got a bible handed out to me at (public!) school which I did read at least part of, I kept it for several years. And when I would visit my maternal grandparents, they would say grace at meals, went to their church once or twice, they had crucifixes in every room, usually placed so it was reflected in a mirror, and they had a 150 year old family bible that they had out on the coffee table... (now in the posession of my sister) so I was definitely aware that religion, Chrstianity of the Catholic variety in particular, existed, and knew the basic beliefs. It's just I didn't exactly see a reason to take it as something that was 'real' I saw it as something people did... well, I am not really sure why I (at the time) thought people did it, to tell you the truth. It just seemed very alien. It still does, to be perfectly honest.
Anyway... around when I was 12 or so, my mother gave my sister and I a talking to about religion. She had studied comparative religion in college, and gave us a run down of many religions, and encouraged us to look into them if we felt we were missing something. She didn't push one in particular, I think she just realized some people need that kind of thing in their lives, so would make sure we were aware. We discussed it with her in a lot of depth, actually... we asked questions she would answer, we'd ask why, talk about what did and did not make sense, etc. So my sister and I looked into things a bit, (still are. it's not like it would be easy to cram the knowledge of the world's religions into your head in a lifetime, let alone a few months or years) and I gave what I believed (or didn't) a bit more thought. My sister read the bible and briefly tried Christianity on for size, before coming to the conclusion she believed in a more nature based idea of a god, and finally becomming Wiccan. It makes her happy, so I am happy for her, and I buy her runes, tarot decks and such as presents, and she seems to like that. I gave the bible a fresh look over as well, and where when I was younger I just liked the stories, I saw that now that I was looking at it as the possible source of a serious answer to deep questions about Life, the universe, and everything, it didn't hold up to scrutiny. Nothing made sense to me. It contradicted itself, the scientific explanations for things like evolution and the big bang made a TON more sense to me. and I just couldn't see how it was any more credible than the Greek legends about Zeus and whatnot. And because my mother had introduced us to many religions, the fact that they all claimed to be the one and
only way was very confusing. They couldn't ALL be right, but there was no way to really judge which, if any, were true. I read a lot on Asatru, thinking of going with it out of pride of my heritige (I'm half Danish, half european mutt) but... while i like the 9 noble virutes a lot, it is a very ancient, religion, and it shows. It's fairy tales, and it's obvious. Though they do stress most of the stories are ment as allgory and are not to be taken literally. Like many in this thread, I liked Buddhism in many respects, (however due to lack of internet at the time and lack of access to any good books on the subject, I didn't learn a lot about it until i was 16 or so) but didn't feel the need to actively call myself Buddhist. Just take what I found good about it and incorporate it into my own life. Buddhism's cool like that. If i was forced to associate myself with a religion, it would be Buddhism.
So I knew then, really, that I honestly didn't believe any gods existed. I was lacking belief before, but it was more that I just didn't give it much thought. Now I had given it more thought, and was more certain that it was true that none existed. After coming to this decision in my mid teens I quickly learned it was best to keep it mostly to myself. I was starting to pay more attention to the news and began to see how much people valued religious belief and what some felt about those who lacked it, and many (not all) people that I would tell would treat me with pity, revulsion, astonishment, etc. many would try to 'save' me, and that's incredibly annoying, so I just stopped telling people in real life, unless I was asked directly. It's not important that they know, anyway. On the internet, it's a bit different.
I should interject a bit about my parents. I learned a lot from them, mostly that you don't need religion to be a good person. My mother is heavily involved with Girl Guides, it's like she holds two full time jobs sometimes, she dedicates so much of her time to it. But i really have to admire my father, especially. He, like me, has never been religious. (His grand parents were 7th Day Adventists, though) He came with his family from Denmark when he was 11, not speaking english, and spending his first 5 years in Canada living in a converted turkey roost in a small town near Drumheller. No hot water or electricity. He became quite fascinated with technology when he finally had the means to have access to it, probably mostly because he knew what life without it was like. Getting to the point.... I admire him, and get most of my values and personality from him because, if he doesn't know how to solve something, he invents a way to overcome it. He sees lack of knowledge as no obstacle, if he doesn't know something, he will find the answer. And if he sees where his skills can be used to help, he will do it. And he's completely modest about it. He invents all these gadgets and tools, designs (or just improves) ingenious devices, programs, and solutions to problems, and he's just... it's nothing to him. He could sell these things, market them, (you should see all the custom tools he's made for his lathe. ingenious.) but he doesn't. He gives these things away to anyone who wants it, and doesn't expect anything in return. The most notable example of this is his work at the Fanning Center. the Fanning Center is a long term care hospital, and is home to many quadrapalegics. Well, my dad usd to run a BBS, and one of his moderators was a patient there, confined for the rest of his life to a wheelchair, he typed one key at a time with a stick held in his mouth. but he had ALS, and would continue to deteriorate, and that would not work for much longer. My dad decided he could make his situation better, so he did. He Customized his computer so he could use it more easily. While at the Fanning Center, he saw more people in need, and helped them, too. He donated computers to them constructed out of spare parts (he sells computers, so he would ask for trade ins) and constructed systems for these people suffering from paralysis, ALS, strokes, etc. with special head mounted laser inputs and everything, absolutely free of charge. Thanks to him and the internet, hey could finally communicate with the outside world again with relative ease. And after he was done, he would visit them once a week or more. Their own families would often neglect to visit them for a year or more at a time, and he would visit them once a week. And he did this, and
didn't think it was anything special. I went with him sometimes, and it's tough, seeing people like that. But he'd chat with them like old friends, and I think it gave them a lot of comfort. The newspaper wanted to interview him sometimes, and he could never figure out why. he just assumed this is what everyone did. When the articles came out, he'd be embarassed about them, and never wanted to talk about them. This is as natural as breathing to him. Can't have morals without religion, my ass.
Anyway... my dad was fairly attached to old school BBS's, and we got the internet a bit late, but once we did, I was able to read a bit more about atheism, and after a while discovered (I was around 18 I guess) what Secular Humanism was, and discovered that many of my beliefs matched very well with theirs. I didn't really feel the need to identify myself as one, though. I had made it this far in life without affiliating myself with a group, and I didn't feel the need now. But I think they have good ideas.
So... what does all this mean? To explain a bit, I will try and answer some common questions I get a lot. And if anyone else has questions, go ahead, it's ok. I realize many religious people feel my stance is as alien as I find theirs... just don't judge me. That's rude.
Do you feel you're missing something in life?/does it make you sad? no. not in the slightest. I am very secure in my non belief, and as explaine above, I may not have deconverted from any religion, but my stance is not an uninformed one. if i felt i was missing something or was sad about my non belief, i would have found some religion that suitedme. I'm happy with my beliefs.
Aren't you afraid of Hell? No. I don't believe in Hell, so I don't see that there is anything to be afraid of.
Where do you get your morals? My parents, society, empathy. see my story about my dad above, or Jeangay's (great) story. I don't believe in absolute morality, I believe morality is subjective, to a degree. I believe that as a social species, humans gradually developed a natural tendency to follow certain behaviors that serve to strengthen the community and to not follow behaviors that hinder it. Not everyone does this naturally, obviously, or we wouldn't have prisons. But in general, we can agree in broad terms what is right and wrong because of that. stealing, killing, etc. is not a productive way to live in a society. If we allowed that to happen unchecked, things would fall apart. I live by the simple creed of not doing something that I wouldn't want done to me. and yes, I know that's in the bible, but it's not in JUST the bible, it's in many religions, because it's COMMON SENSE.
Science can't answer X! what do you say to that?!(usually referring to the beginning of the universe or life) ...So? Science can't answer a lot of things.... yet. It's an ever evolving system, we are learning new things all the time, and I don't see that will ever stop. I'm confident science will be able to explain things we don't understand today at some point in the future. In the mean time, I don't see the problem with admitting we simply don't know everything.
Aren't you afraid of death? Not particularly. I'm not eager to get there, but it's not something I look forward to with dread. I believe that when we die, it's nothingness, which is nothing to fear, from my perspective. I see it as it is what we do with our life now which will give us the ability to 'live on' through our work.
You celebrate Christmas? why? More accurately I celebrate the season, and celebrate family. My family has a long standing tradition of a large gathering at Christmas where we exchange gifts and have a traditional Danish Christmas Eve dinner. it's about tradition, not about Christ, in our case.
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[Edited on 30/3/06 by Bamfette]
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I got smited.
Sooo...Now I suppose I shall post my own response!
