Alberta Lives Up To Its ‘Texas of the North’ Handle – Introduces Legislation That Will Help Parents Protect Their Children From Science

This is a sad day for the province I call home. It should also end any discussion I’ve had with people who claim Canada is a ‘moderately’ religious nation.

April 29, 2009 · Filed Under Atheism

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Why Should Atheists Care About Other People?

Atheists are often portrayed as people who don’t/shouldn’t have reason to care about others – that atheism leads to selfishness. The line of thinking goes something like:

  • we don’t believe humans have a soul, therefore
  • we think this life is all there is – there is no afterlife, therefore
  • we think that there is no reward (eternal heaven) or punishment (hell) awaiting us after we die, therefore
  • we have no motivation to be good people – we have no good reason to be good and will act in only self-serving ways.

Some might be surprised to learn that I, and many of my atheist brothers and sisters, care more about treating people with care and respect now than we did before becoming atheists. Why? Well, because:

  • we don’t think humans have a soul, therefore
  • we don’t think there is an afterlife, therefore
  • we think this life is all any of us get, and
  • we want this life to be as happy and fulfilling as possible, and
  • we think every human deserves to have what we have.

Those last three bullets are all about having a heightened sense of empathy around human desires to avoid suffering and be happy.

But what underlies this empathy for another’s happiness? Although I can’t speak for all atheists, I’ve read enough blog posts, comments and forum threads to have seen a consistent answer from many of us, and I’m guessing it boils down to this line of reasoning:

  • we share a sense of wonder and awe that our 14 billion year old universe and 4.5 billion year old earth yielded life
  • because of this multi-billion year heritage, we also share a deep-seated feeling of interconnectedness – via shared ancestry – with all of earth’s living creatures
  • we have an intense appreciation for the struggle to survive among every human – past and present – along with the notion that we are all related
  • we are exquisitely grateful for the good fortune of being part of the chain of life
  • we share a sense of kinship, care and respect for others within that chain

Evolutionary biologists often theorize that caring and morality are evolved, built-in characteristics of human beings (I’d guess they are right). That’s one way of explaining how we came to care. What I’ve tried to do above is slightly different – I’ve attempted to put a more personal face on why we might care.

April 21, 2009 · Filed Under Atheism

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The Stages of Grief Re: Atheist De-Conversion

I have often thought about how closely my de-conversion followed the stages of grief described by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Wondering if I was alone, I googled stages of grief in atheist deconversion. It turns out that many atheists go through a similar experience. At the top of my search, I found a wonderfully written post over at de-conversion.com that comes very close to mirroring my experience with the stages of grief. In the post, “the Chaplain” takes us through denial, anger, shock and acceptance. I think her thoughts on the anger section were particularly interesting:

Then, I went through the anger stage. The most intense moments of this phase came when I learned that the “virgin birth” verse in Matthew is mistranslated. Translating the Hebrew text as “young woman” rather than “virgin” makes a huge difference doctrinally (regardless of NT Wright’s assertion to the contrary). The standard Christian apologists’ assurances that all of the Bible’s translation errors are minor (simple numerical discrepancies, etc.) and have no bearing on doctrine is flat-out wrong! And when I read, in several sources (Including his own writings), that St. Jerome knew that the translation was wrong, but offered some twisted logic for preserving the error, I was furious. I read about how an early Church father (perhaps it was Eusebius?) doctored the writings of Josephus so that they would appear to confirm more explicitly the life and ministry of Jesus. And I read much more that confirmed by non-belief. Even though I was furious with Christian preachers and teachers, much of my anger was directed at myself. How could I have been so stupid? Why didn’t I see through this stuff before? I’m a well-educated woman living in the 21st century. How could I have gone decades without recognizing that religious doctrine is all speculation? That none is any more correct than any other? None of the biblical writers really knew what they were writing about. None of the Church fathers or reformers through the ages knew what they were teaching to be factual. And contemporary Christian scholars don’t actually know what they’re talking and writing about either. It’s all guesswork, wishful thinking and ready acceptance of the traditions of our forebears. Every bit of it.

As in the Chaplain’s experience, I moved beyond anger and into the other stages – the most notable difference being that I also experienced a bit of depression over the loss of my (and my loved one’s) mortality.

That was over a year ago and, like with many losses, I moved on and put it behind me. I’m definitely going through more “stages” – but they are much less about atheism than they are about figuring out what I want for my life and how I want to contribute to life on planet earth -  the really fun part!

April 20, 2009 · Filed Under Atheism

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The Emptiness of an Atheist’s Life

Ed is a Christian who’s chosen this place as one he’d like to do some converting in. Check my comments – you won’t have to look far for him. He’s trying quite valiantly to bring me and my readers to Christ.

One of the lines of thought that keeps creeping into Ed’s conversation is that his life was empty/without meaning and that he was searching for something until he came to Christ. Of course, he wants to share that – he wants me and other atheists to find Christ so that we can plug that hole in our hearts and become fulfilled.

To Ed and all you other Christians/Theists: I am not empty. I am not searching for something. I am quite happy and have no holes to fill.

In fact, it might surprise you to learn that, upon letting go of religion/god/faith/Jesus etc, I felt a great weight lift off my shoulders. I felt tremendous joy in being freed from religion. Not only that, but since de-converting, I have had an insatiable curiosity about the world, as well as an ever-increasing concern for our planet and the life on it.

Does this mean everything is perfect in my life? Of course not! But it does mean that I am a happy, contented, self-actualizing individual with a great deal of gratitude for having breath in my lungs, food on my plate and love in my life.

In other words, I am fulfilled and I’m sorry to tell you that your offer of fulfillment through Christ …offers me nothing.

And I suspect many other atheists are just like me.

April 17, 2009 · Filed Under Atheism, religion

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