My Atheist Rant!! Arrghh!!
By Robert EdeI am being a little sarcastic with the title of this post, but I am really sick of hearing about atheism being the root of all evil.
This article in the independent has some how struck a nerve with me, not a rational one, but I’m having a day off from rationality.
I think it’s this whole load of horse shit about how we must respect religion. Quite frankly I’m fed up with being lectured about how I should “Respect” religion, and people like Alistair Campbell should know better than to confuse the word tolerance with respect.I do not go around in my daily life telling people that because they are catholic they must have a warped value system, because of the inquisitions. I don’t assume that anyone from the Church of England is wicked because they used to burn so call witches. I am tolerant of what people believe and as long as they don’t shove it down my throat, then I can live with it.I think Quakers are the loveliest religious people in the world, because as far as I know I’ve never met one. Quakers unique and personal relationship with their faith makes them the perfect religious group, because they don’t harp on about it.The evangelicals go out of their way to provoke conflict with their attitude of “Thou shalt not”, and quite frankly I don’t want to hear it. I’ve studied religion in depth, and I would say I have knowledge of more religions than average Joe. For me the best religion is the one that speaks through its actions, not by its words. I don’t need to know that god informs your choice in helping the sick or homeless, because it doesn’t matter as long as you act in good conscience.If there is an elected politician that happens to be a Muslim, or a Christian, or a Buddhist then I’m not that fussed as long as they don’t seek to use that position to impose their religion on me. Politicians are elected to represent all their constituents, not just the ones who happen to agree with their position.
The religious argue that by having a secular system we are imposing our views on them. I don’t agree because our decisions are based on rationality, reason, human compassion, and not they flying spaghetti monster, or fictional characters from a book. I for one would not wish to live in a society which based all its rules on “God says”, and depending on who’s version of “God says” would depend on the outcome.
Given half a chance I believe many evangelicals would force their faith on others. Lets face it, the religious are quite happy to pressurise their kids to follow their particular religion, so if they can get away with at a familial level why not a national one?
The only thing annoys me more than evangelical proselytising, is being lectured to about “Respect” for religion. So listen up closely, I respect the right to have any religion you want, I do not respect your religion but I respect your rights. I tolerate your private practice of religion, but I do not tolerate it’s interference in our public life, or my private life.So there, it’s out of my system now, I’ve done my rant for the year! So by all means feel free to tell me now how evil Stalin was, how Hitler was an atheist (when he was Catholic) and how I’m going to burn in hell for all time. Quite frankly I couldn’t give a rats ass, just leave me alone to get on with my life.
I was born to a Roman Catholic and a Quaker who chose not to go to church very much. In fact, they don’t really have much time for religion.
I went to a Church of England Primary School, which basically taught me that the bible is a load of bollocks purely through the fact that there was meant to be this “God” guy doing good things for me, and sitting on clouds, yet I never actually saw him or experienced his “work”.
I went on to a religious school which had close ties with the army. And patiently wasted hours of my life while they droned on about nonsense.
Those experiences were enough to tell me there’s nothing fun about sitting on a hard wooden seat in a cold stone building being – literally – preached to.
I’ve had good close contact with Quakerism through my grandfather who, when he was alive, liked to spend some time on an occasional Christmas in a Quaker Meeting House. Quakers really are lovely. There is no clergy. Each person has a “direct connection to God”. Their “worship” involves sitting together quietly in self-reflective contemplation. If you think you have something worth sharing, you stand up and say it. The meeting house I remember most had a small shop where one could purchase sweets and refreshments, but nobody staffed it. It relied on trust. You take what you want and pay what is asked, and take whatever change you require. So I’m very much pro-Quaker, although TBH it would be nice if all shops were like that anyway.
I chose a very long time ago to be an atheist. I decided that there was nothing apart from us and nature. How can there be a “supreme omnipresent being” which influences every person’s decisions when there are so many people who make such bad or evil decisions? Oh yeah, the devil – who is just as powerful and omnipresent, but whose story mysteriously goes untold. “That man over there is very bad, but I can’t tell you why. I can give you examples, but I can’t tell you what made him bad or why you shouldn’t listen to him.”
More recently I have “fallen into” paganism, of which there are many flavours. I gather socially with friends and every six weeks we spend 5 or 10 minutes around a fire pit. Those who wish to can speak to the spirits of nature – which is a one-way communication, really. But I like it. Nobody preaches. Nobody tells anybody else what to do, or what to think. There is no dress code. And, in fact, our friendly social gathering has in the past contained those of monotheistic faith. We all pick & choose the bits that fit together best for us from all the flavours of paganism. There is no mould, and it’s more about appreciating nature than controlling people.
Thought I’d best introduce myself properly before I tell this little story:
A couple of years ago I attended my cousins wedding. She is from the “bible-bashing” wing of the family – the guys who go to church religiously, no pun intended. Her sister, a couple of Christmases earlier, had piped up at the dinner table that “If everyone was a Christian, there’d be no wars!” Boy did I shoot her down. She went on to study religion at university. And marry some lad she met on a Christian Dating website. Back to the aforementioned sister’s wedding, which was to a guy she met in her university’s “meeting for worship”: A guy approached me there, and asked which church I was with. That really pissed me off. Just because I happen to be at my cousin’s wedding, surrounded by gullible twats, someone has to assume that I share their “faith”. I told him plainly that I wasn’t a christian. “Oh dear,” he said. “When did you lose your faith?” I was absolutely fucking livid. But I kept my cool. I moved closer to him, and whispered in his ear, in as deep a voice as I could: “Do not underestimate the power of the dark side.” I wish I could have got a picture of his face. And a video of how rapidly he scurried off.
Your experience sounds similar to my own in many ways and I find (being married to a pagan) that Paganism is quite compatible with an atheistic lifestyle as many of the values we hold are compatible (if you leave out all the mumbo jumbo).
Surely the only entity one can have respect for is a person. To say ‘respect a religion’ is meaningless as religions are set out not to change, but if respect is going to mean anything the two parties involved should be prepared to change together.
We believe most of what we believe about the world because others have told us so