First of all, there's another religion that's a part of our family religious heritage: Catholicism. My husband is a cultural Catholic in about the same way that I'm a cultural Mormon. So, naturally, we took our kids to Lourdes and had lots of amusing adventures there!Non-belief doesn't obligate you to give up your holiday traditions (unless you want to), as I've discussed on Easter and Christmas -- including a list of Merry secular carols!
As for Christianity in general, I have to admit I'm not too pleased with it. It seems to inspire some disastrously short-sighted politics, and I'm not convinced you can do much better when saddled with the morals of the Bible. And -- as far-fetched as Mormonism's story seems -- it annoys me to see Christians applying a double-standard of evidence when it comes to the Jesus story. (Their position on the death penalty is also a little counter-intuitive.) Ultimately, I think polytheism makes more logical sense than monotheism+omnipotence. (Spock and Harry Potter also make a good showing.)Sometimes the believers indicate that they don't think very highly of faith/religion, either, when they try to discredit atheism by calling atheism a faith or a religion.
That said -- even if we disagree -- I think it's important to get along and make a real effort to understand one another. As I explained in a couple of parables about belief, just because we disagree doesn't mean I think you're stupid. And when it comes to personal relationships, it's generally not constructive to harass and harangue people about how wrong you think their beliefs are. Interfaith relationships can be a challenge, as I discussed in "He has his faults, such as being a perverted-democrat-atheist, but....
Even politically, I think that fighting for a shared secular space is more constructive than trying to stop religion (which led to my joke about being a sniveling milquetoast).
Of course, being an atheist isn't all fun and games. That whole death thing is a bit of a drawback. Plus, we're so despised that sometimes even the other out groups shun us. So it's not easy to be "out". Are you? ;^)
5 comments:
Good re-cap on blog posts here :)
I just wanted to say I'm really sorry but I had to remove the Outer Blogness Blogroll from my blog because of too much pressure from religious family members etc.
Might have to delete my blog entirely, which makes me sad. But what can you do?
I'll still visit your blog and other atheist websites though, just can't link to anything :(
I'm semi-out as an atheist, which means I admit it to anyone who asks. :-)
Xuxana, please don't give in to pressure and delete your blog. Stand up for yourself! You count!
Hey Xuxana!!!
I agree with Karen -- don't give in to pressure and delete your blog. (Though you'd be far from the first to do it...)
One popular solution is to maintain a separate blog for family with photos and what you're currently up to. Then tell them that if they don't like your other blog, just don't read it.
In my case, my LDS family members are aware of this blog (and read it at least occasionally), but they're not going to tell me to delete it any more than I'd tell them to delete their blogs that have pro-LDS stuff on them! ;^)
I have been out since I realized I was an atheist at the age of 17. Never occured to me to keep that a secret. Plus too, I worked for a Humanist organization, so whenever I met someone new and they asked me what I did, I had to tell them I was a Humanist and so, no hiding it there.
I agree with the advice to XuXana. I have a personal blog and a humanist blog. That way, my family, which includes devote catholics and ultra orthodox jews (including a rabbi who studied under Rabbi Schneerson) dont' have to be subjected to my thoughts about Humanism and religion, and my Humanist and atheist friends have a dedicated place they can go to read my thoughts on those matters. Everybody wins.
Keep up the good work, I love your blog.
Thanks Jenn!!!
I'm adding your blog to my RSS reader as well.
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