this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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There are very few actual atheists - if any. Most "atheists" I've encountered are just edgy non-practising Christians. And I bet that goes for other parts of the world with other religions, too.
You might be in some kind of bubble or assuming a lot about strangers based on your own experiences. Lots of people authentically and personally choose to be atheists after being raised within some kind of faith and coming to the conclusion that it is not something they believe in. Others like me were simply raised without the influence of any religion and it all just seems absurd. Itβs not being edgy or any kind of performance, perhaps it was for some people youβve known, but I imagine for most itβs a personal choice (or lack thereof) that they have no reason to tell you or anyone else about or broadcast in any way because the entire enterprise is meaningless to them and really just isnβt something they even think about very much.
Here's the problem with your argument.
If you had this stuff shoved down your throat as a kid, it's still there - no matter what you choose to believe in your adult life. It's very easy to decide what you believe when you're relaxing on your sofa... but that might not matter when you undergo events that are psychologically traumatic. It's called a regressive state - a term I actually picked up reading the torture manuals the CIA used to train it's death squads in Latin America. There's a very good reason you have people from these "prosperity gospel" scams hanging around drug rehab centers and mental asylums - it's just so much easier getting their claws into people when they've undergone such traumas and are vulnerable. I've lived long enough to have experienced it myself and watched others experience it - it's not pretty. It's scary, because it implies that we are not as much in control of our own psyches as we'd like to think we are, and that's perfectly understandable.
I've been musing on this a bit. Like, what is it REALLY like in someone's head, spiritually, if they literally grow up with a non-monotheistic religion?
I read a lot of books, esp. sci-fi and fantasy which are prone to messing around with all sorts of things including religion, but I haven't actually read a good one that really "demonstrated" what having a polytheistic or animist spirituality is like.
Maybe taking a look into eastern asian cultures would be close enough? A good portion of their mythos treat gods as powerful beings that can fall from grace and be defeated. Also, in Chinese Taoism, humans responsible for great deeds can ascend into godhood
Most of India might also provide a very good look into how people who grew into a polytheistic society act and think about their own spirituality. Japanese Shintoism might be the closest look into an "easily accessible" animist look
really? From the outside looking in, it looks like most Christians are atheists just putting on a show because it's expected of them. Its the only logical explanation for otherwise rational people buying into that twaddle
Born and raised anti religious here, never believed in any of that cult bullshit, never will
Really? Because I'm pretty sure I'm not a Christian.
This narrative that atheists and agnostics are just christians that chose not to believe in God to be able to sin is far to common, and super inaccurate. I have (multiple) atheist friends who were once evangelical Christians with no plans to commit sin, in fact their life plan was to be an apologist. Ever since leaving Christianity non of them have done or have planned to do anything that would widely be considered immoral. (Most now consider their previous plans involving very manipulative techniques to be very unethical) Most atheists that have left Christianity did so because they found it increasingly hard to convince themselves (and the threat of hell is a very good reason to keep believing) that an old book and it's contents, that frequently contradict experimental observation, should be the center of their life.
The book contradicts itself in quite a few places. It's a garbage book all around.
Maybe expand your circle. majority of people I know are atheists.
Was raised Buddhist and vegetarian, don't believe in any of the spiritual things anymore, but I believe in the philosophy. I eat meat now.