General Discussion

I was raised in a home full of Christians. None of my family really goes to church , on my moms sides it's because they don't believe in what the churches teach. I'm not to sure about my dads side of the family , I never asked why. So when I was little I was raised knowing there was some kind of god, but I had know Idea what everyone was talking about when they went into detail.

I never really thought of myself as a christian. A few years ago I thought of myself as a pagan (I think at the time I was really to young to really be able to get settle into any religion on my own , but I liked the teaching of paganism far more than I did Christianity.I may even go back and learn more about it one of these days...)

So for me now I guess I'm more of anagnostic theist.The only religion I would ever really want to be apart of again would have to be paganism.

I have a question for our club: How interesting are you in religion?

How much do you know about religion, how much do you try to learn about it, and do you pay attention to articles to do with religion on the news?

Personally I'm very interested. Part of that has to do with taking a world religions class, but when I see articles in the paper about religion I usually read those ones first. I'm guessing atheists raised in religious families wouldn't really care, but for me religion has always been exotic and strange, and I want to understand it.


Also this was on the Onion the other day: " Biologists Confirm God Evolved From Chimpanzee Deity"

There are so many people that posted that I can't address everyone individually without confusing my brain, so;
Hello to all of you! Nice to meet you all. :)

@Quix I'll do it.^^
I am very interested in religion myself; I've always thought of it as an odd concept and that it was strange even though I grew up in a Christian household. I considered myself a 'nothing' until I found out that people with my beliefs were called Atheists. I've been to MSA (Muslim Student Association) and many other religious clubs in my county to learn about other religions. It gets kind of addicting learning things about it.
I need to find that Onion article. 0.0

[quote name="Quix" date="2014-04-16 13:05:08"]@Soror I was kind of annoyed that my parents were atheists as a kid because all the kids from families of unusual religions got to celebrate all the strange and exotic holidays XD[/quote] I had to respond to this, lol. x) Sometimes I actually do get a bit envious of religious people when I see them celebrating a holiday. I just kinda want to jump in and join. ^^;

@Soror
Those religious clubs sound pretty cool. Through the MSA, did you ever get to visit a mosque? I've seen pictures of the beautiful tile designs found in mosques, but I've never had the chance to visit one.

Places of worship are just as tempting to explore as religious holidays. There's a gigantic Catholic church near my home. Its so beautiful on the outside, and I bet it is on the inside too, but as an atheist I feel like it would be awkward if I randomly checked it out.

I hope I'm not necroing but I wanted to say how cool it is that there's a thread like that here. I didn't expect it, but it's good to see.

I was raised in a non-religious household, but I myself was actually drawn to religion for a large part of my life. I am a hybrid and conflicted personality - both left-brained and right-brained (though, of course, that is not actually an accurate way of describing how the brain works - but you know what I mean), both logical and creative, both analytical and romantic, both a dreamer and a rational being. A part of me wants to believe in myths and folk tales because it would be awesome, but the other part of me can't, because it doesn't make sense. So I drifted from belief system to belief system, eternally dissatisfied with some little thing or other.
It took me some time to realize that in order to truly be satisfied, I would have to construct my own system from the ground up. After having done so, it turns out that gods of any sort were needed in it very little, and more in a symbolic capacity, not even an essential capacity, as they only facilitated the process of thinking about certain things, not required for it.
So, tl;dr, my journey has been pretty convoluted, but for all intents and purposes I am an atheist.

I have to say, however, that I regard religion with little favor. At its best, it can be a comfort to those who don't particularly want to think, or who are afraid to, which is fine; but at its worst, it can be a vehicle for virulent and irrational spite, a cancerous carrier of backwards ideas that go against any good sense or reason, a flame for ignorant, arrogant, angry moths and an impediment to progress. I have no ill-will toward any individual religious followers, only toward the idea itself, and generally only when it goes out of hand. I hope I haven't been frank to any unacceptable degree but since it's a thread specifically for the proponents of atheism I thought I might as well elaborate.

I have to agree, however, that many churches are very beautiful. I've always liked being in them, even though I don't follow the God they honor.

[quote name="Quix" date="2014-04-17 13:23:28"]@Soror Those religious clubs sound pretty cool. Through the MSA, did you ever get to visit a mosque? I've seen pictures of the beautiful tile designs found in mosques, but I've never had the chance to visit one. Places of worship are just as tempting to explore as religious holidays. There's a gigantic Catholic church near my home. Its so beautiful on the outside, and I bet it is on the inside too, but as an atheist I feel like it would be awkward if I randomly checked it out.[/quote] Sadly, no I haven't been inside a mosque. I agree, religious buildings like churches and mosques can be absolutely gorgeous. I've been hoping to go eventually, but I've mainly just seen how their prayer works and had misconceptions about their religion explained. I was invited to celebrate the end of Ramadan with; and man, their traditional food was so good. :) For the church, yeah it would be kinda awkward. I don't go into religious buildings unless invited really.

[quote name="CapJaneway" date="2014-04-17 22:48:29"]Hello all! I myself identify as an atheist, as well as Unitarian Universalist. My mom grew up in the UU church and raised my brother and me in it as well. As for interest in religion(s), a lot of my life I've been learning about different cultural beliefs, mainly through the religious education program at my church. I'm also taking an intro course to the study of religion this semester, and it's really interesting, and this last spring break I learned and explored different faiths and how they practice social justice with a school program. It was all incredibly interesting.[/quote] Hello, hello. :) Sounds awesome! Religion is very interesting to study. We don't have many school programs like that, just individual religious clubs, so if your still on FR, let me know how it goes!