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Atheists Who Go to Church:Doing It For The Children


lilwriter85

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I can imagine it's not very hard to think that exposure to religion may actually harm your kids.

I suppose that depends on the brand of religion and how serious the individuals take it. To be fair, they wanted to go a United Church. The Uniteds have always seemed pretty chill to me.

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In my experience (anecdata alert!) few atheists would define themselves as gnostic in their belief -- they almost always leave a little wiggle room for doubt, no matter how remote

I was raised an atheist. I've been inside a church with my mother a couple of times - for weddings. Never been inside a church with my father. My aunt & uncle made me go to Sunday school/church if I spent Saturday night with my cousin. They were Baptist.

Honestly, I've grown up, I've looked around, I've read and I still think that there is no such thing as God. And I don't offer any wiggle room. I know a lot of people who say "Yeah, I don't believe there's a god but it's not like I'm so arrogant to state that I know for sure."

Well, I'm that annoying arrogant twit who says that "yes, I know for sure there is no god." Because there's no Easter Bunny, no Santa Claus, no magic elves, no leprechauns and no fairies. Because in thousands and thousands of years NO ONE has presented incontrovertible, scientific proof of god's existence. Never. Nothing.

Look, I'm not here to tell anyone their belief system is wrong - if you like it and love it, do it. Go for it. Fine and dandy.

I just felt a little twitchy at the way people lump athiests and agnostics and the general assumption that even hardcore atheists truly, kind of, secretly still think it's possible.

That all being said, I do acknowledge that I may have overreacted in posting all of this but I just wish atheists were as vocal and honest and respected as agnostics or questioners, etc. Sigh.

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I was raised an atheist. I've been inside a church with my mother a couple of times - for weddings. Never been inside a church with my father. My aunt & uncle made me go to Sunday school/church if I spent Saturday night with my cousin. They were Baptist.

Honestly, I've grown up, I've looked around, I've read and I still think that there is no such thing as God. And I don't offer any wiggle room. I know a lot of people who say "Yeah, I don't believe there's a god but it's not like I'm so arrogant to state that I know for sure."

Well, I'm that annoying arrogant twit who says that "yes, I know for sure there is no god." Because there's no Easter Bunny, no Santa Claus, no magic elves, no leprechauns and no fairies. Because in thousands and thousands of years NO ONE has presented incontrovertible, scientific proof of god's existence. Never. Nothing.

Look, I'm not here to tell anyone their belief system is wrong - if you like it and love it, do it. Go for it. Fine and dandy.

I just felt a little twitchy at the way people lump athiests and agnostics and the general assumption that even hardcore atheists truly, kind of, secretly still think it's possible.

That all being said, I do acknowledge that I may have overreacted in posting all of this but I just wish atheists were as vocal and honest and respected as agnostics or questioners, etc. Sigh.

Hear, hear!!

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A church without religion??

You might as well join a bridge or a debating club.

Although both Unitarianism and Universalism have their roots in European religious schools of thought (there's a very old Unitarian denomination in Romania, for instance), the UU faith seems to be a uniquely American phenomenon. My congregation brings together Christians, Jews, atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, Pagans, humanists--at least those are the ones I'm aware of!

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This is kind of me. I have a lot of faith issues personally, but I'm trying to cultivate faith in my girls. They've gone to Vacation Bible School for several years, participate in Upward Soccer, we use Christian curriculum, etc. They will absolutely be able to make their own choices when they get older. I just feel like if they have a strong faith, they might have a better life than I feel I have. This is NOT a statement about the relative happiness/contentment of agnostics or atheists compared with other structured religions, this is ONLY my personal opinion for my kids.

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I've actually been thinking about this- I'm not married and don't have kids, but when/if I do, I've considered attending church with them. I was raised VERY Catholic, and I loved Catholic school, and the milestones of first communion, etc, along with the identity that comes along with religion. My parents also got a lot out of it- friends through church and our parish school, things like that.

I suppose I qualify as agnostic, but I think that there are definite positives to being a part of a religious community.

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I was raised an atheist. I've been inside a church with my mother a couple of times - for weddings. Never been inside a church with my father. My aunt & uncle made me go to Sunday school/church if I spent Saturday night with my cousin. They were Baptist.

Honestly, I've grown up, I've looked around, I've read and I still think that there is no such thing as God. And I don't offer any wiggle room. I know a lot of people who say "Yeah, I don't believe there's a god but it's not like I'm so arrogant to state that I know for sure."

Well, I'm that annoying arrogant twit who says that "yes, I know for sure there is no god." Because there's no Easter Bunny, no Santa Claus, no magic elves, no leprechauns and no fairies. Because in thousands and thousands of years NO ONE has presented incontrovertible, scientific proof of god's existence. Never. Nothing.

Look, I'm not here to tell anyone their belief system is wrong - if you like it and love it, do it. Go for it. Fine and dandy.

I just felt a little twitchy at the way people lump athiests and agnostics and the general assumption that even hardcore atheists truly, kind of, secretly still think it's possible.

That all being said, I do acknowledge that I may have overreacted in posting all of this but I just wish atheists were as vocal and honest and respected as agnostics or questioners, etc. Sigh.

I don't think we actually disagree that much! Most of the "wiggle room" that I have encountered is of a very theoretical sort, rather than the pandering "I don't believe but of course it's a possibility, look, there, now nobody's feelings are hurt!" It's sort of more an intellectual exercise in what *would* make them believe in god. Of course, some people come out at the end still saying "nothing, the entire concept is silly" (I think PZ Myers did so), but many will say "if x-y-z happened under a-b-c conditions and was not a hoax or a trick of the brain, then I'd believe." Of course, practically speaking, many of those x-y-zs are ridiculously unlikely. (This is all anecdata, of course, but I have gathered quite a lot of it over the years!) Personally, I'd probably think I'd gone mad before I believed, and I define myself on facebook as a radical atheist (which I nicked off of Douglas Adams), so believe me, I'm all for being vocal and honest and respected. :)

I was really trying to make a point that atheists and agnostics aren't separate categories on the same scale, and that they're both misunderstood and misused terms, so talking about them as one group or as separate groups can really only tell you how people label themselves. As a psychology student I find this immensely frustrating -- it sure makes research into religious differences a pain in the bum.

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The kids and I go to Catholic services with DH and we celebrate Jewish traditions as well. And some eclectic/disorganised Pagan rites with my parents and some of our friends. Part is for community and fellowship (ick that sounds fundie), part is keeping and passing on tradition, and part is just out of habit, with DH. And desire to pass on historical and cultural knowledge.

Kids are raised with all traditions present, none enforced. I definitely see a value in raising them with some tradition, even if you don't personally believe or believe something specific. If nothing else it leaves the options open.

Personally, I waffle and struggle with religion a lot. I have for the last 20 years. I'm a complete atheist one day and deeply spiritual, if not specific to any path, the next. I'm culturally Jewish and that's very important to me that my children know it on a cultural and historical level, but personally I've always felt more nature-centric in my spirituality, like my parents.

They will and do choose for themselves what to do and what to take out of it. If they don't want to go to services or participate, they're welcome to sit out. Right now my oldest (almost 11) says she doesn't believe in anything, and that's okay. It's also okay if she decides in the future to be more spiritual or even join a religion. Our only rule as a whole family is that there will be no imposition of beliefs of one onto another. We can't survive on anything but complete openness and honesty with each other, and conflict of religion can't be a part of our lives.

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I was really trying to make a point that atheists and agnostics aren't separate categories on the same scale, and that they're both misunderstood and misused terms, so talking about them as one group or as separate groups can really only tell you how people label themselves. As a psychology student I find this immensely frustrating -- it sure makes research into religious differences a pain in the bum.

Well as a European emiritus psycholoy professor and an atheist, why would you bother to research religious differences? Does that really add some value to the 'trade?'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYigmGyN2RQ

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