atheist/agnostic tribe - Page 10

[elizaMM]

Originally Posted by Susana

I'm here.
after several years of trying my darndest to trade catholicism for wicca, I've just decided to go with my gut.

I'm an atheist who really digs and honors the planet. Well hell, the whole universe for that matter.

both of my parents died in 2008 and for the life of me, I want so badly to cling to a belief system that promises me that they are still somehow around me and that I will see them again someday. Try as I may, I really don't believe it.

I feel relief in acknowledging my atheism. Just because I don't believe in god, or gods, or goddesses doesn't mean I'm not connected with all life here on Earth, and I can celebrate that.

nice to meet everyone here.

Susana-- I am so WITH you. I was never christian but the pagan world has always been so tempting, but I always come back to just not believing (one could argue one could be an atheist pagan, I think, but when one tries to find other pagans they usually are all into Athena or somebody and it just turns me off).

That is so brave of you to acknowledge your unmet hopes! And yes! yes! yes!

Peace Susana!

[Theoretica]

Originally Posted by MrsRefney

It's like that here, as well. I can't even find current events books written by "liberal" authors. All teh Rush and Ann you can devour, but that's it.

Same here....grrrrr for living in FUNDIEVILLE

Originally Posted by *CM*

Theoretica, is it possible to request that your library purchase the book you are looking for? The library I went to before we moved had a process through which patrons could request certain materials. I don't know if they needed a certain number of requests for th same item before they'd get it, but you could always call and ask your library if they have a system set up for requests.

I asked them that, they said I could put in a request for a specific title but then it is 'reviewed' by the 'board' so as to determine the 'best usage of available funds'. That was when I said ohh it's a MONEY thing, well I'll buy 'em from Amazon and donate 'em to ya...there's ZERO atheist books to be found here. She says Ummmm well, you see, donated books are ummm reviewed by the Librarian God (she said the lady's name, I'm blank LOL) and if there isn't a need for that particular book they are sold at the book sale.

grrrrrrrrrrr.........:::

Hmmm. I'm betting my chances of getting atheist books are zilch around here. Amazon here I come! LOLOL

[MrsRefney]

Yep, my personal library has been receiving regular monthly Amazon shipments...my husband just sighs....

[jaidymama]

So I'm curious about the library thing... It's hard for me to imagine a public library having only religious parenting books. So I have to ask if it mattered how you did the search. Was it a computer database search or were you looking at the shelf? It's not that I don't believe you, I am surprised and would like to better understand.

Thanks for your patience.

[elizaMM]

Originally Posted by jaidymama

So I'm curious about the library thing... It's hard for me to imagine a public library having only religious parenting books

Imagine a rural southern town. One where linchings are a not-so-distant-memory. One where The Catcher In The Rye was banned for a few decades (perhaps still). If you don't go to church, you must be a criminal.

I can certainly imagine no atheist books at their public library. Hopefully they have the ability to "interlibrary loan" them from somewhere near or far. Hopefully they believe in freedom of expression and speach. But I wouldn't count on it.

[Susana]

Originally Posted by Tangled Hill

Welcome to the tribe!! And to you for all you've gone through this past year.

thank you, Tangled Hill!!

[Susana]

Originally Posted by elizaMM

Susana-- I am so WITH you. I was never christian but the pagan world has always been so tempting, but I always come back to just not believing (one could argue one could be an atheist pagan, I think, but when one tries to find other pagans they usually are all into Athena or somebody and it just turns me off).

That is so brave of you to acknowledge your unmet hopes! And yes! yes! yes!

Peace Susana!

Thank you, elizamm!
I like the term atheist pagan, but I know what you say is true...my pagan friends tell me it's not possible to be both atheist *and* pagan.
But what else would you call a nature lover who doesn't believe in a supernatural higher power?
I'll probably just stick with that.."nature lover who doesn't believe in a supernatural higher power", though it is kinda long!!

[Theoretica]

Originally Posted by jaidymama

So I'm curious about the library thing... It's hard for me to imagine a public library having only religious parenting books. So I have to ask if it mattered how you did the search. Was it a computer database search or were you looking at the shelf? It's not that I don't believe you, I am surprised and would like to better understand.

Thanks for your patience.

I did both, at the two area libraries. They aren't connected to one another because technically they are in two different towns, but the towns run into each other if that makes sense. I searched the shelves AND the computer database. I used every term imagineable. The terms "atheist", "humanism", "atheism", and "secular" all came up "yielding no results". I'm really familiar with Dewey so I do know where to look lol

Originally Posted by elizaMM

Imagine a rural southern town. One where linchings are a not-so-distant-memory. One where The Catcher In The Rye was banned for a few decades (perhaps still). If you don't go to church, you must be a criminal. I can certainly imagine no atheist books at their public library. Hopefully they have the ability to "interlibrary loan" them from somewhere near or far. Hopefully they believe in freedom of expression and speach. But I wouldn't count on it.

I'm not in the south (although I am FROM the south LOL) but I'm in a city/town that is predominantly and overwhelmingly Christian and white or hispanic. We sometimes go to a UU church on the other side of town, a whopping 100 people are there on a VERY busy Sunday, and they have their own library of 30 books...all very old....about humanism and atheism, primarily regarding science. But that's it. I don't mind donating books to them, it's just preaching to the choir-if you'll excuse the blatant pun LOL! It is interesting because the FIRST thing people ask you when they meet you is "what church do you go to". It's one of the reasons we joined the uu, so we could 'have a church' and DD could have friends we don't seriously disagree with.

While they don't ban books per se, they are extraordinarily selective about what 'gets in'. But without seeming that way. If that makes any sense LOL

Originally Posted by Susana

Thank you, elizamm!
I like the term atheist pagan, but I know what you say is true...my pagan friends tell me it's not possible to be both atheist *and* pagan.
But what else would you call a nature lover who doesn't believe in a supernatural higher power?
I'll probably just stick with that.."nature lover who doesn't believe in a supernatural higher power", though it is kinda long!!

I feel the EXACT same way! I have always been fascinated with paganism, even as a 'christian', and I really enjoy the appreciation and reverence of nature. But there isn't a god/goddess making spells work anymore than there's a god answering prayers. So, while it's easier in some respects to be 'in the pagan world' than 'in the xtian world', and we really incorporate a LOT of pagan traditions into our family...we don't do 'rituals' or 'spell casting' or 'magick' or anything because it's just not any different than what any other mainstream religion does...asking some supernatural force to intervene in life for their personal benefit.

Because of DH's Korean heritage we incorporate a lot of Buddhism into our lives as well, and that I can do without reservation because Buddhism doesn't adhere to any theistic belief that requires worship/praise/whatever.

So we're weird. We're pagan-esque, we're buddhist, we're atheist. LOLOL

[darien]

Hello, all! I can't recall if I've ever posted on this thread-- I usually just lurk.

If you'll indulge me, I wanted to share an amusing anecdote. There aren't too many people in my life who would find godless kid-talk funny.

My ds12 has been "reading the Bible" for the past few weeks, at "The Brick Testament" website. It's Bible verses, illustrated with Legos-- hilarious, btw.

My ds4 is very into mythology right now. He'll ask "Please tell me more myths about Yaweh!" The other day, he saw a rainbow and yelled "Look, it's Yaweh's promise!" [God shows Noah a rainbow as a sign that he'll never flood the earth and kill everything again]

It's funny to me that my atheist kids are more interested in the Bible than any of the Christian kids we know!

Another anecdote-- this one my friend's son. One day when he was 5, he came home from school and said "Mommy, my teacher has an imaginary friend named Jesus!"

[jspring0308]

Originally Posted by darien

Another anecdote-- this one my friend's son. One day when he was 5, he came home from school and said "Mommy, my teacher has an imaginary friend named Jesus!"

Reminds me of the quote by Lily Tomlin and I have to paraphrase it, Why is it that if you talk to god you're praying but if god talks to you you're crazy?

[~PurityLake~]

Originally Posted by darien

It's funny to me that my atheist kids are more interested in the Bible than any of the Christian kids we know!

That is so true. Education and curiosity foster knowledge. Forced beliefs tend to foster resentment or lack of interest.

Originally Posted by darien

Another anecdote-- this one my friend's son. One day when he was 5, he came home from school and said "Mommy, my teacher has an imaginary friend named Jesus!"

That's hilarious.

[Tangled Hill]

Originally Posted by ~Purity♥Lake~

Education and curiosity foster knowledge. Forced beliefs tend to foster resentment or lack of interest.

[purplepaperclip]

Hi gang! Glad to find you all.

Here's a question for you. How do you deal with your religious family? Do they know you don't believe or do you pretend and say noncommittal "mmmms" and "ohhhhs" when the conversation turns to god? Do you feel like you would be causing them pain and anguish if they knew you were an athiest? Worried your soul and those of your children are going to suffer eternal damnation?

I am dealing with this with my mother and father. I just don't know the best way to go. In the past I've just gone along with them, but now I;m a mom I feel more strongly about not pretending to be something I am not. I want to be true to myself and be a good example for my daughter, but I also don't want to hurt and/or let down my parents...

[Contrariety]

I don't entertain my family's religious assumptions. BUT out of respect for their fragile little feelings, I also don't straight out talk about my lack of religion. If they ever asked me, or wanted to pretend for a second to have a genuine interest in what I do (or don't, as it were) believe in and why, I wouldn't hesitate to give them the low down.

[Theoretica]

Originally Posted by Contrariety

I don't entertain my family's religious assumptions. BUT out of respect for their fragile little feelings, I also don't straight out talk about my lack of religion. If they ever asked me, or wanted to pretend for a second to have a genuine interest in what I do (or don't, as it were) believe in and why, I wouldn't hesitate to give them the low down.

On this note...specifically the 'fragile little feelings' part....

Why is it that folks who adhere fervently to religion are so damn sensitive about it? I mean, if they are so sure, why do atheists bother them so much?

[CallMeMommy]

My mom knows, she just refuses to talk about it. I don't think my dad knows, but he's not particularly religious and I can't foresee him talking about god. I don't know if my fundie sister knows, if she does she doesn't talk about it. Not much help, but there ya go...

We were up to see MIL last weekend and she asked when the baby was getting baptised. Um, you'll have to ask your son about that one... She's just worried that the baby will go to hell if something happens to him He's a frickin' BABY who's never done anything wrong. My mom's pulled that too, "I'm just afraid for your soul..." Gee, well then, sign me right up for that religion that punishes you with hell if you don't believe! Does this actually make sense to people?

[christifav]

Originally Posted by Theoretica

On this note...specifically the 'fragile little feelings' part....

Why is it that folks who adhere fervently to religion are so damn sensitive about it? I mean, if they are so sure, why do atheists bother them so much?

Seriously! I don't get defensive when someone offers me a conflicting point of view. I either a.) know I'm right so screw 'em or b.) am not 100% sure I'm right so I listen.

I'm sure they are bothered by us b/c they have no evidence to prove their beliefs and therefore rely on other people believing to validate their own beliefs. Whew...that was a mouthful. But if a rational person tells them that, "hey, I don't buy your sky fairy business" then that suggests to them that there's a chance they may be wrong.

But...FWIW, I have christian friends who are NOT threatened by me and I am able to have intelligent conversation regarding faith with them...although it always ends in "we agree to disagree".

[Tangled Hill]

I'm lucky in that my parents are atheists, themselves (well, my mother might lean toward agnostic, from time to time).

Beyond my immediate family (all atheists), only my grandmothers ever talk to me about religion. One grandmother, I don't see often enough that it's ever really come up. She'll mention something Xian here and there in a letter, but that's about it. So, I've never really had occasion to discuss it with her.

My other grandmother is 95 and would worry about my soul (and my son's soul) if she knew, so I go ahead and pretend, as does the little one. She doesn't need that stress. Being 95 is stress enough for her (she's not taking old age very well). I don't want to cause her any additional worry, whatsoever, if I can help it. I mostly do the "noncommittal 'mmmms' and 'ohhhhs'" thing whenever she brings it up (which is becoming more and more often as she gets older).

Aunts/uncles/cousins just never talk about it. I'm sure they all assume I'm Xian, since I've never had occasion to tell them one way or another.

[WeR1_09]

New Member

Hi, all.

What a great forum! I did a search on the Internet for agnostic moms groups in my area (thinking 'yea right, a non-religious moms group in CHARLESTON, SC? no way') and, while I didn't find a local non-religious moms group, at least I found this. Very cool!

My husband and I are both agnostic and feel VERY out-of-place here in SC. The friends we have made are all very nice people, but believe so differently than us (them: conservative, Christian, republican. us: liberal, agnostic - and, if we had to choose a 'party,' would be 'democrats', for sure). I get tired of the Christian, Republican -- especially anti-Obama pre-election emails -- sent by friends. After one such email recently received, I decided I REALLY would like to see if there are more like-minded moms out there I could connect with (in our area would be GREAT, to possibly meet up with, playdates, etc.). But, if it's just this forum, I'm completely content with that too. It's nice to know we're not alone!

[jspring0308]

Originally Posted by WeR1_09

Hi, all.

What a great forum! I did a search on the Internet for agnostic moms groups in my area (thinking 'yea right, a non-religious moms group in CHARLESTON, SC? no way') and, while I didn't find a local non-religious moms group, at least I found this. Very cool!

My husband and I are both agnostic and feel VERY out-of-place here in SC. The friends we have made are all very nice people, but believe so differently than us (them: conservative, Christian, republican. us: liberal, agnostic - and, if we had to choose a 'party,' would be 'democrats', for sure). I get tired of the Christian, Republican -- especially anti-Obama pre-election emails -- sent by friends. After one such email recently received, I decided I REALLY would like to see if there are more like-minded moms out there I could connect with (in our area would be GREAT, to possibly meet up with, playdates, etc.). But, if it's just this forum, I'm completely content with that too. It's nice to know we're not alone!

I'm here!!! I'm in Mt. Pleasant and moved out here from Oregon 1.5 years ago; what a change. PM me and we can set up a meet & greet (i'm currently typing 1-handed w/babe asleep or i'd write you!