Sunday, June 14, 2009

Defining atheism

There was a good diary on Daily Kos today about what an atheist is and isn't. I've suppose I've not really thought about in terms of applying a label, but I would definitely have to categorize myself as an atheist. Someone in one of the comments on the DK diary mentioned that an atheist can be thought of as non-theist, and that would definitely describe me. As the diarists mentions, I'm not opposed to there being a god (making me a "soft atheist" or agnostic) but I just don't believe that there is one.

I could probably blame being taken to southern baptist churches when I was growing up as the cause for being atheist. In reality, that just contributed to me being anti-religious, not atheist. I've thought since I was a small child, even while attending church, that all the dogma and pageantry of organized religion was just a lot of nothing. Even as a child it seemed to me that religion was all about keeping people interested enough to attend the church services and of course give money. I don't won't to turn this into a long diatribe about the evils of organized religion since we're about to go to breakfast and I don't have all day to type, so I'll stop this tack at this point.

Oddly I do believe that many religions have things to teach, but I also believe that it's not necessary to religions in order to have those thing taught (or to learn them for that matter). I also don't believe that we have to worship an unseen god in order for our lives to be meaningful and fulfilling. It just doesn't work for me.

In any event, here's the original diary for your reading pleasure.

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