Faith in Atheism

I took some flack a while back linking those two words together. I don’t always ask questions because I already know the answer, but is there a point in unbelief that requires faith, in this case, of a young, lifelong casual believer (thanks grandma) who recently decided he’s an atheist, based on a few arguments from a well known celebrity?

He didn’t come to this conclusion based on inadequate religion, gnawing contradictions or of unanswered prayer, etc, but by believing a cleverly worded argument of a well known person. Is this not a show of faith?

Granted, as Rapar stated, “Atheism is the lack of faith like cold is simply the lack of heat, not a natural state of its own“.

And Tildeb; “WTF? What is that bit all about? Creating a false dichotomy here doesn’t create a more ‘balanced’ opinion; it creates another ‘I’m an atheist, but…’ apologist with a drive by smear at those who have every reason to grant experts higher degrees of confidence in their informed opinions. That’s not ‘faith’ of the religious kind at all Jim, and you should know this by now”

Do I need identify what kind of faith I don’t have? How can you not believe something you haven’t investigated? Have you ever had faith? Have you ever been a believer because of indoctrinating parents?His atheism certainly is faith of a religious kind.

Our culture puts onus our way, a weird position to consider belief as a positive and unbelief as its opposite. But we are unnaturally forced to consider belief and make a decision. I would think an informed decision would make a stronger position. This young man is ripe to fall into a Ray Comfort-style trap, just as he did a Joe Rogan.

So, after this I might rephrase, that his faith is not in atheism, but his atheism is faith in the opinion of the celebrity. Because I guarantee in this case, he knows not enough of either, belief or unbelief to really be a believer or a non.

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More Than Atheism

Is atheism the last station on the track? Of course, upon clearing your head from Abrahamic ownership of the cosmos, it may seem that-day to be a great awakening moment—there is much more to the story than that restricted system allows.

True, there are no gods, but is there nothing else at all? In the tradition of enlightenment we see the value of unbelief, then little by little the source reveals itself from within, that the universe is a complex living way, a happening where we live without belief, but in practice as a singularity.

As anthropology and archaeology sever the 6000 year shoehorning of human history, we find this happening has been going on much longer in a highly developed fashion of ebbs and flows, than the Yahweh story will allow.

Abrahamic religion can no longer hold back the tides of knowledge. Information and collaboration is happening around the world, fostering new discovery of what we can be, who mankind actually is, and ushering in a new, beautiful awakening of the human spirit. Once held divided for centuries by the insistence of one god, that ultimate idol which has distracted us from our true greatness through submission, to the prepackaged, poorly interpreted cultural bias of the awakening experience.

Atheism is simply unbelief in gods, but that may not be the whole story—It is what indigenous and others skilled in the meditative arts have known for a long time, but who in this system has time for that? Carefully guided through life settling for half truth and contradiction, it’s no wonder we’ve gone nowhere.

Reincarnation—Uh, Thanks but No Thanks?

After another round of worthless debate, my criticism of faith is now considered a belief system. I disagree, but I do need a belief to counter the destructive belief of modern monotheism. Forced to unbelief by the non-results of Christianity—I am a believer it has wasted years of peoples lives.

I went to town today to pick up some supplies. Everyone is in a hurry, to and fro like a street corner hooker trying to buy a moment of happiness. Traffic was a disaster and nobody smiling. Where is the happiness in America?

Speaking to my wife on the way home today about reincarnation—after looking at the still growing population and the stressful, non stop anxiety of colonialism, if reincarnation is real, I think I’ll just pass on it next time around—unless I could maybe go back in time.

The Many Denominations of Unbelief

Understanding evolution is one way to atheism, and by far the most popular Christian finger-pointing bullet point I come across. But, as deconverts, this reason which we eventually come to understand is very low on the list. In fact many believers accept both evolution and creation can co-mingle (if that is your reconciliation) Personally, I shied away from evolution and only knew the basics of that faith by drawing from a poisoned well.

Comparing the goodness, mercy, love, and outcomes of Gods word, to what we read in scripture and what we see objectively certainly raises an eyebrow. Not just on a few cherry picked points either, but in a systemic, parenterally obvious display of contradiction. It’s widespread virtually on every point.

Prayer certainly did some of us in. Match up a couple of unseen miracles in a generation and you can sell enough tickets to support entire cities. It’s that rare. The pilgrimage sites are living proof that miracles are so rare, people will travel the entire globe to get a glimpse of the mere location—or speculation. Miracles are merely events unexplained in the mean-time. But, dig a little deeper and every one has an explanation, unless one is afraid to look. Prayer works the way mindfulness works. Pretty simple concept to achieve what you focus on. The miracle is you!

Scientific understanding of how the brain functions in a group, or in a crisis is another stopper. While faith thrives in non-evidentiary vacuums, it falls apart quite nicely for some when the evidence is presented. Neurology is a quirky business, that’s why the controlled testing. We now have a pretty decent understanding of how we are fooled, even by our own doing at times, out of sheer desperation.

Then, like my brother, he never even believed a word of it. The entire scam is a bullshit point some personality types just see it from the onset. Lucky them.

There are more, but only one can begin the journey to learn them all, which I consciously avoided for many years. Prayer was the beginning and the end for me. The contradictory nature of the gospel and scripture took a close second. The other points are just the cherry on top.