New member
March 2, 2024 at 7:13 pm
(This post was last modified: March 2, 2024 at 7:16 pm by Jillybean.)
Hi all. I deconverted years ago from a strict Catholic background and spent a considerable amount of time researching the history of Catholic Church atrocities around the world. As you can imagine, I made endless horrifying discoveries including the actions of the Church in my own country (Canada) - where in the past few years the bodies of thousands of indigenous children were found in unmarked graves at former Catholic residential schools.
I consider myself to be possibly an agnostic theist--however most religious people would consider me to be an atheist because I disbelieve in the existence of the Abrahamic God, but I do hold out hope for some kind of higher consciousness in the world, even if that only consists of the "thousand unseen helping hands" of Joseph Campbell - basically humans acting together for good. I was an agnostic atheist until a religious/spiritual experience a few years ago shook my disbelief and I experienced the perception of a seemingly benevolent presence that radiated humour and love and delight. It certainly could have been my imagination (I'm skeptical myself) but was very powerful. And no- there were no mind-altering events or substances involved, lol. And no - I don't consider that presence to in any way resemble conventional depictions of a God.
So why join an atheist forum? I find that in other forums, any criticism of religion gets shut down whereas religious people and even extremists are allowed a voice. I am opposed to most organized religions, pseudoscience, and especially to fundamentalism/zealotry and its influence on government and the law. I am horrified by recent events worldwide, especially the bans on legal abortion in the USA (which I see as motivated only by religion, as the science is clear that fetuses have no capacity for human-like thought until the development of the cerebral cortex at 5-6 months). Religious erosion of women's rights and the persecution of minority groups is happening around the world. Humanity seems to be going backwards these days.... Anyway, would appreciate a friendly hello from anyone who cares to respond in a kind and civilized way.
I consider myself to be possibly an agnostic theist--however most religious people would consider me to be an atheist because I disbelieve in the existence of the Abrahamic God, but I do hold out hope for some kind of higher consciousness in the world, even if that only consists of the "thousand unseen helping hands" of Joseph Campbell - basically humans acting together for good. I was an agnostic atheist until a religious/spiritual experience a few years ago shook my disbelief and I experienced the perception of a seemingly benevolent presence that radiated humour and love and delight. It certainly could have been my imagination (I'm skeptical myself) but was very powerful. And no- there were no mind-altering events or substances involved, lol. And no - I don't consider that presence to in any way resemble conventional depictions of a God.
So why join an atheist forum? I find that in other forums, any criticism of religion gets shut down whereas religious people and even extremists are allowed a voice. I am opposed to most organized religions, pseudoscience, and especially to fundamentalism/zealotry and its influence on government and the law. I am horrified by recent events worldwide, especially the bans on legal abortion in the USA (which I see as motivated only by religion, as the science is clear that fetuses have no capacity for human-like thought until the development of the cerebral cortex at 5-6 months). Religious erosion of women's rights and the persecution of minority groups is happening around the world. Humanity seems to be going backwards these days.... Anyway, would appreciate a friendly hello from anyone who cares to respond in a kind and civilized way.
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