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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 31, 2014 at 4:49 am
(This post was last modified: October 31, 2014 at 4:50 am by robvalue.)
I've never had the misfortune of being in that situation, so all I can say is that it's very possible for large numbers of people to be completely and utterly wrong.
Every community can have a sense of togetherness and support, and this can easily be mistaken for something more mystical.
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 31, 2014 at 8:53 am
I used to until I was about 30 and finally found the confidence to accept that I wasn't getting it wrong.
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 31, 2014 at 9:56 am
I'm not sure, if I ever lived in a very religius place. I grew up in Vienna and as long as I can remember, religion hasn't been rubbed into the faces of innocent bystanders.
If we're talking about the provinces, the countryside, it's a different tale. They tend to more religious, but not as obnoxiously religious to try and convert anyone.
No, as a child I had little doubts about religion and as a grown up I have little doubts about it's lack of foundation. Funny thing is, the first time I had serious doubts about christianity was in church. It was the day of my first communion and we sang the hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy". There's that passage "Thee, Who was, and is, and evermore shall be", which was a mind twister for my childish brain. I asked myself, how can that be true?
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 31, 2014 at 10:11 am
Having been a christian for many years and now kind of waking up and believing the evidence, I am sure I am right about the lack of a god. However, something deep down has not changed (yet)
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 31, 2014 at 10:30 am
I go to a tech and engineering school in NM, and there's a church across the street from us, a Masonic lodge right next to that, another church down the street, and one down another street.
In general, I've not encountered many (any?) CREATIONISTS, but there are TWO different Christian youth groups on campus, and they're actually pretty popular. Of course, there's also a QuASAR and a bunch of other LGBT groups.
I've certainly not encountered any anti-atheist sentiment, but there is the possibility that it's there.
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 31, 2014 at 10:30 am
It's a weird situation here in the UK. We're a democratic quasi-secular theocracy. The majority of people are vaguely religious and the religion that most people vaguely follow is christianity which is because the official state religion is Anglicanism (The Church of England). Strangely, this is a highly alluring form of religion: it doesn't really require much from you on a day-to-day basis, has great holidays & celebrations, is tolerant (and absorbent) of other beliefs, often well educated, is hard to argue against (philosophically) and is generally acceptable to most people. Because there's very little pressure to be religious, most people find themselves happy to be vaguely so! Plus, we all get to gang up on the fundies.
Overall, it's so insidious, it's really fucking scary!
Sum ergo sum
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 31, 2014 at 10:53 am
Yeah, plenty, but mostly about my neighbors. Gods....not so much.
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