Hi!

[Pat Mustard]

Hello - I just joined this forum today.

I've been on many other forums in the past & I haven't participated in any form for a long time - about a year, I believe (that's probably the extent of belief in anything I'll be expressing here on this forum ).

Anyhow - I was raised as a Roman Catholic, but after I grew up I eventually gravitated away from the "church."

I don't identify as atheist; I'd rather identify as non-religious. My reason for this is not semantics, but a practical reason. Basically the reason is that the word "atheist" seems to be designed or used to make anyone who identifies themselves with it as already willing to play on a religious playing field with the rules and conditions that are imposed by those who are religious.

In other words, imagine a group of people talking about professional basketball, and they're asking each other who's their favorite team; this is an analogy to different individuals who are religious talking about what their religion is & for the atheist, the analogy in that group discussing pro-basketball would be someone who says that they don't like any of the teams, but they are still drawn into the more general debate of which teams the like or which teams they think will win at each game, etc. In the analogy, it seems like the label "atheist" is sort of designed to - in a way - trick people into getting mixed up into debating whether things from religion are true or what-not. I say this for practical reasons; I get this idea from my observations of atheists; they often seem to just wind up getting practically put on the defensive.

My answer to this problem is to simply say that I'm not religious, rather than to use a word that only exists because those who are religious exist. Look at how the words itself is built on the underlying concept of theism.

In the pro-basketball analogy, rather than being someone interested in pro-basketball but not having a favorite team, saying that I'm not religious is analogous to saying that I'm simply not interested in pro-basketball. I consider this a better way to deal with those who are religious and want to preach to me, convert me, have a debate or discussion about religious concepts, etc.

So basically although I as a "non-religious" individual joined a forum with the word "atheist" in the name, I figure this is a practical place to have conversations with others who are probably just like me, but don't make a big deal about the distinction between an atheist and someone who's non-religious.

Like your most famous fellow Niall, do you have nine sausages?


Sorry my weak attempt at humour.