Ok, now that I spent 5 mins just thinking of a thread title, I can take my time and write my short novel! THIS WILL BE LONG! Its been something that has been on my mind for a while and I need to get it out there and actually ask for help!
As its nearly 4am and after a few jack and cokes and some Ghost (BC) pumpin thru the headphones I was thinking of things to watch tomorrow on tv/netflix.
I just re-upped my netflix after not having it for a few months to give my kids something to watch when the 150 cable channels plus on demand seem to have "nothing" on.
Anyway, I came across Zeitgeist and remember watching part 1 about religion. Now, I know its full of inaccuracies and such but it actually got me thinking more after watching it.
Myself I have been an Atheist for about 10+ years now but my wife is...I dunno what she is. I know WHY she is what ever she is but its hard to explain the what. She says when asked about her religion shes metaphysical. Now, the sole reason she is that is because her mother (which RIP passed away in I think 2010 of cancer) was.
Now, that being said I do not want to "convert" my wife to be an Atheist. Ideally if she was one, it would make for less drunken 5am tyraids in my house. But what I want to do is open her eyes to reality, to "the truth™" that fact is better then fiction.
She has told me many times that she will NEVER be an Atheist because its depressing and angry. Well, she only knows one atheist really, me. And yes, I let stupid facebook comments and such get the better of me sometimes and I comment in a negative fashion more often then I should.
She believes in random stuff borrowed from random belief systems that her mother liked or had shown her. What she doesn't realize is that shes basically what I like to say a borderline Atheist all ready. She thinks that becoming an Atheist will make her bitter, angry, depressed because there is no hope of some magical wonderland...etc
Im certain someone here knows someone with similar type of beliefs or how they got them. Her mom was a huge part of her life, so much that we had many arguments because she intruded on it or she wouldn't talk to me about things but a 2 hour a day conversation with her mom was "short".
I know im skipping all over the place but to me, this is something that is heavy on my mind. I do not want to convert her like I said but I also would like her to understand she can choose her own path and doesn't have to believe something just because her mom did. I'm definately NOT going to use that as a "selling" point!
One large issue is after her mother died, her father found another woman. No big deal, it happens, but whats happened to him is something neither of us could have expected. She turned him from a nice, caring guy into a hardcore right wing conservative republican christian type. No one could have predicted that one! He posts things on FB daily about how he hates obama...etc And also tells her now she needs the bible and such. Our kids, we have 3 (two boys 13 and 11 and a 4 year old girl) were never taught atheism, christianity, metaphysics or anything. I consider them VERY fortunate to not be "taught" anything so they can make up their mind later on without EITHER of us influencing them.
But recently he, father in law, has been so f'n brainwashed im afraid to send my kids to his house in fear he'll try to guilt trip them into being a believer of zomb...errr christ and the bible. So, for my wifes sake I wanted to finally start showing her reality and how liberating and beautiful it can be. You can still worship nature, still meditate, still have some sort of "spirituality" when being an atheist, its not just an anti christian!
I wanted to show her (and maybe my kids) a movie, a documentary rather, that just shows that there is not only truth but beauty in Atheism and that its not all negative. I wanted one thats not too hard to understand with technical scientific terms that you'd have to have some sort of degree to understand. I've seen a few myself and like to watch debates but she doesn't, at all.
Now, the issue im having with finding a movie/documentary is that most of the are just out to disprove christianity or something similar. She all ready has stated she dislikes the christian faith as much as I do. Well, not as much but she does have a distain for it. But, that wouldn't do much good in trying to show her anything as she doesn't buy it anyway, ya know?
I guess in a TL;DR I'd say want to find a documentary which isn't too technical which shows atheism in a beautiful or positive way without a heavy focus on only christianity or islam.
If you've acutally read this entire post without skipping, I grant you +1 internets! But seriously, thanks and I look forwards to having a good discussion and getting recommendations!
As its nearly 4am and after a few jack and cokes and some Ghost (BC) pumpin thru the headphones I was thinking of things to watch tomorrow on tv/netflix.
I just re-upped my netflix after not having it for a few months to give my kids something to watch when the 150 cable channels plus on demand seem to have "nothing" on.
Anyway, I came across Zeitgeist and remember watching part 1 about religion. Now, I know its full of inaccuracies and such but it actually got me thinking more after watching it.
Myself I have been an Atheist for about 10+ years now but my wife is...I dunno what she is. I know WHY she is what ever she is but its hard to explain the what. She says when asked about her religion shes metaphysical. Now, the sole reason she is that is because her mother (which RIP passed away in I think 2010 of cancer) was.
Now, that being said I do not want to "convert" my wife to be an Atheist. Ideally if she was one, it would make for less drunken 5am tyraids in my house. But what I want to do is open her eyes to reality, to "the truth™" that fact is better then fiction.
She has told me many times that she will NEVER be an Atheist because its depressing and angry. Well, she only knows one atheist really, me. And yes, I let stupid facebook comments and such get the better of me sometimes and I comment in a negative fashion more often then I should.
She believes in random stuff borrowed from random belief systems that her mother liked or had shown her. What she doesn't realize is that shes basically what I like to say a borderline Atheist all ready. She thinks that becoming an Atheist will make her bitter, angry, depressed because there is no hope of some magical wonderland...etc
Im certain someone here knows someone with similar type of beliefs or how they got them. Her mom was a huge part of her life, so much that we had many arguments because she intruded on it or she wouldn't talk to me about things but a 2 hour a day conversation with her mom was "short".
I know im skipping all over the place but to me, this is something that is heavy on my mind. I do not want to convert her like I said but I also would like her to understand she can choose her own path and doesn't have to believe something just because her mom did. I'm definately NOT going to use that as a "selling" point!
One large issue is after her mother died, her father found another woman. No big deal, it happens, but whats happened to him is something neither of us could have expected. She turned him from a nice, caring guy into a hardcore right wing conservative republican christian type. No one could have predicted that one! He posts things on FB daily about how he hates obama...etc And also tells her now she needs the bible and such. Our kids, we have 3 (two boys 13 and 11 and a 4 year old girl) were never taught atheism, christianity, metaphysics or anything. I consider them VERY fortunate to not be "taught" anything so they can make up their mind later on without EITHER of us influencing them.
But recently he, father in law, has been so f'n brainwashed im afraid to send my kids to his house in fear he'll try to guilt trip them into being a believer of zomb...errr christ and the bible. So, for my wifes sake I wanted to finally start showing her reality and how liberating and beautiful it can be. You can still worship nature, still meditate, still have some sort of "spirituality" when being an atheist, its not just an anti christian!
I wanted to show her (and maybe my kids) a movie, a documentary rather, that just shows that there is not only truth but beauty in Atheism and that its not all negative. I wanted one thats not too hard to understand with technical scientific terms that you'd have to have some sort of degree to understand. I've seen a few myself and like to watch debates but she doesn't, at all.
Now, the issue im having with finding a movie/documentary is that most of the are just out to disprove christianity or something similar. She all ready has stated she dislikes the christian faith as much as I do. Well, not as much but she does have a distain for it. But, that wouldn't do much good in trying to show her anything as she doesn't buy it anyway, ya know?
I guess in a TL;DR I'd say want to find a documentary which isn't too technical which shows atheism in a beautiful or positive way without a heavy focus on only christianity or islam.
If you've acutally read this entire post without skipping, I grant you +1 internets! But seriously, thanks and I look forwards to having a good discussion and getting recommendations!
