Is Secular Liberation Possible??

[Katie23]

Is it possible for a perfectly sane (almost) and rational 22 year old woman to lead a secularist life and to be happy, fulfilled and liberated? The answer is... well, truthfully I am still truly searching for the answer.

I am speaking as someone exposed to a moderate amount of religious indoctrination as a child. When I say moderate, I refer to having a peripheral Christian mother, frequent Sunday school visits and prayers before bed. By no means did this extend to lashes at dawn and unrequited scripture recitals, but none the less, enough exposure to have a fear of hell and a comforting belief in a heavenly afterlife.

Despite this, I have chosen, regardless of indoctrination, geographical location, creed or colour to lead a non-religious orientated life. Those are the key words. I choose! In a world awash with paradoxical choices, religious fundamentalism verging on a catastrophic scale, only growing in violence and frequency. Surely human populous and suffering only predicted to certainly rise. To be blunt, I have a diminishing faith in the richness of humanity. To any religious readers, faith here is being used out with the terms of divinity.

Growing up surrounded by bias media coverage, I am a constantly repulsed observer of my freedoms being slowly revoked by corporate run governments, poverty on an unimaginable scale and The Only Way is Fucking Essex. Taking all this into account, I can see the appeal religion has. It has taken me quite some time to come to terms with the realisation that I - and I alone - am unable to change any of the above. Me! The Little Guy! I can see how in that state of despair that I can often find myself feeling upon the realities of life, that it is a much easier and more comfortable to ask an omnipresent, all loving (really?!) celestial being in the sky to help me out. That regardless of how bad I personally perceive things to be, not to despair, He has a divine plan. It'll all work out in the end. Sorry guys! This rational of "bury your head in the sand", these are not humanities problems, but that of a higher power are not enough to satisfy my thirst for a clear epistemology of life. I find it insulting and cowardly on a base level, that the responsibility and care for humanity, our environment and all within it is not our own. The state of things is not our doing, or it is, but our wrongs are all forgiven regardless, so fuck it! Kill in the name of My God! Plunder the earth to an inch of existence and just because we can't see poverty in first world countries means it's not our problem in the third.

Our religious zeitgeist is changing, and only recently have I started to feel that I am not alone. There are other horsemen out there willing to be heard. There is an abundance of secular societies and atheist communities popping up all over our social media outlets, allowing us all to have a voice. Faith, the divine kind, is inherently bad, and to believe in such ludicrously without evidence is worse. We see and feel the effects of religion everywhere and everyday. Planes slamming into buildings, people being decapitated in the streets, there is no escape. Fundamentalist top trumps! I cannot walk around a town anymore without seeing a faith school, or religious kids club. Believing Allah, Yahweh, or fucking purple pixies on elephants. Whatever your religious tendency, it changes nothing my friend - or nothing for the better anyway.

The empowerment I feel is that my moral compass is not dictated by any sort of divine creator or even slightly influenced by some sort of predetermined plan. I have full responsibility for every action I take. I am an intelligent free-thinking young woman. To change things in my life, I can only rely on me, and that is where the beauty lies. As a collective we have the capabilities to rise-up, and we are. The power of one can yield the minds of the many. Our time my fellow atheists is coming, and this is where I gain my hope, empowerment and happiness. We are in the days of a scientific Golden Age. Science is out-weighing our need to hark back to a religious tradition.
I am empowered by the rising voices, and mine is one of them. There is nothing more liberating for me than to be alive when these changes are happening - and they are.

To answer my initial question, can a young woman be fulfilled, happy and liberated in a secularist lifestyle? Well I am certainly on the way to be fulfilled in all three!

[Something completely different]

I think I will really enjoy reading your posts on this forum in the future.

Guten Abend.

[FifthElement]

Well, it's not a fucking nirvana.

I think is more then possible, more that it will ever be possible than for those bound by day-to-day pleasing invisible man in the sky.

Cheers

[Bad Writer]

I'd say it's possible, and I urge you to strive for it.

[Faith No More]

Life is a harsh mistress, but it is possible to be fulfilled without faith. In fact, the lack of faith frees us from having to undergo the mental gymnastics necessary to justify why our loving god gives little kids cancer and other such nonsense.

Welcome to the forum.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I think the steady evolution of secular norms since the 17th century in Europe (the west) has really done the most to disestablish religious institutions and hence their control on the structures of state and governance.

You mentioning TOWIE means I assume you're front the UK somewhere (and yes, TOWIE makes me want to drill holes into my knee caps). I think we're lucky to be in a country where religious affiliation is at its lowest its arguable ever been, and trending downwards at a seemingly continuous rate (not all religions, mind). However the result is that the extreme elements of those beliefs tend to manifest themselves more often, and hence the public eye focuses on them on a level to match.

But I agree with you, the political issues the UK (and others) face are culminating. Whether it be the government seeking to restrict online access to websites, or the fractured world failing miserably to deal with global issues such as climate change and inequality, I think these will be the challenges that we must all face. It would be nice if everyone could move into the 21st century, but unfortunately it's not always possible, whether it be through poverty or self-inflicted retardation (believing gays are evil, or that women are subordinate).

As to your question, there's no reason at all why you can't be all 3 . Welcome to the forum

[Angrboda]

If you as a non-religious person, believe that all you have are the facts of your human existence to draw upon, then you believe that the religious are also drawing upon the elements of that human existence alone. If magic is required to do X, and magic does not exists, neither the person who believes in magic nor the person who disbelieves in magic can do X. Conversely, if there is something you think that the religious can do, then that is something you can do as well, because there is nothing in their pantry of ingredients which is different from the ingredients that are in your pantry; they are the same pantry. Thus if being happy, fulfilled, and liberated is possible for the religious, and they have no special sauce, it should be possible for you as well. If these goals are unattainable for you, they are unattainable for the religious as well. (With few exceptions.)

[bennyboy]

I think it's impossible to be happy without feeling like you're part of a bigger picture, and that bigger picture mattering to you. For many people, being part of a religious group gives them that context. But there are very many things that are bigger than one person-- community, country, the environment, your family, humanity. It seems to me that religion is a poor context, because the smart people have all jumped ship, and the Bible-thumpers are all that's left. So I'd recommend choosing something else; and if you want spirituality, it can always be there in a more abstract, personal form.

[Angrboda]

I think it's impossible to be happy without feeling like you're part of a bigger picture, and that bigger picture mattering to you. For many people, being part of a religious group gives them that context. But there are very many things that are bigger than one person-- community, country, the environment, your family, humanity. It seems to me that religion is a poor context, because the smart people have all jumped ship, and the Bible-thumpers are all that's left. So I'd recommend choosing something else; and if you want spirituality, it can always be there in a more abstract, personal form.

Unitarian Universalism can offer something of the best of both worlds. The one that I attended is known for being very atheistic, so it's possible some are religious in ways which wouldn't mesh well with an atheist's needs. However, there are going to likely be some that do.

[ManMachine]

Is it possible for a perfectly sane (almost) and rational 22 year old woman to lead a secularist life and to be happy, fulfilled and liberated? The answer is... well, truthfully I am still truly searching for the answer.

---

I am speaking as someone exposed to a moderate amount of religious indoctrination as a child. When I say moderate, I refer to having a peripheral Christian mother, frequent Sunday school visits and prayers before bed. By no means did this extend to lashes at dawn and unrequited scripture recitals, but none the less, enough exposure to have a fear of hell and a comforting belief in a heavenly afterlife.

Despite this, I have chosen, regardless of indoctrination, geographical location, creed or colour to lead a non-religious orientated life. Those are the key words. I choose! In a world awash with paradoxical choices, religious fundamentalism verging on a catastrophic scale, only growing in violence and frequency. Surely human populous and suffering only predicted to certainly rise. To be blunt, I have a diminishing faith in the richness of humanity. To any religious readers, faith here is being used out with the terms of divinity.

Growing up surrounded by bias media coverage, I am a constantly repulsed observer of my freedoms being slowly revoked by corporate run governments, poverty on an unimaginable scale and The Only Way is Fucking Essex. Taking all this into account, I can see the appeal religion has. It has taken me quite some time to come to terms with the realisation that I - and I alone - am unable to change any of the above. Me! The Little Guy! I can see how in that state of despair that I can often find myself feeling upon the realities of life, that it is a much easier and more comfortable to ask an omnipresent, all loving (really?!) celestial being in the sky to help me out. That regardless of how bad I personally perceive things to be, not to despair, He has a divine plan. It'll all work out in the end. Sorry guys! This rational of "bury your head in the sand", these are not humanities problems, but that of a higher power are not enough to satisfy my thirst for a clear epistemology of life. I find it insulting and cowardly on a base level, that the responsibility and care for humanity, our environment and all within it is not our own. The state of things is not our doing, or it is, but our wrongs are all forgiven regardless, so fuck it! Kill in the name of My God! Plunder the earth to an inch of existence and just because we can't see poverty in first world countries means it's not our problem in the third.

Our religious zeitgeist is changing, and only recently have I started to feel that I am not alone. There are other horsemen out there willing to be heard. There is an abundance of secular societies and atheist communities popping up all over our social media outlets, allowing us all to have a voice. Faith, the divine kind, is inherently bad, and to believe in such ludicrously without evidence is worse. We see and feel the effects of religion everywhere and everyday. Planes slamming into buildings, people being decapitated in the streets, there is no escape. Fundamentalist top trumps! I cannot walk around a town anymore without seeing a faith school, or religious kids club. Believing Allah, Yahweh, or fucking purple pixies on elephants. Whatever your religious tendency, it changes nothing my friend - or nothing for the better anyway.

The empowerment I feel is that my moral compass is not dictated by any sort of divine creator or even slightly influenced by some sort of predetermined plan. I have full responsibility for every action I take. I am an intelligent free-thinking young woman. To change things in my life, I can only rely on me, and that is where the beauty lies. As a collective we have the capabilities to rise-up, and we are. The power of one can yield the minds of the many. Our time my fellow atheists is coming, and this is where I gain my hope, empowerment and happiness. We are in the days of a scientific Golden Age. Science is out-weighing our need to hark back to a religious tradition.
I am empowered by the rising voices, and mine is one of them. There is nothing more liberating for me than to be alive when these changes are happening - and they are.

---

To answer my initial question, can a young woman be fulfilled, happy and liberated in a secularist lifestyle? Well I am certainly on the way to be fulfilled in all three!

I found your post interesting. I have a few points, if I may.

It's easy to make broad statements about religion and god but we need to be mindful that they are historically developed concepts. Even if we limit ourselves to the framework of Christianity, it is not the same religion today as it was in the past, and the same can be said of the rest.

This in and of itself is enough to make me question the integrity of religions, but more than that it makes me want to ask why is religion (in general) so persistent? What is it about the notion of gods and the rules they set down that makes them adapt to survive centuries? Perhaps more importantly, what is it about humanity that makes the majority of humans cling onto some form of god and system of belief?

There is some work in evolutionary psychology that suggests the concept of god is an artefact of an evolved mechanism called causal reasoning. Even today, as children grow and their minds develop causal reasoning, they can spontaneously invent a 'god like' being to explain phenomena beyond their comprehension.

I would also suggest that any mechanism as successful as the concepts of religions/gods would need to remain useful in some way to a majority of people to be so persistent, not just in historical terms but in individual life-spans. Research again has provided some theory that suggest the concept of god and religion is an adaptable psychological tool for people to apply across many dilemmas. Thereby offering a mental 'parking space' for seemingly contradictory concepts that we learn to manage as we grow. This makes it less of a surprise when we see people using this mechanism to prevent having to deal with dissonant thoughts. The notion of god and associated religions is (among other things) an easement that allows for an individual to park dissonant concepts and get on with their psychological development. Of course, later on in life it becomes an easy way not to have to think about things, in this respect it is a very real tool for people to apply to 'difficult-to-deal-with' thoughts and the emotions they give rise to.

I believe it is incumbent upon us to try to understand these mechanisms and develop an understanding of why others may need them. I'm not suggesting evolutionary psychologists have it exactly right but it is very reasonable to me and makes sense of why people are religious where some atheists (judging by some responses in these forums) fail to find any sense or reason at all.

Yes, the world is full of people doing awful things to one another, but that is not the fault of religion, that's just humanity, which is why I could never be a humanist.

We are animals first and foremost, everything else is just an attempt to get us away from the stench of our own shit. I would suggest you don't waste energy rallying against religion but look into what we are as a species.

As for the 'Golden Age of Science' (a well worn idea from effete Victorian commentators), that has long passed, the days when science can tell us about our universe are numbered. There is a growing academic opinion that there is a limit to our anthropocentric understanding and that Quantum Mechanics/Theory is beginning to exceed it.

If you want to be part of an empowered ideology then go and find better questions to ask, because I find the ones you answered here are old and tired and will not liberate anyone. Be extraordinary, don't fall for the same species ego serving crap as those who have gone before you.



MM