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Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 30, 2014 at 6:25 pm
When I lived in the American bible belt for a while (West Texas to be precise), I was a pretty serious atheist already. However, I was surrounded by an overwhelming majority of evangelical Christians. Everyone waxed extatic about their personal relationship with Jesus, there was church twice a week plus bible study groups, and religion permeated every aspect of life. In this situation I never quite stopped being an atheist, but I remember feeling a strange sense of unease in the face of utter conviction of all the people around me that God was among us, an uneasy feeling that maybe I was missing something here, that there was something to the whole thing that I didn't understand.
So, all you atheists living in fundigelical places etc., did you ever get some sort of doubt about atheism or just some subtle fear that you might be wrong because of the utter religious conviction of the people around you?
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 30, 2014 at 6:30 pm
Well, Oz/NZ are pretty non religious places so I can only speak from family experience, since the majority of my family are Catholic or JW (don't ask, I have a bloody weird family).
Since family get togethers involve lots of theists and the atheist - my father, myself, and my brother - are in a minority the discussion of religion comes up a lot. I've never doubted my atheism in such situations, though for a while my brother was on the fence.
Two of my Catholic aunts presented me with a bible as a Christmas present at one get together a number of years ago. In response I bought them a copy of Hitchens' God is not Great.
Playing Cluedo with my mum while I was at Uni:
"You did WHAT? With WHO? WHERE???"
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 30, 2014 at 7:08 pm
I often feel that there is more out there that I am missing, and that something is "knowledge". When it comes to 'god', given the vast number of definitions for it I cannot honestly deny every single one of those. Maybe something does exist which matches one of the definitions of god. I know too little about the universe to make a general stand, I can only accept or deny specific god concepts based on it's definition and how that stands up against the truths about reality which I have learned so far.
Quote:To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.
- Lau Tzu
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 30, 2014 at 8:36 pm
I'm in the midwest, and the religiousites are divided amongst themselves. We've got a local S. Baptist franchise that is almost a personality cult, the Lutherans would not do anything ecumenical, the Mormons are outnumbered by the RLDS (yeah they rebranded themselves, but it ain't foolin' nobody), the catholics have had to close many small town churches for lack of priests and pew warmers, everybody hates the JWs, the Methodists just closed a franchise, and all the churches are seeing a rapidly graying membership.
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 30, 2014 at 8:45 pm
I grew up in a religious city, but thankfully, had agnostic parents. After a number of personal tragedies, I really thought I needed to "find god" so I entered a Christian bible school, where I not only found out there is no god, but that Christianity is the biggest crock of shit perpetrated on mankind in the last 2000 years.
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 30, 2014 at 8:52 pm
There was one time I started going to church again after becoming an atheist, but it really didn't do anything for me. I don't really have doubts about it. I'm certain I made the right decision not to worry about pleasing some guy in case there's some sort of existence beyond death.
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 30, 2014 at 8:53 pm
(October 30, 2014 at 6:25 pm)Alex K Wrote: When I lived in the American bible belt for a while (West Texas to be precise), I was a pretty serious atheist already. However, I was surrounded by an overwhelming majority of evangelical Christians. Everyone waxed extatic about their personal relationship with Jesus, there was church twice a week plus bible study groups, and religion permeated every aspect of life. In this situation I never quite stopped being an atheist, but I remember feeling a strange sense of unease in the face of utter conviction of all the people around me that God was among us, an uneasy feeling that maybe I was missing something here, that there was something to the whole thing that I didn't understand.
So, all you atheists living in fundigelical places etc., did you ever get some sort of doubt about atheism or just some subtle fear that you might be wrong because of the utter religious conviction of the people around you?
Living in Travis County, the religious aspect isn't so intense as it is in Dallas or points northeast, but even when I lived there, the prevalence of opinion around me didn't instill doubt.
I make it a habit to recheck my premises every so often against my experiences to makes sure I'm not just parroting my own beliefs. And I will entertain the possibilities mentioned by others insofar as I can see supporting evidence or reasoning.
But I don't feel doubt based simply on the demographic prevalence of opposing viewpoints.
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 31, 2014 at 1:07 am
I grew up in a very religious family. I lived in Idaho among the Mormons for a while. I've been an at home mom in places where all at home moms are at home because they are fundamentalist. Deeper understanding of these groups beliefs has lead to deeper incredulity.
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 31, 2014 at 1:23 am
I've always found that close exposure to theistic morons was the best way to see how fucked up they were.
The old 'familiarity breeds contempt' mantra.
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RE: Atheists living in very religious places, do you have moments of doubt?
October 31, 2014 at 4:39 am
Ok, so you all sound pretty confident. I'd be too, now, maybe it was bc I was 17, 18 then and more impressionable...
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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