Beginner's Guide to Atheism.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If it is what I think it is, things like that Sunday assembly I just find kind of creepy... it may be parody and/or to make a point... but you wouldn't catch me dead in a place like that... religion can keep church as far as I'm concerned.

I think you just have to look at it as people acculturated into certain forms of socializing looking for the comfort of familiarity.  It isn't the substance of theism which draws them, only the forms of assembly.  Not my thing at any rate.

In colonial days Sunday Assembly was usually the one time a week women could get off the farms and talk with other women. It was THE break in the week. Some churches encouraged a pitch-in brunch to extend the socializing time. This carried down generation to generation and persisted when urbanization took hold. Remember that at the start of WWII ~50% of Americans lived on farms. The primary powered vehicle back then for farmers was the pickup truck, and "frivolous" trips interfered with work.

[Whateverist]

So basically mostly the church experience is 99% habit based, and old habits may die hard for some even if they no longer accept the theology.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

So basically mostly the church experience is 99% habit based, and old habits may die hard for some even if they no longer accept the theology.

Honest people would say that they went to church long after they had no reason to do so. To me the need for the Sunday Assembly is as incomprehensible as cricket.

[KevinM1]

To answer the "why do atheists need a guide?" question:

Atheism itself doesn't need a guide.  Atheism is the answer to a binary question - do you believe in a god or gods?  If the answer is 'no', congratulations, you're an atheist!  And that's all there is to it.  There's no proper way to be an atheist.  There's no holy tome, nothing to recite, no rituals involved.  No set path.

The thing is, however, that once one is an atheist, the world becomes a frustrating and potentially dangerous place.  We are the most hated minority on the planet.  There's a horde of fuckwits that come out of the woodwork to harass us.  Oddly, theists can handle people of different faiths far better than someone of no faith.  So we get no shortage of people who argue with what we don't believe in, or, better yet, people who try to tell us what we really believe (even though all such claims are laughably off the mark).  We're threatened with everything from eternal damnation (which isn't the threat theists think it is), to IRL ostracism, to prison and even death in less tolerant societies.  There's no shortage of theists who would do anything to increase their numbers, so they prey on weak and vulnerable fresh deconverts or about-to-deconverts like a pack of hyenas.

And it's not like I'm talking out of my ass here.  The usual suspects on this very forum have exhibited this behavior to one extent or another.  So, this isn't a guide on how to be an atheist, but rather how to survive in the face of all the bullshit the world throws at you simply for being one.

"Why do atheists need a guide?"  Because of people like you.

[Whateverist]

To answer the "why do atheists need a guide?" question:

Atheism itself doesn't need a guide.  Atheism is the answer to a binary question - do you believe in a god or gods?  If the answer is 'no', congratulations, you're an atheist!  And that's all there is to it.  There's no proper way to be an atheist.  There's no holy tome, nothing to recite, no rituals involved.  No set path.

The thing is, however, that once one is an atheist, the world becomes a frustrating and potentially dangerous place.  We are the most hated minority on the planet.  There's a horde of fuckwits that come out of the woodwork to harass us.  Oddly, theists can handle people of different faiths far better than someone of no faith.  So we get no shortage of people who argue with what we don't believe in, or, better yet, people who try to tell us what we really believe (even though all such claims are laughably off the mark).  We're threatened with everything from eternal damnation (which isn't the threat theists think it is), to IRL ostracism, to prison and even death in less tolerant societies.  There's no shortage of theists who would do anything to increase their numbers, so they prey on weak and vulnerable fresh deconverts or about-to-deconverts like a pack of hyenas.

And it's not like I'm talking out of my ass here.  The usual suspects on this very forum have exhibited this behavior to one extent or another.  So, this isn't a guide on how to be an atheist, but rather how to survive in the face of all the bullshit the world throws at you simply for being one.

"Why do atheists need a guide?"  Because of people like you.

It's like waking up from a nightmare and finding that everyone hates you for not remaining in the dream time with them.

[emjay]

So basically mostly the church experience is 99% habit based, and old habits may die hard for some even if they no longer accept the theology.

Probably explains why it never happened with me then... cos there was very little ritual involved in the churches I went to growing up.. and we went to a lot of different ones... so very little opportunity for habits to form because every one was different. They were very eclectic for want of a better word... and based almost entirely on the notion that the church was the gathering itself rather than the building or whatever... so most of them didn't even have their own building, or so much as a crucifix on the wall (as that would be considered a graven image).

[Whateverist]

So basically mostly the church experience is 99% habit based, and old habits may die hard for some even if they no longer accept the theology.

Probably explains why it never happened with me then... cos there was very little ritual involved in the churches I went to growing up.. and we went to a lot of different ones... so very little opportunity for habits to form because every one was different. They were very eclectic for want of a better word... and based almost entirely on the notion that the church was the gathering itself rather than the building or whatever... so most of them didn't even have their own building, or so much as a crucifix on the wall (as that would be considered a graven image).

Egad, not Jehovah's Witnesses I hope. But I think you mentioned "carpet time" and I didn't think they were into that. Also, I thought you were in England, no?

[emjay]

Probably explains why it never happened with me then... cos there was very little ritual involved in the churches I went to growing up.. and we went to a lot of different ones... so very little opportunity for habits to form because every one was different. They were very eclectic for want of a better word... and based almost entirely on the notion that the church was the gathering itself rather than the building or whatever... so most of them didn't even have their own building, or so much as a crucifix on the wall (as that would be considered a graven image).

Egad, not Jehovah's Witnesses I hope.  But I think you mentioned "carpet time" and I didn't think they were into that.  Also, I thought you were in England, no?

No, not Jehoval's Witnesses. Tbh I have no idea what our denomination was  Lots of different words come to mind; the main one... and the type of church my parents go to now... is Baptist... but I also remember other terms like Pentecostal and Evangelist growing up. I think the carpet time one may have been an evangelist visiting from America, but I'm not sure; all I do remember is a room full of giggling and crying people layed out on the floor... and my own experiences of having that done to me but it not working for me; I remember kind of willing it... more of wanting it to happen than it actually happening... so feeling a weakness in my legs and the possibility that I might go down but at the same time aware that it just felt like wishful thinking... that I was trying too hard to see something that wasn't there and that if I had gone down, it would not have felt genuine. Yeah, I am in England.

[LastPoet]

....hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Thx for that.

Just as I did at the end of this: "bring forth your terror into hell"....

Right lel. bring terror into hell. it was a nice place to start with.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

....hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Thx for that.

Just as I did at the end of this: "bring forth your terror into hell"....

Right lel. bring terror into hell. it was a nice place to start with.

Yep, it was, nice but boring. Hell was "the absence of the presence of God." You know, like Des Moines.