There is a lot of heat and animosity between some religious groups and some atheist groups. I wanted to touch on it a moment, if only to clarify my own, personal stance. Please bear in mind that I speak only for me, and not for my wife or any other member of my family or my friends. I just dont want there to be any misconception on that. I was raised in a Christian home by my mother, and was taught many Christian ethics. These were primarily tolerant Christian ethics from a more progressive church leadership, but still based on teachings from the Bible. The ethics that I was taught I dont have any problem with. The idea of love rather than hate, encouragement rather than discouragement, and tolerance over intolerance is something I can absolutely get behind, and I absolutely did. It just didnt quite fit together perfectly in my head. Primarily, I couldnt understand why there needed to be a central God in order for these messages to stay true, and more importantly I wasnt sure why I needed to be egotistical enough to belief that I held the one, true answer to the existence of all of mankind. Those that do feel that way are more than welcome to. Ive seen religions of all types offer comfort, solace, and direction to those in times of need and a necessary grounding in times of overwhelming joy. I have absolutely no problem with that. One thing I discovered is that my belief system does not require anyone else to fall in line with mine. In high school, I believed I was an Atheist, but failed to find any connection with any other Atheists. Many seemed confused by the difference between Atheism and anarchy, and also felt that in order for there lack of belief in God to be true, they had to eradicate all of those that did believe. I wasnt the least bit interested in doing that. Also, I didnt particularly feel the urge to declare out and out that there is no God. It just didnt seem to be a central issue to me one way or the other. What seemed more important to me was that I do the best I can in life to make the world better for other people. I dont do it in the interest of serving God, and I dont do it in a selfish interest to avoid any concept of Hell. I do it because it seemed right. As life went on and I grew older, I had discussions with my father (a Buddhist) and found that some of those tenets worked well for me, but there still was an overriding spiritual aspect that chafed. There was a concern about karma and reincarnation motivating the good works of man, and that didnt work any better than the fascination with doing good for God. It wasnt until about four years ago that I realized I had accidentally become a Secular Humanist. This isnt something that you read books about or study, I dont think, although people certainly can. It isnt something where you hold to a specific dogma beyond all else and fit your behavior to match a certain behavior. To me, its more of a system wherein some people find their own meaning for life. In a nutshell, it means that I believe first and foremost in mankind. I dont think were inherently good. I dont think were inherently evil. I think, in fact, that we have a great ability to be either or both, and many live their lives that way. I think that ethics and morality are based on individual action and the desire to make someone better off when they were before they met you. This doesnt mean converting them or saving their soul, but rather giving them a positivity about life and perhaps a somewhat more stable physical existence if at all possible. It means it doesnt bother me if someone believe in God, or Allah, or Joseph Smith, or anything else that you can possible name. I dont need their belief to justify my own convictions. This is primarily because my goal for doing right is solely because it seems to be the right thing to do. It bothers me that there seems to be a real friction between atheists, agnostics, and theists. It really does. There doesnt have to be. Ones belief in God doesnt negate anothers lack of belief, and vice versa. I will never back an Atheist that denounces and attacks all religions and its followers, any more than I will ever back a theist that attacks all those who disagree with them. It is an unnecessary conflict that can easily be resolved. Your belief brings you comfort. Their belief does the same for them. Its that simple. If you want to understand more about my viewpoint, Wikipedia is a good starting point. As I said, I dont read books and dont follow tenets or specific dogma or rituals. I just live life and try to make my area of the world a little better than it was, in whatever way I can. It works for me, and if what you have in your life works for you, you have my every blessing and appreciation for the happiness it brings you. Why is that so hard for others? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism
Posted on: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 04:37:21 +0000
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