I wrote my first published article. What do you think?
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M$6 Answers
There is a 'pamphlet' that I found to be interesting. I don't remember where to find it, but it was a pamphlet about things in the Bible that were not Christian. I found it rather intriguing. There was a lot of things in it, but I only remember a few, like ... what's his name in Sodom wanting to give his daughters up for the crowd to rape, instead of the male angels who came to tell him to leave (why couldn't they angels just dissapper or evaporate or something???), slavery and even articles as to how to treat your slaves, and having multiple wives - which arguably could be Christian.
Certainly those are mostly older views, but as children we are forced to read these things.
And what's with the Book 'Numbers' anyways? :o) As a Christian child reading this I thought "That could have been summed up as, a lot of people, had a lot of children. The human population of the world increased dramatically. Done." ;o)
One thing I find odd about Christianity is, no one Christian sect is the same. All ideas about God are different. There are so many forms of Faith you can find. Anything from Lutheran and Catholicism (I have always considered those to be oppressive for some reason, I'm not sure why - perhaps by others who have witnessed it telling me so), and Evangelical to the Amish, and Mormons. Then even within these categories of Christianity there are those that differ slightly from the main group. I used to be Evangelist. You know what the Evangelists say about other Christian groups, "They don't know what they are talking about." Huh?
The only reasoning behind this confusion, is either the founder of Christianity didn't know what he was doing, or there is no Christian God.
Of course it follows then that there are other religions out there that have different sects as well, sometimes with very opposing views. Again why the differentiation?
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M$I appreciate your honesty and your open mindedness. I've read a number of Christian-hating Atheist articles, and though i do not find your article very Christian friendly I do believe you have legitimate proof behind your statements as well as purpose. You do not say negative things about Christians, simply to say negative things. You are holding people accountable for their actions and that should be expected.
I do believe you use a number of generalities/stereotypes, but i think you have covered them well in that this is your personal testimony. You don't claim to be a specialist in anything, you don't claim to be an expert. You simply gave an account of how you became an atheist and the struggles you deal with.
I was suggest studying Jesus more, and the people who claim to study Him less. The things that you are upset with about Christians are the same things that Jesus was upset with the Jews of His day. It is the consequence when a religion becomes a national past-time rather than a personal quest.
I did find a number of Christian fallacies, if you care to discuss them, i'd be happy to talk with you about them. I just don't want to come across as a "con-artist with some secret purpose in converting you to their ideals." So i'll stop here =)
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M$
The article was written in the perspective of the particular view of that particular phase. At the beginning of my fall into the 'void', I did actually hate almost everything for bearing me falseness to what I was discovering to be a new personal truth. Once I bottomed out, and after escaping the severe depression that accompanies someone discovering what they believe in is broken, I stopped aimlessly hating and directed myself to personal reform (a constructive form of hate in my opinion). I began addressing inequities in my own personal thinking and built my belief up from there.
There is no formal school of belief to my thinking. I move from concept to concept, take anything I find to be true for me and add it to the mass that is my formal belief. Occasionally I have to backtrack, but not often.
As for the point of Jesus, I like him as a philosopher. There is a lot lost on him because of the church doctoring him up like a supernatural being in my opinion. I have done my fair share or research on Jesus myself.
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M$
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M$
Oh... I'm much too fond of myself to be anyone else. One thing I did discover in my attempt to learn about atheism is that a lot of people mistake atheism for nihilism, which struck me odd. I feel like I have a greater moral regard than many people that are christian yet it is often a christian regard that would label my general atheist belief to be something so corrupt.
There are already a good handful of articles pertaining to atheism on AC, and you managed to create a good niche for yourself within that with this title. Will you be writing more on the same subject? Perhaps your own personal definition of atheist, a collection and analysis of Thomas Jefferson atheist quotes, information on Albert Einstein's atheism, a list of atheist songs, or your views on "Do Atheists Go to Hell?" I am subscribed to you on AC, and I can't wait to read more of your articles.
Good job! Way to go!
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M$
Interesting, I would consider it extremely easy to learn something from the teachings of Jesus despite not believing in God. For many Jesus was a mortal prophet, a man who understood his people and the conflicts within it ( the Roman religions, the power of their empire, the desire for a new moral code ). I often use examples from Jesus in the Bible to explain moral issues to my students, and I'm an atheist. The bible sometimes puts it best, something they can relate to. Whether Jesus is the son of God or not, the words can be used to teach.
See, that's the thing. I'm not an atheist by rhetoric. I'm an atheist simply because it's my nature. I don't seek out atheist concepts or ideas exclusively. That would defy my need to have all of the solutions available to me in order to conclude which is best. I'm strongly debating break-down of how and what Jesus means to me and why I still support his teaching despite not believing in God.
I think your article fails to approach the subject maturely and instead is an avenue for you to share your personal beliefs rather than rigorous studies. Perhaps if you had said, "I dove into the teachings of so and so and uncovered the writings of such and such," I might believe you had made an honest effort.
Start with Leibniz:
http://www.class.uidaho.edu/mickelsen/texts/Leibniz%20-%20Discourse%20on%20Metaphysics.htm
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M$
I believe your title says it all.
"A brief account of becoming an Atheist"
to expect anything more would be overly critical and not fair at all.
I actually covered quite a bit more in the original version, but I was given an assignment to write and a limit to how many words to use. It was suggested to use 600 words, but my end product was over 1500 words. I struggled to chop it down to the 1100 hundred it sits at now. Lost was a lot of personal notes to the concepts I had arrived to and I ended up abbreviating a lot of personal experiences. I'm sure in the re-edit, I managed to completely butcher my own writing... I really would have rather spent 1000-1500 words covering each subject as oppose to the whole of the article. But... and assignment is an assignment. This is literally my first try at this. Heh. I expect it to fall short of the more critical. What I would like to hear is the full regard of how you feel, not the basic irritations. I am not scared of constructive critisim.
I will be writing a full article (one of those mind-numbingly long ones that my buddy warned me not to do) to better explain the principles of my belief... and I expect it will likely have some contradictions in it compared to what I have written now. I felt reluctant to submit my writing... but then I though it would be more effective for me to learn how to present points of views if I put what I think is good out and get criticized about it by the 'cruel' world.
