a·the·ist /ˈeɪθiɪst/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ey-thee-ist] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings.
[Origin: 1565–75; < Gk áthe(os) godless + -ist]
—Synonyms Atheist, agnostic, infidel, skeptic refer to persons not inclined toward religious belief or a particular form of religious belief. An atheist is one who denies the existence of a deity or of divine beings. An agnostic is one who believes it impossible to know anything about God or about the creation of the universe and refrains from commitment to any religious doctrine. Infidel means an unbeliever, especially a nonbeliever in Islam or Christianity. A skeptic doubts and is critical of all accepted doctrines and creeds.
ag·nos·tic /ægˈnɒstɪk/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ag-nos-tik] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience.
2. a person who denies or doubts the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study.
–adjective
3. of or pertaining to agnostics or agnosticism.
4. asserting the uncertainty of all claims to knowledge.
And by that, I mean "organized religion". I swear I mean no disrespect when I say this, but your religious beliefs? They mean jack shit to me. I think they're idle and useless, and though I will defend your right to recount historically inaccurate texts and speak words into the air, I have no use for those practices.
Yeah, they make you a better person. They guide you. They make you feel less alone. Your entire lineage swears by it and your great-grandparents died for the right to practice it, and it's great. I'm sure it is.
But, ya know what? We are alone. And the fact that someone had to die to be able to practice your religion? It only means that your religion's ass got beat, and that's not exactly a newsflash, since EVERYONE'S religion's ass got beat somewhere down the line. I'm glad you've found a way to connect to an imaginary being; I felt the same kind of awe when I discovered the Ouija Board. But let's face the facts, buddy: this is all just a panacea. A cure-all. A drug. Entrusting your life and decisions to some story is just a way to alleviate yourself of the responsibility of being an individual. Because it's hard to have full responsibility over yourself. It is. You have to have reasons for doing things that go beyond, "'Cause God told me so." And, yeah, who has the skill to pull that off?
Oh, wait. You do. You can decide what to eat and when to sleep and how much time to devote to your spouse. You can figure out for yourself who to trust and who's right and who your friends are. You can experience life and use your own judgment to refine your moral compass. You can decide that it's wrong to kick someone when they're down; you can decide to be kind; you can decide not to be a bitch or an asshole.
If you need someone to tell you this stuff, then you're not exactly the brightest crayon in the box.
NOTE: If you decide what you're about, and then realize that it fits into a doctrine that doesn't resemble an established organized religion, then the preceding rant does not apply to you.
2 comments:
I check in on your writing from time to time since we met.
I feel your angst at relgiousos and I empathise.
However
1. second paragraph after definitions you claim that, "[religions] do make you a better person." this is not true. most people I have met who subscribe wholeheartedly to a particular doctrine are haters. Not inthe pimp/player use of the word, merely the hate + er version of the word.
2. the paragraph immediately after that you say "we are alone", while i may see how this is applicable to certain specific cases, it is not on the whole true. on the whole, we are surrounded by lovers, friends family, anyone we allow access to our lives, all of whom affect and effect how we interact with society. So not alone, just not playing with invisible friends, perhaps.
The fact that most people NEED the excuse from responsibility that religion is, is not horrible. It isn't good, or wonderful or positive either. It just is. the same way that hetero wants the opposite and homo wants the same. argue, prevaricate, examin, deliberate, doesn't matter. it is so it is.
kisses
hey, Ed! I'm glad to see you're a reader!
to be honest, this post was very much a rant; it's not the usual elegant and academic dissection of a topic. I just needed to vent.
still, your points are absolutely valid!
1. when I wrote that religion makes people "better", I should have added, "in the best case scenarios." when a religion acts as a force of good, i.e., when it's the reason people attempt to respect and appreciate each other, then I believe it is positive and assists in the self-actualization of the person, thereby making him/her better.
2. again, I should have been more clear. I'm aware that people depend on each other; I figured it was obvious that I meant that I believe we're alone in a "spiritual" sense.
"The fact that most people NEED the excuse from responsibility that religion is, is not horrible."
I agree with the point you mean to prove; things are the way they are, and in the grander, Neverending-Story-kind-of-way, nothing is "better" or "worse" and even necessarily "bad" or "good".
only, since this post was more of a rant than an encompassing of my intellectual opinions, I was big on colloquial uses for terms and syntax. people who need religion in order to validate their life choices are weak to me. And I don't think highly of weak people.
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