Ok, again, this is for me. You don't care for the subject or diary, go back to Facebook.
Why are atheists "the bad guys"? I can't see another group more reviled on the Right, other than gays, ....and women...and children...and blacks....and latinos....and anyone else not them, -than atheists. It is spit out as an epithet and curse. (Mostly together with the aforementioned gay...) What's wrong with not believing in a Magic-Ghost-In-The-Sky-Who-Sometimes-Grants-Wishes? I am reviled online and in person if I say it to certain people. Is the only solution to avoid "those people"? uh-uh. I start doing that then I am judging people on appearance, one of the things I despise of Moralists. No, I choose to engage people, but when I bring up my non-belief in certain MG'sITSWSGW.....
I'm going down... hold me.... some hyperbole below....
Cthuhlu help me....
I was raised Roman Catholic. The problem with being an unrecognized GENIUS! in that milieu, is that other children can be very cruel and so were the nuns. I'm still haunted by her very thin, pock-marked be-glassed features wafting in front of every nightmare I've had since the age of 9. She looked like an escaped Nazi war-criminal. If she had had a Heidelberg Scar she would have looked exactly like this guy. She was our Principal. She would take great pleasure in paddling kids. A lot. Pants down. I opted-out early from the Drunk Monsignor, Nuns-Sleeping with Priests, Nuns-Beating-Kids, Crazy-Ass-Nuns-Who-Are-Carted-Off-To-The-Rubber-Room Religion/Church, but I had to attend the school.....
So I'm an Atheist. But that's just a label. I say to people I'm a Non-Theist, but they don't understand that. (Tiny minds!!) Atheist is easiest. I'm NOT a "lapsed catholic". That implies that I would ever go back to that Cthulhu-forsaken pit of hypocrisy and unreasonableness. I'm kinda liking Pope Frankie, though. He made a great move with this guy. Now, if he will sell off the chairs...
Why is it so hard to believe that a Non-Theist can have a spiritual life? They are not mutually-exclusive. This is demonstrated most prominently in the Buddhist Culture. There is an infinite, just not a Supreme Being (MGITSWSGW).. I don't think that's gonna catch on as an acronym.... I believe a spiritual life is necessary not only for mental well-being, but physical well-being. Trying to explain a non-deist-centric life to somebody is like trying to explain to a fearful child why the doctor is going to jab them with this HUGE needle. They recoil in horror. I've got the ayds... or worse than bad diet candy... I'm "Searching" as they will mutter to themselves, and look with a doleful eye and great pity... Save it. Please don't pray for me. Don't search for "miracles" when I say I will "look at this" and then discard your literature. Save the Chick Tracts for the yokels...
I don't know very many people who are like me.... Ok..... None. I have no friends, but beside the point. I pay attention to attitudes. I listen to "the news", the talking heads... Athiest's are given short-shrift everywhere. When's the last time since Christopher Hitchens you saw an vowed Atheist on the TeeVee Machine? I don't particularly care for Hitchens which is also beside the point. I'm just saying we have a point of view other than "There is no God". You can have a rich spiritual life as an atheist/non-theist/poopyhead. You have to find it on your own though. I'm not sharing mine.