What is your Atheism Sin?
What habits or actions do you continue to do that would get your Atheism card revoked? This is totally tongue-in-cheek, but I have realized how my somewhat religious upbringing has colored my language as well as other things.
So, I figured we could have a confessional discussion where we admit our sins against atheism. After all, if folk are going to persist in calling atheism a religion, maybe we should indulge a little and see how it works out for us.
My sins include using language like "God only knows" and saying to people who have sneezed "bless you". What the hell are you heathens doing that is the antithesis of atheism?
UPDATE: This post continues to get attention and one thing I have noticed, with both amusement and frustration, is that some people do not seem to notice that this is largely tongue-in-cheek. I posted this as a way of acknowledging the influence that religion has had and continues to have on our lives, our society, our language, and our habits. We all know that atheism is not a religion, goddammit! ;-)
Have a blessed day.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by lepauvrehomme on -
When that happens to me I usually look around and see if there are "faux dévots."
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Permalink Reply by lepauvrehomme on
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I use the expressions My God!, ¡Dios mío!, Giusto Cielo, and Mon Dieu. Since I don't believe in invisible beings they're meaningless. Although I'm often asked: "if you're an atheist, why do you use those expressions?" I usually asked myself: "What can say instead?"
Another sin could be my trip to Rome and the self imposed tour around the Vatican.
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Permalink Reply by Professor Tanhauser on -
Well, I guess I'm an agnostic because I have to accept that something like a soul exists, and so there may be an afterlife, etc.
I had an out of body experience once that was manifestly not a dream, even tho I can't prove that to anyone, and since having an OBE I have to accept the likelihood that souls exist in some form.
I do not accept any major religion, seeing them mostly as socio political constructs designed to maintain power and stability for the people creating them, and to justify things most people know are wrong, such as massacring children and babies, slavery, etc.
So, again, I'm an agnostic that believes in souls due to personal experience, but rejects, rather vehemently, most religions.
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on -
That's a good one!
I have to ask if you think a "soul" is the best explanation for your OBE? Have you looked into alternative explanations?
When I was a child, I used to have vivid dreams that I could jump in the air and levitate for brief moments. So vivid were they and so unique the feeling of floating, I sometimes thought I actually might possess this ability.
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Permalink Reply by Professor Tanhauser on
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This happened ONCE and it was very, very long ago. I really don't think this qualifies as a mental illness or a pathology.
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Permalink Reply by Angela Gorman on
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Hi everyone.. no it was definitely from midnight.. latterly they have reduced the torment to 1hr. No meat on Fridays.. I remember eating a bag of newly invented OXO flavoured crisps on a Friday, so I had to go to confession on the Saturday otherwise I couldn't go to communion on Sunday AND if a bus had knocked me over and killed me on Monday I would have ended up in the fires of hell!!!
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Permalink Reply by lepauvrehomme on
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I also say "excuse me". I don't see the point of saying bless this or that.
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Permalink Reply by Jordan Hardy on -
I can't live without going to a church; it's part of who I am. I've corrected this by going to a UU church where they have no interest in asserting any particular religious belief to be true, but I feel like a better atheist would be able to go without :)
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Permalink Reply by Kim on -
Father Reggie, forgive me for I have sinned. :P Two things came to mind as I read this:
1. When I hear something unfortunate about someone, I still say, "Oh, bless his heart!"
2. I'll be absent-mindedly humming a little tune and suddenly realize that I'm humming "Send the Light" or "Awesome God" or even (gasp!) "Spirit in the Sky".
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