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Permalink Reply by a7 on March 14, 2010 at 7:38pm

hi i would love to add something but i am missing my oooommmph but great discusion man, keep it going, can we add a bit about dark matter for good measure

take care

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Permalink Reply by Bryan Hargrave on March 14, 2010 at 9:38pm

i think that is a total possibility. i hope that a place like thinkathiest.com can be a place where they can get affirmation that their decision is well founded and is not the public stigma that so many see it to be.

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Permalink Reply by CannedAm on March 15, 2010 at 7:56am

For me it would be my personal history of the term. I first heard the term as a small child in the context of Things To Be Feared like The Devil and Lack of Faith. Of course it wasn't until I was much older and independent enough to look up the term, along with 'agnostic.' At which point I had an "aha" moment. "I'm an agnostic!" Of course I couldn't say this aloud ... I was a preteen and my parents were very much believers. I spent many years as an agnostic: unwilling to commit to the belief that there actually is no god.

I came across humanism about 20 years ago. It was helpful for me at that age. Young enough to be influenced by others' opinions, busy enough to not have the time I really needed to explore and research and think about my personal belief system, but having an internal sense of ethics that had nothing to do with any religion. Humanism gave me my footing. And here's the bonus: most religious types have never heard of humanism, most do not want to know anything about it because it's not Christianity (as I understand there are nonsecular humanists). This makes a "humanist" response to religious-type questions an easy answer. (So yes, possibly a cop-out as it avoids unpleasantness.) Absolutely I align myself with the six tenets of the 3rd Humanist Manifesto.

Now then, time freed up for me in recent years and I had the opportunity to think, reflect and think some more. That is when I realized: there is no god. Only then could I say I'm an atheist. Do I? Generally, no. Some Jehovah's witnesses asked me what I believe so far as god is concerned and I likened god to Thor or any other mythical, magical creature man could dream up. (Their facial expressions when they heard this were the same as if I'd sprouted two spare heads before them.) One of them took this to mean I'm still questioning and not really sure. The other one knew it was a done deal for me. Had I said, more simply, "atheist" in response to their question I think I would have gotten a much different, more fervent and aggressive response from them. Not ridicule and abuse: but an intense effort at "enlightening" me.

It's not the abuse or ridicule that prevent me from using the term with types like that (or my mother) it's a desire not to do pointless verbal battle with the close-minded who equate atheism with demon worship, debauchery, lawlessness, and immorality.

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Permalink Reply by Bryan Hargrave on March 15, 2010 at 1:35pm

as i mentioned earlier on, im very grateful for everyone throwing in their opinion on this one. i wasnt really being cranky, i just really didnt understand why someone would need more and at the point of the question really felt like people used other terms in order to keep away from people automatically assuming the worst about them. like atheist is a dirty word.

i am now more understanding of why someone would want to use more than just the one word. again, the one word works just fine for me.

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Permalink Reply by Lindsey on July 26, 2010 at 4:02am

I've always liked the term "reformed believer". Don't use it for myself though, cause I was never really a believer to begin with.

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