Fellow Atheists/Agnostic Atheists - Let's Chat: Do you feel it is risky being "out" these days?

Arise thread.

I'd like to put forth the following for shared reading (contains link to original story and potent video as well)

Locked Out: How the Church Responded to their Pastor’s Coming Out

Bravo Teresa, bravo.

Gah, tenets, not tenants.

Her coming out speech at the American Atheist Convention was on the Living After Faith podcast recently, if you wanted to listen.

NSMike wrote:

Gah, tenets, not tenants.

I like you.

The tenets of the tenants in the tenement tents is on tenite.

KrazyTacoFO wrote:

The tenets of the tenants in the tenement tents is on tenite.

Hmm. Someone needs to alert Teneman.

Paleocon wrote:
KrazyTacoFO wrote:

The tenets of the tenants in the tenement tents is on tenite.

Hmm. Someone needs to alert Teneman.

I could tentatively do it at ten.

IMAGE(http://www.infinitydish.com/tvblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/David-Tennant-Fanpop.com_.jpg)

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muttonchop wrote:

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Pictorial representation of The Pink Panther theme?

Deadant, Deadant, Deadant-Deadant-Deadant-Deadant, DEADANT, DeadantDeadant.

Jonman wrote:
muttonchop wrote:

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Pictorial representation of The Pink Panther theme?

Deadant, Deadant, Deadant-Deadant-Deadant-Deadant, DEADANT, DeadantDeadant.

If they all died, how many ants would have been alive?

CheezePavilion wrote:

If they all died, how many ants would have been alive?

Only God knows.

They were already dead, two weeks ago.

Malor wrote:

They were already dead, two weeks ago.

IMAGE(http://chzscience.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/funny-science-news-experiments-memes-exactly.png)

KingGorilla wrote:

IMAGE(http://chzscience.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/funny-science-news-experiments-memes-exactly.png)

...and needs to fund a "research" organization like the Discovery Institute to legitimate their brand of ignorance.

Fellow atheists/agnostics, specifically those who have or have had theist partners; how much of an issue has the discrepancy in world views been in your relationship(s)? Do(did) you both just sort of agree to disagree?

krev82 wrote:

Fellow atheists/agnostics, specifically those who have or have had theist partners; how much of an issue has the discrepancy in world views been in your relationship(s)? Do(did) you both just sort of agree to disagree?

Largely - my wife is an ex-Catholic, current Pagan - there's a fundamental disconnect on issues like the afterlife, which sometimes we have to just agree to not talk about, but in 99% of other things, we're able to talk about our different beliefs without causing friction. The most important thing is mutual respect of each other as people first, and belief system adherents second.

Tanglebones wrote:

The most important thing is mutual respect of each other as people first, and belief system adherents second.

You shut your dirty mouth.

Maq wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:

The most important thing is mutual respect of each other as people first, and belief system adherents second.

You shut your dirty mouth.

I mean punching her until she accepts that there is no god, amiright?

I'm a deist lapsed-Catholic, my wife is an agnostic/atheist. If we had kids, the topic of religion might come up more. As it is, religion isn't something either of us feel a need to talk about.

krev82 wrote:

Fellow atheists/agnostics, specifically those who have or have had theist partners; how much of an issue has the discrepancy in world views been in your relationship(s)? Do(did) you both just sort of agree to disagree?

Doesn't even require theism to run into this. My wife's currently rocking a philosophy that's a cobbled together blend of determinism, Buddhism, hippieism and cherry picking bits of pop-science physics. Her mantra is something along the lines of "this is the only way this could have happened".

We've gotten to the point of not talking about it anymore, because it's simply not productive. I point out what I perceive as the giant glaring holes and logical inconsistencies in her worldview that cause it to make no sense to me, and she tells me that I'm not getting it.

Tanglebones wrote:
krev82 wrote:

Fellow atheists/agnostics, specifically those who have or have had theist partners; how much of an issue has the discrepancy in world views been in your relationship(s)? Do(did) you both just sort of agree to disagree?

Largely - my wife is an ex-Catholic, current Pagan - there's a fundamental disconnect on issues like the afterlife, which sometimes we have to just agree to not talk about, but in 99% of other things, we're able to talk about our different beliefs without causing friction. The most important thing is mutual respect of each other as people first, and belief system adherents second.

An ex of mine was a "Pagan". (I use quotations because I never got a straight "this is what I believe" out of her in the 5 years we were together.) Anyway, back in those days I was more leaning-atheist, rather than the straight-up atheist I am today. But it never really came into any conflict. I respected and even explored her beliefs, such as she'd explain them. What I gathered was that they mostly were about how she and she alone viewed the world - it was never, ever about trying to convince me or anyone else about the validity of her beliefs. I admired that, especially still being freshly removed from a Christian environment and mindset.

My soon-to-be wife (t-minus 9 days!) is pretty much apathetic to the religion/god debate. She doesn't claim to know, and doesn't care so long as no one tries to cram it in her face. She has a few beliefs that give her comfort, but otherwise is not a spiritual/religious person. She understands my position as an atheist, and respects it, too.

Jonman wrote:
muttonchop wrote:

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Pictorial representation of The Pink Panther theme?

Deadant, Deadant, Deadant-Deadant-Deadant-Deadant, DEADANT, DeadantDeadant.

Sorry for the double post, but I somehow missed this.

Dead ant. Dead ant Dead ant deadant deadant....now that song from The Wizard of Oz - the one that plays whenever the Wicked Witch is on-screen - is in my head.

Reminder to all, today is the National Day of Prayer, so please remember commune with the FSM!

It does my heart good that, finally, people are starting to ask the question ... Day of Prayer? to which God? (if any)

It's high time, IMO, that American Christians stop assuming that all these religious activities, some condoned by the government, only pertain to their religion.

Funny. I was at NIH today, and didn't see any signs about the National Day of Prayer. In the Bush years, they had big banners and signs all over the campus advertising it, with flyers posted indoors and an organized prayer meeting scheduled for employees...

I honestly do not see the point of prayer ... at all. At least not to the personal, Christian god. I guess I get the concept of "communing" with a god (even though it doesn't talk back), but asking for things from a god that has already seen the future, or that has a rigidly specific plan, or that respects "free will" to the point of allowing pedo-rapists to rape kids, I just don't get that. This god is obviously going to do (or not do) exactly as it pleases, so why bother?

It's clear that we can't pray for the end of cancer, or that there be no hurricanes this year, or whatever, it's just going to be ignored. You can pray for your loved one to be cured of their illness, but they are "healed" at exactly the same rate as those who are ill and received no prayer.

What is a national day of prayer supposed to do? besides the obvious -- ingratiating politicians with their religious constituents.

I don't want to paint with a broad brush, but I think atheists may have a very unique viewpoint of love and death. I think if you believe in an afterlife, not as much emphasis gets placed on the life we currently lead, but when you have an understand that what comes after death may simply be the void of consciousness, you tend to value life and love in a more immediate way.

Again, I don't want to say every atheist is this way or that the religious are incapable of this, but I do think it takes some balls to admit that this life might be all we get so we should live in a way that maximizes our happiness and joy.

To quote the end credits of Minecraft:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
- Mark Twain

Jeff-66 wrote:

I honestly do not see the point of prayer ... at all. At least not to the personal, Christian god. I guess I get the concept of "communing" with a god (even though it doesn't talk back), but asking for things from a god that has already seen the future, or that has a rigidly specific plan, or that respects "free will" to the point of allowing pedo-rapists to rape kids, I just don't get that. This god is obviously going to do (or not do) exactly as it pleases, so why bother?

It's clear that we can't pray for the end of cancer, or that there be no hurricanes this year, or whatever, it's just going to be ignored. You can pray for your loved one to be cured of their illness, but they are "healed" at exactly the same rate as those who are ill and received no prayer.

What is a national day of prayer supposed to do? besides the obvious -- ingratiating politicians with their religious constituents.

I do not believe in God, but I still talk to myself sometimes when I am in times of stress or pain or happiness. It helps clarify complex situations if I can vocalize them and let myself hear my thoughts out loud. I imagine prayer evolved out of the same concept. Prayer is personal, because you are ultimately having a conversation with yourself.

Thank you to all who shared on their relationships, glad to see it's at least potentially workable.

On the national day of prayer; There's also a push for today to be national day of reason (and some movement for an 'international day of reason').

Grubber788 wrote:

Again, I don't want to say every atheist is this way or that the religious are incapable of this, but I do think it takes some balls to admit that this life might be all we get so we should live in a way that maximizes our happiness and joy.

I don't think it takes balls to admit that this is all we get, I think it's a matter of simply examining the rest of nature, and realizing that we acknowledge that everything else gets a short blip of life and is then gone. Bacteria, bugs, rodents, birds, up to chimpanzees, dolphins and blue whales. The problem is, humans (which are just higher primates) believe they are special in regards to our existence. I don't think I'm special, I think I'm just another life form in a cold, indifferent universe.

On a cosmic scale, we are so utterly small that we are a hair's breadth from non-existence. To call us a speck of dust would be a gross overstatement. We have cognizance, we are sentient, but we still live and die in a lightning flash of time.