Atheists & Agnostics Are Not Christians
Jul. 8th, 2003 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mishalak...Who Are Angry With God
This is my (non) profound thought after a workmate gave me a tract about the loving god and how not all Christians are the bigoted asses out screaming about groups damning themselves to hell. I feel like I should write a response, just because. So here we go.
Being an Atheist or Agnostic may start with dissatisfaction over the theology a person grew up with, but it does not end there. If a person is merely unhappy with the teachings of one branch of his religion there are many others that he or she could choose from. And even if none of the thousands of varieties of organized religion suited it is still possible to be a theist without being part of a specific church. Atheism rather than being against any theology in particular s a belief in the nature of the universe, specifically that there is not an intelligent power that created the universe or that guides us now. Similarly Agnosticism is the belief that for whatever reason the question of the existence of a god or gods is not something that can be known. There are, of course, all sorts of variations and hybrids of these beliefs and others. To sum up Atheists are not the same as Satanists.
"But what about the Atheists I see attacking Christians (or others) all the time? Doesn't that refute your position?"
Not an more than the Christians who stand on the corner shouting about the evils of homosexuality, abortion, or whatever make the millions of reasonable Christians into nut cases. Atheism, like Christianity, has a lunatic fringe who spend all their time being anti-something rather than just living. But we should not be judged based upon these few idiots any more than you would want to be judged by the extremists in your religion.
Well that's what I have so far. If I come up with more or better thoughts I might print up a pamphlet of my own explaining Atheism and Agnosticism.
This is my (non) profound thought after a workmate gave me a tract about the loving god and how not all Christians are the bigoted asses out screaming about groups damning themselves to hell. I feel like I should write a response, just because. So here we go.
Being an Atheist or Agnostic may start with dissatisfaction over the theology a person grew up with, but it does not end there. If a person is merely unhappy with the teachings of one branch of his religion there are many others that he or she could choose from. And even if none of the thousands of varieties of organized religion suited it is still possible to be a theist without being part of a specific church. Atheism rather than being against any theology in particular s a belief in the nature of the universe, specifically that there is not an intelligent power that created the universe or that guides us now. Similarly Agnosticism is the belief that for whatever reason the question of the existence of a god or gods is not something that can be known. There are, of course, all sorts of variations and hybrids of these beliefs and others. To sum up Atheists are not the same as Satanists.
"But what about the Atheists I see attacking Christians (or others) all the time? Doesn't that refute your position?"
Not an more than the Christians who stand on the corner shouting about the evils of homosexuality, abortion, or whatever make the millions of reasonable Christians into nut cases. Atheism, like Christianity, has a lunatic fringe who spend all their time being anti-something rather than just living. But we should not be judged based upon these few idiots any more than you would want to be judged by the extremists in your religion.
Well that's what I have so far. If I come up with more or better thoughts I might print up a pamphlet of my own explaining Atheism and Agnosticism.