To the Atheist members of vgchartz

[pokoko]

DanneSandin said:

pokoko said:
I struggled with being religious growing up. I live in the bible belt and literally everyone I knew was Christian or claimed to be such. Even as a kid, though, I had major problems with the bible, with god's behavior, and with the answers I was being given--the most common being to "pray about it". It was a very stressful experience, really, looking back. Everyone, including myself, was trying to shove my thoughts into a particular shape and it just wasn't working. Books played a major role, as well, like Dan Simmons' "Hyperion" novels and Tom Robbins' "Another Roadside Attraction". I remember putting those books down and arguing with myself over what they were saying.

Eventually I was able to find myself enough that I felt comfortable with not believing what had been pushed on me since I was a toddler. However, It's not something I talk about openly. Only a handful of people know my true thoughts on religion; everyone else just assumes I'm a Christian, which is fine with me. Around here, openly admitting you're not a Christian can be a pain at best and lead to people treating you differently. At worst, It can close off jobs and relationships.

I don't consider myself an atheist, though. No one has proven anything to me one way or another. I'm just not going to believe for the sake of believing.

Isn't it ironic that religious people, preaching about openness and forgiveness, sometimes are the most intolerable?

Yeah, there are a lot of hypocrites in religion.  Religious people will tell you that themselves.  The biggest, richest church around here, where I used to go, is absolutely full of people who only follow the bible one day a week.  I'm pretty sure some of the other churches use that church as an object lesson.

The worst, most intolerant are often the newly "saved".  They try to force their new conviction on everyone else and are often guilty of harsh, self-righteous judgements.  A guy who teaches sunday school and fills in as preacher when needed told me that, and he's right.  Of course, some of the old guard can be just as bad.  In the community where I used to work, I have zero doubt that there would have been complaints to my boss if I openly stated that I did not believe in god.

The funniest thing was listening to old men sit around ripping on other sects.  They were without mercy, even though what they believed was often very, very close.  Baptists making fun of Methodists and back and forth is just hilarious.  We had a guy who used to get red-faced furious because he believed that you stay in the ground when you die while Baptists believe you go up to heaven.   Seemed like a silly thing to get upset over.