wildernesse

I was wondering if you (atheists who were previously theists) still hold on to ideas from your previous beliefs. I believe that many of you do, but I am prepared to be convinced otherwise.

The reason I think this:

Many of you define Christianity in a very limited way--which I think is maybe how you were a Christian before. For example, if you were a Christian who believed that only your denom was "True Christianity", do you still use those parameters when deciding what "True Christianity" is? If you do, why--is it because you believe that your denom really was the only True Christianity?

Also, if you were a fundy Christian, have you become a fundy atheist? You might not be able to answer this question yourself! Do you think that fundy-ism of any sort is latched onto by certain types of personalities, or is a measure of insecurity in beliefs, or immaturity, or???? Do you think that fundy atheists are ok, or better than fundy Christians? You could replace fundy with militant, if you wish.

My little questions and opinions are based on simple observations--and as such, are distorted by my own self and thoughts.

-tibac

Kosh

No, thank G...... uh, nevermind.

Kosh

Yes.

slh

Speaking for myself, when I was a Christian, I considered myself a True Christian. No body could convince me otherwise.

As far as holding on to ideas from my stint in xtianity, I'm not sure what you're asking. I've got some baggage I suppose, but nothing that is convincing as to the validity of the choice I made to give up the religion.

I'm not sure what a 'fundy atheist' would be. I fundamentally believe there are no gods?
Im not necessarily militant in my disbelief of god.

Furthermore, I've discovered that it is pointless trying to define xtianity. Everytime I give my definition to a xtian, I've gotten it wrong somehow. Even when quoting another xtian verbatim as to that persons definition of his/her beliefs. As far as I'm concerned, anybody who identifies themselves as xtian, is a True Xtian.

bonduca

I was raised by fundy parents, but according to them, I was never a True Christian anyhow, I asked too many questions, hated passing out pamphlets, had the wrong sort of friends...so I guess I am a fundy failure.

I don't care for fundy atheism either, though I think for many people it is a phase they go through while they work out their anger with their experiences as a Christian. Not to say all Christians are evil merely that the more conservative and rigid branches of the faith provide an environment that encourages abusive/coercive/manipulative behavior.

I think there are some people who are attracted to that sort of mindset, whatever their faith (or lack thereof). I don't think any of it, religious, non-religious, or political is healthy, silly jackboot costumes only look amusing on Rowan Atkinson.

wildernesse

The ideas that I'm concerned most with are those that defined Christianity for you. Although my question could be extended to other ideas, such as perceptions of other ethnic/religious groups or morality issues--although this might be moving away from what you get/got from Christianity/religion and what you get from your community as a whole.

When I speak of fundy atheists, I mean ideas such as: excluding people not of your group from being good, intelligent people; asserting your ideas as superior to others; being astonished that people can't see "THE TRUTH"; etc.

--tibac

GunnerJ

I used to be a Roman Catholic, and my deconversion was not just a quick shift where I dropped belief in one of my religion's dogmas. It was a slow process where I confronted one tenent of faith after another and found that each of them made no sense, and tried to preform all sorts of mental and logical gymnastics to justify it.

It started when I was about nine, and I saw Cosmos, and realized that that Bible book everyone at church and pre-CCD went on about didn't mesh with the facts. I actually wondered, at that young age, if it even made sense to belive in god.

Through the years, I looked at, and rejected almost everything the Church pushed: transubstantiation, the male celebate preisthood, anti-abortionism, anti-birth control policies, homophobia, the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus and the worth of proselytization, etc. Just before I went atheist, I wasn't even really a Catholic, I was more of a deist.

If I now believe in or agree with any of the values of the Church, it is mere coincidence that I find some of them logical. It is not a result of "vestigial" religiosity.

Viti

I have a totally unscientific theory that the harder time someone had deconverting the more "fundy" or militant they are as an atheist.

My deconversion was totally painless as my dad was never a Christian, Mom was very liberal even in her SS teaching days (and had already left organized religion behind), and hubby was pretty much always in step with my thinking.
Now, had I ben forced to constantly defend my viewpoint, been threatened with losing my family, etc....I may not have been so laid back about the whole thing...I may have been a warrior atheist!

Heck, I didn't even bother defining my non belief or label myself until my best friend went EXTREME fundy...it had been a non-issue for years. When she and I started going rounds is when I found this place and saw that people actually had arguments etc.

Ab_Normal

wildernesse said:
I have rejected all of these ideas, which I was taught in Catholic school:

• humanity is inherently evil, redeemable only by God
• women are more evil than men, because of Eve
• sex is evil, unless between a heterosexual couple married in the church
• women should be subordinate to men
• blind obedience is preferable to independent thought

This is just a top-of-my-head list, I'm sure there's a lot more.

slh

Thats a pretty good question because looking back, being a Xtian in the sect I was in didn't change me that much. Extra stuff was added though. Such as giving 10% of my earnings to the church (before taxes), I could only date girls in the congregation, I couldn't pleasure myself, I had to go to bible meetings with my decipler leader person. I was a nice guy before hand, so no big changes in my attitude were necessary. We didn't get into much as far as political views were concerned, but everyone was looked at as equals. They even let people of different racial background date and marry, so no hang ups there. Just dont be late with that 10% check once a month.

Nowadays, I just let people and their beliefs slide. What gets my goat are the political xtians who seem to need to have everybody else believe as they do, raise their kids like they do, vote for whom they endorse, etc. They blatently lie about common knowledge things to further their agenda. Since its lying for god, I guess its okay. There is no way in heck that they actually believe some of the crap they say. I can understand being misinformed, or uneducated, but give me a break, nobody that can organize as efficiantly as they do can be that dense. So in that regard, I am astonished they dont see the 'Truth'.