babelfish

I was listening to D. James Kennedy's show "Truths that Transform" today, and the guest was Dr. Paul Vitz, who claims bad or absent fathers contribute to atheism (or even worse, to Islam, as in the case of John Walker Lindh). He claims that Hitler, Nietzsche, etc. had horrible fathers, as contrasted to the "good" fathers of people like Blaise Pascal and G. K. Chesterton.

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1890626120/ref=ase_inktomi-bkasin-20/102-2589507-9563358" target="_blank">Here's a link.</a>

So I was just wondering about all you atheists who post here: How many of you had bad or absent fathers?

Personally, I had a very good father, very involved with us kids, loving, caring, and a devout Roman Catholic. I cannot link my atheism to my father's abusiveness or absence, neither of which existed in my childhood. In fact, if anything, I would attribute my atheism, ironically (since he remained devout til the day he died), to my Dad's intelligence, his inquiring mind, and his skepticism.

[ June 11, 2002: Message edited by: babelfish ]

(edited to update link)

[ June 12, 2002: Message edited by: babelfish ]

(...and to correct some spelling)

[ June 12, 2002: Message edited by: babelfish ]</p>

FreeToThink

Is distesses me to no end that fundies feel that they have to slander and misrepresent their ideological opponents in order to "win points", or "make points" for that matter.

My Dad is a great guy. He always told me he loved me, he always hugged me hello and good bye. He does to this day, and I'm in my 30's. He's also a raging fundie, as I used to be.

FreeToThink

And might I add, I was always taught to respect learning and science, which is what eventually led me away from religion.

Talon

I've heard that crap before. They conjure up any fucking reason they want when it it's to justify the idiotic beliefs. Ironically, my abusive, drunken, ignorant, neglectful, bastard father is the reason I became xian in the first place. I realize now that I was looking to god to provide the guidance that my father didn't. God turned out to be worse.... since he doesn't exist, I can't tell him to go fuck himself.


TALON

Cutter

"Dr." Vitz also has apparently forgotten that Hitler genuinely believed he was doing God's work. Since when was Hitler an atheist?

Any credibility that man may have had has just gone flying out the window.

Terracotta

Bad or absent fathers contribute to atheism? I guess maybe for some, but I fail to see how the former leads to the latter.

I remember in my Bible classes in high school and college that a couple of my teachers said that a lot of people who have bad or absent fathers have a problem accepting God as a heavenly "father" because they don't trust the "father" role. It seems that it would be the opposite, but who knows?

My own father is the most kindhearted, generous, unselfish, loving person that I (and many others) know. He is a conservative Xian (Church of Christ), but the nice (and very intelligent) kind. He taught French and English in urban public high schools for over 40 years, and that, I believe, is what has kept him grounded in reality and kept his mind and heart open to people of all different backgrounds. He was the kind of teacher that all the kids loved - they would hang out in his classroom to chat all the time. They often came to him for counseling.

Me, too! The older I get, the more I realize that I am a carbon copy of my dad in so many ways - it makes me wonder if he REALLY honestly believes in his religion. We have this unique mental connection where we somehow completely understand each other. He raised me to be independent and to make my own decisions with the assurance that he would love me and accept me no matter what. I haven't revealed my unbelief to him, and I don't know if I ever will. Religion is one of the things that we never really talked about growing up - going to church was just a given. I think I took the "independence" thing a lot farther than he ever expected me to!

Captain Pedantic

My mother and father split up when I was four, and my stepfather took the place of the father-at-home until I left for university. And there were problems, which are mostly too intricate to go into right now.

But I don't think they contributed to my atheism, especially since I only "officially" became an atheist recently. I think that I should be credited with having a mind of my own, despite any problems there were. I don't see how they could have been connected to religion in any case. It simply doesn't make sense to me.

livius drusus

My dad kicks ass. He never said shit about religion beyond the rare comment on the cultural patrimony of religion and telling me to suck it up when I whined about having to go to mass at catholic school. I really have no idea what Dad thinks about gog or Jebus, but he taught me to gather and analyze information, to observe unflinchingly, to think clearly and make a cogent argument.

So Dr. Vitz (if that's your real name), you and your pedestrian psychological claptrap can kiss this daddy's girl's sweet ass.

blame_the_gods

Maybe I am missing something, but isn't this GOOD NEWS!?!?

As there is a veritable Infinitude of Shitty Fathers in 'good' xtian households, they surely must be swelling the ranks of us Heathens... Surely, they must.

Too bad I have such an AWESOME Father (really, he's a great guy. Damn, I can't blame Him for ANYTHING then...), or he could have turned me to the Dark Side, the Evil Horde, the Beast Called 'Faith'...

Here's a Heart-Felt Plea to all you Frictian Fathers Out There: Be a Bad Father, we could use more members..

Perchance

My dad's also great. Calls himself a freethinker, but he really doesn't care about religion one way or the other... which means that he doesn't mind discussing it. It's just another topic for conversation, like politics or his weird tendency for injuring himself- he regularly cuts his hand open, has things slide off ladders into his eyes, and so on...

My father also thinks differently from me on many topics, and doesn't mind defending his views. I think I got a lot of my willingness to ask questions, debate, and not give up saying something just because it's not popular from him.

Besides, why always blame the father? Surely mothers can "drive" children to atheism (or Christianty, or x of your choice) as well?

-Perchance.