I had a few ideas of how to wrap up this series of Atheist Advent posts – a look at how politics and religion intersect, a review of my theories of why people (really) are religious, a disclaimer about the nature of offense in general.
I will spend some time on that last point. My intention in doing these posts over the past month isn’t to offend anyone – though of course, with any hot button topic, it may seem that way. Instead, my intention is to simply make readers – Beliebers or otherwise – consider some things in a way they may not have before.
So, with that said, the ultimate point is that, as serious as this stuff is on one hand, it’s good to have fun with it too.
For example, I came home a few days ago to find that someone had added an extra fictional superhero to the collection on our van. My first thought was some fundamentalist from a nearby church had seen the decals on our van and decided we were open to one more.
But turns out my mother-in-law, who got tagged herself earlier this year, thought it would be a perfect prank to play on me. (Luckily, I saw it before I drove all over town with this extra decal on our van!) 😉
And that seems like a great way to end this series.
Happy Merry Christmahanakwanzika to everyone!
Comments 3
Merry Chirstmas Jason,
As you know I enjoy your blog as I read it all the time, and although I disagree with your opinion I respect your right to express it.
Speaking as a man of faith who was not indoctrinated as a child, I came to faith when I was 23 years old. It is not an issue of arguing viewpoints or trying to sway a people. For those of us who believe, the Holy Spirit touches each person differently. People of faith in my opinion need to respect all viewpoints and understand at the end of the day the Lord works his way in his time with people. People will either have faith or they won’t it’s that simple.
When asked how I can believe it or what made me think the way I do I can only refer to John’s Gospel chapter 9 and to paraphrase say, “Ask the blind man he saw it all.”
Peace and blessings to your and your family.
Devin Malakoff
And a Merry Christmas to you and yours as well.
It’s interesting to me that you quote John’s Gospel Chapter 9 “Ask the blind man and he saw it all” as an explanation for your belief and why you think the way you do.
I wrote a post awhile back where I tried to figure out a way to reconcile my own worldview with the many friends and family I had who were religious to varying degrees and I also attributed this to the difference between being blind and seeing.
I wrote that, in my view, many religious people seem to have a very large blind spot in the face of overwhelming facts and evidence against the existence of any kind of deity – Christian, Muslim, Greek, Norse or otherwise.
And that’s what I was doing with this series of posts. Not trying to outright convert anyone necessarily but to make anyone reading this think about some of the inconsistencies and problems I see with religion in general.
Thanks for writing – I always appreciate our conversations, in person or virtual.
Cheers!
Oh, and I’ll also add a few related thoughts…
As I hope I’ve made clear on this blog and in our conversations, I try not to cast all religious people in a negative light (although I admit that my posts over the past month may not leave one with that impression!) 😉
And that’s not quite true that I don’t judge religious people. I do judge religious people and non-religious people all the time, just as everyone does.
But rather than basing this judgement on a very flexible moral code outlined in a book written by tribesmen 2000 years ago or how pissed off I’m feeling that day or some other arbitrary measure, the method I (try to) use is very simply to judge people, believers or not, by their actions.
Using this method, those who are religious but not in your face with it, not hypocritical, not sanctimonious, and who are open to other views and opinions are usually okay in my books.
(And for the record, this is where I’d slot you as well as the vast majority of other religious people in my family, friends and acquaintance group.)
Thanks again for writing!