The God topic

[Green Habit]

The American Atheists National Convention is in Salt Lake City next year. That's gonna be all sorts of awesome.

Pretty bold of them to put a silhouette of the Salt Lake Temple in the background.

[nyquillyn]

The American Atheists National Convention is in Salt Lake City next year. That's gonna be all sorts of awesome.

Pretty bold of them to put a silhouette of the Salt Lake Temple in the background.

The only reason we'll be going is because it's in SLC. I like that juxtaposition.

[BurtReynolds]

I wonder if those rowdy Mormons are gonna rumble.

[nyquillyn]

I wonder if those rowdy Mormons are gonna rumble.

It would be pointless to do battle with them. Their magic undergarments are impenetrable.

[surfndestroy]

The American Atheists National Convention is in Salt Lake City next year. That's gonna be all sorts of awesome.

Pretty bold of them to put a silhouette of the Salt Lake Temple in the background.

Sounds like atheist privilege. They should apologize.

[mookie]

Atheists getting together being atheists.

[stip]

as an atheist I find this stuff kinda stupid. The whole point of being an atheist is that it gets you out of meetings!

[Green Habit]

Something that I'm really curious about is what percentage of people who talk and meet about atheism and related topics were raised in a religious upbringing. My guess is that it's a pretty high percentage. It seems like a lot of them are trying to make up from feeling like they were mindfucked at a younger age. Anecdotally, I've been a lifelong atheist and I've never had a desire to think about this kind of stuff very often. Some would say that that's the point.

[stip]

I was not raised in a religious household at all, but that was me for a long while. A lot of atheists are mad at god for not existing, and you tend to dwell on stuff like that

[Norah]

I was raised in a strong Catholic family (liberal Catholic mind you, pro-choice and marriage equality and all that stuff) and I'm in the Green Habit camp of atheism.

[doug rr]

I was raised Lutheran..had to go to church every week and was confirmed in 8th grade..the day I left for college was the last time I've been to church..that was 1985..I dont have any hatred towards anything but It never did anything for me and I dont even think about it anymore..never did really

[Norah]

I made it halfway through the Catholic confirmation classes by faking it but when I got to the point where you had to sit down one on one with the priest and talk about your beliefs I decided not to lie about it. My mom didn't talk to me much for the next month or so.

Then she sat me down and tried to hold Christmas over me.

[doug rr]

I always found church to be creepy..I actually had to be an acolyte for a couple years..that kid that wears a white robe and has to light and put out the candles...I actually didnt mind that because I had to put out the candles about 10 minutes before church was over..getting out 10 early at that age really was something to feel good about

[Norah]

I used to love going to the later Mass without my mom because I could sneak out after communion without being yelled at. I was also an alter boy for some time.

[mookie]

as an atheist I find this stuff kinda stupid. The whole point of being an atheist is that it gets you out of meetings!

I know right?!

[Harry Lime]

Something that I'm really curious about is what percentage of people who talk and meet about atheism and related topics were raised in a religious upbringing. My guess is that it's a pretty high percentage. It seems like a lot of them are trying to make up from feeling like they were mindfucked at a younger age. Anecdotally, I've been a lifelong atheist and I've never had a desire to think about this kind of stuff very often. Some would say that that's the point.

It's probably a high percentage. A couple of them I know are like that and have this deep-seated hatred that I don't understand. It was nothing traumatic, just your average religious upbringing. Maybe they have parent issues, I don't know.

I went to Catholic Sunday school for six years and I never bought into everything. It never angered me. But I had issues with them for different reasons. When they told us the biblical stories, it was always the PG rated version. And then I slowly learned how fucked up & complex the Bible really was.

[Birds in Hell]

Anecdotally, I've been a lifelong atheist and I've never had a desire to think about this kind of stuff very often.

Same.

Having grown up in a completely irreligious household, I don't see the big deal. I thought about reading some Dawkins at one point or another but I've never garnered up sufficient motivation.

I had a conversation with someone once that I related to: they were shocked as a teenager to discover that someone they knew actually went to church and held religious beliefs. She said she thought that was something that only happened in TV or movies, real people don't honestly believe in God or whathaveyou.

I did get baptized Greek Orthodox in my 20s so I could marry my wife in the Greek church; that was interesting. What does it matter, y'know?

[McParadigm]

as an atheist I find this stuff kinda stupid. The whole point of being an atheist is that it gets you out of meetings!

I never got the "atheists are meeting lol" thing. Atheism isn't remotely about a hatred of communication or community, so....question mark, I guess. Anyway, philosophy devoid of communication is destined to an awfully large number of tendencies that encourage fringe limitation...a behavior which can hardly be described as irrelevant (even in the case of non-belief). Communication internal to the group tends to preclude communication external to the group. It's a starting point and a source of refinement.

I don't trace my atheism any differently than I do my other expectations/theories/philosophies, I guess...they all come from thinking and talking and reading and repeat...

[stip]

as an atheist I find this stuff kinda stupid. The whole point of being an atheist is that it gets you out of meetings!

I never got the "atheists are meeting lol" thing. Atheism isn't remotely about a hatred of communication or community, so....question mark, I guess. Anyway, philosophy devoid of communication is destined to an awfully large number of tendencies that encourage fringe limitation...a behavior which can hardly be described as irrelevant (even in the case of non-belief). Communication internal to the group tends to preclude communication external to the group. It's a starting point and a source of refinement.

I don't trace my atheism any differently than I do my other expectations/theories/philosophies, I guess...they all come from thinking and talking and reading and repeat...

A lot of atheist literature written by/atheists is just as smug self congratulatory and self righteous as religious texts. I just picture a meeting like that to be similar to going to an obnoxious church.

Still you are probably right

[harmless]

as an atheist I find this stuff kinda stupid. The whole point of being an atheist is that it gets you out of meetings!

I never got the "atheists are meeting lol" thing. Atheism isn't remotely about a hatred of communication or community, so....question mark, I guess. Anyway, philosophy devoid of communication is destined to an awfully large number of tendencies that encourage fringe limitation...a behavior which can hardly be described as irrelevant (even in the case of non-belief). Communication internal to the group tends to preclude communication external to the group. It's a starting point and a source of refinement.

I don't trace my atheism any differently than I do my other expectations/theories/philosophies, I guess...they all come from thinking and talking and reading and repeat...

A lot of atheist literature written by/atheists is just as smug self congratulatory and self righteous as religious texts. I just picture a meeting like that to be similar to going to an obnoxious church.

Still you are probably right

Speaking as a fair-weather church-goer, I reckon any such gathering is going to be an obnoxious, lowest-common-denominator affair. People will be people.