My atheism was a gradual process, as most atheists seem to report, but I did have an "ah-ha" moment.
My father had been diagnosed with lung cancer and the family email list was full of prayer requests. I had long ago stopped believing in the power of prayer, but with each failed prayer I was amazed that my family members didn't get it. The same time they were wasting their time praying I was on medical sites researching what to expect from each test my father was going through. With 100% accuracy I was able to predict what each test result would be while each prayer request had 0% success rate. Science proved itself once again to be a better friend to me than religion.
One day I was having dinner with DH and suddenly it occurred to me: I'm an atheist. It was wonderful and exhilarating. I finally found my niche! Out of my mouth to my husband I exclaimed, "I'm an atheist." With my father dying and all this religious shit going on around me his reply was priceless: "Well, you're timing's pretty bad, don't you think?"
I found dealing with my father's illness and death much easier to take and understand as an atheist. I'll explain later in my next post.
6 comments:
You sound so much like me. We are probably totally different in reality though. Growing up, I never thought much about religion.I'll get more into that later. I love this post and can relate to it so well, mine was a gradual process also but a quick one. My son is my teacher, in respect to opening my eyes. I have a link on my blog to his blog. I wanted to post his 360 link but not sure if I should. I'll definitely be back.
Do you think you could give me some insight as to why people NEED religion? Just curious.
I have pretty much been agnostic. Yet, toying around with belief systems in some shape or form. Christianity, Wicca, Qabala and/or whatever New Age philosophy caught my eye at the time.
What brought me to atheism was politics. You may ask: "Politics?"
Yep, more so than anything else, the separation of church and state has driven me to atheism.
Another factor is evangelism. People trying to shove an ideology down my throat that I was more than capable of figuring out myself (this completely turns me off).
In my opinion, I think that I am more than able to figure out what is right for yours truly regardless of what others entreat me to be the "right" way.
I guess my point is this: free thought is a greater blessing than conforming to a viewpoint (in a wholehearted/no-questions-asked) attitude.
Essentially, this is what separates the shepherd from the sheep.
Oh, my best wishes go out to you and your family.
Hey! There's my "teacher" Larro!
I had an a-ha moment as well. I have blogged a little about my journey but essentially i moved from Catholicism through some new age rubbish to Buddhism, then Buddhism without religious trappings to the point of being an Atheist with an interest in Buddhist philosophy. The a-ha moment occured a couple of chapters into "The God Delusion" where i'd realised I had been an atheist for a little while, i just had not acknowledged it to myself.
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