Same Old Shit...

Now see, this really irritates the crap out of me. Ok, I found this blog, williamlehman.net, via nakedpastor.com, via friendlyatheist.com. A quick read through and I see his third post down, entitled, 'The New Atheism & Christianity.' So I read that one with a little more interest. He starts off by saying,

'First off, it’s not really new. It’s a new way of saying the same old thing. It’s a new way of excusing pride & selfishness for rational thought.'

A new way of excusing pride & selfishness for rational thought. Right. Because all of us who call ourselves atheists really know in our hearts that out of all of the gods that humanity has ever believed in, one of them, and only one, actually does exist. His name is Yahweh, but he is commonly referred to as 'God' not 'god' and although he happens to be genderless he prefers to be referred to as being male when one uses pronouns. Why won't we just admit it? We're not a-theists; we're really a bunch of closet theists, but because of our 'pride & selfishness' we don't want to bow down and acknowledge god's glory, or even existence, so we call ourselves atheists and talk about science and reason and logical, rational thought and we try to use all that as a shield against God's everlasting love because we really just want to revel in our sin like pigs in mud. It's true, it's all true!! We worship science! We bow down at the altar of our minds and pray to Rational Thought and/or Logic to show us the way, oh if only we'd just admit it! And it's because we're all made to worship someone/something, right? We've all 'gotta serve somebody,' so it's either going to be God or something else, and because of our stupid pride and selfishness some of us choose door number 2. Or 5, or the Red Pill, or anything, anything but God. Did I mention that this really irritates the crap out of me? Every nonbeliever out there has heard this same old spiel a million times. It really irritates me that fundamentalist believers cannot admit, ever, that some of us really just cannot believe in the god that they believe in. We just cannot do it and still be intellectually honest with ourselves. Pride and selfishness have nothing to do with it. Intellectual honesty has everything to do with it. In the same way that the believer cannot believe that God is really lying to them and will send them to hell on judgment day, and bring the atheists into heaven (because he prefers people who can think for themselves and decide to choose their own path over a bunch of groveling brown-nosers who only ever came to him in the first place because they were afraid not to) - in the same way that the believer cannot believe that their god would lie to them in that way, us non-believers cannot believe in a god at all. It's quite simple, really. There's not much more to it than that. We don't just pick and choose what we believe, like we're constantly accused of doing. Belief doesn't work that way. It's not a Chinese buffet.

Anyway, he goes on a bit more about the label 'atheist' and his issues with it, all of which I pretty much think he's wrong about, but I'm not going to bother talking about here because all I really want to say is that his particular post is part of the reason why I go back and forth about calling myself an atheist. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. I guess by definition I am, since I hold no belief in any god or gods (the same way Christians are atheistic about all other gods but their own). When I first stopped believing in God I tried out a bunch of different labels- Atheist, agnostic, humanist. I wanted to identify as something new, something other than what I used to be. 'I'm not a Christian anymore, so what am I?' I don't believe in God, so I'm an atheist. But 'atheist' is a hugely misunderstood label (although a lot of people are working hard these days to change that). So is agnostic, for that matter. So is just about anything, really. You call yourself something and then anyone who doesn't call themselves that same thing, or something that could be grouped in the same category, is now a 'them' to your 'us.' I didn't then, and still don't now, feel like explaining myself to someone who didn't identify the same way or who didn't understand why it was that I labeled myself as whatever. So even though by definition I am an atheist, and still sometimes will identify as such, way back then I finally settled on 'human being' as my label. Because who could argue with that? Who's going to misunderstand that or disagree with it? There is no 'us vs. them;' we're all in the same boat with that one. There's nothing to debate there. No, 'They're not real human beings,' or 'You only think you're human, but you're really not,' bullshit. Sure, there are vile, sick people who we think of as less-than-human because of some monstrous thing or other that they've done, but in the end we're all part of the same group, all capable of doing incredible good or incredible bad, and everything in between.

The author of the post does go on to say a couple things I kind of agree with-

'Many so-called Christians want to fight it out with the atheists about if there is a God, historical data, and silly philosophical questions. The best way to fight atheism isn’t knowledge... It’s in how we love. If we truly love, the fighting won’t matter.

It's so true- many Christians, 'so-called' or otherwise, all they seem to want to do is fight it out with the atheists (as well as anyone else who's not part of their 'us'). I'm tired of that shit, myself. Ok, then- Can't we all just get along? Well, no actually, I don't think we can all just get along. But that doesn't mean we have to argue and debate about it all the time, either. Seriously, I would rather sit alone in a windowless, empty room and watch paint dry on the walls than argue and debate with a believer about all things 'God.' It's partly why I never talk about that stuff with anyone; it seems that all most believers want to do is argue and debate about it, and it never, ever ends. And no matter how much we try, we can't convince them that it's really not our foolish pride that's keeping us from believing in their god. Arguments never change anyone's mind, anyway. Have you ever been in an argument where you and the other person both feel very strongly about your position and the other person says something and then you just stop, slack-jawed and say, 'Wow, you're right- I never thought of it that way before!' (or vice-versa)? Nope. Doesn't happen. And it's certainly never going to happen in matters of whose god is the 'real' one or whether or not there is even one real god. So while I'm not averse to having an adult conversation (most likely with an adult beverage or two in hand) with someone who is honestly curious about why it is I don't believe in the things that they believe in, and am not convinced by the things that they're convinced by, I'm definitely going to have to pass on the debate part of it. Because if you don't mind, I have some paint I have to watch dry.