We’re all allowed to change our minds. I’m not sure if this is a credit to my character or a blight on it, but I’ve changed my mind about many varying topics over the past—sometimes from one extreme to another. A lot of these changes happened because I went off to college and was finally out from under my parents’ influence. Having to find your own way and discover how you feel about certain ideas sometimes inspires radical shifts. I was a perfect example.
Another reason I’ve been moving from one side of a debate to another is my radical switch from Christianity to atheism. When I was a believer, I always knew what to do and what to believe in because it was an established system in my religion, my family, and my community. Atheism flung me outside all of those groups quite suddenly, and I had to do even more thinking on my own. With no one to tell me what to believe, and not much practice being a truly critical thinker, I had a lot of catching up to do! In fact, I know I’m still not done reconsidering my positions. Perhaps I never will be.
I came up with four examples of how I’ve shifted my opinions in the past five years.
photo by Tony Case
1) Masturbation
Then: A few years ago after wobbling between “masturbation is a sin” and “if it’s awesome, why not?” I settled on the view that masturbation was okay so long as you didn’t lust. This is a popular position in some Christian circles because it allows the person the physical release, but it keeps people from sinning according to Jesus “Thought Police™” Christ (see Matthew 5:28).
Now: My new guiltless sexuality and self-confidence are mainly a direct result of leaving Christianity. Now I’m not ashamed of my actions nor filled with self-loathing about being a sexual person. I can embrace healthy expressions of this side of my nature; I can be mature and wise about it instead of secretive and ignorant. The human body is an amazing thing, and we should enjoy it!
Check out my previous post on masturbation.
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photo by Catholic Church (England and Wales) on flickr
The ruler and figurehead of the Roman Catholic Church really knows how to come out swinging. The United Kingdom’s increasingly secular society is a great threat to the success of his religion there, and so he starts his visit to the UK with this gem:
Pope Benedict XVI urged the UK to resist “more aggressive forms of secularism” .
He said: “We can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews.
“As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society,” he added.
“May it [Britain] always maintain its respect for those traditional values and cultural expressions that more aggressive forms of secularism no longer value or even tolerate,” he said.
By “aggressive,” I think he means secularists who don’t just sit back and accept the influence and rules of religion on the laws, standards, and traditions of their country.
Terms like “neo-atheists” and “atheist extremism” are thrown around like insulting buzzwords within the religious community. Those of us who speak up against religion and confront the theology and doctrines with which we disagree are seen as a menace, a group without morals, and apparently the same desires for society as the Nazi party. These insulting words are carefully crafted to make atheists with opinions seem like fringe groups with violent, anti-societal agendas. I have my own views on “militant” and “extremist” atheists. We’re really not worth the propagandized vocabulary.
In response to the pontiff’s slight against secularism, the British Humanist Association said:
“The notion that it was the atheism of Nazis that led to their extremist and hateful views or that it somehow fuels intolerance in Britain today is a terrible libel against those who do not believe in God.
“The notion that it is non-religious people in the UK today who want to force their views on others, coming from a man whose organisation exerts itself internationally to impose its narrow and exclusive form of morality and undermine the human rights of women, children, gay people and many others, is surreal.”
If any of us is “extreme,” I’d say it’s the Roman Catholic Church.
(Thanks for the tip @Fargough)
EDIT: Pharyngula posted a long list of quotes by Hitler that apply to this papal insult. Check it out.
From the youtube video: CitizenLink [a Focus on the Family affiliate] Education Analyst Candi Cushman offers tips on what to look for and tools to help parents push back against the gay agenda in local schools.
Quote: “There’s a lot of talk about tolerance: We need to be accepting and embracing and tolerant. But there’s not a whole lot of tolerance or embracing or accepting of Christian values and the families that want their children raised with Christian values.”
So now we must tolerate prejudice and bigotry? We need to embrace “values” that shame other human beings for their most precious and core traits? Maybe I’m unable to tolerate their “values” as valid ideas because I see them as fundamentally unacceptable and harmful to others.
I attended the screening for “The Nature of Existence” tonight. Since I blogged about the film last week, I wanted to follow up with my thoughts and reactions.
Director Roger Nygard interviewed over 100 people of different nationalities and beliefs. I heard the views of scientists in the same minute as Jainists, Native Americans, and New Age gurus.
Everyone answered the same 85 questions. Much of the insight I’ve heard or read before, but the most striking part of this documentary was the cacophony of thought and theory made up by all of these radically diverse groups. At first, It just felt like a mess of totally unrelated beliefs. I laughed quite a bit–both at the absurdly delusional and the fabulously comedic. Not until the very end when I had a time to reflect did I see the larger point.
It may seem simplistic, but I came away from The Nature of Existence with a renewed compassion for spiritual and religious people. My curiosity about world religions and the individuals that follow them has ballooned once again. Becoming an atheist may have brought a new realization that religion is based on delusion and unnecessary, but hearing people of all different philosophies ponder why we exist and what it means to live a good life just makes me want to be kinder and more open to those who are on the same journey as I am. The difference between us is which path we choose to get there.
There may be a larger truth, but no one religion has it. Even science doesn’t fully understand yet. We search for meaning because it’s part of our natures. Let’s just be kind to one another along the way, ok?
P.S. Go see the movie! Support independent film makers!
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