Excuse the essay, but Iāve wanted to write about this for a while:
I used to consider myself an Atheist ā¢. I was a raging āactivistā about it too. Then I got to college, took some classes in religion, philosophy, heard/read some critiques of the New Atheist position, had some conversations with real-life human beings. I didnāt have a ācome to Godā moment, and I didnāt become an adherent to any religion, but my viewpoint shifted significantly.
In high school for some reason I thought being a vocal atheist made me more intelligent. I locked myself in the atheist echobox for a while; consumed podcasts, books, blogs, YouTube videos, I even considered founding a chapter of the SSA at my college when I first got there (which would have been an AWFUL idea in retrospect).
I may still be an atheist by definition of my personal beliefs, but I no longer associate myself with The Atheists ā¢ [E.G. the four horsemen; Dennet, Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris] for a whole slew of reasons. I think they have some interesting things to say, but theyāre pretty damn toxic about other things, and huge assholes to bat.
I now know (and perhaps always knew but was unwilling to admit) that religion has a strong basis in philosophy, it can do a lot of good in the world, religious people can be both good or bad (just like non-religious people) but theyāre far more often good.
My own belief is this: In my own personal experience and within my own personal realm of knowledge, I have seen or learned nothing satisfactorily convincing to me that there is any larger power at work, and do not find faith a personally satisfactory grounds for accepting claims. I think the existence of a larger power in the universe is an unanswerable or very difficult to answer question and I donāt think I personally have enough evidence to put forward any tentative answer.
I still hold my opinions about things, but thatās all they are. Opinions. Iāll engage in civilized, respectful discussion, but Iām not going to shovel them down your throat and expect you to swallow then make fun of you when you cannot or will not.
Treat others the way you wish to be treated in return, and never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself. I just want everyone to get along and for all of the fighting, arguing, and killing to stop. So long as theyāre not hurting anyone, let people live the lives theyāre most comfortable living and let them come to their own conclusions on things. There are so many huge problems to solve in the world right now, all this arguing is getting nobody anywhere and just creates more problems and division between people. We need to put more work into understanding each other rather than tearing each other down.
Most importantly (my golden rule):
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