“I do understand what love is, and that is one of the reasons I can never again be a Christian. Love is not self denial. Love is not blood and suffering. Love is not murdering your son to appease your own vanity. Love is not hatred or wrath, consigning billions of people to eternal torture because they have offended your ego or disobeyed your rules. Love is not obedience, conformity, or submission. It is a counterfeit love that is contingent upon authority, punishment, or reward. True love is respect and admiration, compassion and kindness, freely given by a healthy, unafraid human being...
“I have something to say to the religionist who feels atheists never say anything positive: You are an intelligent human being. Your life is valuable for its own sake. You are not second-class in the universe, deriving meaning and purpose from some other mind. You are not inherently evil--you are inherently human, possessing the positive rational potential to help make this a world of morality, peace and joy. Trust yourself.”
~Dan Barker
Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist
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5 comments:
Would you say this love creed is what all atheists believe?
Of course not. As I have stated time and time again, atheists may only have one thing in common—the lack of belief in a deity.
First of all, if your statement is true then atheists have at least two things in common.
1. The lack of a beleif in a deity.
2. The belief that atheists have only one thing in common.
My favorite thing about the new atheism is it self-refuting and erroneous logic.
There is a whole list of things atheists believe. More on this later.
False. Not all atheists believe that their lack of belief is all they have in common.
You seem to want so badly—desperately even, to be able to lump all atheists into a like-minded group. The problem, even for atheists, is that they tend to be freethinkers and trying to organize them—like the church is so good at doing with believers—is like trying to herd cats.
I continue to be amazed by the quality of the "thought of the day". I agree about the definition of love. I was taught by christians that jesus/god loves me, and I must love god. But I was taught not to love myself (that would be selfish). I could not feel love - didn't know what it was. Felt guilty all the time because I KNEW I didn't really love God - I was terrified of going to hell or that everyone I loved would be taken in the rapture and I would be left behind. I was told that christianity was all about peace, joy and love, but I never felt it, never saw it. I saw guilt, fear, repression, oppression. When I finally let go of christianity, I started to "melt" - I started to realize I could feel when I was not overwhelmed with negativity. I learned, late in life, how to love myself. I am now able to truly love others; not because I am told to, but because I think that's how we are. When we are "ok", and our needs are met, we naturally become generous and giving to others. Just like a plant or animal. You don't command the plant or animal to love you. You feel it; you earn their love. It flows from within each person. And if someone is unable to feel it, it's because negative emotions are covering up their natural human joy (specifically, screwing up the serotonin and dopamine in the brain that causes us to feel great).
I am finally FREE as an atheist. When I visit my christian parents, I feel so sad for them and their friends. They are not happy people; they are missing out on so much freedom and joy in this life. For one thing, they are terrified their children are going to hell and they will never see us again. It's terrible what christianity does to these well-meaning elderly people. They misled me all my life, but they did not mean to. I have forgiven them, and wish only peace for them. But it will not happen because they are christian.
Excuse me for rambling on and on here, but it seems like there's so much to say about atheism and love...
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