Atheists have a bad reputation. When James and I first moved to town ten years ago, one of the first questions we'd get asked was "what church do you go to?" You should've seen the looks we got when the answer was "none." We didn't even say we were atheists - just that we didn't to go church.
In the interim years, I've had a baby and am about to have another one. My casual atheism has become something more serious as James and I discuss how we're going to raise them.
The answer: as good people, but not in church.
James and I are not vehemently opposed to religion and church. We'll go to church with my parents, especially because my dad keeps luring James there with promises of trumpet-playing. (James will do anything if he gets to play trumpet.) If Phineas tells us someday he wants to try church, we'll take him. But we're not going to force our kids into something we don't believe ourselves.
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| Didn't even believe it back then. |
I could talk forever about why and how I arrived at the conclusions I did. But that's not why I'm writing this post. It's about that bad reputation I mentioned.
I read somewhere that a huge majority of Americans would not consider voting for a political candidate who identifies as an atheist.
And that's really a shame, because all the atheists I know are super good people.
I can speak only for myself, but allow me to debunk some common myths about atheists.
Atheists believe life is meaningless.
On the contrary. I believe we get one life to live and when it's over, it's over. That means we only have one chance to live life to the fullest, appreciate our loved ones, and do good things for the world around us. But not all atheists believe there's no existence after this life - like I said, I can only speak for myself.
Atheists are not spiritual.
Some of the most spiritual people I know are atheists. This is quite common, but I feel most at peace when I'm in nature - specifically in/on/near the water. There's a profound sense of calm and wonder that washes over me. To some, this is equivalent to the presence of God. For me, it's becoming immersed in the beauty around us and stopping to take it all in.
Atheists don't know anything about religion.
Almost every atheist I know grew up going to church. My parents brought me to church every Sunday from the beginning of my memory. I was the kid with perfect attendance at Sunday school. I went through confirmation and ended up teaching Sunday school myself. I've read the whole Bible. The more I learned about the Bible and Christianity, the deeper my doubts became. It took me until my late 20s to truly consider myself an atheist, but I had years' worth of information leading up to that point.
Atheists hate religion.
Atheists have no basis for morality/aren't good people.
One of the more common questions atheists get is "if you don't believe in God, what stops you from stealing, murdering, etc?" Penn Jillette said it best - I'm paraphrasing, but he essentially said he murders as much as he wants - which is not at all. If a person doesn't understand why murdering is wrong, there's no amount of religion that can fix that. You don't have to believe in God to be a good person. As an atheist, I do good things because I want to - not because it will get me into heaven.
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Those are the myths. Here is the most important truth about atheists:
While we don't have faith in unseen deities, we do have faith in our fellow human beings. To live as a person in this world, I think you need to have faith in each other - God or no God. If we don't have faith in each other, what do we have that is worth having?
Very well said. I consider myself a Catholic who believes there may be an afterlife and a God, but I do not believe in the established Church. That doesn't make me a bad person, either, although some of my church-going friends may sometimes wonder!
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