Wow is all that I can say about some of the messages that I have received about the article that I wrote yesterday and today. I feel there are a some of you that may have not understood the reasons I am writing this series in the first place and my standpoint on Atheism as a whole.
The main reason I am writing this series is because there is a great number of the LGBT population migrating over to Atheism. Before I go any further I want to make this clear. I have no issues or prejudice against Atheism or anybody that is an atheist. If you do not believe in God that is your right. I personally believe in God but I can be friends with atheists and God fearing people alike as long as we keep our religion or lack of religion in the closet. Anyway you will find that most atheists don't want to have a debate with everyone about their belief of God not being real.
The first problem I have is that so many gay people are going to the other side of the fence because of the way they have been treated by modern day religious believers of the faith and society as a whole. I believe a lot of gay individuals (NOT ALL) are turning to Atheism because they are hurt and let's face it; why identify yourself with anything that don't want you the way you are? They are told over and over by the religious keepers of the word that they are going to hell because gay is a sin but they can't change who they are. In the meantime they are being disrespected constantly. I don't blame any gay person for going a different route.
My second problem is that some organizations use Atheism as a platform to push their own personal agenda. The Black Atheists of Atlanta should call themselves "The Militant Anti-Gay Racists that happen to be Atheist of Atlanta". The same goes for any white organization that hates blacks or feminist organization. There are genuine atheists that take this culture seriously. It is not a hustle for them. Real atheists are disrespected by groups that use Atheism to spread their message of hate or ill will.
My last problem is that some gay men and women are going into Atheism with misconceptions and anger in their heart looking for acceptance. Before you enter into any type of organization or belief you should learn about what you are getting into. Enter into it with a sound mind and content heart. I have no problem with someone wanting to be an atheist but I have a problem with converting for the wrong reason.
Gregory, some of the gay folk I know feel more "atheistic," for lack of a better and more accurate description, because it seems like so many millions of people in the country equate a man falling in love with another man as a status that will lead them ultimately to hell, or the lake of fire, or whatever Biblical place you want to describe that makes references to evil people that allegedly cannot be saved. So those people tell me, "Why should I connect myself with a faith that already condemns me?"
ReplyDeleteFor myself, the ultimate Questioning Christian (I've told my mother more than a few times that she should have named me Thomas!), I see signs of our times in general, and of my times in particular, that sometimes belie, and then sometimes confirm, what I feel might be a faith.
I see situations where things happen like the network correspondent in the Mideast who almost died getting injured by an improvised explosive device, and seeing himself outside his body as his apparently temporarily dead corpse was being worked on by medics. But then I myself had an experience in which the wrong combinations of medications were used to put me out for a relatively simple endoscopic procedure, and I was in near-death mode, I never felt or perceived a thing.
And then there the questions. Our science tells us that the Earth and humanity have been around for millions or more years -- so why would the "savior of mankind" appear only 2,000 years ago? And if he still lives, why hasn't he appeared once again to humanity in some two millenia? Surely he would have to know that in our perception of time, that amount of history passing would have to draw doubts from millions, perhaps billions of people, over time. So, where is the guy??? Why won't he show his presence?
Then there's the universe itself, and everything we're learning about it. How much our perception of incredibly tiny piece of not just the universe, but even just our own galaxy, changes our perception of our personal existence. Are we really that important as individuals? Why do we exist? Is it simply because of a random sequence of events that just happened to occur in a certain order?
I just wish, if Jesus Christ truly is what he said he was, that he would appear. "For now we see in a glass darkly," the Biblical passage goes, but in the future, it adds, we will know everything, surely as we are already completely known. Why must it take this life, which is so horrifically cruel, painful and unjust to so many, to find out whether or not we continue to exist in some other form that no one on this planet can determine?
In the midst of all that, can't you surmise yourself how difficult it is to find a faith that holds some meaning to so many humans on Earth?
Just some deep thoughts. :)
Jim Brown
Indianapolis