Reply To: Dealing with Grief After Forsaking Religion
I was talking with a friend recently when “Imagine” by John Lennon started to play in the background. I told him that Lennon had the lyrics the wrong way around and that they should be “Imagine there is a Heaven, it’s not easy if you try”.
It is because the religious mind-set is so embedded within society that even some Atheists don’t notice it. Moving from an outlook based on faith and dogma to one of reason and critical thinking takes time. It is not a simple process for we have to invest time and energy into educating ourselves and sometimes need to relearn how to think without “god” clouding our thought process. We have to be alert to old ways of thinking confusing us (if we were religious) and spotting them for what they are. We need to be able to say “That is how I used to think because of indoctrination”.
There are many big questions to be asked in life and they require meaningful answers. The biggest has to be what happens to us when we die. Religion offers to solve this by claiming all we need to do is believe that Allah or Jesus is real. Religion never has to prove this of course. It is the cornerstone of all faiths.
By saying the words “I am an atheist” to yourself and contemplation of what that means if no small thing. As we contemplate death and what “The End” means we come to terms with our own mortality. To believe we are somehow different to other species, all of which we are closely related to, is escapism. As Atheists we do not have that comfort. We are not on our knees in the midst of the great delusion. The reason most people of faith have little tolerance for Atheists is not that we do not believe what they believe. It is having to entertain the possibility that we might be right! The journey of discovery into gaining insights into the reality of only living once is a journey towards becoming a stronger person.
Atheism is the more mature position.
