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Originally Posted by Charlatan
True. I was certainly generalizing in my statement. There are plenty of "spiritual" types that are looking for a path to follow, etc.
Buddhism, while not theist is spiritual and does have a prescribed method of seeking "enlightenment".
I am referring more the standard organized religion method of theism. The benefit to an organized religion is that it *is* all laid out for you. Do *this* and you will achieve *this*.
I am not the sort who would deny people the right to pursue their spiritual path. I am also not the sort to say that one should always be rational. Irrational thought, to me, is when the moments of "magic" occur (and I don't mean magic like pulling rabbits out of a hat or turning water into wine). It was in search of this essence of irrationality that I did so many drugs in my 20s and spent so much time looking to break away from the rational world.
Art, creativity, tangential thinking, Freudian slips, humour, etc. are all magic moments of the irrational. I embrace these moments as they occur. For me, inspiration does not come from rational thought.
That said, I do not look to external forces such as deities for these moments. I see religions, at their root, as myths we, as humans, have created to explain the unexplainable. All of the other baggage that has been attached to religion... rules of diet, rules of sexual relations, rules of doctrine, etc. are all just controls on society - controls largely there to control the unruly masses. These rules were largely created (largely) thousands of years ago in a world that was a very different place.
Again, I was generalizing but you have to admit that the larger population of "religious types" are not of this ilk. Rather they are the reward and punishment sort.
My larger point was that being an atheist in America, in this day and age, is not an easy row to hoe. But with more discussion and more exposure, such as Sweeny and Dawkins there will come an understanding that atheists are people too. Just because they don't believe in God doesn't make them evil or immoral.
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I see what you're saying and i agree. I don't doubt that the majority of christianity isn't what i would consider ideal.
My thing is that i grew up in a pretty religious household (my dad is a pastor) where i was
not expected to believe in god, i was
not expected to act a certain way based on the threat of damnation. My dad never told me to do something because god wanted me to do it, all the rules he set forth were solidly secular. He's a christian, but you'd never know it because unless you're at church it probably wouldn't come up. My experience with christianity isn't in the majority, but it is still authentic, so when i see all christians being lumped together it doesn't sit right with me and i have to say something. Thank you for your reasonable response.
I think that when it comes to dysfunctional human institutions like religion, the weak link is the human, not the ideology.