Frasch Ideas—Examine, Inquire, Explore

What should I call myself?

• Posted by Theresa on January 15th, 2007 filed in Believe It or Not

What should I call myself? What’s in a name?

“Christ wasn’t a Christian, Buddha wasn’t a Buddhist, and Mohammad wasn’t a Muslim. These organized creations of other men came about after their death, and with them came the titles, rituals, and terminology’s which created a separation of dogma. The terminology, the ‘word’ printed and bound, became the thing. (quote from exchristian.net)

I have changed over the last 15 years or so. At first I was a fundamentalist born-again Foursquare Christian. After I left the Foursquare church and was still searching and broadening my views I became a more liberal Christian. Soon I found it hard to call myself a Christian at all. I was more of the “there are many ways to God” kind of person. For awhile I considered myself a Deist - yes there is a God but he doesn’t have any personal interactions with humans or the world as a whole. Then I began to doubt the existence of God at all - except as a man-made way to cope with the mysteries of the world, and as a way to exert power through religion. I called myself agnostic:

1. One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.
2. One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.

The other day a man came to my door and said he was encouraging Bible reading and did I want a Bible. I told him, “No thanks. I am an atheist.”

Atheist: One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods.

To some extent we are all atheists because there are many gods that we don’t believe in or deny the existence of. I just deny one more God than Christians or Muslims do.

The term atheist carries with it negative connotations. Although I am somewhat proud to be one having gone through many years of searching to get here, I am not sure I want to announce it to the world. My friend just emailed me in response to what I wrote on my blog:

“I read your blog, and yes it took me quite awhile to be open and frank about my beliefs. My grandson says I am an atheist and I argued with him that I am very spiritual etc. He said that doesn’t make any difference because you are either a theist (believe in God) or an atheist. I am aware that the word atheist has a negative impact on me and I suspect it does on others, but I guess I am one.” (italics mine)

vjack at Atheist Revolution says:

“Simply put, atheism means the absence of theistic belief. That’s it. It doesn’t mean anything else. Atheism is not a religion, a philosophy, a worldview, or anything similar. It is not the conviction that there are no gods, ghosts, angels, etc.

“Atheism is much simpler. From the root (a - theos), atheism is simply the absence of theistic belief. It is the default position from which everyone begins before they have heard of religion. A theist goes a step further and asserts that a god or gods exist. An atheist does not accept this assertion (i.e., that a god or gods exist). It is incorrect to say that an atheist “denies or disbelieves” because this implies a deliberate act. Rather, the atheist simply does not accept the theistic claim. Thus, non-believer is a more accurate characterization than disbeliever.”

Dave at exchristian.net in speaking about morality and ethics notes that:

“Now, several years later, without a belief in an afterlife or in a God who is waiting to punish me, I haven’t appreciably changed my lifestyle. I still hold down a job, obey the speed limit, pay my taxes, love my family, deal honestly with others, am devotedly faithful to my wife, am not given to frequent outbursts of rage, regularly bathe, brush my teeth, and comb my hair.

“In essence, there’s been no significant change at all in my behavior. If anything, some of my behavior has improved: I’m less prone to harshly and narrowly judge my fellow human beings.”

Atheists aren’t bad people, they aren’t wicked, evil, demented or lost souls. They are just normal, everyday people who happen to have an absence of belief in gods - yours or anyone elses.

Ironwolf had a great post (read the entire post here):

“I am an atheist. But as atheism’s detractors will readily point out, and as I will readily agree: atheism per se is purely negative. Atheism is not a philosophy. Atheism is not a life path. Atheism is purely a reasoned challenge to the proposition: Some god exists.

“But I am so much more than an atheist! If I had nothing to live for other than paltry, pie-in-the-sky superstitions, then my life might indeed be hopeless and without meaning. But…

• I am a humanist and with Dennett, an enthusiastic Bright. (Yes, listed!)
• I am a stoic epicurian hedonist.
• I am a leader and mentor.
• I am a citizen, patriot, and libertarian.
• I am a juggler and artist.
• I am an autodidact technologist and transhumanist.
• I am an oneironautic contemplative with risen Kundalini. (No mysticism necessary!)
• I am a Subgenius.
• I am a friend, lover, husband and father.
• I am an optimist.

I identify with and could call myself a Bright. What is a Bright?

• A bright is a person who has a naturalistic worldview
• A bright’s worldview is free of supernatural and mystical elements
• The ethics and actions of a bright are based on a naturalistic worldview

What is a “naturalistic worldview? It is free of supernatural or mystical deities, forces, and entities. I like what that says. It is not against anything, it is free from some things. A naturalist looks to natural causes.

Naturalism

• Definition - Factual or realistic representation
• Philosophy - The system of thought holding that all phenomena can be explained in terms of natural causes and laws.
• Theology - The doctrine that all truths are derived from nature and natural causes and not from revelation or the supernatural.

I guess it doesn’t really matter what I call myself. To quote the great philosopher Popeye, “I yam what I yam.” I don’t need a label per se, I was just looking for the answer to the question, “So then, what are you?”

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