Brain-food via Mimi Smartypants. YES I HAVE BEEN AWAKE SINCE 0725 OW

[idoru]

An article i think many of you might find interesting -- Raising Children With Secular Values in a Religious WorldA good chunk of this resonated with me, as i was raised not going to church. And yet! i have morals and values! i wouldn't necessarily call myself an atheist, and the 'committed secularist' title has a strange ring to it. i have

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[idoru]

It seems that with book-intelligence comes two scenarios: firm atheism [who can prove God? Well then.] and firm faith. Personally, i think informed and questioned faith is a beautiful thing, and something many people need, and it's more than just giving yourself a metaphysical band-aid and lollipop. People turn to religion, philosophy, science, hell, even escapism to try and make their lives make sense. People crave meaning, and if religion -- and i'm not talking ecumenical, proselytizing FERVOR, just a belief/faith system -- serves that purpose, more power to them.

Most religions, at their basest, say: don't kill people, don't steal things, love people. The fact that PEOPLE misinterpret this and mangle it to mean what they want it to shouldn't necessarily reflect on the religion itself. Admittedly, i don't fit the mold of any organized religion, nor am i comfortable trying. However, i've moved past my 'agh religion sucks' phase into appreciating it for what it is, but knowing that, at least in most of its iterations, it is not for me. As for my personal spiritual beliefs, i think that the word 'God' has been tainted by denotation and connotation. i don't have a word, i don't know if there's a diety or 'higher power,' but i think that whatever it is.. is in the spaces between molecules, and in the way the ocean reflects against the atmosphere, and again when the sun reflects on the clouds. Perhaps this is a form of pantheism; i honestly don't know. i wouldn't say there IS a God, i certainly wouldn't say there ISN'T, but either way, the commonly accepted version of God is not what i know.

However, i came to these conclusions through not going to church as a child, through singing in a church choir, through theological debates, through Christian and Jewish and Hindu and pagan lit -- there's a kernel of truth buried in all of it. It's up to the person to synthesize.

[fuzzyamy]

Right. Even though I will identify myself as an agnostic every time, I will say that it doesn't take religion to unify people against other people. Godless or near-godless philosophies can serve exactly the same purpose: see militant Marxism, Nazism etc. Blaming unified hatred on religion does seem misplaced.