One less god than you

I've been having a discussion with my dear sweet cousin, who was gracious enough to allow me to borrow her name for my daughter. Most of it centers around atheism and how I came to be a-theistic.
On the same vein, I went out to coffee with my mother and learned that she thinks I believe in nothing. She is also disappointed that I do not share her belief system. Though that choice has nothing to do with her, and really has no opening for her disappointment, I wondered how many others mis understand who I am and what I am.

First, an atheist doesn't believe in "nothing". The term atheist simply means "no god". In other words, I do not believe in any god or gods.
I believe in other things though!!!

So below are some ramblings about atheism from my perspective.



The christian religion is a set of beliefs based on the book considered holy and sent by god...obviously the bible. I refuse to follow a religion that touts division, breaking family ties, violence, hate, discrimination and hypocrysy.

Christianity is the sum of it's parts which includes the Old Testament and the NEw Testament, they contradict eachother, and christians choose which parts they will follow, rather arbitrarily....for example, they no longer requre women on their period to isolate themselves, yet they still *stone* homosexuals.

Paul, who wrote a number of books occuring in the new testament declares that the church members follow HIM and preaches, as law, things that Jesus himself (the originator of the belief system) did not preach or teach.

Many christians say that the old testament is only to teach the history and the importance of the sacrifice of Jesus....that may be so, but they still follow many of the "laws" and inflict their choice of laws to follow on the rest of the world.

The difference between discussion and prosletyzing is the end goal. Discussion is the exchange of ideas and information, proseltyzing is for the purpose of conviction and conversion. No religion should be allowed to do that.
So in essence, the fact that I value family, honor, respect, love, and autonomy, more than I value a religion, is the catalyst for me severing all ties with any god or belief system.
It is not enough for me to say "I'm not like THEM" because anyone can say that, but it doesn't ring true when they wear the same label.
The problem is that the bible was put together arbitrarily, by some folks who wanted to keep the people in line, and the "books" placed in the bible, the translation into popular language of said books, all were done based on a message from a certain group of people.
There are many many valid and verified *books* written by followers and friends of christ, which were not included in the bible...why?
The complete picture isn't there and, for me, that invalidates the whole thing.
The tradition of the christian belief system, which participates and promotes evil against other humans, is something I cannot swallow. Not only will I not align myself with a religion that can so easily be interpreted to mean different things to different people and thus in itself cause division, I will not align myself with any god who proudly orders that newborn babies be bashed against the rocks, simply for being the race they happen to be born in.
"God is a loving god"....those are just words, they mean nothing when god orders his followers to decimate entire cities who didn't want to use their "free will" to follow god.
Free will means that regardless of the choices available, I can choose a best way for me, which could EXCLUDE god.
However, according to the bible, free will only extends until you choose not to follow god.
Multiple choice is not free will.
A god that would supposedly create man in his own image, yet be willing to throw these people he created into an alleged hell, is not a god that I want to associate with.
Love means a specific thing. It may be executed in different ways by different people, but it is a specific thing.
The bible does not have it and yet claims it, there are so many things that play a role in this journey, it wasn't just momentary, it was a process of learning and discovering and getting to know me.

None of us are wired the same way and therefore it is likely that we will come upon issues where we don't follow the same thought patterns and reactions.
Live and let live.
You are completely free and welcome to raise issues with me because I am secure enough in what I think to answer the questions and to disagree with you and vs.
Disagreement is not an immediate place for division...I often find people with religion will assume the disagreement equals a parting of ways.
There is such a huge difference between disagreeing with someone, and haranguing them for what they think.

When it comes to adopting a belief or agreeing with an assertion, it must be logical. How I tell if it's logical is easy...All logic must have Consistency, soundness, and completeness. Consistency, which means that none of the theorems of the system contradict one another.
Soundness, which means that the system's rules of proof will never allow a false inference from a true premise. If a system is sound and its axioms are true then its theorems are also guaranteed to be true.
Completeness, which means that there are no true sentences in the system that cannot, at least in principle, be proved in the system. If any of the above are not met, the argument has been "debunked".
I find that choosing not to accept things on faith, gives people the idea that I am hostile to faith based living.
That is not the case.

on both sides of the spectrum, there are hostilities that range from name calling and accusations, to outright hate.
It bothers me that we as humans seem unable to accept that our minds may not always meet.
While I choose not to believe in any god, and while you choose to, we are still both well educated and intelligent women who are free to explore what ever belief system we choose to.
Irrational behavior and choices are not limited to the realm of judeo christianity.
The label irrational comes up most often in response to fierce adherance to a seemingly invisible god.
That however, is only taking into account the intelectual portion of our beings....it doesn't take into account the emotional and spiritual gamut of responses to a belief system.
We are the sum of our parts, not one aspect can clearly define us. Therefore, it is narrow minded to accuse one of irrational thought or behavior based only on one's relgion. when we pigeon hole eachother instead of trying to reach an understanding...not just of the beliefs we hold, but also of what led us to our individual beliefs, we rob the humanity from each other and minimize the chances to find common ground.

I have one less god than you.....that is the only difference between us. It leaves a lot of common ground to acknowledge. I believe it's the fear to acknowledge that we are not so dissimilar after all, that drives the continued division between beliefs. Which from a sociologists brain, is a very interesting societal phenomenon!

I've read a few responses from atheists as to why the anger. Here is one by Greta Christine, take her with a grain of salt, she has experianced pain and rejection from society at large and christians specifically, not just for her belief system, but also for who she loves.
Her anger is rather tangible at times, but here is her response to that question and good insight into what puts her in the position she's in.http://gretachristina.typepad.com/greta_christinas_weblog/2007/10/atheists-and-an.html