#i say as the person who started on the path to converting because of athiest reviews of bad Christian films

[guiltywisdom]

There's no wrong way to find God, no invalid reason, no perfect path. Every step towards the loving divine is the right one.

[therealeststruggles101]

Misconceptions of Atheism

It seems that saying you’re an atheist usually credits the same kind of disbelief and confusion. From my experience there are quite a few of common misconceptions that give atheism a negative connotation. These are my personal views of course and so I’m not setting the record staright for all athiests here, but here’s what doesn’t stick to me that most people assume.

1.) Because I am an atheist, I do not believe in anything/do not have any kind of faith.

This goes along the lines of what people know based on the dictionary definition of atheism- “disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.” While it’s true i do not believe in any god or omnipotent heavenly body, I still hold certain beliefs. Mine are simply rooted in either proven/theoretical sciences or personal experiences. The type of faith I have is in humanity and the collective power of those who have a save-the-world complex, much like myself. I have faith in hardwork resulting in achievement one way or another. I have faith in love. I truly believe that the world can be whatever we so chose if we strive together for similar goals, world peace, ending hunger, global development. It may not be as phantasmical as religious beliefs and faiths, but these are what I hold dear to me to help me get through life.

2.) Because I am an atheist, I must hate religions/ am closed minded to religions.

Quite honestly, I am fascinated in learning about others religious beliefs and practices. I often get invited to services and will go happily just to try to understand the appeal, what people experience, or how it benefits a community. Also, I’ve always been interested in religions from a young age. In school you learn mythology, and each one of those used to be civilizations’ religion. We only consider them as being mythological, in my opinion, because their followings or civilizations have died out, were taken over and converted, or only a fraction of them still practice. What got me started was the Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. They’re mystical and all powerful each in their own way. It’s fascinating to learn how ancient peoples would make sacrifices to gods and prepare their dead in ceremonies to ensure safe passage into the after life. Every religion has a similar theme, whether the sacrifices are literal or behavioral and there’s always a way to get beyond through manner of burial or deeds before death. There’s also largely a key aspect of cultures you learn from what kind of religion they practice and how it’s changed over the course of time and as people have changed overall. I like to think of it as being neutral to religion,but never ignorant.

3.) Because I am an atheist, I do not want to have a belief system.

This is where it gets tricky. Some have said that perhaps I better identify with being agnostic instead of atheist, here’s why I disagree. I truly do not believe in any lind of higher power. I was raised in religion, my grandmother is Christian, but what lead me down my path is that religion cannot and never can be proven. The system doesn’t even exist without faith in just a void of hopes. My greatest argument is prayer. Pray for help when in need. Pray for thanks when you have everything you need. If you’re “bad” your prayers may not be heard or answered. Even if you’re “good” they still may not be. “God helps those who act on their prayers.” As a child with a traumatic and tumultuous upbringing, and being raised in religion, I prayed. Believeyou me- I prayed my heart out for years. Nothing ever changed. Others will say, “ oh you just need to have faith, keep praying. “ Life is not that simple as I have learned through thick and thin. But do you want to know the real kicker? I wish more than anything I could be naive enough to have faith, or any kind of belief that my life is not solely up to me to control and change for better or worse. Most people don’t think that of an atheist, perhaps that doesn’t make me truly an atheist or whatever. It’s true though, I wish I could blindly follow a religion to ease the agony of life and its trials. The thing is though that I can’t even as much as I want to. I cant go back to believing in a system that’s proven itself useless to me- no more than I could ever believe in Santa Claus even though it certainly would be nice to believe presents would be magically under my tree every holiday season. It simply cannot be done.

Is it possible that perhaps somewhere down the line in my life something miraculous will happen that I won’t have a reasonable explanation for? Sure, life is unpredictable. Will I chalk that up to a divine act? Maybe, but maybe not. It could always be chance. Just as much as being born is at all- the chance that the specific combination of dna would form me,and that my parents would ever meet to create me when they did, or that they’d ever even been born to have that chance in the first place.

Nothing explains any of it, nothing explains life. It just is. And so am I.