I've been thinking about writing this following a discussion on atheistmemes because it gave me a lot to think about.
The idea is quite simple. I acknowledge there are multiple visions of atheism but never really took the opportunity to discuss it with people.
So here are the main cornerstones of my vision of atheism. Do you share them or reject them ?
-Gods, as religions define it, do not exist. There might be some kind of metaphysical supreme entity, but it would be more akin to an abstraction.
-Spiritual beliefs, per se, are not a good or bad thing. I admire quite a lot of religious minded people. Abolitionist quakers, anarchist christians, muslim thinkers, poets, activists fighting for emancipation from colonial/theocratic rule, etc. That being said, I believe I'll live and die as an atheist.
-Religious institutions are quasi-inherently evil. I write "quasi-" because I don't know enough about all beliefs system. What about animist/pantheist institutions ? I don't know. I come from a family of African immigrants and I hear mixed things about those.
-Being an atheist do not make you better or worse than being a believer, and, quite importantly, not "wiser". Wisdom is earned from character and mind. That being said, being a fundamentalist and being wise are mutually incompatible imo.
-I deeply hate and resent all missionaries. Religious ones, especially fundamentalism of all shapes and forms, for sure, but also atheist ones. I believe there's no god, I don't need my friends to accept this. If they want to learn about atheism, I'll tell them. I often question them about religion, because I sometimes have trouble understanding how they can be great people while believing in what are basically myths to me. But that's all. That's just me who don't understand. I don't think they would be "better" as atheists.
-I have an ambiguous relation to Islam. While I reject it as a set of institutions, like all other religions, and absolutely despise it's fundamentalist current, I do understand that some large part of anti-Islam movements are actually ethnoracists in (a bad) disguise. I tend to favour alliances with muslim individuals/groups i'll be able to talk with without it being infuriating. Tbh, the only fundamentalists I actually talked with irl were Christians and Jews. But that's just my social position. If I was born in another context, another place, another family, it who would be different. I don't doubt all religions produce fundamentalism in a somehow equal measure.
-I truly think reason is not a quality which is restricted to atheism. Even if, like wisdom, I think some conceptions of religion bar people from living according to reason. But I can't respect people waving the "reason" flag like a title, an honor or an automatic consequence to being an atheist. Reason is a way of life, certainly not an authoritarian one, it's hard earned and always fragile. And it's certainly not restricted to "maths". Although mathematics are a part of it. Understanding what's good and bad for your own complexion is, for me, the beating heart of reason. Easier said than done.
-Despite all I said, I understand and won't criticize a very strong stance against any religion from someone who's been oppressed by them. Although, and take it with a grain of salt because it's only my experience of those people, I don't feel like they're the first ones to wave atheist as the flag of a nation or a pride backed by a superiority complex.
To end this wall of text, here's a summed up version of how I was raised. My parents are far from perfect, but this they did fine.
Both were religious. Jewish and Muslim, with various degrees of adhesion/rejection/deviation from their faiths (quite complicated for my mother). They had us participate in both religious rituals when we were young. We sang prayers (as we sang folk songs, we didn't make a difference). But they didn't give us any kind of religious education. When we were 14 or 15, they gathered my siblings and I and basically told us this :
"We are religious. But that's just us. You've experienced what is religion. You should make a choice about it. Either now or later. There will be no consequence to your choice under this roof."
There were three of us. We all choose to be atheists. They acknowledged our choice add we never once discussed that again.
That's it. I'd like to hear your opinions about all this, if any. Thanks for reading !
Edits : typos
I would suggest that there’s is a tipping point for any faith as it grows, where it inherently becomes problematic.
It isn’t the size or number of adherents, per se, rather how centralized it becomes. This would include the state-atheism of Stalin and Soviet Russia, as an example.
The issue as i see it is the corruption of power, the kind of people who are ambitious enough to command and lead an organization as large as a regional faith… are not the kind of people I would trust to lead said faith.
It’s entirely possible that the whole reason Stalin embraced atheism- and was so hostile to religions- was as a means of ensuring his own power. The major religious organizations in the Soviet sphere had old money, and the ear of the people, after all.
Alternately, for example Mohamed converted most of his tribe (the Quraysh) under the threat of siege and military assault. This, after spending quite some time leading extensive military campaigns to consolidate his power at Medina (and including raiding the heck out of Mecca’s- his tribes home city- commerce)
You also see similar in Buddhism, with Ashoka. And Christianity… well… with pretty much everyone who lead it except maybe Christ…
People believing things isn’t the issue. The issue is how centralized is it, and how is it controlled. As a faith progresses from a couple people bullshiting around a campfire or whatever, into an organized religion… you reach a point where that centralization becomes … problematic. And that’s when the wars start.
As for what “atheism” is… the central defining feature is a distinct belief that there is no god. And this includes supreme beings that chose not to call themselves gods. “Oh they’re not a god, theyre a fodkeakcjdjd. It’s okay you can still worship me and be atheist” doesn’t really work.
As for beliefs bejng good or evil… kinda depends on the belief, and how you define good and evil. Let’s just leave it at that, while adding an observation that the people you listed, you don’t necessarily respect because of their faith- their faith is not really relevant, except to say it’s part of who they are.
You admire them because of the things they’ve done or are doing. Some- or even all- of that motivation may have come from their beliefs, or none at all. Probably “some”