Atheism Featured on CBC’s The National

But Sam Harris isn’t an atheist, and he doesn’t like it when people speak about their nonbeliefs publicly…

Wow1 Very nicely done!

That one Christian is a Spong-ite. I recognize his words. However, I do know how that one atheist felt when he first admitted he didn’t believe in god. However, I think it is possible to throw away all religious texts and believe in a god- ie Einstein. This is NOT a personal creator God nor one of religion. I think it is also possible to throw away the religious texts and have “god talk” such as god in us as love and compassion. Again, this is not a personal creator god. The second one, however, is not truly atheism though. It’s non-theistic, but not atheism and I think it would be Spong without the Bible. I often wonder why he keeps the Bible, but such questioning of him caused him to stop speaking to me. 🙄 I asked an honest question, but did not get an answer from him.

However, either thought above or even one of Greydon Square gets you distant from family and other religious people or even down right hatred from the religious. I am a happier person since I gave up trying to be something I’m not.

I think, IF one were to approach the Bible as Joseph Hoffmann suggests for the Jesus Project and gives it true study PLUS study other religions and other myths, along with the idea that God is a human concept, they will find that it is just that… a human concept. The embedded memes within our minds will explode with a sudden “Gnostism” or an enlightenment. It has for many a theologian- ie Dan Barker, David Fideler, Tom Harpur… the list goes on and on.

I searched for years for answers to my questions and a few years ago I wondered to myself- OK I know there is no god as the religious know it, but why haven’t I had that moment of utter shock like others have who studied these things. It was not until I got into the study of Hinduism that I had that shocking moment. I had the “Enlightenment”, but not the “Gnosis”- in otherwords I knew with my head that the religious god was not true, but I had not internalized it. When I had that moment of complete and utter shock it became internalized. Mind you, I’m playing with the words “enlightenment” and “gnosis”.

(For example) In the Bhagavad-Gita, the nineth and tenth teachings have the “I am”s, common in many religious teachings older than Christianity, including “I am the beginning, middle and end…” (tenth teaching verse 31). In the eleventh teaching we learn Krishna is Vishnu incarnate (Christ is God incarnate). That blew the last meme stuck in my head and I had that moment of utter shock that even Tom Harpur (and others) has spoke of before. I felt as though my mind had fainted from shock for a moment as my prof explained the story one on one with me. There was nothing happening in my mind after the realization, much like Julia Sweeney, “OH MY GOD! THERE IS NO GOD!” THUMP! I was still standing, but my mind was not for a brief moment.

When my mind returned from the shock, I heard my Hindu prof asking, “You understand?” My only reply was a dazed, “Yes.”

What am I saying in all of this? I think if people question long enough, in our own way, we all reach that point the we know internally that god, religion, and all really is a human concept that dates back to primative man who needed a supernatural belief to explain the world and all this violence over “My God is better than yours” is just a childish playground game. Once we realize this, we start to grow up and refocus our attention on love and compassion for others. That’s just my opinion though.

It was shock, but also the slow realization that I knew the answer, and it was going to change my life big time.

And it does, Karen, no matter how we come to that realization. Hopefully it changes our lives for the better though.