The Atheist Blogger

I’ve not talked about my family much on this blog, but I have mentioned a few things which I’ll clarify now:

My father is a recently remarried atheist (I found that out when he asked if he could borrow my copy of “The God Delusion”).

My sister calls herself an agnostic, but she cares little about religion so apatheist would probably be the correct term.

My mother is a Christian. My mother is now apparently an atheist as well.

I went home for the weekend to fix some computer stuff / set up internet for my mother’s boyfriend, and earlier today we went out for lunch. Over lunch, my mother started talking about her job (she works at Salisbury Cathedral) and how one of her clergy friends was going on a course with his wife where they are kept in separate rooms, not allowed to talk, and have to constantly study the Bible…for 7 days.

My mother expressed her horror with this situation, and commented how she could not “keep quiet for 7 minutes, let alone 7 days”. I then decided the press the religious issue, and said I could probably keep quiet for 7 days, but I wouldn’t be able to if I were reading the Bible. I’d be constantly saying “that’s just wrong” and crossing out stuff.

I then mentioned that the Bible was possibly the worst book ever written, what with it being sexist, illogical, and plain stupid. My mother questioned me, asking how it was sexist, and I reminded her of the Garden of Eden story; how it was a woman who was responsible for sin, and how Lot tried to give up his daughters for rape in Sodom. To my surprise, my mother had not heard of the Lot story, and hadn’t even heard of Leviticus (often used by Christians to incite hatred against homosexuals).

She then told me how the Bible was rather ridiculous, full of stories that made no sense, with people who lived to be 1000 years old. Then, out of the blue, “I don’t believe in God anyway”.

The conversation went a little like this for a few minutes:

Me: “You’re an atheist?”

Mother: “No.”

Me: “You just said you didn’t believe in God, that makes you an atheist.”

Mother: “I don’t like to use that word, I think religion is a good thing.”

Me: “Yeah, but atheists aren’t all anti-religious.”

I think she still feels a kind of spirituality in a way, some kind of force that people can tap into. A few years before her mother died, she tried some form of faith healing, and it worked wonders for my grandmother. She could walk without feeling any pain, and lived like that until she died. My mother used this as evidence that there was still some kind of force out there that we don’t understand. I pointed out that we tried the faith healer on me (I was 12 or so at the time) and nothing happened. The key difference? My gran was very religious, I was not. The “power” of prayer is not anything magical or mysterious, but simply mind over matter. In my gran’s case, her faith gave her the ability to put her mind over the pain.

I did the same thing a few years back, when I was going through a period of minor depression that slowly escalated to the point where I wanted to kill myself. Instead, I got over it by literally willing myself out, and I am a better person for it. I’m the general “happy go lucky” guy that doesn’t give a damn what people think of me. Of course, I love it when people like me (who doesn’t), but if a person expresses dislike, it is their problem, not mine.

So I guess my mother is the “Bill Maher” type of atheist. That makes my whole immediate family a lovely bunch of heathens; I’m so proud!

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• What The Bible Really Teaches About Hell
• “I Tried To Be An Atheist”