What's goin on folks? So as you know I have my sub blog SummerInNYC on Tumblr. It's pretty cool considering the people I follow and the ones who follow me etc. etc. So one of my followers happens to be an Atheist. But wait, before you condemn him/her give him/her a chance and understand where he/she's comin from (that's something too many religious folks don't do)
Through his/her blog I've come across more and more people who lack a belief in God and have no religion. This is fine by me, however the alarming rate of atheist jumping out of the closets is a lil creepy. Have they always been there and I just wasn't paying them any mind, or is there a reason for them coming out now? About 2 months ago I saw a documentary entitled Religulous by Bill Maher, if you haven't seen it please do so it is amazing. It's pretty much him on the road to understanding others faith and belief in God, almost as if he's trying to find someone who can convince him other wise and convert him from an atheist to a believer. I guess this is what has opened my eyes to this large group of people that I didn't see standing there before. I feel like Nicole Kidman at the end of "The Others." Lol (If you can't understand the reference contact Google.)
But yeah... So I had the opportunity to share a few words with my follower and I took it as a chance to try and understand where he/she was coming from. He/She had some great explanations and reasons for why he/she lost his/her faith. Like many (that I've seen or heard of) he/she began as a believer due to the family he/she was raised in, but there was so much confusion with all the things being taught from the Bible.
I personally understand this because, well c'mon let's be honest the Bible can be a little confusing at times. So after a lil research I learned that there's a few celebrities who are now admitting to being atheist, more and more people coming out of the closets and I'm just like: "Okay, I understand." This blog post is in no way shape or form an attempt to bash, embarrass or expose atheist, it's simply an attempt to give my views on it.
So here they are: Like I said, I understand where these people are coming from. Especially when there's so many questions that have no answers, be they answers from a Priest, a parent, or a fellow Bible study group member. Naturally some sheep will want to leave the herd and go find their own answers. But this doesn't make these people Satan worshipers either, and it doesn't mean that they are evil, or mean or anything of that nature, they simply have a different belief than people like me have.
I personally have said many time: "I believe in God, not religion," because religion is just a big, complex, thing that after so many years has become misunderstood by many, and taken too far by others. I mean I barely knew how to put that sentence together so that should explain how deep religion can go. But, that's no reason to judge atheist, that would be no different than them judging me for believing in God. Discrimination is and should be the same across the board. If anything I guess we could even consider Atheism a new religion. After all, the way I was taught was that religion is just a way of life, a belief system that people follow, so..... Yeah.
Something my aunt mentioned a while back that I think will stay with me for a very long time to come was this: "You put God/Jesus, Buddah, Allah, and any other religious leader or figure in a room and all they will discuss is peace, happiness and agree on things all night. However you put all their followers in a room and there's a good chance that a war may be ignited" I paraphrased a little but you get the picture and that was soooo true. I had to agree, and that is pretty much why Religion doesn't play a huge part in my life, because religion is run by PEOPLE. It doesn't at all change my belief or faith in my God, but it's simply not an aspect of my faith. At least not a strong aspect. I still say grace before I eat, I still pray before I go to sleep, I still thank My God everyday that I wake up and am given a chance to continue to live my life. My relationship with God is MY relationship with God, I don't have to explain what we have, I don 't have to go to church to show the world what we have, it's just me and my God. But my God has taught me not to judge others, and I will not judge those who do not believe in my God and I'm sure your God has taught you the same.
So to all you atheist out there, it's okay, I understand and I will not judge, you aren't doing me or anyone else any harm. Live your lives as I will live mine, we can and should all still live in peace.
This is just something that was on my mind. Thanks for taking your time out to read it.
Stay Up and Stay Tuned