Be a better atheist.

I told them I’m an atheist. The person brought up religion in the manner of, “well so and so in a Pentecostal so she’s crazy, unlike Catholics, which I am.” I told them, “I’m an atheist so I think you’re both nuts, talking to invisible people and putting the liars in the church above you.”

We don’t talk about religion much anymore.

I was talking today with a friend; a woman I met after my spouse took a step into Nichiren Buddhism. My friend left the shallowness of some of the Nichiren Buddhists to join a group of Tibetan Buddhists, which she now left to join (again) the Catholic church.

Only in the end, after she had been telling in length this and that about her returning to Catholism I spitted it out that “according to my religiousless atheistic morals I am a vegan and will skip these natural products, since they have milk in them”.

I had a great chance to try to convert her the (probably) fifth time during the last 10 years. I chickened out, but then again – if she hasn’t stuck with one religion for more than average of 2 years, would she keep up with atheism either, as it is mentally less challenging than having imaginary friends to talk with.

I saw the cutest dog walking on the street with this old guy, so I went and said hi. The old guy told me that he had seen me at church before (when I was an altar server… It was a long time ago, ok?), and he said that was a good experience to get closer to God. I nodded, but I felt a little pained, because I really didn’t want to let the guy down. But I guess that I have to do what’s right for me instead of what I know will make other people happy.

This is my first goal on 43things.com. It’s kind of exciting. My parents are still making me go to CCD, but I think that I’ll be able to express my distress at getting confirmed and hopefully convince my parents that it’s completely inappropriate for me to get confirmed. I think that I’ll be able to check this off of my list when all my Catholic friends are getting confirmed and I’m at home watching TV. It’s really a shame that none of my friends are atheists.

What I’ve really seen is people hiding behind beliefs when rationality should be their guide.

I am slowly converting into a militant atheist from a peaceful atheist, inspired by the TED talk by Richard Dawkings

I will stop completely on drawing myself back when speaking about the origins of the universe.

I got my necklace!! There’s a bad picture of me, decent picture of it in my photos. :)

I was thinking of adding a goal “convince at least one Catholic that all of their ‘saintly miracles’ are phony”. The main Vatican criterion for a miracle seems to be – make sure nobody can prove otherwise. That charlatan has come here to promote phony miracles, superstition, priestly child-abuse and irresponsible overpopulation – and nobody even calls his bluff on this supposed “body which has miraculously not decayed” – (but no you can’t see it or take any measurements). I’m disappointed. Australians are becoming as gullible as Americans to this hogwash.

forgotten about my necklace nor my will! I’m pretty far behind on my school work, though. And that has to come first. I’ll get there, hell or high wat- who am I kidding!? I’ll get there, cause I can swim and there is no hell. :)

As an educator in a public high school, theoretically, religion should not be an issue. To be honest, it often is. Students are at an age where many of them are at a turning point in their religious beliefs. They are either curious about what other people believe or are adamant about what they themselves believe. Inevitably, students will ask me about my beliefs throughout the year. I avoid the topic because I know that it will lead to problems. I actually fear that my more religious students might lose respect for me. I don’t know if that makes me a poor atheist. I won’t deny my beliefs if they ask, but I would never preach to them, and they have never specifically asked yet.
I try to treat past and present religions equally in my classroom. There have been times where students would start talking about religion and assume that everyone in the room thinks like them. They start spouting off about how another religion is unbelievable or silly. I end up pointing out things like “Oh, and your religion is completely believable? A woman became pregnant by a miracle? Angels came to see her? Her son died and then came back to life? When you take communion, you really are eating the body of Christ and drinking his blood? You’re right, Protestant and Catholic beliefs make perfect sense.”
I n my classroom, I’ll defend anyone’s right to believe whatever it is that they believe, but I will not let anyone mock a religion… unless they are mocking them all.