What's this implied crap about religion being necessary for personal growth.
Nobody said that. Tsk, fundi atheists everywhere...
Ahem. Please look up the definition of Fundamentalist, and you'll see that it's impossible for an Atheist to be one.
Here, let me modify your post so that it makes sense:
Admitting that you've been wrong all along and choosing a new path, instead of desperately clinging to your old ideas
because the old ideas don't make any sense, is growth. Overcoming an addiction is growth, and relinquishing everything you've ever believed in is growth,
so long as you have a valid reason. If you were right before and wrong now,
it's still growth that's called regression. Regression is bad for society because it actively blocks the world from moving forward. Dropping your religion for atheism is growth,
so long as you have a valid reason to do so, such as intently studying biology, geology, pretty much any other branch of science, or heck, even your own religion. From there, you may draw your own conclusions and take the path that they lead you upon. Giving up what you believe in is HARD,
but if it ultimately leads you to a happier life, then it is worth doing. Especially if you KNOW for certain that you are RIGHT.
Here's the deal: When I converted to Atheism, I was six. Before that, I went to Sunday school, and followed Hulk Hogan's advice (c'mon, it was the 80s.) I took my vitamins, and I said my prayers, brother. I even scraped up the money to buy my own bible.
Then, I read the bible, cover to cover. When I had a question on what a word meant, I took it to sunday school. It was filled with horror, gore, violence, and murder. And this made god happy. Then, I picked up my first geology book. It directly contradicted what I read in the bible (taking a person to the highest mountain in the world, and being able to see the whole world), and I understood it. It was nice, because so many other books by totally different authors from totally different places all came to the same conclusions. On top of that, I could do the work myself and find out, "Hey, they're right. I can prove that." I looked at my bible and asked, "What else is wrong in this book?"
So, from there, I read everything I could get my hands on, and I took a Sharpie to my bible. I crossed out everything that couldn't possibly be right, and didn't follow my own morals. When I had an entirely black page, I ripped it out and threw it away. Finally, I cut all the black parts of the pages away, and pasted them together on construction paper. I filled less than the front and back of one piece of 8x11 paper, and that was filled with, "be nice to each other" morals that I could get anywhere, or that I already felt were right. So I threw that away. The only thing I had left was science, and it answered all the questions that I had at the time that religion never did.
I'm not saying you should convert. I'm saying that you should be honest with yourself, and take an honest look at your religion and your beliefs before you decide that they're right. I'm saying that if you're going to convert an Atheist, you'd better bring proof, because that's what our worldview was built on.
Author
Topic: Atheists (Read 391333 times)