I'm an atheist that prays in desperate situations.

[december_solstice]

You're probably thinking -- She's been born again! God has spoken to the poor girl!.

Er...not exactly, fam.

Actually, the exact opposite has happened.

I think embracing (more like humoring) the idea of faith pushed me further towards the reality that our lives are very much our own and there is no outside force leading the world in which we live in. That our reality has ultimately been created by us. Our reality is of our making.

I realized humans reach out for faith, for comfort, in a time of great need. In a moment of desperation, when we feel powerless, when we believe ourselves to be weak, we want it so desperately for God, religion, and such to be true -- that a higher power will save us. Will love us. Will make us IMPORTANT. Will make us MATTER.

Similarly how we want so desperately there to be life after death, to be forgiven for our sins, that there is more to our existence than this -- that we are NOT insignificant in this great wide indifferent universe. A universe that has thrived without us for billions of years before we entered the picture, and ultimately, will thrive without us, for billions of years after we are out of the picture.

This is a hard to swallow. No human heart wants to feel this way -- wants to accept that life goes on once we're dead. That the plants, trees, planets, and so on are unaffected by our existence.

And, I get that. I can understand why faith exist. Why gods have been a part of our lives for hundreds of thousands of years. Why we worshiped the sun. Why we worshiped the stars. Why we worships gods. Because life is hard. Because we're HUMAN. We feel things. Because feeling obsolete is difficult. Because hope feels good. Because God is a beautiful delusion.

Comments

[cyanidesympathy.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure the motivation came up because this post is Promo'd on LJ's front page, and to be honest, "theists are pathetic idiots" is a pretty obnoxious sentiment to shove down people's throats... That bit is clearly visible without even clicking on anything.

Not that I approve of going on strangers' journals to start shit, but if you're going to pay money for a Promo, you should be prepared for these kinds of comments-- no matter what your post is about, but especially if it insults ~90% of the world's population.

[outerspace-bae.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your thoughts!

Perhaps you're right! I don't have a problem with anon comments, even the pointless ones.

As I go forward with my blog, I can decide to delete comments that I feel aren't saying anything of value and/or are too offensive or violent (teaming w/ slurs, ect.)

Regardless, I promo what I think would encourage interesting/thought-provoking conversations. Which is why I'm here. There is no way to avoid negative comments. And, I will more than likely ignore them, play along, or delete it.

I welcome others to share their thoughts, opposing thoughts as well. But I'd also hope commenters will at the very least be thoughtful (not *nice*, when I say thoughtful, I mean literally THINKING -- trying to construct something valuable, useful, something that will get us thinking.)

I'm actually relatively new to Live Journal! But for the few weeks I've been journaling my thoughts, I've had a blast. Had some really fabulous conversations with other folks on here. I discuss a lot of controversial topics, btw. Race, Religion, Politics, Ect. For the most part, I just love to hear what other people have to say.

I'm not going to deny I poke a little fun here and there :P because I do, but the post is more about trying to sympathize and understand the human experience when it comes to religion and beliefs.

If you'd like to weigh in on the topic, I'd be more than happy to hear what you have to say. So far, I'm getting that you find it offensive because I am making fun of theists. I try my best to NOT poke fun at the individual when discussing ideologies, but that isn't an easy task, and that isn't really my intention here (to be tactful, because that just isn't the type of person I am. I'm pretty blunt and straight forward).

My intention is to ponder over my experiences. In this case, religion. Anything beyond that is up in the air!

[(Anonymous)]

what's the point of trying to start a popular blog on livejournal of all places? nobody uses lj anymore. you're better off making a tumblr or your own website.

Fair question.

[outerspace-bae.livejournal.com]

I kind of already talked about this somewhere else on this blog...

But, for the short answer: I have an author website, a WordPress, but I use it for "business". I promote my book and workshops there and construct article-like posts. Tumblr is terrible for conversations... among many other things...but I won't talk your ear off about that.

LJ is ideal for discussion and that is what I'm after. Y'all can chime in if you feel up for a chat.
This is more personal musings. I'm not about constructing a well written essay here. Lol.

[outerspace-bae.livejournal.com]

Also, yeah, there isn't that many people on LJ, but what's left of the thoughtful and intelligent internet... seems to be here LOLOL

[ringlat.livejournal.com]

I wasn't asking about motivation. I don't know why you're even writing to me in the first place, unless the typo in my username caught your ire.

A quick google says that "more than 14% of the world is not religious" so I don't know where you got that 90% from, unless you misread "the USA" in the comments below to mean "the world". I also don't know why you'd assume that if a person is religious that means they are easily offended - if a person is secure in their religion then they don't get offended.

If I say "TV isn't the same as television", you don't get offended or angry, you simply find me stupid. If I'm some memory-genius brain-surgeon transsexual and you say "all transsexuals are huge idiots who do nothing good for humanity", well your comment would hardly be worth reading, let alone replying to.

(Also: There's never an excuse for rudeness, as they say.)

[outerspace-bae.livejournal.com]

I totally assumed she was just taking a stab at me for the heck of it.

"Not that I approve of going on strangers' journals to start shit..."

[(Anonymous)]

are you really nitpicking between 90% and 86%? lmao

where the hell did they say that if someone is religious they're easily offended?

i have no idea what you're talking about re: your second to last paragraph

[outerspace-bae.livejournal.com]

I don't know who you're responding to/what you're talking about/ or if you're the same anon as the other one. If you wanna chit chat, it might be easier and less confusing to do it off Anon.

[(Anonymous)]

i was responding to the other person lol

i don't have an account

[outerspace-bae.livejournal.com]

All the cool kids are doing it ;)

[ringlat.livejournal.com]

When they said that 90% of the world would be offended by the post - I assume that meant 90% of religious people, because of the "90% of Americans are religious" and also because someone who's not religious has very likely already thought about this stuff (or just wouldn't be offended because it doesn't concern them).

Last bit is just me going a bit off-topic as usual.