Atheists Don't Need to Be Saved, but Thanks for the Concern

Why do so many Christians, when encountering an Atheist for the first or fiftieth time, feel the need to convert us? Is it because they confuse Atheism with Satanism? I've encountered that sort of (un)interesting, going-'round-in-circles conversation before. Are they trying to save us from a hell we don't believe in with one ounce of our being? Why when meeting a Christian do we go to great lengths to respect their religious choice (and usually think nothing of it) yet we are met with sly mnemonic trickery to get us to remember that we are going to hell for not believing?

For those who don't quite understand what Atheism is, it is a label for those who do not believe in gods, goddesses, devils or anything in-between. We are not against those who believe in a religion and the majority (there are of course bad apples in every sector) of us are average peace-loving, easy-going, morally-sound people.

The term Atheism comes from the French word athéisme and dates way back to the 1500's according to The Atheist Manifesto written by Michel Onfray and also from the Greek word atheos meaning godless. Coming out as an Atheist back then was left to true influential scholars who were not afraid of being shunned let alone killed for their beliefs. They were even so brazen as to ridicule Christians in the early records of Atheism. While modern-day Atheists can be an arrogant bunch, ridicule is left out of debates by those who have any intelligence whatsoever.

Debating is great fun [half sarcastic]. Catch me in the right mood and I will debate with the best of them, but I don't understand why some (I can't use the word some enough) Christians just don't get that we don't believe in God, Satan, any of the spectrum of Taras, etc., no ifs ands or buts. True Atheists who aren't trendy or simply pulling an emo card are firmly grounded in quantum physics, science in general, history and guess what? Most of us acknowledge that Jesus did indeed exist.

Now for the obligatory background information before continuing because we are almost always accused of ignorance to some extent. I'll keep it short and sweet. Sometime after receiving my First Communion as a Roman Catholic and before realizing I was Atheist, I floated around from denomination to denomination as an Agnostic.

I went to Sunday schools at different churches to soak up as much knowledge as possible. I learned sign language in high school to communicate with our numerous deaf students and wound up attending a non-denominational deaf church to find answers after I was a little more fluent. I was a Christian summer camp counselor and played guitar in a Mormon church to network and learn as much as I could from as many people as possible. This went on for almost ten years.

All in all, in my quest for truth and realism I sought out answers from Mormon, Jewish, non-denominational Christian, Buddhist and Shinto (while in Japan) friends before going with my knowledge and my gut to become an Atheist.

Where scholars have their own debate as to the different levels of Atheism if you will (many leaning towards Agnosticism), here is the bottom line for me. Actually there are eight lines if you will:

1. I do not believe in a God, a Satan or Hell. So please no E-mails telling me I need to be saved. It is a mute point for me and many theists can't begin to understand an Atheist's steadfastness.

2. I am not arrogant enough to believe that we are anything more than a cosmic mistake and I'm not ignorant enough to ignore the possibility that there could be something after this life even if it is only on a molecular level.

3. I do not believe in immaculate conception. As unpopular as this will be, I do believe in rape and understand that women could have been killed by their spouses or shunned by society if found to be raped by another man in Mary's day.

Yes, I believe wholeheartedly that Mary was raped and was afraid to tell anyone or she and Joseph agreed to keep it secret and got caught up in an avalanche of white-lies to keep their family safe (something I came up with on my own knowing how people reacted to acts of immorality back then, and not something I specifically read somewhere). Besides, people back then were extremely gullible because they knew no better.

4. I do believe Jesus existed as a human being (tons of unequivocal proof) but he was not resurrected. I have more faith in the grave robbers of his time. I look at him as a teacher of morals.

5. I do not believe in miracles - I do believe in trickery, dumb luck and consequences for actions taken, whether significant or not, good, bad or even lifesaving.

6. I believe there is an end to space and what lies beyond is not "heaven". No one can claim to know for sure, and even scientists say space is infinite but in my humble opinion, something has to contain the universe, just as a diseased human cell can contain a living nanobacteria or on a more recognized level, just as the Earth is contained in space. Everything has to be contained by something else, even if that something can't be seen or described in modern-day physics.

7. I believe the Bible was written by scared individuals who were desperate for answers regarding the purpose of life and the unexplained. They also had strong moral, issues shall we say, and they wanted to essentially scare everyone into acting the same way. Not that their intentions were bad, but I sense there was a lot of lying going around to get people to believe that horrific things would happen to them if they didn't conform to perfect standards.

8. You know that old saying, "There are no Atheists in a fox hole,"? There might not be any Agnostics in a fox hole but I've found that Atheists (especially this Atheist) are quite comfortable in what they do, or don't, believe in and have no reason to conform to theist ideals in times of danger.

I had a Christian ask me once, "If you are an Atheist, how do you know right from wrong?" Another Christian once accused of being afraid of the hard work of being a good Christian and yet another said I obviously feared going to hell, therefore I chose to be in denial of Satan because I was too afraid to face the "reality" of being a sinner.

Christians by nature (or nurture perhaps) personify evil as the devil while we see it as being weak minded or weak willed with no strings attached. We as mere mortals couldn't possibly defy evil tendencies without a guide such as the Ten Commandments. Scholars and philosophers of Christianity declare that morality can not exist with out a supreme creator to proclaim right from wrong.

Atheists see this following as a sign of weakness. Why should anyone not inherently know it is not okay to rape a young child or that it is wrong to have an extramarital affair? In Atheism: A Very Short Introduction, author Julian Baggini said following the Ten Commandments or similar rules in other religions is nothing but "blind obedience".

On pages 40 and 43 Baggini claimed that Atheism is an undeniably-superior foundation for morality, claiming that, "...a moral basis external to religious imperatives is necessary to evaluate the morality of the imperatives themselves-to be able to discern, for example, that "thou shalt steal" is immoral even if one's religion instructs it-and that atheists, therefore, have the advantage of being more inclined to make such evaluations."

True to Baggini's point of view, I never needed the Ten Commandments to guide me in this matter. Besides from my Mom starting me out on the right ethical path and then life experience as I got older I like to think that I had enough innate intelligence to know right from wrong and realize the repercussions involved from hurting others or committing crimes. Basically, Atheists don't have to be led or be scared into doing right.

It is common sense in my opinion and the opinion of other Atheists, one reason we come off as smug to many. I will raise my children to have good common sense and will let them decide in their own time if they want to be involved in a religion but only my guidance and then their own experiences will, at least initially, teach them right from wrong.

Instead of evil personified as the devil, Atheists believe in the concepts of moral evil and natural evils, even though I personally think too much leverage is given to the word evil. I also feel calling natural disasters "natural evils" is a little dramatic especially because Theists can misconstrue these natural occurrences as omens of the end of the world.

Moral evils are any act that causes harm or takes the livelihood or innocence away from an individual.

Natural evils are natural disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc. and are nothing but nature's way of balancing itself out. We are so insignificant compared to these disasters.

In a bigger picture, look at solar systems being engulfed by super massive black holes. Is the black hole that consumes these worlds evil or does it serve a greater, natural purpose that we may not fully understand yet?

Writing an article on Atheism is no easy task. One could go on for days about why it is more logical to be Atheist or even Agnostic rather than blindly follow religions largely based on myths, half-truths, an ancient society's compensation for chaos and the lack of any real societal structure or even one person's self-serving declarations.

I would never condemn others for believing in a religion as long as that "religion" is used for good and not to harm others or themselves such as Extreme Satanism or whatever is popular these days. It is admittedly difficult if not painful to have a rational conversation with extreme Bible-toting individuals but I never confuse condemning one's religion with healthy debating.

I'm also not one of those arrogant Atheists who looks down on everyone else because of my intellectual superiority and believe me, there are plenty of those types out there . If you respect my beliefs I will respect yours one-hundred percent even if I think they are at times, strange or illogical. I would never voice that out of respect to the individual person.

In fact, I didn't write this to prove right theories from wrong or to convert anyone to my beliefs. I've simply encountered many untruths and misconceptions about Atheism and wanted to bring them to light.

One of the most asked questions I've encountered is, "Hypothetically speaking, what if you die and you were wrong? What if you go straight to hell for not believing in God?"

If that is the case then I was wrong. If the facts I've encountered through out my life and my own epiphanies lead me to an incorrect hypothesis I will have no regrets. I will stand for what I believe in to the very end. If I were to meet a god, Jesus or whoever face to face I would say, "Huh. My bad," and have no excuses. If I still go to hell then so be it.

With that said, today I believe that when we die there is just nothingness - pure blackness without a single thought or sound. Peace and quiet for once some would say. Buddhists call it one with the universe in a spiritual way. I see it as one with the universe in an immense yet non-lucid molecular way.

Ironically rehashing my beliefs made me recall how my friends in Japan told me I would make a great Buddhist. I'll save that story for another time.