Remembering a Christmas spent with the atheists

photo from NANA Astronomy Pic of the Day

The word atheist used to make me cringe. How can anyone even fathom that there is no God? I have close family members who claim to be atheists. It is the common thought among Christians, when they hear that someone does not believe, to see them as lost souls... dead spirits. Then the work begins to try to convince them otherwise. If I know something to be true, how can something else in opposition also be true? was the question. The answer always came up that they must be wrong and should be fixed. Isn't that how we tend to look at everything? good or bad. right or wrong. Good or bad is a concept made up by humans in order to judge others and ourselves, IMO. It is my understanding (one view) that it all started in the garden when man wanted to be like God and decide what is good and what is evil.

About a year ago, I jumped into discussions at a highly intellectual philosophy blog run by a Christian and an atheist where I completely humiliated myself. The atheist encouraged me and helped me get back on my (blogging) feet (Thanks, Matt!). I then went looking for more atheists at another blog called the Friendly Atheist (FA). I used to think the name was somewhat oxymoronic because of my distorted view caused by...well...ignorance. There, I found people just as human as the rest...some very friendly and some not so friendly. But they were real. They were not all the same. Their beliefs or non-beliefs varied just as much as the believers. We are not in opposition. There is no line. Our beliefs all fit somewhere along the spectrum of beliefs, the way I see it.

I spent my whole Christmas season among the atheists (on the blog) and felt like they were my extended family. In some ways, I felt closer to them than my Christian friends. That's where I met Richard Wade. As I laughed, played, and argued with them, I slowly washed away my bias. There were some rough and painful verbal exchanges, and I cannot say it was always an easy experience. But if it involves human interaction, easy is not a word that would come to mind. I was determined to do whatever was necessary to be rid of my "religious" judgmental mentality. Richard was there to help me through it all and became (and remains) one of my very dear on-line friends who often show me how things look from another angle. I saw the perspectives that I never saw before. I did not become an atheist. They did not take God away from me, as many Christians would fear. I just learned to appreciate people who have very different views than the one I see. Many of them have left the blog since then. I, too, don't visit as much anymore. We all have transitioned into other things in life, I suppose. But today, I am remembering Claire, Mriana, Jeff, Maria, Ash, Darryl, NYatheist, AJ, Karen, Mike, MTran, Spursfan, and others whose names escape me. They all taught me so much.

I will always remember my one (first) holiday season spent with the atheists.

I saw Mars next to the moon on December 23, 2007. Richard pointed it out on one of his comments on FA.

On December 1, 2008 (two days ago), I saw Venus and Jupiter clustered together with the moon, lighting up the sky.

The universe is just so vast, too awesome to stay focused only on what seems to be true in our own little narrow view of life.