I want Men in Trees to come back on TV! I miss it!
we had a workshop about trauma today. and i learned, among many other things, that there is such a thing as vicarious trauma. i never knew it had a name. perhaps i have gotten to the root of my horrible time coming down from the north last time: even though nothing bad happened to me, there was so much trauma happening around me and to people i knew that it leeched into me, as well.
and another thing: i don't think anyone reading this will be surprised that I'm an atheist. call it a sudden desire to be honest with myself. it's been an interesting ride from christian to atheist. i've had to rebuild my ethics and morality, i've had to answer why anything matters, if there is no "meaning" to life. and i've wondered a lot about how much to say about my new non-beliefs. i mean, really, it's nobody's business, right? besides, even when i was religious, i always hated the idea of evangelism. blech.
no question, if i had a new religion, i would be allowed to express it and live it. after all, every religion needs to be tolerated. but somehow, atheism is less accepted. somehow atheism isn't trustworthy or human enough. today i sat uncomfortably shifty in the workshop as everyone else bowed their heads to pray. now i'm not hostile, and there is really no harm done to me by being present in a public prayer. but i shouldn't have to toe the religious line when i chose to work in a public school system. if nothing else, it makes me uncomfortable to know that someone standing right beside me is trying their darndest to reach some higher power.
As irony would have it, I was subtly reading an article from the Walrus about the slow death of god at the time of this impromptu public prayer.
i reject the idea of lip service and posturing.
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3 comments:
i find it interesting that you said "my new non-beliefs" because non-beliefs, in itself, ARE beliefs. it is your belief that there's nothing to believe in.
is not a question of having faith, it's a question of what you have faith in. yours is the strong-held opinion of atheism. and that, my friend, is faith.
that's probably way off topic, but i thought i'd point that out to you :p you know, be a smart-ass.
hmm.. i disagree, my friend. :D you had to see that coming.
faith is "being sure of what you hope for and certain of what we do not see."
for instance: i don't believe in evolution, i observe it. so it can't be a question of faith.
sorry to double-comment... this is from an article i read recently at http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ac_grayling/2006/11/post_604.html
the full article is there if you want to read it: i will say that the tone of article is pedantic and insulting to religion and the faithful, just so you are fore-warned.
"People who do not believe in supernatural entities do not have a "faith" in "the non-existence of X" [...]; what they have is a reliance on reason and observation, and a concomitant preparedness to accept the judgment of both on the principles and theories that premise their actions. The views they take about things are proportional to the evidence supporting them, and are always subject to change in the light of new or better evidence. "Faith" - specifically and precisely: the commitment to a belief in the absence of evidence supporting that belief, or even (to the greater merit of the believer) in the very teeth of evidence contrary to that belief - is a far different thing[...]"
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