I feel that atheism forums online, such as this one, can often revolve a lot around all the negative ways that religion manifests itself, in our society and in people. And that’s to be expected, but today I wanted to add something a bit different.

As quite a hard atheist myself, I find John’s religious point of view extremely refreshing. I wish all religious people had this kind of understanding about their own faith.

John is not convinced that his faith is correct - in fact, he seems to recognise that whether his faith is “real” or not is irrelevant. His faith is not about being correct, because that is not inherently something that faith deals with.

I find the end of the video especially moving. John can easily agree and work with his atheist brother, because ultimately they reach the same conclusions, albeit from (only slightly) different paths. I wish we spent more time thinking about all the ways that we (atheists and religious people) actually agree on how the world should move forward, and less time antagonising one another.

Perhaps you find John’s point of view interesting too? :)

  • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zipEnglish
    32·
    13 days ago

    if someone claims only that god ‘exists’, without elaborating on any particular details about what sort of entity they are, it leads me to believe that they want to avoid the label atheist/agnostic for optics, but otherwise have an agnostic viewpoint

    And we can each vouch for each-others faith!

    I can attest that John’s is very legitimate, and above any need for any kind of inquisition

    Edit: My point is that if someone is trying to pass, we can be allies and let them, or even aid them. It can be a tough world out there.

    • sabin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      31·
      14 days ago

      You completely ignored everything I said. You have no faith, you believe in nothing, other than adhering to labels that are favourable to your social circumstances and avoiding labels that aren’t.