3 ms·

why militantly?

empyrrhicist 3y ago
Not OP, but I probably fall at least somewhat into that category. Most people that feel strongly about their non-theism seem to do so in response to their direct or indirect experience with the religious. I grew up in a very Christian environment, and painfully coming to the realization that my methods for dealing with existential anxiety were based on lies made me extremely bitter. Even now, after many years of becoming better adjusted and working on myself I'm still a bit salty about it, and I don't think it can be good for children to experience. I also get grossed out, for lack of a better term, at all the self congratulatory nonsense that goes on in religious communities. I have no problem with religious people, and have a number of lovely ones in my life, but if people start even lightly evangelizing at me my hackles go up quick.
- hayst4ck 3y ago
  This was more or less correct. It's hard to express the trauma without the vitriol. My grandma disowned me and my parents were basically in a state of disappointment for an extended period of time in my developing years. The lesson was clear. To practice christian love means only loving Christians. That's not what the Jesus I learned about taught. The way Christians acted was frequently in violation of the values they claimed they had. A great historian brought up the idea of democracy being something you are, or something you do. Well to many Christianity is something they are, not something they do. If Christianity is something you are, then your sins are forgiven and you don't have to live your life in any particular way, you are christian by your very being. If Christianity is something you do, then actions would align with christian values, and you are only as christian as the way you act. So large swathes of society adopt a core axiom to their belief system: "my traditions are the truth, contradictory or not." And once somebody believes a contradiction is the truth, real actual truth must be formed around it or rejected. Once you take a contradictory axiom into your belief system, your system services authority not rationality. So you can either have a belief system formed around the idea that contradictions indicate "not truth" or a belief system based on the idea that there is one truth that must be built off. This makes Christianity the enemy of rationality and an enemy of my own belief system. The christian requirement of authority requires resistance, thus militant-ism.
klyrs 3y ago
Speaking as one who used to identify in that way: I was raised adjacent to militant Christians -- they were in my family, in my neighborhood, in the non-religious third-place communities I belonged to. I felt the need to fight in the war that they brought to my doorstep.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

why militantly?

Not OP, but I probably fall at least somewhat into that category. Most people that feel strongly about their non-theism seem to do so in response to their direct or indirect experience with the religious. I grew up in a very Christian environment, and painfully coming to the realization that my methods for dealing with existential anxiety were based on lies made me extremely bitter. Even now, after many years of becoming better adjusted and working on myself I'm still a bit salty about it, and I don't think it can be good for children to experience. I also get grossed out, for lack of a better term, at all the self congratulatory nonsense that goes on in religious communities. I have no problem with religious people, and have a number of lovely ones in my life, but if people start even lightly evangelizing at me my hackles go up quick.

hayst4ck 3y ago
This was more or less correct. It's hard to express the trauma without the vitriol. My grandma disowned me and my parents were basically in a state of disappointment for an extended period of time in my developing years. The lesson was clear. To practice christian love means only loving Christians. That's not what the Jesus I learned about taught. The way Christians acted was frequently in violation of the values they claimed they had. A great historian brought up the idea of democracy being something you are, or something you do. Well to many Christianity is something they are, not something they do. If Christianity is something you are, then your sins are forgiven and you don't have to live your life in any particular way, you are christian by your very being. If Christianity is something you do, then actions would align with christian values, and you are only as christian as the way you act. So large swathes of society adopt a core axiom to their belief system: "my traditions are the truth, contradictory or not." And once somebody believes a contradiction is the truth, real actual truth must be formed around it or rejected. Once you take a contradictory axiom into your belief system, your system services authority not rationality. So you can either have a belief system formed around the idea that contradictions indicate "not truth" or a belief system based on the idea that there is one truth that must be built off. This makes Christianity the enemy of rationality and an enemy of my own belief system. The christian requirement of authority requires resistance, thus militant-ism.

klyrs 3y ago

Speaking as one who used to identify in that way: I was raised adjacent to militant Christians -- they were in my family, in my neighborhood, in the non-religious third-place communities I belonged to. I felt the need to fight in the war that they brought to my doorstep.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]