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[GoogleJunkie]

I was just wondering if anybody had tried or given any thought to trying/studying other religions besides Christianity before deciding they were an Atheist. I myself have attempted to practice several different "alternative religions" the latest one being Heathenism.

[humanguy]

Nope. God is god, just a made-up human fantasy.

[NH Baritone]

In the move out of a liberal Protestant church, I met with a Bahai'i study group for a while in college. I later explored Buddhism because, in its Western manifestations, it deemphasizes belief in the supernatural. Nonetheless, even secular Buddhist study spends a lot of time focusing on the Buddha's teaching simply because it came from him. I find no reason to believe any one person, much less one who lived millennia ago, deserves such adoration & reverence.

I don't believe any "religions" have relinquished both belief in the supernatural or belief in their central human figures, be they mortal or supernatural, as a basic component to their "faith." The notion that somehow any god interacts with humans stikes me now as so far-fetched, I would not fit in with any existing religion, with the possible exception of the Unitarians or Ethical Societies.

[Pseudonym]

I don't believe any "religions" have relinquished both belief in the supernatural or belief in their central human figures, be they mortal or supernatural, as a basic component to their "faith."

That's true, but I wonder if that's so important given the high level of migration between religions these days, of which your story is but one example.

[NH Baritone]

I don't believe any "religions" have relinquished both belief in the supernatural or belief in their central human figures, be they mortal or supernatural, as a basic component to their "faith."

That's true, but I wonder if that's so important given the high level of migration between religions these days, of which your story is but one example.

Well, deities, spirits, and/or venerated revealers are inevitably present at the heart of all religions, and this fact has carved out a big canyon between me and just about all religion practitioners, i.e., folks who think all those things matter in the present day.

Even in college, I looked around because Christianity was ceasing to make sense to me. After decades spent in intensive church and academic study, this is, in all likelihood, a case where familiarity has bred contempt. In the end I was left unenthralled with Christian mythology.

Baha'i attempts to unite all religions, but in practice it has simply become another fowl in the flock of faiths.

Secular Buddhism has some practices that prove useful. (Sam Harris and Susan Blackmore are both meditators, and so am I.) I can even present a cogent argument that the "self" is an illusion. But the veneration of Gautama Buddha and the centrality of his teachings defy reason and too readily crumble into hero worship.

It comes down to this: If you insist that there is a supernatural element to life, then you are in some way religious. Some atheists still believe in a variety of superstitions, and I'll probably have just as much disappointment in their peculiarities as I do those who are formally religious. But it is largely the theists who keep gleefully insisting that God's finger is stirring the soup, and that, to my mind, is kind of crazy.

[GoogleJunkie]

NH Baritone, I am in agreement with you that all religions seem unbelievable. It has taken me several years of questioning and learning to reach this conclusion and I just made a few stops on the way. I was just wondering if some others took a similar path as me.

[NH Baritone]

By the way, GJ, welcome to the forum!

[GoogleJunkie]

Thanks. I'm sure I'll enjoy my time here and learn a lot.