January 1, 2012 @ 10:59 am
Atheists have the same resources as the religious—we just tell a different story
In a rehearsal at The Metropolitan Opera a few years ago, we were told that a colleague—whom we’d just seen a day or two before—had suddenly taken gravely ill and was in the hospital. As human beings, life-and-death situations trigger our Big Stories about the nature of Life.
Huddled nearby I overheard a colleague say something about God. I moved closer. The man speaking said that only faith can give you the strength to face great adversity such as life-threatening illness… something about comfort too, or maybe even The Comforter:
“I just don’t know how an atheist could face a crisis like that.”
I moved towards the huddle in what I hoped was a casual, friendly way. “I can answer that!” I hoped my voice sounded sunny and light. I wanted to represent my people well. “I’m an atheist / agnostic / whatever…
“Atheists have the same… resources… as everyone else. Those are part of being human. We just tell different stories about them.”
Well… He accepted that and seemed slightly taken aback in a good way. “That’s beautifully said.”
Filed under atheism / agnosticism, religion Permalink
3 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI
Posted by Mormon religious chauvinism and The Gift Of The Holy Ghost | Sentient Meat
January 1, 2012 @ 11:01 am
[...] Last time I wrote that many Christians externalize their personal, human, emotional resources—as the influen… [...]
Posted by Kim
January 1, 2012 @ 11:58 am
If you reject and deny the existence of a resource, you don’t exactly have it available – do you?
Posted by Mr Meat
January 4, 2012 @ 1:56 am
Hi Kim,
I guess I should have been more clear. We atheists have the same emotional resources, ability to recover, to withstand adversity. It even FEELS as though it comes from an external source, at times.
The difference is the interpretation. The story we tell. Rather than saying Jesus or God or the Holy Ghost is the source of this strength, I say that the human psyche has a mysterious way of bearing up when you think you cannot go further.
It is philosophical narcissism to imagine that just because a book or your stories tell you that your personal resources emanate from God, that they actually do. Or that you possess them and nonbelievers do not.
That is the point.