The Atheist Who Agreed with Me
“I’m an atheist,” my classmate boasted, loudly, “so I don’t believe in that stuff.”
His response to Christianity was predictable – he was the sort of person who took every opportunity to step away from tradition. But I didn’t believe him. I could tell he was just saying it to sound cool.
“So,” I leaned in, “You don’t believe in God? There’s no soul, and nothing spiritual?”
“That’s not what I meant.” He quickly retracted, “I’m not saying God doesn’t exist-.”
“But you called yourself an atheist,” I interrupted, “that’s means you don’t believe in a higher power. At all.”
“Well, it’s not that I don’t believe in God…” He searched for an answer, “…I just don’t think the church is completely right about Him.”
I started to say something, but our professor decided (wisely) that it was time to get back to our discussion of Augustine. Still, there was so much I wanted to tell my colleague.
Did he realize how much we had in common? I also think the church has misrepresented God, at times. And I think the church’s petty disputes and political entanglements distract people from the beauty of redemption and love.
It makes me wonder how many people think they disagree with me when they actually share many, if not all, of my beliefs.
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We aren’t big on exclusive grouping, but this person is not an atheist. “I don’t know” doesn’t confirm this, but the acknowledgment that he believes in a deity confirms non-atheism.
I wouldn’t exclude those who assume a possibility of a deity but choose disbelief due to lack of evidence. That’s usually where people from religious backgrounds start. It is also a way many people avoid being grouped with the negative stereotypes attributed to atheism (see Neil D. Tyson.)
Many people immediately hate atheists because they were taught to hate us or because they have experienced some horrible people who are atheists.
Lately, atheists have been encouraged to come out of the closet, but they don’t because it is more socially acceptable to hate atheists than to hate non-heterosexuals.
“atheists have been encouraged to come out of the closet, but they don’t because it is more socially acceptable to hate atheists than to hate non-heterosexuals.”
I think there’s lots of truth to this, except in academia, which is the context of this particular encounter. In the academy, especially in graduate and post graduate programs, an atheist doesn’t have to “come out,” it’s assumed: nobody intelligent and sophisticated believes in that god stuff anymore, especially Christianity. Anyway, I say all this not to take away from your comment so much as to return it to the context of this particular scenario.
What I found interesting about this fellow was that he really, really, wanted to be known as an atheist, but he clearly wasn’t one.
I wasn’t interested in criticizing him or forcing any beliefs on him. I just wanted to know what he believed. Apparently, he hadn’t really worked it out yet – he just knew which label he wanted to show us.
You make a strong point. I do understand the context of academia, that’s why I mentioned NDT. We often lose ourselves in academia and separate that from the outside world when the two are bound to each other.
Haha, Adam. I’m gonna call myself a rockstar from now on. I haven’t worked that out yet either, but maybe this approach will work.
In all seriousness, I remember not having things worked out, and that was the toughest time for me because I didn’t want to be an “atheist.”
This guy is an odd duck to me too.