Should I Call Myself An Atheist Christian?

Being a critical thinker is a very unpopular thing in our world. It always has been... and while it may have become a bit less so as more have opened their eyes and begun rejecting the notion that it is virtuous to believe things without subjecting them to any intellectual scrutiny, those of us who refuse to shut down our minds in submission to whatever ideas are being sold by those who have very relaxed logical requirements are often persecuted. Perhaps we are even more persecuted than those who seem to think they are singled out for punishment because they are religious.


I've had people totally stop talking to me because I've disagreed with them on popular scientific theories that are made more of the imaginings of a great thinker than of any basis in actual science. People get certain ideas in their heads and will defend them with whatever they can simply because they want to believe, ignoring any evidence (if they are ever even exposed to any) to the contrary.


I've received death threats regularly every time I've discussed publicly via A.M./F.M. radio or internet radio the fact that I am an atheist. Ironically, these death threats often come from people who claim to be Christians, although some also claim to be of other religious persuasions.


When it comes to beliefs or theories, I don't try to convince people one way or another, I simply present real, factual information which they are ignoring, and to those who want to believe, that is very annoying. Sometimes there are people whom I respect as having an intellect that would allow them to appreciate having additional information which they may not have considered who do not appreciate it at all because their desire to believe on an emotional level is stronger than their thirst for actual knowledge. Having additional and possibly opposing information doesn't necessarily prove something as untrue, but if it's true, opposing information shouldn't be a problem.


I have personally seen people whom I thought would always accept me turn their backs on our friendship when they learn that I am not a believer. Some do so immediately on discovering this, others do so gradually after a series of failed attempts to convert me. It's more painful than you can imagine to think that a belief in an invisible entity and the associated beliefs, rules, and regulations are more important than the very real, tangible connection two real, flesh and blood people can have together.


Some turn their backs on their non-believing fellow humans because they think we are being unkind in revealing things about their beliefs that simply make no sense to us (or perhaps, even to them). Others do so because they fear, even if subconsciously, that we are on to something, and they can't handle the possibility that Santa - I mean - "God" - isn't real.


Luckily, I have just as many Christian and non-Christian religious friends who, while they disagree with my assertion that faith in one invisible entity over another makes no sense, are perfectly content to allow me to be who I am and who still recognize that I am every bit as "Buddha-like" or "Christ-like" in my behavior as they are, with the one and only difference in the two of us being that I do not believe in supernatural things.


As someone who is always interested in learning new things, I'm quite connected to a variety of different people who hold an equally wide variety of beliefs, philosophies, and secular practices. Over the past decade, I've had several people suggest to me that I join them in calling my philosophy "Christian Atheism", and that I refer to myself as an Atheist Christian as they refer to themselves.


For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, or who may mistakenly assume that the words Christian and Atheist together create nothing more than an oxymoron, allow me to explain: Christian Atheists reject the notion of a supernatural entity while following the moral teachings of Jesus Christ. This should not be confused with those to whom some Christians negatively refer as "atheist Christians" who call themselves Christians but who supposedly "act like atheists". (Whatever that means - probably that the person does not act as if they have any morals, which is unlike most atheists I know, but that's another topic for later discussion.)


Many Christians view atheists as immoral, hateful people to be avoided completely other than to pray for them. It is true that many atheists may seem hateful to religious people who constantly approach them as if they must be angry, bitter people who, if only they would open their hearts, they would certainly become Christians and suddenly stop requiring anything to make sense and just accept whatever they are told by those who want them to join the church.


I am no more angry than the average Christian, and I certainly do not conduct myself in a hateful manner. This is why it is so frustrating to be accused of doing just that when I am confronted with someone who so desperately wants me to believe and I refuse to do so based on faith alone without credible evidence. Not only do I refuse to believe in the supernatural aspects of anything without requiring credible evidence, but I am quite good at pointing out what doesn't make sense in a way that frustrates those who have given little or no thought to why they actually believe as they do and are, therefore, unable to come up with anything logical to counter what I am saying, since their faith requires no logic... only blind adherence... or does it?


Those who believe in supernatural things do not believe based on faith alone. If that were the case, they would believe in EVERY religion, and that isn't possible, since so many are in opposition to one another. There's also the fact that, even though the claim is that it's all about faith, there are still constant attempts to "prove" the things they believe in are valid and real to those of us who don't believe. It's as if the fact that others exist who do not believe is a constant reminder to them of their own doubt, and the only way they can remove the annoyance is to convert those who do not believe. The fear associated with the belief in an "eternal lake of burning fire" prevents them from ever considering that their own beliefs might warrant some scrutiny. It's quite a conundrum. Fear is a powerful thing, and those who truly have concern for their friends that they may end up suffering an eternal torture in the lake of fire never consider that there are others in different religious groups who have just as much concern for them, as their religion clearly tells them that Christians are the ones who are "the great Satan" and will suffer an eternal damnation upon their deaths.


Before I go on, however, I should point out that I was once EXTREMELY RELIGIOUS myself! I am not an atheist because I have never been exposed to religion. On the contrary, I grew up with a father who played the organ at just about every version of Christian church there is throughout my childhood, and I went to Sunday school at those churches when he was playing there. I also was a youth pastor for several years, and even considered going to seminary at one point to become a minister myself. (This was in part due to a really cool lady who was a minister at a church I practically lived in growing up.)


Even then it was clear to me that even within the Christian faith, there are many variations, all claiming to be the "right" one, yet all different. Still, I believed. I believed because this is what I had always been taught, and because it seemed such a way of life and such an integral part of the community that it was inconceivable that it couldn't be valid. I never even considered that the supernatural wasn't valid. It never crossed my mind.


Much like a fish in an aquarium, there was no world outside of Christianity for me until I grew up and began traveling and learning about the many other religions, learning just how many religions have similar beliefs to Christianity and yet came before Christianity. Many do not realize that non-Christian religions long before Christianity believed in an immaculately conceived savior complete with resurrection of said savior after death. The concept simply is not unique, and yet many Christians who know little or nothing about religions other than their own assume they have the monopoly on these ideas, which actually seem to be quite universal.


I once made the same weak arguments for why others should believe in what I believed as a Christian as those who try to convert me do today, believing that they were oh-so-strong at the time. Every time a Christian comes to me with "new" information they've discovered, I think back a couple of decades and remember making the same "discoveries".


When I share with these people that I've heard these things before, they get offended and accuse me of calling them "stupid". Let me be clear: I have many very intelligent friends, some of them with Ph.D.'s and who are very accomplished people, who are Christians. One of my dearest friends is an ordained deacon in the Episcopal church in New York City who was a first-responder on "9/11" and I have much respect for him and he is a very brilliant, sharp-minded man.


I myself was baptized in the Episcopal church, and in my experience the Episcopal church doesn't take "The Holy Bible" quite as literally as some brands of Christianity, which is why my parents preferred it over other churches.


I also grew up with some of the most wonderful people walking on this earth who are members of The Disciples of Christ denomination of Christianity. They are some of the most accepting, compassionate, kind, loving people I've ever known. They, too, seem to understand that love is a behavior and not just a word, and there is no singling out of any person or group of people for judgment according to "The Holy Bible", which actually seems to condemn everyone for most everything if you choose to take it literally or as more than an attempt of ancient people to make sense of a world that often left them bewildered.


It isn't a matter of intelligence whether you are religious or not. It's a matter of whether you exercise that intelligence in a way that allows you to participate in certain cultural practices without allowing your mind to be a hostage to those who wish to manipulate you for their own nefarious purposes or simply because they want you to be like them.


I think many people are secretly "closet atheists" or at the very least "closet agnostics". I know many people who are willing to openly say that they don't know whether their religious beliefs are true, but that they don't care - they are content to participate in their chosen religion as if it is while being reasonable and willing to admit that they could be wrong. For them, the community, culture, and fellowship is more important than the belief itself, which is why I sometimes think it would make more sense if we fostered more non-religious community organizations to give those who are not religious a sense of purpose and focus for their philanthropic efforts.


It was a long road that brought me to the realization that so much of what we are told simply isn't true. Ultimately, I realized that, while it makes no sense to me to believe anything just because someone wrote about it long ago in a land far away, the principles I had learned when I was a Christian were still valid: it still makes sense to love your neighbor, to show kindness and help those who are in need. Compassion, kindness, love... that is my religion if I must have one.


The reason my friends have suggested I should call myself Christian with a qualifier of "atheist" is that those who know me see me as one who behaves in a very "Christ-like" manner when it comes to the way I treat people. I have had more than one person tell me that, if anyone has a reason to be bitter about how life has treated them, it's me. I, however, do not feel that way at all. I accept responsibility for my mistakes, and in so doing there is no reason to be bitter - not even towards myself. I'm human. I've done the best I've known how to do with what I've had to contend with in life. I've had some tough times, but I've also had some wonderful times. I'd say overall, it balances out.


I'm a chronic optimist. Some even say that my optimism is what gets me into trouble, since I sometimes overestimate what is possible, allowing my enthusiasm to get me carried away. This is yet another reason why I have made diligent efforts toward more realistic thinking over the past few years.


I'm still on the fence about whether it makes sense to call myself an Atheist Christian/Christian Atheist. First of all, if I were going to refer to myself using any religious label along with atheism, it would probably be "Atheist Jew" or "Jewish Atheist". This is because, after studying Judaism and reading Rabbi David Aaron's "Endless Light: The Ancient Path of Kabbalah", I realized that the information contained in that book was closer to what Jesus was trying to say than what has become perverted in many churches today into a distorted version of what Jesus himself studied, learned, and taught. (We are all fragments of a large vessel that shattered and are in the process of reconnecting. In other words: we are all a piece of "God".)


I highly recommend that anyone should give that book a read... atheists, Christians, Jews, secularists... it gives much insight into the parables and hidden meanings in the stories of "The Old Testament" in "The Holy Bible". Particularly interesting are the passages about where the veil actually comes from in a wedding ceremony and what it symbolizes, the difference between a grabbing hand and a cupped hand... it's all very beautiful and profound, even if you don't believe in supernatural things. It's part of the meaning behind the stories in "The Holy Bible", which contains the Torah, and which the Jews will always understand more deeply than any "Christian" could ever hope to without studying Judaism like Jesus himself did.


Speaking of "The Old Testament", this is where I get really upset when it comes to any religion which refers to "The Holy Bible" as something that should be revered, and here is why:


In Chapter 22 of the book "Genesis", Abraham is held up as a faithful hero for being willing to sacrifice (KILL) his son, Isaac. I don't care whether in the end he "didn't end up having to kill him" because "God was only testing him" or not. The point is, the man was willing to KILL his own son because he believed that "God" wanted him to, and supposedly "God" was just "testing" him to see if he would be willing to do so (being an obviously egotistical god) and yet, supposedly because this god was also merciful, Isaac's life was spared once this demanding, egotistical murderer saw that Abraham was, indeed, willing to go that far if asked to do so by this invisible entity. In a court of law, "God" would be convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. Why is it okay for an invisible entity to do this and not okay for a human? It's not okay with me no matter who, or what, you are.


If you don't understand why I have a problem with this, let me ask you: Would YOU be willing to kill YOUR child if you believed that your god wanted you to? Seriously?


If your answer is yes, then you should immediately have your children taken from you and placed into protective custody, because anyone who believes they should do so if their god tells them to is subject to, at any time, believing that their god wants them to do so. I don't care if "The New Testament" supposedly did away with the old laws and requirements or not, the idea that anyone would be willing to do so if required to by their god even with the safety net of "but that would never be required because of 'The New Testament' or because "Jesus died on the cross so we wouldn't have to" is simply too disturbing for me to stomach.


If your answer is no, then you apparently do not truly believe in the omnipotent power and respectability of your god, and I challenge you to ask yourself why you should be religious at all. You either believe in the authority of this invisible being or you don't. If you one day become convinced that your god wants you to kill your own child and are unwilling to do so, it means that you realize that this is an unreasonable god and unreasonable gods don't deserve our reverence.


For that matter, no book which condones anyone being willing to kill their own child for the sake of proving their devotion or faithfulness should be revered, whether the requirement is there to fulfill it or not, simply requiring that you be willing to do so is unacceptable to me... and if you like "The Holy Bible" because of the many nice things it says, then you might want to consider that there are many other books of philosophy which contain those same ideas (ideas which were around long before there was ever a written set of scriptures) which do NOT contain passages painting those willing to commit murder as being morally upright, respectable people.


Perhaps you think I'm ridiculous for having a problem with this, but I'm here to tell you (because my father did not sacrifice ME at an alter to appease any gods) that there are PLENTY of people who start out only as delusional as is required to believe in supernatural entities and end up becoming progressively more delusional to the point where THEY DO MURDER THEIR CHILDREN BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE THEIR GOD WANTS THEM TO!


Surely you haven't forgotten Andrea Yates? She drowned all five of her children in a bathtub because she believed it was the only way she could save them from hell. Sure, she was mentally ill, suffering from postpartum depression, and she had been on some very heavy medication. However, her actions were not very different at all from Abraham and his willingness to kill his son. The only difference is that "God" didn't send a goat/goats to keep her from killing her kids. I'm against anything, written or otherwise, which is taught to people in conjunction with morality and teachings of virtue which also includes teaching such nonsense as a willingness to kill anyone, especially an innocent child, simply to appease a god. It should sound completely insane to any sane human being no matter what context in which it is presented, and if it doesn't, then you are possibly closer to doing some crazy things in the name of religion than you yourself realize or are willing to admit.


Of course, there's also the issue I have with those who eat bacon, crab, lobster, shrimp, and other foods condemned in "The Old Testament" while claiming strong "convictions" that homosexual relationships are "wrong" and voting against allowing gay couples to legally marry, legislating selectively whatever their holy book says according to their own prejudices and conveniently overlooking their own desires which are also considered abominations.


These are things which, when I confront those who tell me why I should go back to believing without requiring proof, frustrate those who thought they had the perfect argument, and it is then that I am persecuted by THEM as being rude, hateful, inconsiderate, or hurting their feelings with my refusal to shut down my brain in favor of submitting to their particular brand of religion.


Interestingly, those who are members of differing religions in opposition to the religions of others are often more accepted than those of us who have no beliefs in any religious doctrine.


I should interject here that I have many friends who are religious but who do not take "The Holy Bible" literally, and they are wonderful people. Perhaps it is because they recognize that "The Holy Bible" is a collection of writings made by people in an attempt to document their history more than anything else, and that as such, it is prone to the own limited understanding that those people had of their world at the time. They are somehow able to keep that perspective while gleaning whatever wisdom they find in the scriptures, separating the wheat from the chaff, as it were.


I have much respect for those who go and do wonderful things in the name of religion, but I am also aware that people also do terrible things in the name of religion. Our upcoming ten year anniversary of "9/11", those horrible multiple terrorist attacks on not only America, but on humanity as a whole, is the sad reminder of that.


Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all do wonderful things simply because we want to, because we love our fellow humans, without requiring a belief in the supernatural to be a prerequisite? Wouldn't it be wonderful if people started owning their actions, their attitudes, and their minds rather than cloaking it all in religious garb?


I tend to think that if we did, there would be far fewer people doing horrible things and cloaking them in religious garb as well.


But back to the question of whether I should call myself an "Atheist Christian" in order to help others understand what atheism really is and that I am no different than they are other than my lack of belief in supernatural things.


While it might accomplish that goal, it would, in my mind, also continue to perpetuate the myth that atheists are typically devoid of compassion, kindness, love, and morals by adding a qualifier... as if to say "Most atheists are immoral assholes, but not me. I'm a friendly atheist."


I refuse to associate with assholes, whether they are atheists, Christians, Jews, Muslims, or Wiccans. I dislike assholes.


So for now, I'll continue to call myself an atheist, which, by the way, simply means that I am without a belief in gods... any of them. And I'll add, that every Christian is also an atheist with regard to the thousands of gods other than the Christian "God", I simply believe in one less god than they do.


Perhaps that's the best way to explain who I am: I do not believe in the Christian "God" for the same reason that a Christian does not believe in any of the other gods. It has no bearing whatsoever on my how I live my life or who I am as a person.


Sadly, many seem to place a higher value on the "faith" in the supernatural things related to religion than they do in the actual behaviors that Jesus Christ is said to have taught: treating people with compassion, fellowship, kindness, and respect, refraining from passing judgment on others while engaging in "abominable sins" according to "The Holy Bible" (like eating shrimp) themselves.


In the end, it's all about showing that they view love as more than just a word, but a behavior to be shown, even to us atheists.


I appreciate the prayers of those who pray, because to me it is an expression of love and concern. It isn't necessary for me to believe that it has any special powers beyond that. The expression of love is powerful enough.


I am touched when a Christian friend expresses concern for me because they don't want me to burn in hell. The fact that I don't believe in hell doesn't make their concern any less appreciated for me. I hope nobody burns in hell, because that means there is a really sadistic god out there without even as much decency as the average Christian human, and that just baffles me.


If I were the parent of a deity named God, I would admonish him that he created these beings, and he needs to grow the HELL up (no pun intended) and deal with what he created rather than punishing his creations because they aren't what he wanted them to be. You're the omnipotent deity, why the hell can't you create people that will do what you want, even if they DO have free will? Why can't you create them to have the will to do what you want them to? Oh wait... that would be boring, which must mean this is all just how you entertain yourself. Why don't you stop torturing your creations and go read a book instead? I can recommend the books of quite a few of your people you supposedly created... they're really great reads... but you should already know that.


To me, the behavior of the Christian god and the Muslim god and many of the other gods is not even up to par with the average human being when it comes to morality. Why should humans not murder one another if the entity that supposedly created us seems to have murdered more of us in "The Holy Bible" than any terrorist could ever dream of murdering? This is the example you're setting? No wonder almost 3,000 people died ten years ago on September 11. And this whole "sacrificing your son" business just doesn't wash with me, but you should already expect that, since you already know everything about me and since you apparently created me. Deal with it.


I do my best to admonish my fellow-atheists to show the same love and compassion toward Christians and others whom they may view as misguided as they'd like to be shown by believers. I'd like to be a bridge between the two, and at one time I thought that perhaps calling myself an Atheist Christian would accomplish that goal, but really, I think it would just perpetuate the false beliefs people already have about atheists in general... that without the label of a specific set of beliefs attached, no person who is without belief in supernatural things could possibly be a decent person. That just doesn't make sense to me. And I really need things to make sense.


A.