2009 06 15

I am an atheist, albeit a passive one. (Thank you to my friend Anna for coming up with the term "passive atheist". It sums it all up so well.)

My atheism is more in the veins of my not requiring or having need of kow-towing to any supreme deity of any sort. I am my own master, my own deity, my own Buddha. Whatever mistakes I make or successes I have, are my own. I require no other to either blame or thank. At the same time, however, I do not necessarily denigrate that need in others.

The problem with atheism these days, however, is it too is seeming to turn into some kind of frenzied espousal. There seems to be more hatred than allowance for freedom; more militance; less tolerance. Some seem more angry than you'd think a person who denies the existence of God should feel; in the vein of "protests too much, methinks". My atheism has no hate, and it tries to avoid as much arrogance as it can. (Hard for me, given that I can be an arrogant person. But I try.) My atheism is about me, not about anyone else.

I do not know how my atheist friends feel on this point; but I sometimes now hesitate to use the word atheist, because I do not want to be lumped in with these militant, angry others. There are those of us who are spiritual creatures without the trappings of religion, and those of us who are outright avoiders in all ways.

I still participate in religious rituals at times, because they are communal and because my friends believe. I have respect for them, and enjoyment of the participation; and, sometimes I participate because there are things that need doing and I happen to be there to do them.

Addendum:

Which no doubt makes at least a couple of you wonder about my love of Taoism and Zen Buddhism. For me, neither of those things are religious. They have been religionised, but I view them from the philosophical and logical sides. To me they have universal truths that transcend religion, God, saints, angels, and all the rest. Taoism itself tells you that making it into religion spoils the point. You can find that in the further writings of Lao Tzu, not in the Tao Te Ching.