On Atheist Republic's home page, it says "atheists and proud of it." I'm not proud of it; it's just the way it is, who I am. I do not know with any certainty that the biblical God or any god doesn't exist. Let pride and certainty fester among Christian fundamentalists. All I mean by "atheist" as it applies to me is that I'm not a theist, not that I am certain there is no God. Like my kids once said to me, "Dad, you're just as fundamentalist an anti-fundamentalist as the fundamentalists you criticize!" What do you think? Should we be proud that we're atheists?
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What have you been telling your kids that leaves them with that conclusion?
Having you been saying pride is a sin, as I heard so often in Catholic schools?
When religion can block the development of self esteem, it succeeds. Did it succeed with you?
Excellent point. Religion does have a way of undermining the self, by making it seem virtuous to surrender our moral authority to a higher order. Even if you can shake the god, can you shake the mindset?
Each atheists have different reasons why they want to become an atheist. For atheist who undergone severe pruning just to remain into his feet and did not listened to what others said about them, I think he/she deserved to be proud with his belief.
As parents, we cannot push our belief to our children that early and yet we cannot avoid their questioning. Just answer them with all our knowledge and belief is enough at their early stage. As parents, we can influence them more than anybody can, but time will come that they will decide on their own about what to believe and where to go. We should respect them by then.
I think being an atheist is just a personal thing hat you should never feel the need to shout but also proudly say it when asked your religious standing.
agreed 100%
The day I see a national athiest day being officially added to yearly celebrations I will know that we are finally being accepted for questioning all that surrounds us instead of acting like brainless sheep.
I´m actually looking forward to the day humanity dont give a day to honour or celebrate something or someone, but that empathy, tolerance and respect become an everday value. there is a women day and they still get raped, beaten and murdered.
It seems like this can apply to anyone. I have met Christians who never spoke a word to me about their religion until I asked and they didn't seem all too excited when telling me. The same goes for Atheists, some are proud and some just keep to themselves. I also think that pride depends on a person's experiences, for example, a person who was brought up in a strict religious environment may definitely feel proud to share their Atheist views and that they managed to break away from the dogma.
Agreed. I know some people who are just way too proud of the fact that they can think rationally! It's like being proud to be able to dress yourself, or any of the other things toddlers get excited about, lol. In my lab, we refer to them as "anti-religious fanatics". They spend all day trying to *re*convince me that there's no Christian God.
Sorry for the mini-rant, I just finally feel like there's people here who understand :)
I'm one of those people who "broke away from the dogma." No shame in stating that I'm an Atheist.
I think we have all experienced a certain pride for not allowing any religion to continue to blind us, in order to keep from questioning things.
Proud may not be exactly the right word, but as Diego said, the point is that we have no shame in being atheists. Some religious people still don't understand what atheists are and I've heard a few times that atheists simply fear God. Saying we're proud of being atheists hopefully debunks that.
Oh, there should certainly be no shame in it. Hopefully no one here feels that way :/
Maybe its rightful to be proud of something you believe about especially if you can defend it whether we are Christians, theists or atheists.
I think all people should feel proud of using their minds and not following things that make no sense or have ridiculous rules and very vague explanations.