My Christian friend who knows about my belief shifts recently asked me my thoughts on this poem. I thought my reply would be interesting to share in a blog as well.

I know that the image is hard to read, so I typed up the poem:

An Atheist’s View on Life

I will live my life according to these beliefs
God does not exist
It is just foolish to think
That there is a God with a cosmic plan
That an all-powerful God brings redemption and healing to the pan and suffering in the world
Is a comforting thought, however
It
Is only wishful thinking
People can do as they please without eternal consequences
The idea that
I am deserving of Hell
Because of sin
Is a lie meant to make me a slave to those in power
“The more you have, the happier you will be”
Our existence has no grand meaning or purpose
In a world with no God
There is freedom to be who I want to be
But with God
Everything is fine
It is ridiculous to think
I am lost and in need of saving

A Christian’s View on Life
(read this bottom to top)

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First off, I don’t classify myself as an atheist. I’ve decided I do not want a label right now (see my blog  “Casting off the Label” https://moreunderstanding.home.blog/2019/12/06/casting-off-the-label/ ). Also, I believe that “atheist” can be defined in two ways: 

1) The belief that there is no God 

2) The belief that there is not sufficient evidence for a God (in essence, lacking a belief in God)

This poem, by stating, “God does not exist” seems to go with the first definition, which I agree less with. I connect more with the second definition. I can therefore, only give my thoughts accordingly and do in no way claim to represent everyone, but I’m sure you already know that. It just feels important for me to establish this before saying anything.

One thought I have is that the poem seems to show the religious side in a more positive light. To me, this helps illustrate an interesting concept. Where I am at is not because it ‘sounds’ better, but because it makes more sense. It is not about what is more appealing and what I want to believe. I do not believe that truth works that way. One of the most frustrating things that went through my mind in the voice of Haru (just because he’d been the one to bring it up) was that “all because we want something to be true, does not mean it is”. If I am to be honest, I believe a part of me hated him for that at the time, though he was simply the bearer of bad news. I hold no grudge now. It was just really hard to accept then and I only had him to blame for making me think about that at the time. But, the more and more I thought about it, the more I realized he had a point. I thought about how no matter how much I wanted David (my brother) to not be dead, that didn’t change that he was. 

Being religious before, I remember being frustrated that Haru was bringing up such hard things to think about that equated to a harsher reality than I wanted to face and was giving what I felt was “nothing good in return”. I’ve heard some bring up how this just feels like darkness to them and they equate the feeling of goodness and light with truth and darkness with evil, so it therefore isn’t something they feel can be true. This may be more dominant or perhaps just a mindset that the LDS church promotes. I’m not sure. Anyway, whether true or not, I realized that of course someone would feel ‘darkness’ considering these things if they were facing losing beliefs that meant so much to them before. That is just a natural consequence.

Another thought is that it uses words like “foolish” and “ridiculous”. I found those extreme and do not agree, personally. I do not think others are foolish or ridiculous for other beliefs. I believe we all have reasons for believing the things that we do. As I said earlier I believe that beliefs are built from our experiences and how we interpret what we experience.

I also feel like presenting the start of the atheist part with “I will live my life according to these beliefs” is inaccurate too. Atheism is more so a lack of religion and belief. I believe that the statement used gives a wrong idea of how to even start thinking of the mindset that an atheist is likely in. 

Again, the “God does not exist” seems to only apply to one kind of atheist and not the kind I relate more too. 

For “It is just foolish to think/ That there is a God with a cosmic plan,” again, I do not like the use of the word “foolish” for reasons I explained above. I would not say it is foolish. It is one explanation that could be that some have chosen to believe in. I think that we are all trying to figure things out. I think we are doing the best with that we are given. 

“That an all-powerful God brings redemption and healing to the pain and suffering in the world/ Is a comforting thought, however/ It /Is only wishful thinking” are lines that I think helps show my first point, that even if we want something to be true, it doesn’t mean it is. When I read this a while back, probably when you first shared it on Facebook, the idea of not believing this felt awful. It seemed like such a sad way to be. I couldn’t imagine thinking this. Now I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that this seems likely to me to just be wishful thinking. So, where am I at now, realizing that? I think it is even more important for us to try to bring healing to others and to do our best to alleviate and not add to the pain and suffering of the world. If Christ doesn’t exist to do this, then there may be nothing to make up for it. I would much rather be the person to help others and make a positive difference than to be passive or add to the problem. Knowing that so many connect to the idea of a Savior to me says that we crave this help and goodness. To me that says that it is a powerful and wonderful thing to give that in any form we can. I’m grateful for everyone that does. For me, the idea that I could just pray for someone could lead me to be more passive than I think I should have been. I think that I had a false sense of security that things would be worked out and okay and that made actually doing something seem less pressing. 

I think that “eternal” could be the key word in, “People can do as they please without eternal consequences.” I think it is important to realize that there are still natural consequences that should be taken into account for anything we do. I believe it is wise to learn about those consequences before we make decisions. I still believe that hurting others is wrong and should not be allowed. Sadly I don’t think that religion itself actually stops this, but can even promote hurting others sometimes. For example, the LDS church has at times promoted things that have hurt the LGBT community that I don’t agree with. Or another example is Islam demoting women. I do not agree with religious patriarchies. Also, there have been many wars fighting over the Holy land which has cost I don’t know how many people their lives. 

Next I want to look at: “The idea that/ I am deserving of Hell/ Because of sin/ Is a lie meant to make me a slave to those in power”. First off, because I can not even established there is a hell the idea of being deserving of hell can only be debated theoretically. To me, it is likely that man has been the one trying to define and figure out what makes someone evil. I believe that the idea of hell could have evolved as an explanation for what happened to people that were seen as evil and sinners. Perhaps it was partly used and made to be a fear tactic from someone or a group of people in the past. I think that it can be used as a fear tactic now as well, though that can come from very well meaning, sincere people who honestly worry about that. When it says “Is a lie meant to make me a slave to those in power,” I do not think that that applies universally to people’s intent. If anything, it may go back to the origins of when that concept was conceived. It could give one explanation for how that was and is used, but I do not think is inclusive. Haru says that the term hell even comes from Norse mythology and that the Hebrews didn’t believe in hell in the sense of eternal punishment. They believed in “Sheol”, which at one point in history was thought of as a place similar to the greek underworld, something that I think is interesting to consider. 

I do not feel like the statement, “‘The more you have, the happier you will be’” is something I associate as an atheist mindset, though I have not researched it and can’t say for sure. I believe that can be a belief of anyone. It is not my belief. I don’t think that having things is what creates the most happiness for me. For me, I think that positive connection with others fills my life with the most joy. Having things to make my life comfortable is nice. I won’t deny that. I am grateful for the comforts that I have and that I don’t have to worry about having enough. In the sense that my needs are met, maybe I am happier? But, that is still probably subjective. I think that having my basic needs met at least frees me to think of other things than survival. I cannot speak for everyone, though. I personally feel like that line was thrown in there to make the Christian side of that poem work, but I don’t even think it flows with the atheist side of the poem. 

“Our existence has no grand meaning or purpose,” is another statement that I don’t think is appropriately paired with atheism. In fact, I believe that is actually nihilism. I guess “grand” may be associated with the concept of larger than life…so maybe beyond this life (so perhaps saying an atheist would believe we don’t have meaning beyond this life), but even that is a stretch (and even if it were the case, may not be every atheist view). I don’t think that the meaning and purpose I was told to associate with this life is necessarily the meaning and purpose of life. I do not know the big picture reason for life. But, I do believe we may attribute meaning and purpose to our own lives. After being told that I had a grand meaning and purpose and what that meant, that was a harder concept for me to move on from. Losing that belief was hard. I do not think it would be so hard to come to terms with if I never had been taught it, though. I think it is the loss of that belief that makes things more difficult. Though I am still figuring things out, I am not depressed about the idea anymore. Also, as I said, I still believe we can have meaning and purpose. I just don’t think that is necessary in the way that religion has defined it. 

I do believe that, “In a world with no God/ There is freedom to be who I want to be” can be true in a refreshing, positive way. I do feel like I finally have more choice than I did when I was being told everything I needed to do. I am no longer defined by what someone tells me I need to be. I can decide for myself what feels good and what doesn’t. That also feels more honest to me. I finally do not have to feel cognitive dissonance like I did in the church when I was told I should feel something was bad (like drinking coffee or going against their standards of modesty) when to me it didn’t innately feel like that was bad (or perhaps it did feel bad, but because I was told to view it that way). 

The next lines, “But with God/ Everything is fine,” I don’t even know how to comment on. It looks like that was put there to go along with the Christian part of the poem, but I have no idea how it goes along with what an atheist would even think. 

Lastly, “It is ridiculous to think/ I am lost and in need of saving,” I still do not like their use of “ridiculous”. I do not think that is ridiculous. I believed that for over 20 years of my life. What I will say, though, is it is refreshing to not have to think that I need to be saved and that I am lost. My self-worth has increased with no longer thinking I am fallen, less than the dust of the earth, in need of constant help, incapable of being enough myself, etc.