Tell me about
yourself?
My name is izombiheartzoey. I am an atheist but more importantly I
am a philosopher. I don’t think the word describes anything other my position
that the claim that God’s existence. I grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago
and entered the Navy in high school. I was always a wise-ass and a critical
thinker. After was honorably discharged from the military I began working through
community college. During my freshman, missing the community I had in the Navy,
began seeking out secular groups in the surrounding suburbs. I traveled out to
4 groups in a 45 minute radius of where I live and found the driving to be
taxing. As I began my Bachelors in Social Work I decided to start on working on
organizing a group in the south suburbs. I am currently in a social work master’s program and I have been interning as a Faith Based Community Organizer for the last
year and a half.
Did you always know
you were an atheist? What was that
process like?
More or less. I remember growing up and attending several churches
when I was growing up. I don’t have the best memory of what was happening. Suddenly
Sunday mornings someone was waking me up to go to some building where people
sung songs that gave me headaches, and the symbolism was scary. Due to my trouble making nature I spent most
of my time during Sunday school in time out in a corner thinking about hell.
Although God was never a real concept for me, when I was a child hell was a
very real and scary concept.
Did you grow up in a
religious family? How did they take the news that you think differently?
It wasn't that big of a deal. I didn't get kicked out of the
home or disowned like some of the horror stories I have heard about. I was
pretty clear about where I stand. I just kind told people and they expressed their dissatisfaction and things moved on.
How do you describe
what you think about the meaning in world to others? What are your personal and
social values? How have they developed?
That’s a pretty big question. I usually talk about the world
through philosophy. I have studied Nietzsche and several other
materialist/skeptical/ and secular perspectives. I’ve also began working on a blog to flesh out some of my philosophical thoughts (and talk about horrormovies). I do find it challenging to
talk about personal values, but I think at a certain level most people’s initial
stated values are superficial. Even religious folk have to do some
introspective digging to find clarity about their values. I think where I
differ from most atheist that I have met is that I am an anarcho-syndicalist.
What the hell is that (you are probably asking)? Essentially what it means is
that I think that the problems of our current political and economic system
(AKA capitalism and democracy) are fundamentally flawed and produce oppression.
I think that on a large scale we need an intentional refocus on the people that
live in this world and not the crap they buy. I don’t think this can be
accomplished with the world as it. Something has to change. In other word,
anarcho-syndicalism is essentially communism without the dogmatic on political
parties.
What do you think
about religion?
I think religion is a useful tool to move people into the political
arena to make social change. There are a
lot of religious folks in the world, and most have professed values to work towards
the alleviation of human suffering and oppression. I feel this is the common
ground where I can work with religious folk to create a better world.
Has anyone tried to
convert you? How did that make you feel? How did you respond?
I have a couple friends who periodically attempt to pressure
me to go to church with them. But they
have learned to stop. When I am approached by someone who asks me to attend
church with them, and keeps pressuring me, put return the pressure and ask them
why they feel it’s OK to disrespect my perspective. I've found that change the
subject from evangelicalism to respect has been useful to save my time and
theirs. If the pressure keeps coming after that, I ask them if they believe in
a God who forgives radical evil? If they say yes, I tell them that if God exist
and accepts evil then justice is more important than God. That last line usually ends the “church
conversation” so we can talk about something important.
How do people react
to you when you tell them you are an atheist or skeptical about God?
In general most people I have spoken to about where I stand
in college didn't have any clue what I am talking about. It was as if it simply
did not compute that atheism was an option. During my internship working as a
community organizer in church’s most people don’t ask me where I stand. At first I thought this was strange. I spoke
to almost 200 church goers between several congregations. Most of my questions
and challenges had a direct relationship with their relationship with their
faith. A very small minority asked me where I went to church. I told them I infrequently
attended a local Unitarian Universalist church. In general if I wanted to build
power telling someone I am an atheist as an introduction is not a good way about
building relationships. HAHA. I had a friend who used to introduce me to his
friends and new women at bars as “Hey this is my friend, and he is an atheist.”
As you may guess I didn't make too many friends with this wing-man.
What do you think
people should know about atheists?
Two things. First, atheists are not scary. Secondly,
atheists are not a cohesive group with a shared set of thoughts or values.
No comments:
Post a Comment