It’s a rare topic we’re apprehensive to talk about, but there was a little, “Hmmm…are we really the best people to discuss religion?” in the air when we started this one. If you listen, you know that Christopher is a life-long atheist and that Shawn is agnostic. Maybe not the best people to talk about religions and sacred beliefs. Or…are we?
We begin by defining what we mean when we talk about “religion” — and then we discuss why we think people are religious. From there, it’s only fair to establish if we are now, or have ever been, religious people.
Next, we talk about what we think is the best thing about religion…and the worst thing about religion. From there, we talk about our thoughts on those who are not religious.
Anyone with an Internet connection knows there are those out there — religious and not religious — trying to win others over to their sides. Find out if we think that’s worthwhile…or just a wasted effort? (Also, you will hear what might be the funniest/craziest attempted conversion story you will probably ever hear.)
The Quran contains over 530 instances of cruelty and violence; The Bible has over 1300! Wars have been launched in the name of religion for centuries. Is religion dangerous? (Find out where we stand.)
As polarized as many have become, some say science and religion cannot coexist. But…can they? We spend some time talking about that before addressing another sweeping statement that’s not too hard to find online: has atheism and a strong trust in science become its own kind of religion?
Many have said that without religion there would be no morals. Find out if we believe that is true? (Hint: Shawn tells Christopher that he’s one of the most moral people he knows.) Many others have come to say in recent years, “I’m not religious–I’m spiritual.” We discuss that before talking about what we find to be the weirdest religions.
And we wrap up this week’s episode posing this question to each other: “If you had to pick a religion to follow, what would you pick?”
As always, the comments are your playground — have fun!
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I’m very out as a life-long atheist, ironically, in spite of many years of going to Sunday school and church as a child, attending Church of God College, and being employed by a church. I’m not as forgiving of cults as you guys. And I don’t define atheism or science as cults the same way I don’t define “no belief in the existence of leprechauns,” or “the global weather system” as cults. But there are all kinds of people in the world, right? 😉
If I *had* to be a cult member, I would absolutely start my own cult. The “Give CM a Dollar” cult. Membership is a dollar, payable to me. Incentive is the satisfaction of giving me a dollar. Pretty self-explanatory. If it had to be a pre-existing cult… I love pasta, so… Pastafarianism FTW! 😀
I never hid that I was an atheist, either…which resulted in becoming one of the most picked on kids in my junior high school. I was asked by a classmate if I believed in God, said, “Nope — never have,” and my life became miserable. It would be easy to say, “See, that’s what Christians do!” but really…that’s what 7th and 8th graders do. (Sadly, some people never grow up.) I do think one might be more inclined to become more extreme in their violence if they are convinced it’s ordained by their god, but at the same time…without gods, I think people would still be just as horrible to each other. At the same time, I do think progress will eventually bury the more extreme cases of outright ignorance. While it seems like there are more angry fundamentalists out there, their numbers are on the decline. More religious people are now saying, “I’m spiritual.” Atheism is growing. I don’t see a day my better religious friends give up their beliefs anymore than I start to believe in superstitions, but I’m fine living with people who believe something I can’t fathom ever believing for so many reasons, but…they are good people who do not deny that the earth is much older than 10,000 years old and that evolution does not exist. You will get no argument from me that a certain level of ignorance and outright anger are dangerous. Fortunately, at best, I only see that in distant acquaintances and relatives we don’t associate with.
I just laugh when I hear the, “Atheism and love of science is a religion,” line. It’s not. But online, it’s an easy argument: say something is something (even if it isn’t) and then trumpet it to the heavens (yes, pun intended). I think I’m more forgiving of religion because most religious people I’ve met have been good people. Most people I meet are good people. I don’t understand how someone can believe the written stories of any faith as truth, but there are plenty of things in the world I don’t understand. For me, I guess it comes down to seeing bigger issues than if a friend believes in far-fetched stories that only exist as truth because there’s a comfort around it all for many. We definitely agree on extremists. Fortunately, my religious friends do as well — they are no more fond of extremists as the rest of us. Even if I consider the people who have beaten me up and humiliated me for being an atheist and then factor in my religious friends…the average person falls somewhere in between.
As far as my chosen religion if I had to accept one…I thought about going with the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but figured I’d try to push myself to see what I’d choose when it comes to a much longer-standing religion.
Would you believe me if I told you the “Give CM a Dollar” cult has existed since before the beginning of time? You just gotta have faith, Christopher! Heck, I’ll even let you be a member for free! (I’m thinking strategically here, of all the publicity my cult will get for converting a life-long atheist.) Your incentive? The satisfaction of chilling the fuck out and making believe. 😉
That’s more convincing than most conversion attempts people have made against me.
Shawn and I have joked about how we could easily go the self-help route and turn the direction of the podcast to just being more focused (and clean) and monetize things. Move on to self help and motivating people at airport Marriotts, totally milking life with a large pituitary tumor (in my case) and overcoming alcoholism (in Shawn’s case). But always, in our back pockets, being able to announce that we finally found Jesus and totally make money as we write books about how wrong we were all those years and move on to making Christian movies and touring churches. If we ever do that, I’ll give you a dollar! 😉
When I went to school, religion was rarely discussed. By, like, anyone. Maybe it was because I went to a lot of military schools, and those kids were used to the EveryReligionChurchRoom thing the military has going on, but no one seemed to care. So every time Chris mentions people in school giving him shit for being an atheist, it boggles my mind a little, and I see the kids who gave a shit (in my mind, anyway) having large, sloping foreheads. And Hypercolor shirts, because those were a thing once.
At my high school, religion wasn’t really a hot topic either. I saw a few students carrying a Bible along with their textbooks, and I remember there was a popular “Teens 4 Jesus” (I forget the actual name) meeting at the school after hours. But no one knew I was an atheist. Once I mentioned I went to Unitarian Universalist Church, and someone said that was a Satanic church. I corrected them, and nothing more was said.
If I had to pick a religion to join, it’d either be the Star Sapphires, or I’d just make my own.
Monicaism. The required uniform would be pajama pants and old college hooded sweatshirts, and church wouldn’t start until 4 pm because nobody who joins gets up before 2 pm anyway.