(Listening to the audio version. Excellent!)
(Very interesting, quite different. Written by Carl Sagan's son, Nick)
(my favorite atheist book so far)
(It made me LOL)
(It sucked me in. Fun and funny.)
(movie was much better)
(best trilogy I've ever read!)
(very clever satire from the headlines. cynical but funny)
(gritty, violent, excellent retribution!)
(BBC series. Good acting, 80's low budget effects)
(good movie, much better than the book)
1. We admit we were oppressed by religion and that our lives had become incomprehensible and unmanageable under the guise of faith.
2. We came to understand through common sense, education and critical thinking that our own inner strength can restore us to sanity and help us break free of the tyranny of religion.
3. We made a decision to accept complete responsibility for our lives and our will, instead of giving that free will to a god that never made sense.
4. We made a fearless searching inventory of ourselves and our beliefs, and discarded what was not logical and not ours.
5. We admitted to ourselves and others the true nature of our beliefs, stripped of the lies of faith and religion.
6. We were entirely ready to remove the illogical defects of skewed faith from our beliefs through education, common sense and critical thought.
7. We humbly realized we are all human and make mistakes, and take personal responsibility for our shortcomings, and strive to be a good person.
8. We made a list of all beliefs that have harmed us and those around us, and willingly removed them from our lives.
9. We made direct amends to all persons we tried to control with religious indoctrination.
10. We continue to take personal inventory of ourselves and our beliefs through logical thinking, and when we are wrong, learn from our mistakes and correct them accordingly.
11. We sought through education and critical thinking to improve our understanding of our developing beliefs and disconnection from religion, empowering ourselves to carry out our renunciation of faith.
12. Having had an intellectual awakening as a result of these steps, we carry our lack of faith humbly and consciously, and offer to educate others when they are ready to break free of the tyranny of religion, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
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I just started my first blog on this very subject. Its just getting rolling, but I’d be keen to have you weigh in if you’re interested. Our 12 steps are strikingly similar, being based on the AA model.
Another atheist blog. The more the merrier, right?
LV
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As an agnostic living amongst believers, I often feel the disappointment of my persuasive arguments lying in vain, and as such, as well as reading on the bitter attitudes theists are capable of having towards us, I wonder just how we can strike a convincing argument whilst keeping theists from indignation, how to build a bridge of the great idealogical chasm between us. Thoughts, anyone?
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[...] here’s the LINK and here are the 12 steps: 1. We admit we were oppressed by religion and that our lives [...]
I have found your website to be interesting to say the least! I will be honest with you, I am a christian and I do not believe the same as you (obviously). I do however wonder about a few things. Most of the athiests that I have met in my life have some underlying reason as to why the reject religion. I guess my question is have you always not believed in a God or did something happen in your past that caused you to reject the ideals of religion. Please, don’t get me wrong. I am not trying to start an argument, I’m just curious. I don’t believe in religion because really, to say a person is “christian” means that they have a personal belief and relationship with God.
Most religions today are biased to their own personal belief(s). Most people want to force their beliefs on others (christian or atheist or hindu or muslim, etc.,). So, to my next question. I do not mean to stereotype but, every (and I do mean every) atheist I have ever met, works twice as hard to get people to stop believing in God than most “christians” work to get people to believe. If in fact, atheists do wish to stop the world from “believing” does that not make them a religion in and of themselves?
Again, I am not trying to offend. I am just looking for answers to my questions. I will not change my beliefs and I will not try and force mine on someone else. I would encourage everyone to look beyond those tangible things in life and look to things that are not known by senses. Self reflection is what causes most people to turn to religion and sometimes even to turn from it.
As for Craig, I am sorry that he stopped his dialogue with you. I find it interesting when people of opposing beliefs can maintain a conversation. If you would like I could converse with you about why I believe what I believe. Up to you…
Thanks,
Roger
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Neece Reply:
May 9th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Hey Roger,
I decided that this would make a good post instead of replying here. If you’d like to converse about such things that would be good. Email me. There’s a link at the top left of the page.
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