Who is Arrogant?

As a Christian I had been taught that anyone who turned away from God willingly and especially those who called themselves that dirty Atheist word were doing so simply because they were choosing to live a worldly life where they could be as immoral as they wanted and that these people were not only immoral but they were literally being willingly defiant of God. As a Christian you are taught that Atheist and non-believers are really bad people. They are actively choosing sin over God. 

Being fed that narrative growing up and from the pulpit as an adult it can cause a person to put together some preconceived notions about Atheism and what it means. When I was a Christian I thought of Atheists as smug, stubborn, arrogant, selfish people who wanted to be able to live contrary to morality and who openly rejected God for their own selfish reasons. Boy, was I wrong. Turns out I have bene wrong about a lot of stuff.

To a Christian it is difficult to think of a more arrogant person than an Atheist. Of course, there are some arrogant, obstinate asshole Atheists. Assholes exist in any group of people you can label. It does not extend to everyone in the group. In fact, it is usually a vocal minority. The truth of the matter is, Christians are taught who/what Atheists are but most Christians don't know an Atheist and if they do, they don't have in interest in sitting down to coffee with them to learn about their true nature or their thoughts and feelings. I mean, Atheists are pretty rare, statistically. It's hard to even find one and if you did find one as a Christian you're probably not going to invite them to lunch. If anything you might invite them to church to try and fix them (if you care) or you'll just avoid them entirely. Because they are either worshipping themselves or they are worshipping Satan.

In my struggle and on my search for permission to break free of Christianity I came upon some like minds. I came across some other Big Thinkers, some Free Thinkers. These came in the form of scientists, Bible scholars, University professors, Philosophers, people who have escaped religious cults and people who learned enough in seminary school to abandon their faith entirely and are sharing their stories. What I have learned when exposed to some actual Atheists is that most people that identify this way have their own reasons, but they are not arrogant. They are not immoral, in fact it's quite the opposite. Many began to question their faith based on the blatantly immoral things that the Bible teaches. We are not talking about a bunch of heathens who are serial adulterers, thieves, rapists, pedophiles, and murderers. We are led to believe Atheists KNOW God exists, they just refuse to repent. Atheists literally do not believe God exists. 

There are different types of Atheists, there are Gnostic Atheists who are convinced a God or Gods DO NOT EXIST and there are Agnostic Atheists who are not convinced a God or God exists. I am identifying now, at this point in my life, as an Agnostic Atheist and what that means for me is that I am not convinced a God exists, but I do not believe in the God of the Bible or that the Bible is the word of God. I believe it is a book of mythology. I believe historical Jesus existed, but the more I learn the more I believe a legend was written around him, decades after his death. I do not think historical Jesus was likely divine and I also am not convinced he was born of a virgin or raised from the dead. Using the same criteria, I do not believe in any other God or Gods, however I am not willing to say that there isn't a God of some sort. I just have no compelling reason to believe that there is, at this time. For me it is not about finding the right religion for me, it is about releasing myself from it entirely. My criticisms will be largely of Christianity because it is the religion I escaped and know the most about. That said, I also do not believe in any other supreme beings at this time. 

The Atheists I am finding out in the world are good people. They are moral people. They live simple lives. They give back. They volunteer. They just do it because they feel it is the right thing to do, not because they feel obligated due to either a fear of punishment or to set themselves up for an eternal reward. Atheists do not claim to have all the answers. They just want to live a life that aligns with the progress society has made regarding the moral treatment of other humans and the planet. It's really not evil in the slightest!

I have come to realize that to an Atheist it is difficult to think of a more arrogant person than a Christian. A people who claim to not only have all of the answers, but to condemn every other possible answer as not only incorrect, but evil. A group of people who willingly want to use a government to legislate their religious beliefs, forcing everyone else to abide by them. Trying to force the masses to conform to the rules of their God. Using an archaic book they can't even confirm the validity of as the moral authority of their life and using it to damn people to an eternity of torment for failing to conform. Using their archaic book to deny science. Using something that cannot serve as evidence to try and disprove findings that have actual evidence to support the claims. 

Christians are not morally superior to Atheists. In fact I would argue that they are largely less moral than Atheists because their definitions of morality come from a book written in the bronze and iron age instead of progressing with society in regards to human rights and the ethical treatment of others. Someone is not morally superior because they are a Christian and someone is not morally repugnant because they are not a Christian. There are good people who are religious and there are bad people who are religious. There are good people who are Atheist and bad people who are Atheist. Being a shit human is not directly connected to whether or not you think Sky Daddy is real.

I suppose my take away at this point is that we need to truly allow people to have the freedom to practice whatever religion they want and we also need to allow people to have freedom from practicing anything. There is arrogance on both sides. There is bitterness on both sides. Christians are not simpletons and Atheists are not evil. Beliefs or lack of them should probably be a sacred, private thing and not something we force onto other people in any way, shape or form. Live and let live, as it were.

At the end of the day, some people really need religion. It gives them purpose and it helps them make sense of the world and the universe. It allows them to live their life. It gives them comfort. And then there are some people like me who really need to live free of religion. We are content with the idea of life being finite. For me, believing in God felt for many years like trying to force myself to believe in Santa. Deep down I knew I couldn't believe. I'm too free of a thinker to be content, boxed in by religion. Some people will struggle to learn that about me. Some people's entire perspective and opinion of me will change, should they learn this truth about me. I will not be surprised by it, knowing what they will assume about me based on what they have been taught about who/what an Atheist is. It will be sad. But, I should be allowed to live an authentic life. I guess I just have to be prepared for people to tell me that I am not now they thought I was. Sounds liberating, honeslty.