"The Religious are bigoted, racist, sexist and homophobic. Fighting to eliminate religion is a form of social justice."
-Richard Carrier
Music to the ears of an aspiring pastor such as myself, especially considering my commitment not just to my own faith, but to interfaith groups! Among the groups I participate in is, as you may remember, the Secular Student Fellowship on my campus. So this was pretty funny to me when I heard it at Richard Carrier's lecture last night; you see, the SSF had invited him to speak and I of course came excited for the discussion of Sense and Goodness Without God. Needless to say, the lecture was a little off-putting at points...
A little background on my involvement with SSF:
Freshman year, as a young, plucky Religion major I wandered the booths of my campus involvement fair and noticed the Alliance for Inquiry and Reason, subtitled: Atheist Club. Naturally I came up and told the president I was interested in joining even though I was Christian, cuz I wanted to learn more about what atheists thought about religion. Turned out it was the first year of this group, so I got to be a part of it since the beginning. I've always felt that some Christians talking about Christianity with some other Christians can turn into a big circle jerk as everyone just gets on this "Yea Jesus is the best #truth" kick and no one really questions it... Same thing happens with a lot of atheists too, but that's another story.
I joined for two reasons:
1). To Get a New Perspective on Religion, see what
the non-religious like/don't like about it, hear some
criticisms from the people outside the fold
2). To Show People a More Progressive version of
Christianity. Though I never really imagined
converting them, I wanted people to know that there
were some really progressive Christians out there
too!
Since then, I've come whenever I could, participated deeply in discussion and had to explain numerous times that I was actually a Christian. The first meeting, everyone tip-toed around my feelings, watching their words to a hilarious degree, especially cuz it's really hard to offend me; I wouldn't even say I was offended so much as amused three years later at the Richard carrier lecture. But after a few meetings, we were having really up front conversations and really comfortable together.
In the following years, I've tried to support the club as best I can, letting my secular friends know about it, supporting and participating in club events and helping build the community. It's become really important to me to have a strong secular community, especially cuz so few atheists have a strong atheist community. This past year has been amazing, with the new Secular Humanist Chaplain and a really intentional effort to build community. That's why it's now the SSF. The group has blossomed and a lot of people are joining and gaining some really valuable stuff out of it.
Unfortunately, I don't think Carrier's lecture was any such valuable thing. He was presenting on his book Sense and Goodness Without God, a call to atheists to live moral lives, and an explanation on how to best do that. His basic premise is that opposition to religion is not enough; that atheists must also live moral lives, the natural outcome of a naturalistic worldview (that matter and energy are all that exists) and of a good epistemology. Unfortunately for all the theists in the audience (me and one other person), he was very anti-religion in his talk, as you've probably gathered.
The talk had a few remarks like that sprinkled in, and I wasn't too perturbed (as i said, hard to offend), but immediately after the lecture, people came up to me to apologize on his behalf. Several members were disturbed by the things he said and cringed at them, thinking about how I must feel... Their concern was overwhelming, and I felt so blessed that even with a speaker who was so disrespectful to religious people, the club that I had been a part of, supported and helped grow was not. I realized just how fortunate I was because nothing he could have said would hurt me at all. But hearing what the members had to say about it touched my heart deeply.
I've come away with so much more than I bargained for. This isn't just a community for me to learn more from, or for me to show a new side to religion, but a community that has supported me, transformed me, and already respects all sides of religion. This is a community which respects and loves me, supporting me in my struggles and reveling in my successes. It is a community which has inspired me to genuinely care about the secular community, and about the people that make it up, growing a sympathy for people hurt by religion, or who simply want a community outside religion. It is a community that respects my tradition even while disagreeing with it, that works with people of faith for the betterment of the whole world. I'm proud to be its most faithful member.
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