Who's Going to Last Longer?
By The Truth Seeker --
Unlike some of you, I am not from a fundamentalist or evangelical back ground. Most of the religious people I interact with are pretty reasonable people and don’t hold radical views about their religion. I say that with a grain of salt since what they do believe is pretty unrealistic, but at least they don’t try to impose their views on you.
After leaving Christianity and becoming a “Humanist” I ask myself who is going to last longer – Humanists or Christians?
Christians start indoctrinating their children with Christianity from the day the children are old enough to attend church. As they grow older, they attend Sunday school classes where they are indoctrinated further. Churches start youth groups where the older youth can go on outings with their friends and still learn more about Christianity through a subtle but purposeful indoctrination.
As they grow older and reach a high school age there are even more youth groups and all participate with friends and acquaintenances. They’ve known each other for years now, and they have all been exposed to the same Christian doctrine for many years. This takes place in both Protestant and Catholic churches and schools.
When they become adults, they continue going to Sunday school, church, and Bible study groups. They go on outings with each other and continue to share the Christian indoctrination they have been through as children, teenagers, and now adults. What none of these groups go through are courses in Critical Thinking and questioning what they have been taught for so many years.
So what do Humanist’s or non-theists do? Since many are from fundamentalist or evangelical backgrounds they generally want nothing to do with anything that is organized. How do they raise their children? They wait until they are old enough to make decisions for themselves and in the mean time their children are probably going to Sunday schools with their other Christian friends. There is a good chance that some of their children will be lost to Christianity since there is nothing to compete with Christianity during their childhood years.
Maybe I’m looking at this all wrong, but how do you compete with Christianity if you’re not willing to expend some effort on your own by teaching your children how to be critical and free thinkers. What if non-theists started their own Sunday schools with their own curriculum of free thinking and got their children as well as their children’s friends to attend. Non-theists have a message and they must pass that message on to others. The non-theist’s message is much more important than the Christian message because the Humanist message is the truth and the theist’s message is mostly propaganda, myths, and legends.
I think that part of the problem is that many free thinkers and humanists are introverts, extremely intelligent, and don’t really care if they socialize with anyone. That’s ok as far as it goes, but it doesn’t help in spreading the non-faith. And I don’t think it helps by sitting around and hoping others finally see the truth.
I ask these questions because here I am a newly de-converted Christian, and I have no one to talk to about this except the people on this web site. I know there are other web sites of free thinkers, but this doesn’t take the place of sitting down with another human being and discussing those things you have in common.
A while back I talked with a psychologist who comes from a Jewish background but does not practice that religion. I told her I felt alone and I was afraid to mention my situation to any Christian because of the contempt that I know they feel toward non-Christians particularly, atheists and agnostics. She told me, now you know how it feels to be a minority and how it feels for her to be from a Jewish background. I agreed with her and told her it really sucks. I know how the Jews must have felt in Nazi Germany knowing that your very existence depends on keeping quiet.
I, and I think that some of you, have an even more complicated situation where our spouses are dedicated Christians and they think we are going to Hell because of our views. That is even a lonelier situation when you cannot even talk with your spouse about your feelings and beliefs.
My question is how do you feel about your own situation and are we as Free Thinkers digging our own graves by not speaking up. How long can we last when the other side has a long range strategy, and we have no apparent strategy of our own?
After leaving Christianity and becoming a “Humanist” I ask myself who is going to last longer – Humanists or Christians?
Christians start indoctrinating their children with Christianity from the day the children are old enough to attend church. As they grow older, they attend Sunday school classes where they are indoctrinated further. Churches start youth groups where the older youth can go on outings with their friends and still learn more about Christianity through a subtle but purposeful indoctrination.
As they grow older and reach a high school age there are even more youth groups and all participate with friends and acquaintenances. They’ve known each other for years now, and they have all been exposed to the same Christian doctrine for many years. This takes place in both Protestant and Catholic churches and schools.
When they become adults, they continue going to Sunday school, church, and Bible study groups. They go on outings with each other and continue to share the Christian indoctrination they have been through as children, teenagers, and now adults. What none of these groups go through are courses in Critical Thinking and questioning what they have been taught for so many years.
So what do Humanist’s or non-theists do? Since many are from fundamentalist or evangelical backgrounds they generally want nothing to do with anything that is organized. How do they raise their children? They wait until they are old enough to make decisions for themselves and in the mean time their children are probably going to Sunday schools with their other Christian friends. There is a good chance that some of their children will be lost to Christianity since there is nothing to compete with Christianity during their childhood years.
Maybe I’m looking at this all wrong, but how do you compete with Christianity if you’re not willing to expend some effort on your own by teaching your children how to be critical and free thinkers. What if non-theists started their own Sunday schools with their own curriculum of free thinking and got their children as well as their children’s friends to attend. Non-theists have a message and they must pass that message on to others. The non-theist’s message is much more important than the Christian message because the Humanist message is the truth and the theist’s message is mostly propaganda, myths, and legends.
I think that part of the problem is that many free thinkers and humanists are introverts, extremely intelligent, and don’t really care if they socialize with anyone. That’s ok as far as it goes, but it doesn’t help in spreading the non-faith. And I don’t think it helps by sitting around and hoping others finally see the truth.
I ask these questions because here I am a newly de-converted Christian, and I have no one to talk to about this except the people on this web site. I know there are other web sites of free thinkers, but this doesn’t take the place of sitting down with another human being and discussing those things you have in common.
A while back I talked with a psychologist who comes from a Jewish background but does not practice that religion. I told her I felt alone and I was afraid to mention my situation to any Christian because of the contempt that I know they feel toward non-Christians particularly, atheists and agnostics. She told me, now you know how it feels to be a minority and how it feels for her to be from a Jewish background. I agreed with her and told her it really sucks. I know how the Jews must have felt in Nazi Germany knowing that your very existence depends on keeping quiet.
I, and I think that some of you, have an even more complicated situation where our spouses are dedicated Christians and they think we are going to Hell because of our views. That is even a lonelier situation when you cannot even talk with your spouse about your feelings and beliefs.
My question is how do you feel about your own situation and are we as Free Thinkers digging our own graves by not speaking up. How long can we last when the other side has a long range strategy, and we have no apparent strategy of our own?