Positive Steps
By cjmybad ~
After reading testimonials on exchristian.net I realize that so many of us have been hurt by xtians & xtianity and so much damage has been done to our society because of it’s harmful dogma and doctrines. Now that I am an exchristian I have become obsessed with seeing it’s negative effects on us, maybe because the pain is so new and I haven’t gotten a chance to ‘get over it’ – don’t you just love it when people say that! When someone cuts me off in traffic and I hit the horn (while swerving to avoid hitting the car) I usually say ‘I’ll bet you a $100.00 – it’s a xtian driving that car.’ If I hear about a child abuse case I will say ‘must be a fundy not sparing the rod’ If someone says something terrible about co-worker or gossips about someone, I always say “ah huh - a christian.’ If someone says one thing and turns around and does another I think‘Gotta be a christian – what a hypocrite!’ You get the idea I’m sure. But you would be surprised at how many times I’m right about it. Have you ever noticed how many people wearing crosses are on Jerry Springer or reality court TV acting like idiots? Famous football players crossing themselves before a kickoff but in real life are wife abusers or getting arrested for all kinds of things?
I don’t want to keep that negativity up anymore.
I also am very frustrated because I feel like I’m not doing anything openly proactive, being on ExChristian.net is one of the most positive things I have been doing with my new found freedom from religion. I feel powerless to make a difference and change things. I want to be proactive not just reactive.
Sometimes I just want to shake people and make them SEE REALITY, tell them to STOP PRAYING for me or to stop SPREADING THEIR INTOLERANCE to anyone who doesn’t believe what they believe.
So here are a few ideas of doing something positive that I am looking to do:
I want to order books for relatives with children to show how ethics/morals can be taught in a non-religious way from the exchristian.net bookstore. Maybe do some of my Christmas shopping there? Can I buy bumper stickers from exchristian.net? I might get enough nerve to put one on my car.
I would love to find a way to get INSP (religious programing) off of my cable tv package. Have you ever watched these ‘god inspired’ actors work SO HARD to try to convince us what they are saying is true and believable (the louder they talk the more we believe them?). And funny how they only talk about some parts of the bible? (turn the volume off and just watch – it really is funny to see how they look at you in the eye and try to look convincing). It was also very convenient for them to forget "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church." (I Corinthians 14:34-35). So many of the speakers are women and don’t look submissive or look like they ask their husbands anything at home.
Maybe I’ll help sponsor a billboard from ffr.org (freedom from religion). The Orange County Coalition of Reason (OC CoR) is a collection of atheist, freethought and humanist groups working together to increase awareness of non-theist issues and foster community among members. Each member group in the OC CoR is independently run and has a slightly different approach to the goal of spreading the idea of non-theism. We believe this to be our strength as a coalition - different people from different backgrounds can all find a group that matches their own approach toward these issue. They also put up a billboard that was great. Wouldn’t it be great if we could put up billboards in our towns? I will reseach how much it costs in our area and see if we can’t put one up with their help. Here is more info on their organization http://unitedcor.org/orange/page/home I also found out recently that American Atheist have billboards going up, maybe that would be something to send money to.
I already refuse to go to a mall where they rent one of the theaters to a ‘church’ on Sundays. The two ‘christians’ who did so much damage to my family attend this ‘church’. But now I will be more vocal about it when someone asks why I don’t go to that mall or movie theater, I will tell them I had trouble with a few of the attendees of that church and I won’t support any mall that allows any church to rent their space. I wonder what would happen if an Atheist or another non christian group tried to rent a space – would they allow it? Hmmm… food for thought.
There is an Atheist Bible Study at http://atheistbiblestudy.blogspot.com/2004/07/why-atheists-care-about-christianity.html that I plan to read . The more I learn the better I will be prepared for the xtians who try to push their crap on me again.
I also want to speak up more when people talk about god or religion, maybe not come out in the open yet but maybe I can start in little ways. Show how an Atheist has morals/ethics and can be a good person to counter the stereotype that we are immoral, evil, mean, terrible people – actually I find a lot more xtians hyprocrital, small minded and mean -oops I’m backsliding again!
I found a great website that seems to be worth looking into called Deciding to be Better http://decidingtobebetter.com/ It is about ways to make a difference in our communities without religion. I joined up and I will learn more about it.
I’m hoping that we as exchristians can get the idea of nonbelief as a positive attitude out to the rest of the world (no I’m not going door to door spreading the word) but I do like the idea of people seeing reality and our natural world as the way it really is. I like having some kind of venue where we can combat the lies and deception of religions and that’s why I love exchristian.net. I like its positive, intelligent attitude and fabulous real testimonials. I need to put my efforts into something positive again and not let xtian negativity get me down.
This is a short kind of ‘bucket list’ of things that I can do to be proactive – do you have any ideas that you can add to this list that you might want to do?
I don’t want to keep that negativity up anymore.
I also am very frustrated because I feel like I’m not doing anything openly proactive, being on ExChristian.net is one of the most positive things I have been doing with my new found freedom from religion. I feel powerless to make a difference and change things. I want to be proactive not just reactive.
Sometimes I just want to shake people and make them SEE REALITY, tell them to STOP PRAYING for me or to stop SPREADING THEIR INTOLERANCE to anyone who doesn’t believe what they believe.
So here are a few ideas of doing something positive that I am looking to do:
I want to order books for relatives with children to show how ethics/morals can be taught in a non-religious way from the exchristian.net bookstore. Maybe do some of my Christmas shopping there? Can I buy bumper stickers from exchristian.net? I might get enough nerve to put one on my car.
I would love to find a way to get INSP (religious programing) off of my cable tv package. Have you ever watched these ‘god inspired’ actors work SO HARD to try to convince us what they are saying is true and believable (the louder they talk the more we believe them?). And funny how they only talk about some parts of the bible? (turn the volume off and just watch – it really is funny to see how they look at you in the eye and try to look convincing). It was also very convenient for them to forget "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church." (I Corinthians 14:34-35). So many of the speakers are women and don’t look submissive or look like they ask their husbands anything at home.
Maybe I’ll help sponsor a billboard from ffr.org (freedom from religion). The Orange County Coalition of Reason (OC CoR) is a collection of atheist, freethought and humanist groups working together to increase awareness of non-theist issues and foster community among members. Each member group in the OC CoR is independently run and has a slightly different approach to the goal of spreading the idea of non-theism. We believe this to be our strength as a coalition - different people from different backgrounds can all find a group that matches their own approach toward these issue. They also put up a billboard that was great. Wouldn’t it be great if we could put up billboards in our towns? I will reseach how much it costs in our area and see if we can’t put one up with their help. Here is more info on their organization http://unitedcor.org/orange/page/home I also found out recently that American Atheist have billboards going up, maybe that would be something to send money to.
I already refuse to go to a mall where they rent one of the theaters to a ‘church’ on Sundays. The two ‘christians’ who did so much damage to my family attend this ‘church’. But now I will be more vocal about it when someone asks why I don’t go to that mall or movie theater, I will tell them I had trouble with a few of the attendees of that church and I won’t support any mall that allows any church to rent their space. I wonder what would happen if an Atheist or another non christian group tried to rent a space – would they allow it? Hmmm… food for thought.
There is an Atheist Bible Study at http://atheistbiblestudy.blogspot.com/2004/07/why-atheists-care-about-christianity.html that I plan to read . The more I learn the better I will be prepared for the xtians who try to push their crap on me again.
I also want to speak up more when people talk about god or religion, maybe not come out in the open yet but maybe I can start in little ways. Show how an Atheist has morals/ethics and can be a good person to counter the stereotype that we are immoral, evil, mean, terrible people – actually I find a lot more xtians hyprocrital, small minded and mean -oops I’m backsliding again!
I found a great website that seems to be worth looking into called Deciding to be Better http://decidingtobebetter.com/ It is about ways to make a difference in our communities without religion. I joined up and I will learn more about it.
I’m hoping that we as exchristians can get the idea of nonbelief as a positive attitude out to the rest of the world (no I’m not going door to door spreading the word) but I do like the idea of people seeing reality and our natural world as the way it really is. I like having some kind of venue where we can combat the lies and deception of religions and that’s why I love exchristian.net. I like its positive, intelligent attitude and fabulous real testimonials. I need to put my efforts into something positive again and not let xtian negativity get me down.
This is a short kind of ‘bucket list’ of things that I can do to be proactive – do you have any ideas that you can add to this list that you might want to do?
An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated.
-- Madalyn Murray O'Hair (attributed: source unknown)
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