How Christians Make Atheists


It's said over and over again here and elsewhere. When Christians condemn, take life's options away from people and present themselves as morally superior, more people leave the faith.

I'm always on the lookout for history books that are off the well beaten track. The well beaten path is a record of who won wars and who lead what countries when. Off of that track are writers that comb through the letters and records of both leaders when they told others what they were thinking when not in the public eye and ordinary people doing the same.  I'm just now reading a book about the late 1500's, the end of the Queen Elizabeth reign. There was a lot of "under the radar" secularism around even though most history has reported straight arrow religion was the order of the day.

The reason for the secularism seems to have been preaching by the puffed up who considered themselves morally superior and scoffing at doubters. I'll probably write about the book later but the drift of it is that the straight jacket of beliefs demanded by religions, including some parts of Christianity, is contrary to a lot of people's instincts. This set of people does not take well to being ordered about or restricted from activities that don't harm others.

As time has gone on and more information available to people the more puffed up religion has become annoying. It was annoying to many in the 1500's and increased since then.

This view, that preaching drives people away is somewhat different than the view that atheists' power of reasoning attracted them away. That is, people first find the faith's marketers annoying, then they discover what they are preaching is bunk rather than the other way around.

Pulling back from in you face politicking and evangelizing may slow the decline in numbers.

Comments

  1. Ardy BMarch 16, 2020 at 3:05 PM

    The Latin root of the word religion means “to bind”. Trying to pour a hectic life into the confines of the spiritual vessel of some religion without spilling is a challenge even more so when doubting the value of the vessel is a sin. Many succumb to the associated anxiety and confusion, cast off the ties that bind, and bid adieu. Most survive by limiting their exposure to the formalities and ceremony to focus on physical survival. Some publicly declare their faith with a pinch of “what a good person am I” to sublimate their own anxiety and confusion. Hard to say how many crypto-atheists are in those groups but there is fertile ground in each case.

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    Replies
    1. little helperMarch 16, 2020 at 4:55 PM

      Ardy; I did a quick search on "religion" , "to bind". Not quite so simple as you imply. Many pages, many sources disagree. Too many to list. Just saying.

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    2. Ardy BMarch 17, 2020 at 4:26 AM

      little helper March 16, 2020 @ 4:55 PM “Not quite so simple as you imply.”
      You are correct. I trust your scholarship much more than my own cursory research. My sense of the term centered around an entry in an online etymological dictionary. Haste makes waste.

      “However, popular etymology among the later ancients (Servius, Lactantius, Augustine) and the interpretation of many modern writers connects it with /religare/ "to bind fast" via notion of "place an obligation on," or "bond between humans and gods.". https://www.etymonline.com/word/religion#etymonline_v_10381

      Delete

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