Thursday, February 21, 2008

I'm Weird

I've been accused of weirdness my whole life. I'm fine with that. Recently I've stopped eating meat, which makes me strange (even to myself, since I love meat so much), but it goes back a long way.

From the time I was ten years old I've been atheist. I remember reading stories from the bible when I was in Sunday school and thinking "Well, this didn't happen." And I figured everyone else was in on the joke.

Then I found out that others did think it did happen, and that there was no joke. Not intentionally, anyway.

So I'm weird. I know that. Part of my weirdness is expressed in my recent pescetarianism (seven months and counting). Here's some more of it: I'm green. Watch this. Minimize your stuff. Cynicism is the way to go. Materialism sucks. Ha.

4 comments:

Anskov said...

While you inspired me to give up meat for a few months up until Thanksgiving, and while I may from time to time return to being a herbivore, for the time being I'll eat all the steak you pass up.

As for the Bible stories, I have to say that I believe them and am sometimes astounded that I do (my particular progression through faith brings up many questions - more and more as I move forward), but I also like some of the psychology running through the Bible as well as it's commentary on human nature (I like Agatha Christie's commentary on human nature as well).

And I've always meant to ask you, did you ever explore other beliefs or is your atheism across the board (i.e. (tho' I'm sure you don't need an i.e. - I just like i.e.s) have you looked into Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Bahai, etc.?) I just wonder because many atheists I know reject the Christian notion of God, but I never get to hear them sound off on other world religions. What's your take?

And when will you be up in the Cities next so you can be a guest on my Christie blog?

Jason said...

The subject of my atheism probably deserves its own series of posts, but more often than not I feel as though nobody would be too interested in that. Maybe I'm wrong.

My unbelief does tend to run across the board, probably because religious belief requires a certain set of foundational beliefs that I don't accept. I have investigated religions my whole adult life, though. It's one of my favorite subjects to learn about. I've found ideas in faith traditions to be useful to me--especially those of Theravada Buddhism. But the supernatural elements of religion haven't appealed to me as true.

We're aiming at June for our next visit to Minnesota. It will depend on whether I'm teaching this summer, what that schedule might be, and how Michele's research plays out. I'm looking forward to the blog. Jess mentioned she'd like to be in town when we're up--maybe we can talk her into participating, too. That would be fun.

Anskov said...

Sounds great! Would be good to see you both.

Jim said...

I would be interested in hearing your views on religion and why you're an atheist. I'd say we could debate it (similar to the political debate on my blog), which would be fun, but we'd be on the same side of the debate.

The video you posted did an excellent job of bringing the big picture into focus. Thanks for linking to it.