Separation of God and Religion

This began as a reply to Punch’s comment, which I will reproduce in whole below:

The problem as I see it arrives as you now begin to tell me about no god.
I don’t not believe in or trust any of the organized religions as practiced in America or the world, in general.
But I do believe there is more to this life than meets the eye.
To have to wade through an atheist’s point of view is as tiring as hearing yet another religious point of view.
To attempt to see god without the husk shroud given the concept, by years of political influence, is a daunting task.
Your view of god or religion is your view, please do not try to proselytize.
Hell that sounds like what I doin’ here.
Sorry.
I miss your ‘funny bible quotes’

I miss funny bible quotes, too. I plan to start posting funny Quran quotes once my job settles down. If you thought the bible was fucked up…

Anyway, back to the meat of your comment. I can only speak for myself, but I can honestly say I have contemplated gods outside of religion for long stretches of time. There are far too many gods for me to disprove one by one. If you provide me characteristics of a particular god, I can elucidate for you why I reject that particular god. The only characteristic common to all gods seems to be unfeasibility.

I also cannot help but notice you use a singular form of “god.” Can I assume you consider this god to fulfill roles including creator (whether it be of the universe, life, or whatever), sustainer, destroyer, law maker, and other traditional roles? I am essentially an igtheist, ignorant of your very definition of god, until you provide me some traits.

Please tell me you aren’t one of those, “spiritual, but not religious” people. They’re usually the weirdest, as they often think they have had a religious experience, sometimes even claiming to have a direct link to the divine.

Claiming that you “believe there is more to this life than meets the eye” must be a metaphor, as I’m sure you’re aware there are all kinds of things we cannot see (radio waves, for one). I have to assume you mean there are things we do not understand, but I feel comfortable in pursuing answers rather than lazily saddling mysteries with a divine cause.

The part of your comment that most disturbs me is your call for me to not proselytize, especially after I pretty bluntly stated I would never do such a thing. I thought I was explicit, but I’ll say it again: I have no interest in cornering someone on the issue of atheism.

I don’t think pointing out my lack of belief is such a bad thing, especially when it is largely done in the hope of preventing people from being a jackass to me. I know they aren’t trying to piss me off, but it does. I’m sure guys who “compliment” a woman’s ass in whatever article of clothing she’s wearing didn’t mean to be offensive, but intent is completely irrelevant when it comes to interpretation.

I have no interest in harboring disdain for people who have no idea what they’re doing is causing me discomfort. I have no control over the fact that I find religion annoying, but I can control whether or not those around me are aware of the effects their words have on me.

If they keep doing it, that’s their choice. I can snidely insult their precious beliefs if I’m having a particularly bad day, or I can choose to ignore it. That is also my choice. I just prefer situations where everyone involved is informed.

Since this job is only temporary anyway, I have nothing to lose in the long-run if I am disliked. Even if it were a long-term career choice, I would want those I worked with to know who I am. If they can’t handle that, I shouldn’t be working there. The mask of normalcy is too uncomfortable to wear every day.

Besides, I find that atheism is so rarely an applicable topic of conversation. It’s not like every religious comment has to be accompanied by a rude retort on my part. But when I’m telling someone about my mother’s health and how she has lived longer with her disease than the doctors said she would, and the person says “the Lord works in mysterious ways,” next time I have to point out: “No, it was actually the tireless work of several teams of doctors and nurses who studied for years in order to gain the knowledge necessary to keep her alive… that and the huge amounts of money required to pay them.”