I know people don't believe me when I say that I'm Atheist but that I also have a deep, rich understanding of faith-based, even very religiously-conservative, communities and congregations.
If you have read my past blogs, you know that I was not raised as an Atheist. Rather, I was raised in a rural part of the USA, in the Bible Belt, as a Baptist who often went to a Methodist church, and went to a lot of different churches per their special events, like revivals.
The big religious divide where I'm from, at least at the time, was between Catholics and those that weren't Catholics. I grew up hearing how Catholics weren't really Christian, because they did this or that and it wasn't in the Bible, or went against what the Bible said (like idol worship). I also had Catholic friends who told me they were sad because we wouldn't be in heaven together, since I wasn't Catholic. I hesitate to call non-Catholics Protestants because I know so many Christians that hate that term: they don't feel their religion was ever a part of Catholicism but, in fact, was how the Disciples followed Christ, and that's where their religious practice comes from.
Did you know any of that? I know a lot of Christians that don't know any of that. But I know all that and more. Yup, the Atheist knows that.
As a teen, I babysat a LOT. One of the families I worked for was Catholic. One evening, I taught their little girl some songs I knew, like "Deep and Wide" and "Zacchaeus was a wee little man," songs that have hand movements that go along with them. I learned them in Sunday School and at summer Vacation Bible School. The mom later told me she was thrilled, because in the Catholic Church, they didn't have VBS (they do now), they didn't have children's songs, and she always loved the Protestant songs but didn't really know them enough to teach her daughter.
Did you know that about the history of VBS? A lot of Christians I talk to don't know it. The Atheist knows it.
I grew up going to a church at least once a week - sometimes twice (for Wednesday night services, a youth group event, for choir practice, etc.). I went to revivals at different churches - that wasn't at all unusual where I was from, to head over to the Church of the Nazarene for a week of youth revival, even though I didn't go to that church, for instance.
Did you know that about the fluidity of different church attendance by a lot of Christians, particularly in the South? The Atheist knows it.
I worked for a while in an Islamic country. There was a prayer before every large staff meeting. One of my co-workers from Germany said it really put her "off." I just shrugged: I was used to prayers before large meetings at government functions and public functions where I grew up in rural USA. At this job in this Islamic country, I was the foreign staff member who always remembered to put prayer time at the start of certain meeting agendas - all the other foreign staff always forgot.
Yes, me. The Atheist. I'm the one who remembered that.
Surveys over and over show that Atheists know more about religions than the religious. My knowledge of Christianity is a combination of growing up in the Bible belt and being intensely curious and an avid reader. I never just followed the ceremony or ritual - I wanted to know why and asked a ton of questions and re-read sections in our encyclopedia about religions set over and over. And I didn't read just one Bible - I read different translations of the Bible. I argued in Sunday School with the teacher about interpretations she was teaching. Part of the reason I gave up on Christianity was because I read and studied it so intensely.
My curiosity led me to read the texts and teachings and history of other religions over the years: Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. It was a shock to my young self to learn that these religions were just as divided and in conflict with each other as so many different sects of Christianity were. It was also a shock to see that they all primarily wanted obedience to religious rules rather than adherence to to being a good person to other people and the environment - they all teach that compliance with the religion is of far greater value than being kind to others, even non-believers. In my 40s, I worked with several people who followed the Baháʼí religion - another fascinating religion with it's own set of beliefs and values.
I have delighted in learning from Jewish, Muslim and Baháʼí friends, colleagues and communities, particularly abroad. I hope to have similar experiences regarding Hindusim and Buddhism abroad. Why? Because I'm curious. Also, because very often, food is involved. And I am staunchly pro food.
But as a result of all this, I'm the one who, when organizing the community meeting, will bring up that we might want to phrase something differently, because of how the very traditional community we're about to talk to might not like the wording. Or say we should emphasize this community benefit over the others, because that's what these folks value most - and it's very different than how we, the staff, might think about it. And I'm the one, at Habitat for Humanity events, that has to remind staff that they might want to have a prayer before they start - it being a Christian-based organization and all...
Yup. Me. The Atheist.
