[Serious] ex-atheists of reddit, what changed your mind?

I became a animist again because a lot of atheists I know, well, suck. Don't me wrong, many of them rock too. Let me explain.

I grew up overseas from the US despite being American. Long story. Also grew up in Hawaii which definitely isn't the continental US in demographic, religious belief, food culture or anything, other than military presence. So I have a different view on things.

The big thing about religion in places I grew up is that religion is tradition. That's it. The end. No more.

Many people in the west, atheists in particular, are by default skeptics. But almost to a fault. Because while I am totally for factually accuracy and not for believing in nonsense, non-Abrahamic religions typically don't require nor give a shit about asserting whether your religion is true or not. That's very exclusively a Abrahamic religion thing, specifically Christianity and Islam.

Atheism is literally a knee-jerk reaction to that. Fuck, man, even the creators of the US Constitution were Diests. Not saying that makes their assertion more or less true, it means that they don't care about it being true or not. This is the fundamental disagreement I have with western atheists. They are surrounded by hypocrisy all the time, so they are constantly resisting information and approaching it skeptically, like a submarine deep in the ocean trying not to get crushed by the pressure of the water.

Seriously, I can't recall the last time Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, Shintoists, Animists and all other religions asserted that their religion and point of view is not only TRUTH, but said theres is exclusive to the world. There is no such thing.

The 8 Fold Path in Buddhism is not exclusive, its a simplification of seeing things. 4 Noble Truths ARE truths (different from measurable truths like with a ruler), but doesn't fucking matter if you don't see it that way, its like saying you aren't a big fan of ....er.... curry, which is your truth. That truth may differ for someones reality where curry is awesome for them. There's stuff like love and hate, which all exist, but in varying colors. Its merely a tool to understand human nature.

Traditions are the same thing.

I chose tradition over atheism because I realized that I prefer "believing" (thats a word I hate though, because I actually don't actively hold a belief, but I rather have the disposition of...) that my perspective on the world gives not just the world more "value" but actually gives it attention in small parts and sections, which makes things "sacred".

I pick up garbage all the time. Every branch is adorable. Everything is dead, alive, pure, impure.

The problem with atheism (my experience may differ from yours and thats fine) is that its so often overlaps with "Don't care-ism" or just another human group herd mentality of not wanting to be with people that dont share their "perspective" (Since I can't use the word belief)

/r/AskReddit Thread Parent