| Atheism & Discrimination | |
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At about the age of 16, I gave in to the various pressures in my life and "got religion." Suddenly, I found myself on the "other side of the fence," so to speak. Being accepted into a nearby Southern Baptist Church, I began to learn almost at once the prejudices with which my new "family" viewed those outside their world.
In Sunday School, I was taught that non-believers were mostly to be pitied. After all, they hadn't "seen the light," and were living apart from God. I learned that those people were sad, constantly searching in vain for the peace and happiness I had. The only way to help those pitiable souls was to spread the Gospel to them. In particular, I was encouraged to become some sort of missionary to the atheists, considering I had been one, and "knew how they think."
Being rather enthusiastic about my new-found faith, I was eager to share it with my family. There followed several attempts to preach to my parents that were rather dismal failures. In fact, my relations with my family became quite strained for a while, until I finally got the message that I was being unacceptably rude. I found that some of the attitudes toward atheists that I had so rapidly picked up didn't meet with the reality I found. I realized that what I was being taught at my church wasn't entirely accurate, but I didn't spend much time worrying over that.
Often, there were lessons from the Bible that reinforced the view of non-believers as people to be pitied. There was the often-quoted Psalm 14:
Ps 14:1 - Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good.
A more detailed portrait of outsiders was found later in the book of Psalms:
Ps 36:1-4 - Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in their hearts; there is no fear of God before their eyes. For they flatter themselves in their own eyes that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated. The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit; they have ceased to act wisely and do good. They plot mischief while on their beds; they are set on a way that is not good; they do not reject evil.
Of course, I would on occasion hear that there might be some logical-sounding statements that would come from non-believers. These were, of course, to be ignored. In my youth group, we studied from the book of Colossians one summer. From it, we learned how to deal with "logic" and "philosophy":
Col 2:4-5 - I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
and
Col 2:8 - See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.
[Bible quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version. ]
I remained a believer for many years. While I never accepted parts of what was taught concerning "godless" people, I must admit that I failed on many occasions to try and educate other believers about the errors in the church's teaching.
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