I observed and explored a group called Secular Student Alliance. Secular Student Alliance is the atheist organization at the University of Kentucky. Atheist is people who reject the existence of deities or God. I am a Christian. And Christian believes in God. Therefore, atheist is very different from me. And my Christian worldview is very different from the atheist’s worldview. Therefore, I am very interested in exploring a community like this. This is also the first time in my life to explore a group like this. So, I was very excited and nervous at the same time when I choose to explore the atheists group which totally has different worldview from me. After I finished the project, I realized that I have chosen the right community. My experience changed my perceptions of atheists. Also, I have learned many things from observing the group of people that is different from me which is the Secular Student Alliance.
At first, I chose
to do this group because I wanted to learn more about atheists. However, when I
walked into the first Secular Student Alliance meeting, I felt really nervous;
my head was full of thoughts, all the stereotypes I had about atheist pop-up in
my head. Sitting in the meeting, I felt stressful. It felt like time had
stopped and the meeting seemed endless. I tried to relax and told myself to
calm down, also to stop thinking about all the crazy thoughts. Then, as soon as
I started to listen, I realized that the discussion is not as extreme as I
thought it would be; they were talking about designing the t-shirts, and
raising money. So, I started to relax; they are not talking about why Christian
is wrong like I thought they would be. Furthermore, I started to feel more
relax when I listen to more of their discussion. I realize that they are just
like any other organization meetings. They talked about staff and president
committee. The first encounter I had
with the atheist group was very different from what I had in my mind. When I
walked into the meeting room, I had a bad feeling that they will ask me if I am
a Christian; then if I say “yes”, they would start telling me that Christian is
wrong and start insulting the Christian belief. However, when I walked into the
meeting room the people there were very friendly they greeted me and asked me
what my name was. They were very glad when I told them I was there to do the
research paper about their group. All of them were very nice and willing to
help answer my interview question. I even felt more relaxed when I learned that
there were other five students from the CIS110 class that chose to observe the
Secular Student Alliance for this project too. They made me feel like I am not
the only one on my own in the group of people that is totally different from me.
Without any
anxieties, the first meeting was gone by without a hitch. All the crazy stereotypes
and prejudice I had about atheist group started to fade away. It was my first
encounter with the atheist group and they already made me feel comfortable;
then I knew that this is going to be an easy project. I won’t have to go
through all the wild things that I think I must go through doing this project.
The day before the meeting, I had a dream that I was arguing viciously with the
Secular Student Alliance group. Now, I realize that it would never happen. And
I would get through this project without having to arguing and fighting with
anyone. The people in the Secular Student Alliance were so nice and friendly
that after my first meeting with them I realized that I was wrong all my life,
and the ideas I had were incorrect. I can’t believe
that all those friendly people are atheists-but the truth is they are. If the
atheists are friendly and nice then the stereotypes I have my whole life about
atheists are wrong. I always have the stereotypes that if I tell any atheist
that I am a Christian, then the atheist would start cussing at me and try to
tell me that Christian is a fairy tales. However, after meeting with the
atheists and spending time with them, I found out that some of the atheists
used to be a Christian before, so they must understand how being a Christian
is, that’s why they didn’t start cussing and swearing at me when I told them
that I am a Christian. I also learned that although atheist doesn’t share the
same belief as me it doesn’t mean that we can’t be friend. Many of my friends,
although they are not Christian I still love them and they are still my
friends.
The other
stereotype I had about atheists is that they are bad people and they don’t care
about moral. However, when I spent time observing the atheist group, I can see
that they still follow the all the rules. And I could see that they do care
about moral. And they are trying to be a good person. This really surprised me,
because for me I feel like there is no point of being a good person if there is
no God or any higher being that can see what we are doing. For me, I wouldn’t
steal even though I could get away with it, because I know that God sees what I
am doing and I will get punished for stealing. However, for atheist, there is
no God, so why not steal if you could get away with it. Therefore, I always
think that the atheists don’t care about moral and they are bad person. For
that reason when I see that the atheists are following rules and doing what is
right it make me confused, and when I ask them why do they do what is right if
there are no reward from doing it. The answer I get is that it is common sense to
do what is right and they said doing good thing make them feel good and doing
bad things make them feel bad, therefore, they do what is right because they
wanted to be happy. I was very surprised to get this answer because if I were
to answer this question from my Christian worldview, the answer wouldn’t be
much different from the answer from atheists. Thus, the atheist is not much
different from me and I am not different from them; we both just try to be good
people and live good lives. However, it also makes me feel really sad for them
when I get this answer. I feel like they are blind and couldn’t see and realize
the truth. Atheism tries to prove that there is no God. But when these atheists
give me this answer, they just proved that there is a God. They use the word
“common sense” and they said that they feel happy when they do good things. We
are human that’s why we are happy when we do what is right; and doing bad
things make us feel sad and guilty; this is how God makes us. I was really sad
when atheist couldn’t realize this fact and see the truth. Look at dogs; they
don’t care about being good dogs and doing what is right because God did not
created animals the same way created us. God created us so that we know what is
right and what is wrong; we feel sad and guilty when we do what we should not
do, and we feel happy when we do what is right. This is one of the reasons why
there is a God and why atheism is wrong. Nevertheless, when I heard the answer
they give I did not start arguing with them, I try to understand them and try
to find out why they don’t realize the fact I realize instead. I try to be more
like those atheists that didn’t start arguing with me the first time they heard
me said that God created the world. I also learned from them that it is better
to try to understand people and why they believe what they believe. If I start
arguing with them may be I would never be able to change them and the way they
thought. However, if I waited and tried to understand them more maybe I would
be able to find out why they believe in atheism and then through time and
reasons I could be able to change their belief. Or maybe one day they will see
the truth and realize by themselves that there is a God.
I always look at
the non-Christian people as stubborn and stupid. For instance, I think that all
those Muslim terrorists are so ridiculous and stubborn; how could those
terrorists think that blowing up a building and killing people will get them to
heaven. Then I look at the atheists and feel like they are irrational,
stubborn, and arrogant. I think they could just look around and know that there
is God. Doing this project changed my perspective of non-Christian; now I
understand that some people are just born in the culture and society that
brainwash them and make them believe a certain belief. Doing this project I
also see that Christians are also stubborn and close-minded too. This is kind
of stereotypes and bias but I think Christians are stubborn and close-minded in
a good; besides, for Christians, we call it “faith.” You can point out that the
Bible has hundreds of contradictions and mistranslations, but a Christians like
me will use the word “faith"
to end the argument (Raymond 2003). This is truth and doing this project makes
me realize that I am also stubborn or “have a lot of faith.” I will believe
whatever I feel that it is truth and I won’t believe whatever I feel that it is
not truth. There might be no evidence that God exist, but if my feeling tell me
that God exist I will never changes my belief. In the same way, you could tell
me that University of
Kentucky is real; but if I feel like there is no
such thing as University of Kentucky then I would never believe you even though
I am a student at University of Kentucky. This might sound like I am very irrational and
ridiculous; it is hard to explain, but it is true. Although I never saw God, I
believe that there is a God. My heart is telling me that it is truth and there
is a God; and this is all I needed to believe. And I can’t explain or describe
this to anyone because faith used a lot of feeling and emotion so it is hard to
talk about abstract things. But I believe that everyone in the world have the
feeling I have too. This is why I feel like the atheists are just being
stubborn and won’t admit the fact that there is a God. However, doing this
project helps me stop and think about the time when I was a kid, I used to have
many questions and doubts about the Bible and I just feel like there are no
reasons to believe in the Bible. Many stories in the Bible just seemed so
impossible to believe. So, now I understand how the atheists feel. I used to be
doubtful just like them. We all are. That is what it takes to believe in
something. In the same way like me, one day they will understand about faith
and see the truth. There are no reasons to believe, but I don’t need reason to
believe in something. All I need is faith. After observing the atheists
community, I now clearly see that the atheists are neither irrational nor
arrogant. They just don’t have faith. Now I know that they are on the journey I
was on and one day they will discover what I have discovered. It is not easy to
have the faith I have, I have to fight with myself a lot and it is very hard
for someone to believe in something that completely make no sense. And I hope
that one day they will discover the truth and become a Christian like me.
By observing the
atheists community, I found that many of my ideas and stereotypes about the
atheists were incorrect. However, not all of my assumptions and stereotypes are
wrong. By investigating this community, some of my assumptions were proven to
be true. This might sound bias but observing the atheists community also
confirm that some of my assumptions and ideas are true. For my whole life, I
always feel that atheists are people without purpose in their life. And all of
the Christians have the same thought like me; we Christians think that atheists
must be completely hopeless and confused (Austin 2009). If there is no God,
then what is the point of living? If there is no heaven, then what is the
meaning of life? What are those atheists living for, if they don’t believe
there is a higher being? What will they die for, if there is nothing beyond
this life? For atheist, they born, they live, and they die-and then they are
gone and that’s it; death is the end. If the atheist is right, then life is
vain and worthless. What is the point of living? If dead is the end. The
atheists think that the goal of living is to have fun, be happy with life, and
accomplished what we want to do (Rickett 2011). That’s it? So, the goal of life is to have fun and find
the most we can get. This doesn’t make sense and the atheists themselves know
that this doesn’t make sense. Some atheists live to be leaders, musicians, and
scientist. They spend their life trying to archive their goals. They think that
accomplishing their goals will give them joy and happiness. But there is no
point of becoming scientists or president if there is no God. You could
accomplish all the goals you have in life but without God your life is still
empty. And the atheists know this fact, but they just won’t admit it. I could
see in their eyes that their life is meaningless. Spending time with the
atheists myself, I can prove that my assumption is truth. Some atheists argue
that their life have purpose and meaning. Other atheists argue that it doesn’t
matter is you are Christian or atheist, all life have is meaningless. But you
can’t change the truth, I am a Christian and my life is worth living. This
project confirms my assumption that life is vain without God.
My
experience with the atheist community changes many ideas I have about
atheists. Now I know that many of the
assumption and stereotypes I had are incorrect. My experience also changed the
way I act when I meet an atheist. The experience I had has impacted me a lot; it
makes me realize that the atheists are not much different from me. We are all
human and we all have questions and doubts about life. Sometimes, the answer
can be really confusing and seem impossible to be true. How I view other
religious group also changed; now I no longer view all Muslim as terrorist. I
learned not to judge a group as a whole; there are good people and bad people
in every groups and communities. Also, doing this project also, some of the
ideas about atheists are proven to be true. Even that, I still believe that
there is no point of living without God. I have learned many things from
observing the atheists community. Exploring group of people that is different
from me can be very challenging. But if I never step out of my comfort zone, I
would never learn what I know today. This experience changes the way I think;
how I view other people who is different from me has changed. Today, I am no
longer afraid of meeting people who is different from me. I am ready to go out
and explore the community that I am not a part of.
References
1. Austin,
C. (2009). Atheism, Depression, & Meaning: Do Atheists Lead Meaningless
Lives? Retrieved November 20, 2011, from
http://atheism.about.com/od/atheismmyths/a/MeaningLife.htm
2. Kirsten
Rickett (2011, November 22). Personal interview
3. Raymond,
W. C. (2003). Atheism as a positive
social force. USA: Algora Publising