Atheism Case

Atheism is not actually a religion per se. Normally when one thinks of religion, a church, synagogue, temple or other structure perhaps comes to mind and a specific style of worship or structured proceedings such as a mass or other congregational assembly. Atheism does not really participate in this type of structured gathering, although there are places in which they do come together as a group. The group gatherings are called meetings and for meetings on a much larger scale, they are referred to as conferences.

Atheism is a non-belief in God or anything God-like. My curiosity on how or why someone does not believe in God is what prompted me to attend a meeting and speak to a few of the people. All of my life I have believed in God and the concept of people not believing in God of some sort seems foreign to me. I was eager to gain an understanding of how or why the non-belief and how it relates to their everyday life and those around them.

The meeting I attended was with a small group. The meeting that day took place outside at the park because it was a nice day. The purpose of their meeting that day was to discuss coming together to provide volunteer services in the community. They come together to discuss community involvement, plan events for fellow atheists, discuss how to take care of the environment and also to discuss issues they feel need some degree of activist involvement. The most popular topic for activism among atheists is in the political arena involving the separation of church and state.

My misconceptions about atheists would stem mainly from what little I had heard about them from media reports. The most talked about atheist that I can recall was Madalyn Murray O’Hair. Although I never personally saw an interview with her, I remember people talking about her as being argumentative, obnoxious and a horrible person who wanted to take God out of everything. I expected to be dealing with people that were ready for an argument and would want to tell me how ludicrous it was for me to believe in God. When I sat down and spoke with the four atheists, I found them to be very courteous, nice and well educated individuals. They were not what I was expecting. Before I met with them, I said a prayer that I would not allow myself to be upset by anything that was said and that I would be protected spiritually. I spent three hours speaking with these people and afterwards, I felt a little silly inside that I had prayed before meeting with them. Each person took the time to introduce themselves and tell me a little about themselves as far as what they did for a living, what hobbies they had, etc. These people were just like anyone else you might meet or run into in any store or grocery line.

Another misconception I had was that atheists did not want to be around anyone else that was not of like-mind. I found this to be very untrue. This particular group of folks welcomed the opportunity to speak