Montana Freethinkers

Exploring ideas outside the norm, specifically contemporary Christianity and pure market capitalism.

The Three Eyes of Atheism
More Atheist Philosophy by Justin Whitaker

(4-16-01) revised 5-17-01 (finalized 23, Nov. 2004)

"One who is closed-minded and afraid of opposing views can see almost any question as an attack."

"Missteps in the path of life are going to be many if we are not simply following the pack. The best we can do is make an honest attempt to understand them so that we do not make them again, and then to move on!"

ABSTRACT:
Three important character traits that I feel are vitally important to living the "greatest life" are Intelligence, Independence, and Inquisitiveness. These, coincidentally, appear to be the traits, that when utilized fully, will lead an individual permanently out of "the church."

I was thinking today about why I left the Catholic Church at the young age that I did and I came up with these three "I"s (eyes). It was having these three eyes that led me and I think many like me out of the church in the first place. Much of the world is utterly lacking one or all of them in their approach to religion, and thus they are followers of the God that they are told to follow. I use 'eyes' both because it is pronounced the same as the first letter of each of these traits (I) and also because it fits the analogy of one having there eyes shut, thus not applying these traits to religion. Most religions people certainly could apply these three characteristics to religion as they do in most every other aspect of there lives, but they choose to close their eyes as they walk into the church each week or each day and be blindly led, not wanting to open their eyes fearing, I would guess, what they have been programmed to fear throughout their entire lives, Eternal Damnation. Such a fear, if placed in the psyche early in life, is incredibly difficult to break free from. There is also the problem of distraction in life, as recognized by Herbert Marcuse in "One Dimensional Man". Such distraction, in the way of longer work-days/weeks, increased intrusion by media, and overall multiplied sense-input, makes serious questioning of our religious orientation increasingly difficult.

The three eyes are simple traits, traits that we all possess to some degree or another. I by no means have a monopoly on any of them, nor claim a great deal of any either! They are Inquisitiveness, simply asking "Why?" a lot; Intelligence, having the ability to examine and discern truths from lies, and Independence, the ability to step back and be without those things that you rely so heavily upon now in order to apply the 2nd trait, intelligence.

There is no hierarchy to the three traits, but a person failing to utilize even one of them will get nowhere. An example is the 4 year old who constantly asks "Why?" He/she has more inquisitiveness than a dozen adults together, but does not yet have the factors of intelligence, reasoning and logic, to examine the answers that come back to him/her. If an adult hears many of the answers that are given to the 4 year old he/she would immediately pick them apart as faulty or unjustified. Answers such as "Because I say so" simply won't work with someone with developed Intelligence. The 4 year old is also entirely dependent on those who give them the answers. He/she is unable to say, "I don't like the answers you are giving me, and I'm going to ask someone else." This is a perfectly understandable relationship for a young child to have with his/her parents, but all too often young men and women move from dependence upon their parents immediately into dependence upon the church.

Independence may be the most important of the three eyes, if only because it is the one most rarely utilized by religious people. In fact, it is the most poorly utilized trait by most people today. Steven R. Covey, author of "The 7 habits of Highly Effective People" talks a lot about dependence, independence, and the highest level we can attain in regard to relationships: interdependence. People lacking in independence are seen everywhere from abusive relationships to corporate zombies (people who follow the commands of their workplace superiors without question). I was personally trained to be a corporate zombie for 5 months before breaking out of it, so I know what that one is like. I was degraded every time I expressed any thought or idea of my own, and was congratulated every time I did what my superior wanted me to do in a quick manner. In just the same way both women and men fall into psychologically abusive relationships in which their partner is all loving and wonderful as long as the dependent one is following the rules set out by the controller, but the moment the dependent one has an idea or wish of their own, they are belittled for being so stupid, or selfish, or some similar negative trait.

You see, the same happens within the church. The church loves you and will care for you very deeply, unless you question it, or outright go against it. Most churches, not being entirely authoritarian/totalistic (all controlling of those dependent upon them), work hard at finding a more loving response to those going against them in order to coerce them back into the flock with the other sheep. They will answer your questions as well as they can, and will show sympathy for your lack of faith. They will empathize with you having been acted upon by ungodly forces (blaming and sympathizing for those lacking faith who have gotten these 'silly ideas' into your head), whose only goal is to pull people away from the church. But if you keep asking, or keep telling them they are out right wrong, they will turn on you. Maybe not damning you straight to hell right away... but soon enough. In answering your questions you will soon be told that "we don't ask those kinds of questions here" or "because God (or the Bible) said so" which sounds an awful lot like "because I said so," which as I pointed out above, doesn't ring very well with any individual with a developed intellect.

If you keep asking eventually you will be told that your questions "are a slap in the face of religion" - as I was when I sent "20 questions for a Christian" (something from a popular atheist web site - I'll link to them if/when I can find them) to my Catholic ex-girlfriend and she brought them to her ex-priest father. Many of the Christians that I sent these questions to actually answered them, and did well in my view. I saw the questions more as an opportunity for a devout Christian to exclaim their views, and to think about them. But my Catholic ex-girlfriend and her father saw them as an attack.

How can any question truly be an attack? Even if someone were to ask me why I was so stupid (something many would take as an attack) I could simply reply that I'm actually fairly intelligent, and may ask them to explain why they view me as stupid in the first place. Their question, as are all, would be an opportunity to share opposing beliefs (concerning my intelligence) and to come to a common understanding about these beliefs. Most questions that are seen as attacks are seen that way because they presume some factor that comes out in the question - and if the presumption is wrong, as it often is, the answer back should be something to the effect of "Why do you think I am stupid?"

A question cannot be an attack if one who is open to understanding and sharing opposing views receives it. One who is closed-minded and afraid of opposing views can see almost any question as an attack. An attack MUST come in the form of a statement - such as "You are stupid." Of course such statements can be implied in the question, but the fact that they come in the form of a question leaves them clearly open to intelligent and open response. If someone tells me "you are stupid" they likely are not open to a conversation about this subject, but one who asks "why are you so stupid" possibly is. So do not ever let someone tell you that your question is offensive, unless you mean it to be, in which case you are in the wrong. If you do not mean it to be, simply ask them to explain, and if they cannot, they will likely write you off as a hopeless heretic, something evil to be kept away from.

Thus we've seen the three traits: inquisitiveness, intelligence, and independence in some form of action. As with the case of my then girlfriend's father, displaying these traits can sometimes be difficult. But even now I think it was the right thing to do at the time. With hindsight I can see that some people are not so amenable to questions, a lesson that I hope I have taken to heart, and I would not ask them again if given the opportunity. Missteps in the path of life are going to be many if we are not simply following the pack. The best we can do is make an honest attempt to understand them so that we do not make them again, and then to move on!

Thanks for reading. Justin Whitaker

Montana Freethinkers

The Three Eyes of Atheism More Atheist Philosophy by Justin Whitaker

"One who is closed-minded and afraid of opposing views can see almost any question as an attack."

"Missteps in the path of life are going to be many if we are not simply following the pack. The best we can do is make an honest attempt to understand them so that we do not make them again, and then to move on!"

The Three Eyes of Atheism
More Atheist Philosophy by Justin Whitaker