Thread by @LetsGoCNote

It's a bit hard to explain a non-attachment to a political or religious identity. That seems to be foreign as a paradigm.

I grew up atheist which was more DEtached from religion but was, in itself, a mode of moral tempering.

So, still tethered to religion relatively.

I fought with a lot of people online about religion versus science, which at the time felt oppositional. In my personal life it was incredibly lonely.

I felt enveloped by religious belief, people trying to convert me and rampant moral inconsistencies.

So, my place was online.

I don't remember specific people or groups I connected with online.

Atheism wasn't quite at the scale it's reaching now. It was like nomads passing by and jumping into debates...seeing each other on the battlefield not realizing we're on the same "side." Rogues. Vigilantes.

I see that happening at a bigger scale, a non-religious moral tempering and battle online, only this time this atheist militia has code and flags to know you're on the same side.

Strangely American.

I didn't really choose atheism so much as I didn't have anywhere to land.

I got comfortable being in the dark and navigating convictions.

It's weird seeing a religion forming out of this darkness, despite the good its done.

I think..."Where have you been?"

It's conflicting.

Over time I saw the issues within being atheist.

I myself became dogmatic about "science" and being logical above all. I fought with people all the time. I belittled people's belief systems. I couldn't trust the logic of anyone religious. I saw them as tainted or brainwashed.

That feels no different than anyone steeped in a fundamental religion and defending their entry-point into society.

Absolutes and conviction was a way of defending my own societal footing.

What changed for me was hearing how a Jesuit priest talk about science as exploring God's creation on Neil Degrasse Tyson's Star Talk podcast. I respected that and started to drop my guard.

I see many who have detached from their former religion scrambling for a place to land like I was...exploring astrology, Buddhism, Wiccan, hindu, archetypes, etc.

I, myself, explored numerous ideas and even circled back to Christianity to see if there was a spot for me.

None stuck but I learned from each...that it was more about "how" than "what."

It's strange to see a large swath of people going through a similar experience. I'm watching a paradigm I grew out of start to become popular. Imagine how you'd feel if that was your former religion.

Not to dismiss the good these movements have done, religions create moral fiber to tame the masses of its given time.

If anything, I feel this movement is calling for religions to update their values and integrate because the old world, pre-social media is dead.

No doctrine accounts for technology, the scope and speed of communication, and meeting the needs of a multi-racial and multi-cultural society.

Update needed...restart now or wait until later?

Thankfully, America and the constitution create this opportunity to continue to develop and shape the values of the nation to include worldviews and codes that didn't exist when founded. There's been a lot of progress and evolution.

History documents this, not just atrocities.

The barrier for growth is maintaining disdain for whatever current doctrine assumes is evil and the prescription that enables growth is exposure to their humanity. That good and bad has no absolute. That there are no evil people, just extreme depths of unconscious reactions.

This new atheistic movement, religion and moral tempering creates a new bridge into society that used to only be accessible by becoming an athlete, converting to one of a few religions, or having been born in a certain place to a certain class family and/or skin color.

Not integrating some of these new values will likely create the self-fulfilling prophecy of society crumbling due to inaction and stagnant ideals.

We humans are always resisting flow then wonder where it is.

I've seen multiple arguments about how either "side" can become another WW2 situation.

And both can.

One can claim oppression where it doesn't truly exist and turn into the victim to justify awful acts.

The other can claim authentic oppression as a means to exact revenge.

In my mind, it's a matter of seeing what's happening and happened outside of our stories for that to not be the case.

The former seeing what happened, acknowledging the disparity, and wanting to make it right.

The latter focused on healing and not becoming a new oppressor.

Technology has been the great equalizer.

Much like TV illuminated Vietnam, social media illuminated police violence, racism, and sexism at scale...notions formerly easy to be overwritten by vague hearsay and gossip.

These recent exposures, and the consistency therein, have been enough to pull people away from these outdated paradigms. Others dig in.

Social media killed the middleman who used to have power over and set the terms for societal success.

New morals are reaching government and some religions, the definition of criminal is changing...the definition of what's accepted in society is changing.

Comfort gets rocky and understandably scary.

New rules forming via righteous vigilantes at times ruining innocent lives.

Conservatives are not off the hook of responsibility though.

I've put my attention on criticizing this atheistic movement but conservatives have adapted so poorly, meekly...resorting to complaining about not being able to publicly make the same jokes they made in middle school.

In my mind, that's how we ended up with DJT...a very comfortable majority being poked by an ignored and deemed criminal minority becoming moral vigilantes doing some messed up stuff at times and the former focused on wanting to make America funny again.

The reason multiple parties exist is so that one doesn't run away with the ball and forces one ideal on a complex set of people. It's balance and not getting comfy.

So I think dusting off the lazy boys and assessing values is valid because the conservative heart got lax.

Calling COVid "Kung flu" is fucked up and certainly not something most anyone's God would give permission to say but also calling that person a white supremacist and getting them fired does not make anyone a "good person" either.

No thanks to any of that.

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