{"id":4366,"date":"2010-11-01T01:10:25","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T06:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=4420"},"modified":"2010-10-20T14:24:16","modified_gmt":"2010-10-20T19:24:16","slug":"journey-of-a-witch-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2010\/11\/01\/journey-of-a-witch-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Journey of a Witch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Atheists Don\u2019t Have No Songs!
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had the pleasure of seeing comedian Steve Martin perform this hilarious satirical song Atheists \u201cDon\u2019t Have No Song\u201d
\nin person. The song is quite funny however; perceptions of atheists are not.<\/p>\n

Atheism in its ancient meaning is \u201cwithout god\u201d and carried with it negative connotations.
\nIn the West the word continues to stir up negative emotions in people.<\/p>\n

Many people accept different forms of religion.
\nPaganism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Muslim, Christianity and others are accepted even
\nthough some forms of these religions like Buddhism do not necessarily hold to a belief in deity.
\nYet when one identifies themselves as an atheist the acceptance seems to wear thin.
\nAs if this person who does not subscribe to religion is somehow invalid or lacking in morals.<\/p>\n

The road of spirituality is colored with all kinds of paths and yes, atheism is one of them.
\nAs odd as it may sound to some, a person who does not follow religion can be very spiritual.
\nMany atheists meditate, contemplate and work on bringing peace and joy from within; they are also active within
\ntheir community and volunteer.<\/p>\n

Validation of action of one\u2019s path; however, is not required.
\nWe all have our own path which is personal and no other person can define what our own personal truth is.<\/p>\n

Absence of a belief in deity is not absence of thought.
\nIn a recent survey, atheist\u2019s knowledge of religion excelled that of Roman Catholics and Protestants.
\nMany who identified themselves as a specific religion did not know basic beliefs of their own religion.<\/p>\n

Spirituality is different than religion. If one identifies themselves as an atheists it does not mean they lack ethics
\nor morals. Absence of belief in deity is not absence of kindness or compassion which many people who happen to
\ncall themselves atheists are.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important not to generalize. We can get caught up in negative connotations or in words forgetting the actual
\npeople behind those labels. So you met a guy who\u2019s an atheist and he\u2019s angry and judgmental.
\nThen you meet a guy who serves as a deacon of his church with Jesus all over his office and he\u2019s angry and judgmental.
\nThen you meet Sue who\u2019s a coven leader and she\u2019s full of herself.
\nThen you think sheesh I\u2019ll stop meeting people and have a beer instead!
\nPeople bring along with them on their path past experiences, anger, hurt or joy and peace.<\/p>\n

Along my journey I\u2019ve met dogmatic Pagans, very liberal Christians, angry Christians, angry Pagans, happy Pagans,
\nhappy Christians, happy Atheists and unhappy Atheists.<\/p>\n

People come in all kinds of shades. It\u2019s important to remember no matter the label one associates with, those are
\nwords and there is a human being there.<\/p>\n

My father took in many kids as we were growing up.
\nKids whose family life was not the best at the time.
\nHe worked two jobs and my mother would drive us all around and cook all our meals.
\nMy father gave money and shelter to these kids without thought for what he might get in return, without
\na belief in deity or some kind of reward for \u201cdoing good\u201d.
\nHe did what he felt was right and what he could give.
\nHe is what many call an Atheist.<\/p>\n

Giving is the most powerful thing a human can do.
\nRegardless of religion or no religion one chooses.
\nLove, compassion and kindness have no religion, they just are.
\nIf we could see each other as we are instead of what we wish maybe peace would be found in acceptance.<\/p>\n

And like the song goes\u2026
\nPentecostals sing, they sing to heaven.<\/p>\n

Coptic\u2019s have the Book of Scrolls.<\/p>\n

Numerologists can count to seven.<\/p>\n

Atheists have rock and roll.<\/p>\n

Rock on!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Atheists Don\u2019t Have No Songs! I had the pleasure of seeing comedian Steve Martin perform this hilarious satirical song Atheists \u201cDon\u2019t Have No Song\u201d in person. The song is quite funny however; perceptions of atheists are not. Atheism in its ancient meaning is \u201cwithout god\u201d and carried with it negative connotations. In the West the word continues to stir up negative emotions in people. Many people accept different forms of religion. Paganism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Muslim, Christianity and others are accepted even though some forms of these religions like Buddhism do not necessarily hold to a belief in deity. Yet when one identifies themselves as an atheist the acceptance seems to wear thin. As if this person who does not subscribe to religion is somehow invalid or lacking in morals. The road of spirituality is colored with all kinds of paths and yes, atheism is one of them. As odd as it may sound to some, a person who does not follow religion can be very spiritual. Many atheists meditate, contemplate and work on bringing peace and joy from within; they are also active within their community and volunteer. Validation of action of one\u2019s path; however, is not required. We all have our own path which is personal and no other person can define what our own personal truth is. Absence of a belief in deity is not absence of thought. In a recent survey, atheist\u2019s knowledge of religion excelled that of Roman Catholics and Protestants. Many who identified themselves as a specific religion did not know basic beliefs of their own religion. Spirituality is different than religion. If one identifies themselves as an atheists it does not mean they lack ethics or morals. Absence of belief in deity is not absence of kindness or compassion which many people who happen to call themselves atheists are. It\u2019s important not to generalize. We can get caught up in negative connotations or in words forgetting the actual people behind those labels. So you met a guy who\u2019s an atheist and he\u2019s angry and judgmental. Then you meet a guy who serves as a deacon of his church with Jesus all over his office and he\u2019s angry and judgmental. Then you meet Sue who\u2019s a coven leader and she\u2019s full of herself. Then you think sheesh I\u2019ll stop meeting people and have a beer instead! People bring along with them on their path past experiences, anger, hurt or joy and peace. Along my journey I\u2019ve met dogmatic Pagans, very liberal Christians, angry Christians, angry Pagans, happy Pagans, happy Christians, happy Atheists and unhappy Atheists. People come in all kinds of shades. It\u2019s important to remember no matter the label one associates with, those are words and there is a human being there. My father took in many kids as we were growing up. Kids whose family life was not the best at the time. He worked two jobs and my mother would drive us all around and cook all our meals. My father gave money and shelter to these kids without thought for what he might get in return, without a belief in deity or some kind of reward for \u201cdoing good\u201d. He did what he felt was right and what he could give. He is what many call an Atheist. Giving is the most powerful thing a human can do. Regardless of religion or no religion one chooses. Love, compassion and kindness have no religion, they just are. If we could see each other as we are instead of what we wish maybe peace would be found in acceptance. And like the song goes\u2026 Pentecostals sing, they sing to heaven. Coptic\u2019s have the Book of Scrolls. Numerologists can count to seven. Atheists have rock and roll. Rock on!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4366"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4316,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4366\/revisions\/4316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}