Atheist or Agnostic?

Published

I know, I know, you're never supposed to talk about religion or politics, right....

I'm really not trying to start a religious debate, but just get a sense of where people are at. I'm a first year student and an atheist, yet all my fellow students and the nurses I'm meeting are believers.

If and when I become an atheist nurse, am I going to find myself a fish out of water?

I botched my point a few pages back regarding intelligence and religiosity. The same correlation is found with levels of education and religiosity. The more education one has, the less religious one is, on average. The less education one has, the more religious one is, on average. It is a spectrum. The more fundamentalist one is, the less education, on average. Of course I am referring to group averages here, not individuals. It would be incorrect to make any particular assumption about an individual. That was my point in my reference to my mother (fundamentalist Southern Baptist) and her higher IQ than me (agnostic leaning a bit towards atheism Unitarian). According to the group averages, I should have a higher IQ than mom. Not true.

There is quite a bit of multicollinearity (predictor variables highly correlated) between intelligence and education. One cannot raise her IQ much, but one can directly control her education. Raised as a fundamentalist Southern Baptist in that insular world, it never occured to me that our viewpoints were based upon faith and not scholarly evidence. As I got older, as a teen I started noticing how parents did not want their children to go to secular universities. I began wondering, why would they be threatened by the scholars? I also started looking around at my mega church of hundreds of members and I noticed that none were college professors or highly educated except for one MD and a couple of lawyers. Contrast that to when I went to a friend's church (not fundamentalist) and I saw many of the university professors in our mid-size town there. Many other educated folks too.

The other day I mentioned to my mother that my biology professor neglected to bring up evolution, despite evolutional biology as applied to cytology/virology being on the syllabus. She said to me "he probably didn't believe in evolution." She really believed that a secular university biology professor may just not believe in evolution. I find this astounding. It shows that the fundamentalists have not been directly challenged, usually out of religious sensitivity. That leaves them with the impression that their viewpoints are accepted more than they are. Astounding.

Anyway, the more educated I have become, the less religious I have become. My point in bringing up intelligence/education was that some may need a nudge to begin the journey I did years back. To explore human history/religion/mythology/sociology/anthropology like I did and think the unthinkable. It honestly did not occur to me years and years ago, as a fundamentalist, that fundamentalism is not an educated position. I will stand by that statement.

Honey, I don't know what kind of trip or journey you went on but I think it is a bunch of bull. Any religion I know of is faith based not education based so maybe you don't know religion at all.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pain Management.

I found this at http://www.snopes.com while looking for something else and it reminded me a question:

Why do people quote the bible? It seems by doing so they are suggesting that it is the word of god, yet if they believe that to be true, why do they ignore so many other passages in the bible.

I asked a fundie this in response to his comments on homosexuality,i.e., how can you use the bible as justification to discriminate homosexuals if you don't abide by the rest of the bible.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/drlaura.asp

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I wonder out of all the educated and intelligent people that have read so many books and are soo wonderfully intelligent how many have actually taken the time to read the bible before they condem it and how many actually understand what they have read?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.
Honey, I don't know what kind of trip or journey you went on but I think it is a bunch of bull. Any religion I know of is faith based not education based so maybe you don't know religion at all.

It's not a matter of me knowing religion or not. I know evangelical Christianity, as I was one for many years. I know it, and I reject it. That is my personal position.

An alternate would be an evangelical Christian who knows all of my reasons (evidence, world history/sociology/anthropology/mythology) and rejects them. It's not entirely about knowing, but valueing evidence v. faith. And throw in some xenophobia, usually.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.
I wonder out of all the educated and intelligent people that have read so many books and are soo wonderfully intelligent how many have actually taken the time to read the bible before they condem it and how many actually understand what they have read?

Sure, I've read the Bible. I read it for years. All the way through. Several times. Endless Bible studies. Daily. I understood it as an evangelical Christian does. And yes, I now reject literal interpretation. Of course I reject literal interpretation of any holy book of any religion. A good friend has a saying "I read the Bible seriously, not literally."

If Evangelical Christians were not so bent on evangelizing (harrassing) I wouldn't have such strong opinions about them.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
I wonder out of all the educated and intelligent people that have read so many books and are soo wonderfully intelligent how many have actually taken the time to read the bible before they condem it and how many actually understand what they have read?

Plenty have......and what does that have to do with anything?

Reading the DaVinci Code and understanding that, has not necessarily converted everyone to its' beliefs.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I wonder out of all the educated and intelligent people that have read so many books and are soo wonderfully intelligent how many have actually taken the time to read the bible before they condem it and how many actually understand what they have read?

I am educated and have never read the bible and never will. I think it is a huge waste of a good tree that could have been put to better use. I have no use for people who sin all week and then go to church on Sunday. I admire those who live their spirituality every day and I have met many of both types. Everyone seems to interpret the bible the way they want so my interpretation would become your argument. That seems a huge waste of my life that could be better spent on making a real difference in lives that are on this earth right now. Not the place...that we may never get to...or the one that maybe does not exist at all. I live my life for today, not for the life after this one. That just seems so counter productive to me.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.
I am educated and have never read the bible and never will. I think it is a huge waste of a good tree that could have been put to better use. I have no use for people who sin all week and then go to church on Sunday. I admire those who live their spirituality every day and I have met many of both types. Everyone seems to interpret the bible the way they want so my interpretation would become your argument. That seems a huge waste of my life that could be better spent on making a real difference in lives that are on this earth right now. Not the place...that we may never get to...or the one that maybe does not exist at all. I live my life for today, not for the life after this one. That just seems so counter productive to me.

Lorster, OUCH! While I agree with alot of what you say, I do in fact think the Bible has some value. I know all of the Christians on this thread probably just gasped. I value the Bible as I'd value the Koran, Shinto, Bhagavad Gita, Tibetan Book of the Dead, and Rumi's writings. But then I would value them them for the mythology and rich prose.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Once again, it appears that this thread has strayed far from its original topic, e.g. what effect, if any, being an atheist might have on one's nursing career. I would like to see us return to the original subject, and avoid debating each other over academic issues such as religion vs. intelligence and/or education. These are highly charged topics; please be sensitive to the feelings of others who may not see things as you do. Thank you.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med-Surg.

Nevermind. I was going to address Marla's comment, but decided not to.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Telemetry, ICU, Resource Pool, Dialysis.
Once again, it appears that this thread has strayed far from its original topic, e.g. what effect, if any, being an atheist might have on one's nursing career. I would like to see us return to the original subject, and avoid debating each other over academic issues such as religion vs. intelligence and/or education. These are highly charged topics; please be sensitive to the feelings of others who may not see things as you do. Thank you.

OK. I'll put in my thoughts. Of course your choice religion or lack of will impact your nursing practice. Not so much how you care for patients, but how you feel about things, for example, death and dying. I, personally, have never seen someone's religion, or lack or lack of, interfere with their ability to competently care for a patient. I've never seen someone in the workplace harassed about their choice of religion.

A Christian may believe their patient has gone "to a better place," or Heaven, while the patient's family may believe they have simply ceased to exist, been transformed into another being, entered into another body - the list is endless. But really, what does it matter what you believe? Your job is to care for the patient and family, and see that their individual needs are met. Religious beliefs don't really figure in when it comes to holding a hand, giving a hug, or helping make arrangements.

To work with such a wide variety of patients and families, nurses must have the ability to suspend their own convictions and respect the convictions of others. If you can't do that, nursing is not for you. Priests, preachers and chaplins have the training to provide spiritual guidance, my job is to provide nursing care.

I can understand the dilemma a non-Christian may feel if asked to pray with a patient. I truly don't think any harm would be done in respectfully refusing on the grounds that you're not a believer, or offering to sit with the patient while he prays.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Sure, I've read the Bible. I read it for years. All the way through. Several times. Endless Bible studies. Daily. I understood it as an evangelical Christian does. And yes, I now reject literal interpretation. Of course I reject literal interpretation of any holy book of any religion. A good friend has a saying "I read the Bible seriously, not literally."

If Evangelical Christians were not so bent on evangelizing (harrassing) I wouldn't have such strong opinions about them.

So are you in essence saying you are prejudiced against evangelical christians? If so how do you plan on caring for an evangelical christian as a patient, is this the kind of garbage you plan on sharing with them on thier death bed. I hope and pray to GOD that I am never your patient in that situation.

Let's see what was this thread again. How was the atheist wondering they were going to be accepted in nursing? or how about How is the atheist going to accept Christiasms innursing?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion