Well, everyone seems to have a support group. Perhaps folks like me need one.
But first a word about misotheism, which the dictionaries define as a hatred of God or the gods. As I've explained before, after years of thinking about the matter of God and religion, in the which I slowly managed to de-indoctrinate myself of the beliefs instilled in me by my upbringing, I arrived at a position that recognizes God as a metaphor. I'm not literally a misotheist if that entails belief in a personal God. However, I do hate a popular and widespread conception of God. That is the fellow I so often take issue with on my blog. So perhaps it's more accurate to say I hate bad ideas about God.
I hate the idea that the universe may be something of a hoax because instead of being a self-explanatory and consistent system, it is and has been tinkered with from time to time by God's supernatural interventions (miracles) which skews the evidence. Creationists are the chief villains in this joke, but there are also those who think "natural" disasters either have or sometimes have a supernatural origin.
I hate the idea that good and evil are defined by God's fiat; that good and evil can be reduced to a set of commands or ideals based on God's will, and unbelievers are, therefore, bad people.
I hate the idea that God is supposedly omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, omnibenevolent, and somehow - to all appearances - totally indifferent to the abundance of evil in this vale of suffering.
I hate the idea that God has favorites. i. e., chosen or elect people. I much prefer the humanist ideal of equality.
I hate the idea that God punishes and tortures his creatures; that we are "worms" or so far beneath Him as to be comparatively insignificant.
I hate the idea that submission to God's will is human fulfillment, that slavery is really freedom.
These are all ideas that tear down the effort to come together as people and make this life all we can make it.
These ideas had a very negative impact on my own life in lots of ways, and I see that same effect in the lives of others. What I find extremely troubling are the people I interact with who feel the way I do but out of fear find themselves trapped in the mindset of that concept of God. I understand that more than most of you could ever know unless you have experienced it. Fear of an "angry God" and/or fear of disapproval and abandonment of angry-God-believing friends and family members are emotionally distressing.
I just strongly feel that silence isn't an appropriate response. And I feel we should stick together and hold out for the death of that type of God.
12 comments:
Fear of an angry God can make man do hellish things to his fellow man, whether it be a Christian God or otherwise.
I hate the God you are describing too. That God is worthless. The damage some of those ideas inflicted on me still hasn't healed. I'm not sure it ever will.
I do understand that fear of an angry God. It's inescapable, all-encompassing, and crushing. That fear drove me to a suicide attempt.
The abandonment of friends and family is crushing as well. These are people you trusted and relied on, people who were supposed to help you when you needed it most. But it turns out that all they care about is your religion. It's heartbreaking.
If I believed in God or gods, I would be a misotheist. Just yesterday, a visiting friend, who suffers from health problems, expressed to me how she gets sad and wonders why God did this to her and why she deserves this. She's not a member of any religion, but she still believes in God. I don't try to promote atheism to people, but I asked her wouldn't she feel better not believing in God so she wouldn't feel punished or have any external ( or internal) reason to blame. She's young too and I guess at 25 I still kind of believed in something because I hadn't really started questioning yet beyond the stories
of the Bible, which I knew I didn't take as truth. By the time my dad died even though people were doing prayer chains, I might have been a misotheist but
for a very short time before I decided I didn't believe in any god. It was freeing for me and absolute. I think my sister's extreme conversion to Orthodox Judaism and the way she handled our dad's death ( he had to be buried in a shroud and he had to be renamed before he died when the rabbi came and closed his eyes while pointing to a name in his book ) really made me decide I didn't believe in any of this. The rituals also kind of made me mad because they said his soul was scared and confused stuck in that room until he could be buried. My dad's family is reformed Jewish and they were really losing patience with all the Orthodox rituals because my dad wasn't religious at all. All this could have made me a misotheist, but it was better to just let go whatever belief I might have had to that point. I wish there was no religion in the world.
Doug, have you read "Hating God" ? I just came across it when I looked up misotheism. It mentions authors he considers misotheists, who considered
themselves agnostic or atheist, so I don't know how the term applies- ha. Camus is mentioned and I've always liked the existentialist view of life. I don't think I ever cared about the meaning of life or my purpose in it. I do believe in doing good just because I think we should live this life compassionately. I really believe in helping people, especially the homeless. This guy was so happy the other day when I gave him my sushi leftovers. If I did believe in God, I would hate him for making some people's lives so hard.
Sorry, I know this isn't relevant, but this post makes me think of the old joke - did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic insomniac? He laid awake all night wondering if there really was a dog.
Well, if you get called on this at any golden-looking gates (ha, as if), just explain you meant that "heavenly" Japanese soup that comes before sushi?
Thanks for the new word!
@ Georgia Mountain Man - Exactly right you are. And that is why I rail.
@ Sammy - I sympathize with your experience. One of the worst things for me was that my religious upbringing did not allow me to develop a proper sense of personal responsibility. I was raised to be ever conscious of following the path laid out for me by my Heavenly Father. I believe it was he, not I, who was in control of my life.
@ Erika - And it is stories like those that leave that distinct bad taste in my mouth concerning this theistic religion business. For everyone who tells me what a comfort it is, I can point out a hundred examples of it being a bane for others.
No, I haven't read Hating God. Sounds interesting, though. If the God the theistic religions teach truly does exist, he is the Devil himself according my thinking, so would be deserving of my contempt.
@ MS Day Dreamer - LOL! No, I had only heard of the dyslexic fellow who wondered why his prayers were never answered. And then he figured out he had been praying to Dog all those years.
@ imascatterbrain - Another jokester! But I think if I have trouble on Judgment Day I will probably suggest: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. I'll see how that flies.
LOL, loved the comments! My mom had NO PROBLEMO getting rid of that bad God. We never spoke of him. Anger issues.
I can understand how a strict religious upbring messes up a good person's life.(AND ALL THOSE WHO STEP IN THEIR MUD) I agree with all your points, Doug.
@ Diane - Glad to have you aboard!
You know, I've heard of maltheism, but not misotheism. New word for me.
Wonderful blog! I got here through Sabio's triangulations.
I didn't grow up with the god you describe, but I know some who did. In some ways, the more I got to know them types, the less and less I wanted to share any label or religion with them.
I'm going to go looking through your back pages. Looking forward to any conversations!
@ Andrew,
Thanks for the compliment about my blog. I'm glad to have you here and hope you will feel free to participate whenever you like. And let me apologize for the delay in getting your comment posted. I moderate comments on my older posts.
This is a pretty good approximation of my upbringing as well. Perhaps not quite as far right as yours (Southern Baptist can be varied in their views while still being quite fundamentalist conservatives.) I, like you, have learned to highly dislike the presentation of God that you present here. The theism of most modern-day evangelicals is not something I can abide. So, I search for something more palatable
@ Don,
It was all too much for my little mind. I moved to Deism for awhile, but still felt that left too much unanswered. Then there is the process God of Rabbi Kushner. You kind of have to feel sorry for that fellow. He wants to do good but just can't muster the omnipotence in order to do it. But if theists insist on the type of God I write about here, man, I don't know....
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