I’m not sure if this is the proper thread for this question, but what personally motivates you in your freethinking/scepticism/secularism?  Tell the truth, boys and girls; don’t hold back anything, even if you’re ashamed of it.

For me, it’s very simple. It’s not enough for me to believe or to disbelieve. I want to know.

You don’t get there by faith.

Equal Opportunity Curmudgeon - 12 November 2011 09:18 PM

For me, it’s very simple. It’s not enough for me to believe or to disbelieve. I want to know.

You don’t get there by faith.

Yes, although I recognize that simply deciding to believe a set of ideas and acting in accordance with that, a.k.a. “faith”, can have its advantages, it also seems to me to be a self limiting trap, and depending on the particular set of ideas, could be a very misguided way of living one’s life. Conversely speaking, however, persons who are secular and even empirically oriented, live in accordance with underlying assumptions that are ultimately accepted without being proveable, at least, currently.  But the on-going openness to change depending on new evidence, is much more appealing to me than the closed structure of most religious thinking.

I think I’m more comfortable with not knowing than many people are, and I’ve always had a problem with authority.

Occam

Skepticism to me is one of the most wonderful inventions of the human mind. I am not really interested why some people are skeptics as much as why the majority of people are not. I have no idea how they do it.

mid atlantic - 12 November 2011 06:55 PM

I’m not sure if this is the proper thread for this question, but what personally motivates you in your freethinking/scepticism/secularism?  Tell the truth, boys and girls; don’t hold back anything, even if you’re ashamed of it.

And your answer?

I completely lost my faith and ability to blindly follow Christian precepts while in college. The professors taught me how to think critically and by studying history I uncovered the back story to religion. At first it was like someone had told me that Santa Claus wasn’t real. No one did, I just figured that one out for myself when my brother and I caught our dad and uncle playing with our toys the night before Xmas. Bummer! Later, we were all exposed to professors who openly professed their skepticism and learned to question the authority of sacred writings. I’ve been a skeptic for 30+ years, then a Diest, a Stoic, and now an atheist. I guess you could say that it’s been an evolutionary process. Long time friends whom I ‘ve known for over 50 years still feel comfortable in their religious beliefs yet we were exposed to the same professors and similar courses. While we remain friends and they know my lack of belief I still can’t figure out why none of them share my skepticism. Our son is an atheist and our daughter is a nominal Christian (she attends an Episcopal Church on occasion) and they respect my free thinking even when it comes to our granddaughters. One story: my daughter was reading a book about Jesus to them. They were asking who he was. When she came to the part about his importance the book mentioned that “Jesus came to save us”, my oldest granddaughter said, “momma, from who, the Huns?” she and her sister had been watching the movie Mulan! And so it begins.

Cap’t Jack

TimB - 30 December 2011 07:01 PM

mid atlantic - 12 November 2011 06:55 PM

I’m not sure if this is the proper thread for this question, but what personally motivates you in your freethinking/scepticism/secularism?  Tell the truth, boys and girls; don’t hold back anything, even if you’re ashamed of it.

And your answer?

I think much of my motivation is innate - that is, I never had to struggle with my disbelief in the supernatural, none of my immidiate family is religious. Freethinking and skepticism are terms I first learned about in my teens, but I didn’t fully “embrace” them until about age 23 or so - not that long ago.  I do have a strong dislike of very religious people though, and hate motivates me somewhat.  IMO, secularism is one of the greatest things we have, and it’s worth killing for I feel.

Thevillageatheist - 30 December 2011 07:17 PM

I completely lost my faith and ability to blindly follow Christian precepts while in college. The professors taught me how to think critically and by studying history I uncovered the back story to religion. At first it was like someone had told me that Santa Claus wasn’t real. No one did, I just figured that one out for myself when my brother and I caught our dad and uncle playing with our toys the night before Xmas. Bummer! Later, we were all exposed to professors who openly professed their skepticism and learned to question the authority of sacred writings. I’ve been a skeptic for 30+ years, then a Diest, a Stoic, and now an atheist. I guess you could say that it’s been an evolutionary process. Long time friends whom I ‘ve known for over 50 years still feel comfortable in their religious beliefs yet we were exposed to the same professors and similar courses. While we remain friends and they know my lack of belief I still can’t figure out why none of them share my skepticism. Our son is an atheist and our daughter is a nominal Christian (she attends an Episcopal Church on occasion) and they respect my free thinking even when it comes to our granddaughters. One story: my daughter was reading a book about Jesus to them. They were asking who he was. When she came to the part about his importance the book mentioned that “Jesus came to save us”, my oldest granddaughter said, “momma, from who, the Huns?” she and her sister had been watching the movie Mulan! And so it begins.

Cap’t Jack

Were you already skeptical at that time in your life?