Rick Hunter
Celestial
I have been studying religion and belief/unbelief all my life, it just fascinates the hell out of me (no pun intended!). My sister in law was raised in the church as my wife was. For most of her life she has been pretty devout (at least by appearances), and quite involved in the church and many charitable projects. However in the last few weeks she has officially come out as an unbeliever, something like what Martin Marty described in his book Varieties of Unbelief. The author wrote in the introduction that:
"This book attempts to describe two types and a number of forms of modern unbelief. Unbelief can be defined in as many ways as can its opposite, belief. In this book it represents ways in which people of the recent past have expressed themselves apart from belief in the God of Christian revelation."
Likewise, she wrote on her FB profile,
"I’ve never been one to treat someone badly based on what they do, or do not, believe. I hope most people can afford me that same courtesy. We shall see…
I am no longer considering myself a “Christian”. I’m not sure what I do believe, but I know what I don’t. After 38 years, it’s time to be honest with myself and those I care about.
I’ve been vocal about my beliefs up until now, so I felt compelled to be vocal about my non-beliefs. Although not up for debate, I’m happy to have deep, meaningful conversations with anyone who wants to.
This is not a new thing. For the past few weeks, I’ve put much thought and time into who I am and what I believe. I’ve talked with those who know me best and care about me most. I’ve considered everything, and this is my path.
Most importantly, (husband) and I are on the same page and we look forward to continuing to grow together. I’ve never felt so mentally and emotionally healthy."
There are tons of nominal believers in my family but this is the only time I can remember encountering an unbeliever. I advised her to examine the Baha'i faith, as it is universalist and I think that it would go well with her humanitarian tenets which I think have always been more important to her than the stories and expectations of Christianity anyway. She told me that she is quite happy not to be a part of any faith right now, and I respect her decision. As you might suspect, her family is not very happy with this. My wife doesn't agree with it, but isn't going to argue about it or anything.
I believe in freewill, every person must choose for themselves what to believe or not believe. I also believe that we should advocate for the faith whenever it is constructive to do so, but never at the expense of alienating or disrespecting anyone. Being a student of religion and belief/unbelief, I am planning to just listen to her talk about how she arrived at a position of unbelief if she will discuss it with me. I am a Christian, however my version of the faith differs from many in that I am willing to consider other texts and practices as long as they don't contradict my understanding of the Gospel. For example, I am coming to embrace reincarnation more and more. My religion isn't the same as it was when I was a kid or even ten years ago. And I'm sure it will have evolved even more by the time the curtain closes on this act!
"This book attempts to describe two types and a number of forms of modern unbelief. Unbelief can be defined in as many ways as can its opposite, belief. In this book it represents ways in which people of the recent past have expressed themselves apart from belief in the God of Christian revelation."
Likewise, she wrote on her FB profile,
"I’ve never been one to treat someone badly based on what they do, or do not, believe. I hope most people can afford me that same courtesy. We shall see…
I am no longer considering myself a “Christian”. I’m not sure what I do believe, but I know what I don’t. After 38 years, it’s time to be honest with myself and those I care about.
I’ve been vocal about my beliefs up until now, so I felt compelled to be vocal about my non-beliefs. Although not up for debate, I’m happy to have deep, meaningful conversations with anyone who wants to.
This is not a new thing. For the past few weeks, I’ve put much thought and time into who I am and what I believe. I’ve talked with those who know me best and care about me most. I’ve considered everything, and this is my path.
Most importantly, (husband) and I are on the same page and we look forward to continuing to grow together. I’ve never felt so mentally and emotionally healthy."
There are tons of nominal believers in my family but this is the only time I can remember encountering an unbeliever. I advised her to examine the Baha'i faith, as it is universalist and I think that it would go well with her humanitarian tenets which I think have always been more important to her than the stories and expectations of Christianity anyway. She told me that she is quite happy not to be a part of any faith right now, and I respect her decision. As you might suspect, her family is not very happy with this. My wife doesn't agree with it, but isn't going to argue about it or anything.
I believe in freewill, every person must choose for themselves what to believe or not believe. I also believe that we should advocate for the faith whenever it is constructive to do so, but never at the expense of alienating or disrespecting anyone. Being a student of religion and belief/unbelief, I am planning to just listen to her talk about how she arrived at a position of unbelief if she will discuss it with me. I am a Christian, however my version of the faith differs from many in that I am willing to consider other texts and practices as long as they don't contradict my understanding of the Gospel. For example, I am coming to embrace reincarnation more and more. My religion isn't the same as it was when I was a kid or even ten years ago. And I'm sure it will have evolved even more by the time the curtain closes on this act!