Atheists Think They’re The Most Powerful Thing In The Universe
Please don’t be disturbed by this common claim which usually sounds like this:
Oh, you don’t believe in god? So that means that you think you’re the most powerful thing in the universe. That means that you think there’s nothing higher than you.
What an absurd and insulting claim this is! It takes all sorts of liberties with your beliefs. It presumes that you have insane beliefs completely unrelated to your beliefs about god. There is no reason to believe that because somebody doesn’t believe in god, then they must believe that they themselves have supernatural powers. This statement says more about the person who utters it than it does about you. It shows that they believe so strongly in the supernatural that they can’t even conceive of a person who doesn’t believe in it. I’m an atheist, and I certainly don’t believe I’m the most powerful thing in the universe. I believe I have a reasonable degree of power over my own life, but I certainly can’t move the sun and the stars! I believe there are laws to the universe which I cannot change, and I don’t need to believe in god to hold this belief. There is no rational reason for any atheist to believe they are the highest power in the universe, and there is no rational reason for god-believers to ascribe this view to us.
This statement also has a hidden agenda which must be decoded. It’s all about “humility”. “Can’t you just be humble and admit that you have no control over this”. The recovery culture clammers for us to embrace humility, and their motives for doing so are based only on their own feelings of mediocrity and helplessness. The people who tell substance users (atheists or otherwise) to embrace humility, have a desire to feel better about themselves by seeing all people as being helpless, sinful, useless, powerless, irrational, flawed, etc. They are basically advising that you feel better about yourself by expecting less from yourself, that if you were surrounded by failure then your own failure wouldn’t seem so bad. They want you to be a part of the club – each person that they convince to be “humble” and accept and embrace a negative self-image – makes them feel less alone in their failures. Rather than lifting themselves up, they unknowingly drag others down to wallow in the mud with them.
There is probably a true sense of humility one can practice, but that’s not what these people are offering. They are offering a view of human beings as helpless savages driven by animal desires and irrationality. They use trumped up genetic claims and wrongly interpreted sociological data to give fake scientific credibility to their view of humanity, but you should not succumb to it. Believe in yourself, you can change, you’re responsible for your own behavior, and you’re responsible for changing it. Humbling yourself, and believing yourself to be powerless will not help you in this quest.
What’s more humble, absolving yourself of bad choice by believing that you’re powerless and that a disease is to blame, then expecting a prayer to solve your problem – or accepting your bad choices as your own responsibility, believing that you can do better, and proceeding to do all you can to change your behavior?
Hopefully this knowledge will help you to cope with the psychological abuse you may have suffered from those in the recovery culture.
Note: The essays in this series are in no way meant as an attack on religious, spiritual, or god-believing people in general, nor are they meant in any way to dissuade anyone from believing in god. They are however meant as a defense of atheists seeking “recovery”, and a direct attack on all those who in any way suggest, imply, or proclaim that an atheist cannot solve their substance use problem unless they believe in god.
Appreciate the recommendation. Will try it out.
I completely agree with your post. But I don’t agree with the banner at the top. In fact, the reason why people abuse drugs is related to Religion and the fact that it is a double edge sword. It promotes against it but it does not allow those that want long to be atheist to be fully atheist because they make it seem wrong. These people are conflicted and resort to violence and abuse. They abuse their children which in turn go to drugs because they have no direction. It’s a never ending cycle. It’s contagious. Hence why drug abuse needs to be treated at the moral level. We need to teach people it’s ok to find morals while embracing Atheism. I hope you can take that banner down and stop advocating drug abuse as a choice. It’s the same concept as child abuse. It’s not a choice but a contagious decease. Take it from someone who came from the environment and overcame it by preventive care by becoming and atheist and stoping the cycle. Take the following into account:
People that have not embraced one or the other (belief or non-belief) never focus on what one has to offer them, as far as strong moral beliefs. These people, most likely already victims of abuse, end up abusing their children and essentially end up never teaching or guiding them to a path where they can learn strong morals. You rarely see strong religious people abuse their children (unless they are bat-shit-crazy). Yet, religion is a double edge sword as it silences victims of undecided abusers who’ve never exposed their children to one view or the other. Why does non belief bypass this you ask? When fully invested in the idea of non belief, it allows a child to focus on naturally learning morals that mean much more to them based on the fact that they came through thinking about them as opposed to learned about them. All non believers (of all religions, not just Christianity) come to the same conclusion on morals. It is a mathematical inevitability. This is why you don’t see groups of non-believers like you see different groups of believers. All non believers have one single goal, peace for ALL man-kind!
Note what I’m saying is, we can change these view points not by changing peoples minds but by making aware the possibility of Non Belief. For example, if we taught this in schools, those children suffering from abuse and lack of morality would find a renowned faith in themselves and empower themselves to stand up to it, instead of putting their faith in a higher power that can not help them.
Although, I will say that if an atheist decided to abuse drugs then, yes, I do believe for them it is a matter of choice. How many true Atheist do you know though who abuse drugs. I see this as a much bigger problem for those stuck in “limbo” the for Atheist and Full on Believers. I guarantee you if you did a study, abusers are those that 1) don’t go to church and do not have a strong moral believe do to a religion, nor do these people 2) fully embrace non religion based on morals that come naturally from pure thinking and not learning them from a book.
I would suggest that if the banner up top is specific to Atheist that you make sure it is blatantly obvious or it can come off as offensive to those who are really suffering do to their parents.