Hello from Göteborg, Sweden!

[EricT]

Hello!

I started to listen to FDR probably about two years ago. I think I called myself a christian the first time I listened to Stefan. Today I try not to. I feel comfortable with the use of logic thinking which I believe is the main reason why FDR appealed to me.

 

For some reason I seem to push people away when I feel that they´re getting closer which makes it quite hard fo me to make close friends. However, I still have people around me but not really someone to speak philosophy with.

 

I´ve spend the last two years mostly woking after taking a break from studying. The same time I´ve also tried to quit going to church and the activities around it. I currently feel that life is a bit empty but I´m not sure if it is in a bad or a good way. I have no TV and I almost only listen to FDR, except watching a lot of movies. 

 

I´m happy to have found this forum and I´m looking forward to perhaps take a more acive part in it.

 

/Eric

[2bits]

Welcome Eric!

 

It's understandable to feel drawn into a social community like church, especially if that's your only social circle right now. They are very good at enticing new membership and retaining existing members. It's a business after all, the only thing unusual being most of the product is promised after you die...

 

Do you feel comfortable calling yourself an atheist, or are you somewhere in between that and your prior Christianity right now?

[EricT]

Thank you!

Sorry for such a late response, I must have missed to follow the topic.

 

Actually the need for going to church has not only been because of social reasons. I believe I´ve always liked philisophy and while growing up, church kind of had the monopoly on that so I got used to go there. After starting to lisen to FDR, the need for going to church almost disappeared and I haven´t been there for quite some time.

 

I don´t feel comfortable calling myself an atheist (yet?). I haven´t felt comfortable directly calling myself a christian either. When I got the question "are you a christian?" I responded something along the lines "I´m baptised and I´ve done the confirmation". A bit like "this is my profile, you do the math".

 

There are primarily two reasons why I don´t feel comfortable with calling myself an atheist. 

 

1. From my experience here in Sweden, it has almost only been church people who have protested against the anti family polices. The christian democrats is the party fighting the hardest to make it easier for families while the opponents fall themselves atheists. This is not a very good reason and I know that there are many ways to prove this irrational. The way I see it, this reason is the result of an old wound so this reason will fade away but more time is needed.

 

2. Since the rational philosophical approach has kind of destroyed the whole religion-thing, I feel as eager to call myself an atheist as I feel calling myself a non-vehicle. It just feels strange, I don´t take part of that anymore since it has been proven being a non-question. 

 

Do you have similar experiences or did you manage to reach FDR without using the christian road?