Janszoon

Why did you jump from "non-religious" to "atheist"? And why do you assume atheists "despise" religious people?

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blastingas10

Because I don't know many non-religious people. Anyone I know who is non-religious is an atheist. And it's not really an assumption. Based on my experience, atheists do despise religion and people who practice it. I'm sure that's not true for all atheists. I'm just speaking from personal experience.

Alex Grey is a very spiritual person. I'd like to know more about his thoughts on spiritual matters. I read that he was an atheist, or non-believer, but then he had this experience on LSD that turned him into a spiritualist. Not so sure about the details, maybe you know more.

That reminds me. Ever heard of manifestation celebration? It's in Dallas this year, just about 20 minutes outside of where I live. I want to go. The main attraction is seeing Alex Grey do some Painting and listening to him speak. It's like this little seminar. I expect it to pretty fascinating.

Janszoon

I would say the overwhelming majority of non-religious people are not atheists. I can't count the number of times I've heard people refer to themselves as "spiritual but not religious" and there are loads of "undecideds" out there.

Well I'm an atheist, and while I do generally see religion in a negative light, I certainly don't despise religious people. A lot of my favorite people in the world are religious: my wife, my grandparents, many of my closest friends. The world's a difficult place and I don't really begrudge people latching on to something that makes it easier for them to cope. My issues with religion come in when it goes beyond that and starts actively causing problems in people's lives and in the world in general.

There's often a very extreme confirmation bias that goes on with the way religious people view atheists imo. Obviously, you don't know if someone is one unless they choose to make it known, and in a culture which is openly hostile to atheists like the US, the people most likely to loudly proclaim their atheism are going to be the most aggressive of the bunch. This course only serves to fuel the prejudiced view among religious people that atheists are all angry, bitter people.

__________________
A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm