Christian atheism. What do you think?

[BruceMegan]

Hi, we’re new here and we’ve just started a blog (http://www.christianatheism.com) on our experiences with ‘Christian atheism’. For a while now our family have been trying to shape our lives around the teachings of Jesus as a philosopher, not as the Son of God. We do not believe in God, but we have found happiness and peace in our lives by adopting our own views of Christian philosophy and the Bible.

We’ve tried posting this on some Christian forums to get a Christian side of things, but they were rather unwilling to accept alternative views.
We would like to get your own views on this and ask if anyone has a similar story?

Thanks,

Bruce and Megan

[Recusant]

Hello, and welcome to you both.

There was a member here for a while (I'm thinking of Hitsumei), whose posts I really enjoyed.  From what I could tell, she seemed to fit the description of "Christian Atheist," but I wouldn't presume to say that's actually her point of view.  Unfortunately, she stopped posting here after over 400 or so.  I don't think she ever gave a reason why she was leaving, but I didn't detect any hostility on the part of atheist members of this board to her presence, and I hope that she did not feel any hostility directed toward her.  She seemed comfortable here...

You could look at her posts to see what I mean.

Anyway, good luck with your search, and I look forward to hearing your perspective here.

[Whitney]

Welcome to the forum.  It will probably become really apparent if you read my posts about Christianity...but I honestly do not get why anyone would want to use the Bible as a basis for their worldview especially someone who doesn't believe the Bible to be divinely inspired.  That said, it will be interesting to discuss that type of topic with someone who thinks their is value in the Christian belief sans god.  Most of the Christians we get are a bit on the annoying preaching side so it is only rare that there can be a discussion and even then their faith tends to get in the way of fully discussing the societal pros and cons of christian teachings.

[G-Roll]

How is Christian Atheism really different from Christianity? I saw that you don’t have a belief in god, but you still follow the teachings and words of Christ?  It almost sounds like a moderate or “luke warm” Christian. Don’t get me wrong Im not attacking your philosophy or world view just… I don’t get it.

But anyways welcome to the forum. I actually look forward to learning more about this Christian Atheism.

[Renegnicat]

Welcome to the forum. I'd gladly see what your saying and talk about it, for sure.

[zandurian]

I've heard of Christian atheism before. The way I've heard it explained is that before he was re-quoted,  creedalized and enforced as a state religion the real (secular) Jesus had an inner moral awakening and basically decided to kick butt on the hypocrisy of the religious system he was born into. The theory is that his core teachings (blessed are the poor in spirit/love your enemies/turn the other cheek/judge not etc) as well as his bold confrontations with the Jewish leaders resonated in the hearts of the masses and started a philosophical revolution which led to his death. Later (the theory goes) all the other stuff was added to make a religion out of it.

So, in the strictest sense you can't really use the bible as the core of an atheist philosophy but you can take Jesus' personal saga of love for the common man, hatred of religious dogma (ironic - no?) and self sacrifice as a philosophy to live by.

[BruceMegan]

So, in the strictest sense you can't really use the bible as the core of an atheist philosophy but you can take Jesus' personal saga of love for the common man, hatred of religious dogma (ironic - no?) and self sacrifice as a philosophy to live by.

True, but the Bible is completely open to interpretation, just as many other texts, religious or not.

We do use the stories as a source of examples and interpret them with our own intrisic human values

[eriellefae]

I understand what you are doing. It makes sense. I mean aside from the whole "Hell" thing, Christianity has some good teachings. I attend church sometimes and I will admit that the idea of what the preacher is trying to say does at times send chills down my spine. Honestly, I think this is a very good approach. Christians are generally happy people because they have something to turn to. I would however try to think of a better label for yourselves. Perhaps Symbolic Christians or something? One who believes that the bible teaches in a symbolic sort of way. Perhaps you may believe that when they refer to "God" they are meaning your inner self? Perhaps Jesus is the symbol of man. (Or true potential)... I'm new here aswell but Welcome.  

[zandurian]

Check this out: "Atheists for Jesus"

http://www.atheists-for-jesus.com/

[templeboy]

Hmmm, I was considering this today as it happens...christian and atheist are not neccasarily mutually exclusive, as long as the christinanity is about christ, not god....

The problem with it as I see is, Jesus says some things that are not agreeable. Why should we hold his teachings above those of any other moral philosopher when his message is not as strong, agreeable, and his very historicity is quite questionable, I do not see. The only reason would be because he is venerated by theistic christianity and islam...

That said, you could go far worse than follow most of the wisdom of the jesus character in the bible- but you need a secular and authority-independent means of discerning the good teachings from the bad teachings. Jesus is by no means the ultimate answer, he is at best a useful case study...