What are some of your favourite movie lines?

DharmaBum50 comments on Dec 2, 2017:

Major Strasser: What is your nationality? Rick: I'm a drunkard. Captain Renault: That makes Rick a citizen of the world. -- Casablanca

What are some of your favourite movie lines?

DharmaBum50 comments on Dec 2, 2017:

Danny Torrance: Don't worry, Mom. I know all about cannibalism. I saw it on TV. Jack Torrance: Seeee, it's OK. He saw it on the television. -- from The Shining

Bucket list place/s to visit? And...... Go! :)

DharmaBum50 comments on Dec 1, 2017:

Alaska, Macchu Pichu, Galapagos, cruise up the Norway coast, Faroe Islands, Patagonia.

I am Married to a vegetarian but I am not one ,Any one in this situation .

DharmaBum50 comments on Dec 1, 2017:

It was one thing my wife and I compromised on. She was a vegetarian in the respect that when she cooked, she cooked nothing but vegetarian. But if she was out and about, and meat was what was for dinner, she would eat it. When I cooked, I accommodated her preferences quite a lot of the time by cooking vegetarian Indian, which is about the only cuisine in which I don't feel like I'm missing something if meat is absent. Occasionally, I would cook meat (chicken mostly), and not to rock the boat, she would eat it.

For those that qualify.... What's your favourite thing about being single?

DharmaBum50 comments on Dec 1, 2017:

I do miss my late wife horribly sometimes, but since I now find myself single again, I like to get my Kerouac on: wake up, throw a bag in the car, and head west with no particular destination in mind. If I like a place along the "way," I stay for a while and get to know it a bit. If I don't, I keep moving. My wife's traveling style was completely different--everything, every minute of every day on a trip, had to be planned and mapped out. Mind you, her idiosyncracies notwithstanding, I'd kill to have her back, but since that's just a pointless "what if" rumination, I will continue to enjoy total freedom during my travels. Gets a tad lonely sometimes, but that's the price to be paid.

Any atheists out there who have to live with religious people?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 29, 2017:

When I was dating the woman who would become my wife, we were both English teachers in South Korea and taking the opportunity while there to study Buddhism. She was a lapsed Catholic, and I was an agnostic/atheist. Our wedding was at a Buddhist temple in Seoul, and for many years thereafter, we were both Buddhists to one extent or another, she more than I, since I continued to identify as an agnostic/atheist (Buddhism being a nontheistic religion in the sense that there is no creator god in its essence). However, about a year before Kristin died of cancer, she returned to the Catholic church. She just told me one day as she was walking out the door that she was going to church. I was somewhat startled, since I'd heard her criticism of Catholicism, but I just said, "Fine, I understand. Just don't expect me to go with you." Most of the time, it proceeded like this, but it was tough when we were talking about her death and what would happen afterwards. She got upset when she asked me if we would ever see each other again, and I replied that I thought this earthly life is all there is, but what was I to do, lie? Those discussions of an afterlife were the most painful talks I've ever had, and it didn't end there. Following her death, maybe a couple years afterwards, a friend of hers told me she was disappointed I "wasn't there for her spiritually" at the end. I damn near took her head off, and we no longer speak. I mean, WTF was I supposed to have done to "be there for her spiritually" and still remain honest??

I'm getting more and more irritated at the "us & them" mentality of believers who hold themselves in...

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 28, 2017:

Funny, I find myself succumbing to the same "Us vs. Them" mentality, except that I pity them for their blind faith and insane delusions and fantasies and "pray" (hope) that they will see the Light of Reason. It takes a great deal of effort to transcend that feeling of superiority, and I'm not sure I'm always successful. But at least I try.

Any Long Distance Relationship Stories?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 28, 2017:

When my late wife and I were married, we were teachers in South Korea. She taught at a university in Seoul, and I was in charge of a language program run by a steel company in Pohang, a city on the east coast. I was single during the week and married on the weekends, as we took turns making the five-hour train trip. When she was down my way, we would hike on Nam-san (South Mountain) in Kyongju, site of the ancient Buddhist Shila Dynasty. In Seoul, we would party around. I was quite happy with this arrangement, but we eventually moved on to another country, another teaching environment--and the realities of marriage.

Do you feel as I do that Americans (primarily men ) place way to much importance on spectator sports...

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 27, 2017:

Absolutely. I think back to an economics professor I had who said that spectator sports is a perfect example of false solidarity. I totally agree.

My messaging stopped working this pm.

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 27, 2017:

I don't know what you're using for browsing, but Internet Explorer has been getting increasingly dysfunctional for me these days, especially with Facebook. I use Mozilla/Firefox with Facebook now, and it works much better. Just a thought. Worth a try.

Something that living in a different culture taught me years ago; When two or more of us start a ...

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 27, 2017:

During one graduate course I took in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), we had some sort of cultural simulation game called Bafa Bafa (I think that's what it was called). That is precisely what that simulation was all about, and I thought of it often later on during my life as an expat in Japan, South Korea, and the UAE. Come to think of it, I suppose it would come in handy right now in dealing with religious sorts.

Is it possible to be an atheist and not even try to be?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 27, 2017:

It is not only *possible* to be an atheist without trying to be, it's the *default* position, as somebody below said. We're all atheists at birth, and it is merely societal influences that intrude upon it thereafter. Your family member is a good example of that. You should not feel guilty for not believing her religious crap--the burden of proof is upon her and the prehistoric text she is trying to cram down your throat.

Does anyone else know they don't want to be buried in their family plot?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 27, 2017:

I didn't have a bad relationship with my parents--no worse than most people's, I guess--but I don't wish to be buried near them, nor buried at all, in fact. I will be cremated, and then if the wishes expressed in my will are followed, my ashes will be mixed with some of my wife's that I saved and my dog's, and then scattered at one of my favorite overlook spots along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. But then if folks don't see fit to follow those wishes, I don't guess it will matter because I'll be dead.

The silliness of the “War on Christmas.

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 25, 2017:

Yeah, when I'm hearing Christmas music in stores way before Halloween, on days when it's so hot the heat waves are coming up off the parking lot, I feel so sorry for the poor persecuted Christians whose holiday is under such massive assault.

So I was woken up today to someone pounding on the front door and the dogs barking.

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 24, 2017:

Kudos! Best time I ever had with these people was right after the Jim Jones mass suicide by KoolAid back in the 70s (I know--I'm old). I'd just gotten off from my nighttime taxi driving shift, and had poured a healthy quantity of bourbon into a coffee cup because all the glasses were dirty. I was sitting on the front porch, and these two guys came up and started in on the same JW spiel as you got. I'd already drunk half my cup of bourbon and was starting to get a buzz. They couldn't see what was in the cup, so I said, "I'm sorry, I already have a church I go to. I belong to the People's Temple." Lifting my cup, I continued, "Y'all want to come in and have some KoolAid?" Those guys boogied off my porch, and I finished my drink and went to bed.

Has your life changed since losing religion?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 23, 2017:

I never had religion in the first place. I was force-fed Protestant Christianity from the earliest age, but never bought any of it. I grew up during the space race, and I remember speculating out loud to my parents about the possibility of life on other planets. "Don't be ridiculous!" was the reply. Yet, I thought to myself, I'm supposed to believe in arks and people who get swallowed by whales and survive and immaculate conceptions. I never once thought religion was anything but complete BS, and church and Sunday School were merely boring times to be suffered through.

Does anyone else have mixed feelings this Thanksgiving what we celebrate with our friends and ...

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 23, 2017:

I'm with you. For me, the holiday is entirely personal and has nothing to do with the mythology that has been constructed around the Pilgrims. It's a time to celebrate and be grateful for the wonderful friends I have. And as somebody who isn't too bad as a cook, it's also a time to rustle up some good food and drink and share it plus enjoy other people's efforts.

I was just on my Facebook responding to a post on Roy Moore of Alabama-how he molested a 14 year ...

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 22, 2017:

I don't "friend" people on Facebook whom I don't know personally. Needless to say, I don't know that many rightwingers or religious types, so I don't get this kind of thing. Especially since I either unfriended or unfollowed the few I had on November 9 of last year. But I'm sorry you're having this experience.

What brings you peace?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 22, 2017:

Nature, travel, and Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale.

Why atheists feel sadness in religious surroundings?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 21, 2017:

Depending on the situation, I have felt many emotions in religious surroundings, but sadness was never one of them.

What do fellow members do for a living?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 21, 2017:

I used to teach English language and literature overseas, in the Middle East and Asia. After fifteen years of that, I'm back in the States as a freelance indexer. I compile those things in the back of the book where you find stuff.

If You Could Learn Any Language...

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 21, 2017:

Good question! I have several I'd like to learn or improve my abilities in. 1) German--I have a master's degree in it, but if you don't use it, you lose it--so maybe a few weeks at the Goethe Institute in Munich? 2) Spanish--when the Trumpets start putting on uniforms, it's time to go, and I'm thinking Ecuador or Uruguay or Chile. 3) Korean, which I already have a basic knowledge of from the time I lived there, but would like to improve for my occasional visits.

Those of you in the US that celebrate Thanksgiving with religious family, do you all have to do the ...

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 20, 2017:

I really haven't ever found a better Thanksgiving prayer than the one I learned in the Zen tradition. It is a wonderful nontheistic expression of gratitude, and if I am put in the position of having to give the "grace," this is what it is: First, let us reflect on our own work and the effort of those who brought us this food. Second, let us be aware of the quality of our deeds as we receive this meal. Third, what is most essential is the practice of mindfulness, which helps us to transcend greed, anger and delusion. Fourth, we appreciate this food which sustains the good health of our body and mind. Fifth, in order to continue our practice for all beings we accept this offering.

America's Most "Bible-Minded" Cities

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 20, 2017:

Damn, I'm just south of #10, Lexington, KY. Hallelujah!

Don't you hate it when people say things happen for a reason?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 20, 2017:

That's just one of the religious platitudes I heard when my wife died in 2010 at the age of 52. Seven years later, I'm still waiting to hear the reason--other than the obvious one that she had frikkin cancer.

E.T. Aliens: As real as the boy next door Have you had your own personal sightings?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 19, 2017:

I've never had my own personal sightings, but if you head to Benson's Hideaway Bar at the north end of Long Lake in Wisconsin ("UFO Headquarters"), you'll find a guy who claims to have had all sorts of them. If you give him half a chance, he'll whip out his photo album that has lots of pictures that "prove" his point (though you could be excused for thinking they just look like pictures of lights in the darkness). He also has what he claims is an actual Roswell alien in an old pickled egg jar. It looks authentic enough, with slime hanging off it, but then I suppose anything left in a pickled egg jar for twenty years would have slime hanging off it. When you're done with his displays, beer shorties are still less than a dollar (as of last time I was there a couple years ago), and the food is pretty good.

What was the first and last concert you attended?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 19, 2017:

I attended symphony concerts fairly early on, but my first rock concert was Jefferson Airplane in the early 70s, and the last was the Black Angels earlier this year.

What about Thanksgiving?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 18, 2017:

I feel the same way you do. Some folks make it into a religious holiday; I don't. It's a time to celebrate friendships over some nice food and drink. I used to teach overseas, and I have fond memories of Thanksgiving in South Korea and the UAE. In Seoul, the school bought the faculty a wonderfully prepared turkey from a 5-star hotel downtown, and then we had nothing but chopsticks (and ultimately, our fingers) to eat it with. In Al Ain, UAE, faculty friends rotated Thanksgiving each year, and it was often held up on the rooftop of somebody's villa overlooking copper-colored sand dunes that stretched out into the Empty Quarter. Now, here in Kentucky, following the death of my wife in 2010, I have been "adopted" by my best friend's brother's family, and that's where I'm going on Thursday. They're a bunch of old stoners like me, so no religion will be involved.

Weapons

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 17, 2017:

As we say in these parts, an inkpen.

Favourite Relgion, Atheism Quotes ?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 16, 2017:

The only angels we need invoke are those of our better nature: reason, honesty, and love. The only demons we must fear are those that lurk inside every human mind: ignorance, hatred, greed, and faith, which is surely the devil's masterpiece.--Sam Harris, The End of Faith

Here they come .

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 15, 2017:

1) Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, a time when I've been able to celebrate friendships, whether it's been in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, or right here in the southern USA. 2) I'm already sick of Christmas, and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. Full-bore commercialism from Halloween on. In addition to being an atheist, I'm an anti-consumer-capitalist, so there's not much about this holiday that appeals. 3) New Year's is also a BS holiday, IMHO. As if the turn of a calendar page means anything. After all, Cinnamon Hitler will still be residing in the White House.

I call myself a catholic agnostic, what do you call yourself?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 14, 2017:

These days, I identify myself simply as an atheist just to be clear. I do have a background in Buddhism, though, and sometimes I refer to myself as The Whiskey Buddhist.

Should I attend a wedding at church as an atheist?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 14, 2017:

I visit churches for weddings, funerals, and as a tourist. And when you think about it, I'm kind of a tourist when I'm at the weddings and funerals as well, observing the customs of an alien culture from the viewpoint of my own much different one. I don't participate, I just observe. Well, I have to take that back--I did once participate in a Catholic funeral. It was my father-in-law's, and he had requested that everyone in the family be involved in it. I could have been dogmatic and refused (and thereby alienated all of my wife's family), but I realized that my father-in-law was a real iconoclast, and that was the reason he wanted me included. He knew better than to force anything on me. Appropriately enough, I was given the wine to take up for the communion. My brother-in-law had the wafers, and on our stroll up to the altar, he mumbled over at me, "Don't drink it all, Cuz." After the ceremony was over, the look on the priest's face when he learned I was an atheist was worth the whole experience. The important thing, though, is that I was able to honor my father-in-law and stay on good terms with my in-laws while they knew full well that it did not affect my status as a nonbeliever one iota.

New to agnostic.com

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 14, 2017:

I'm also from the Bible Belt (Kentucky) and also new at Agnostic.com. Alas, the town I live in has 60+ churches and zero pubs--though I shouldn't complain, I suppose, because it recently went "moist" (alcoholic beverages in restaurants). When the religious sanctimony gets to be too much, I head on down to my Beer Mecca (Asheville, NC) for a long weekend.

I'm currently 'unattached'.

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 13, 2017:

I'd say at this point in my life, it's very important. My wife died of cancer seven years ago, and during the last year of her life, she went back to the Catholic church. Previously, we had both been secular humanists and Buddhists to one degree or another. I do not wish to repeat the agonizing discussions of belief in an afterlife that we had during that time. It hurt her that I didn't believe we'd see each other again, but I wasn't going to lie, either. She was an intelligent woman, and she would have seen through it. I fear, however, that here in the mid-South, there aren't many women in my age bracket who have similar (non)beliefs as my own, so like you, I'm preparing to spend the rest of my life alone.

What is a common misconception people have that is completely untrue?

DharmaBum50 comments on Nov 8, 2017:

I'm not sure how common this misconception is, but I was recently accused of being a Satanist because I'm an atheist. It took some doing to explain that for the same reason I don't believe there's a god, I also don't believe there's a devil.