I acknowledge I find solace in a belief in a higher power or powers. While salience in this belief fluxes, I find myself coming back to a belief in God, despite a healthy dose of doubt and strong belief in science and evolution. I find myself leaning more toward spiritual inward reflection to make meaning of life rather than practicing my belief in an outward fashion. Though I attend church with family on major holidays, regular practice within a certain religion is not a personal priority. I identify as Christian and was raised in a Disciples of Christ Church, so my Christianity and faith tradition is fairly liberal and progressive. Though I do not attend regularly, I am still comfortable with the faith tradition of the denomination and identify as such. Thus, I do not experience othering or a religious minority status in the United States. This being said, spiritual wellness has consistently been my lowest priority as I have evaluated myself time and time again. I feel this is due to a strong majority in the United States which has normalized spiritual wellness and active religiosity. I am in the process of re-defining my spiritual wellness from an internal, rather than external, standpoint.
In relation to Atheists as a population, I do not feel I have a strong bias however I know I lack understanding and have not taken time to understand. I respect believing there is no god as a relevant belief system and that meaning making and moral development happens regardless of belief. I realize I have much to learn specifically about the culture, norms, and community within this population and specifically how they are marginalized in society. I admit to having little knowledge of the community as a whole and how my actions and language could be internalized as un-accepting as I come from a different belief system. I have much to learn and develop in my understanding of this population and how they see the world.
On moving forward in this process, I am challenged to find excitement about the population at this time. As someone who enjoys the stories of others, I feel my interest will build as we move along and interact with actual people. I need a little more than studies and generalization to understand Atheists as a marginalized population. There is a little piece of me that still needs convincing this is a population which requires significant advocacy, but this is most likely due the population being silenced and therefore invisible on campus. With each day of reading I find more gaps I hope we can fill in. I am open to the process, to go with the flow, and see where it takes us this semester.
