And let’s be clear, it’s not that these people are racists. It’s just a result of this northern-western atmosphere culture that makes western atheist ideas have systemic flaws divided amongst racial and cultural lines.
This all stemmed from Matt Dillahunty’s reply to a tweet that asked atheist their thoughts on the phenomenon of having “vibes”. Dillahunty proceeded to state that atheists don’t deal with “vibes”.
“Atheism is ONLY about belief in a god”.
It might just be my Asian heritage speaking, but culturally, ghosts, woo, and other pseudosciences are intertwined and interchangeable with gods here. We don’t say, “I feel lucky”, but rather “The wind of luck is with me”, where the wind is deitified.
— Aden Ng (@aden_ng) February 4, 2021
Religion in the East
If you are an atheist – especially an advocate – who grew up and lived anywhere between the Middle East, SEA, and Japan, you might be thinking:
“The fuck he talking about?”
Over the past decade, almost every western atheists I’ve interacted with, especially of the fairer skin, has downplayed the ritualistic expressions of eastern religions with a wave to woo and superstitious instead of understanding it for the complex and fascinating deist/theist relationship that they are.
Matt’s words were especially disappointing, because I could no longer hide behind the facade that such a misunderstanding was simply due to people with less access to information.
There’s this old woman I know who no longer believe in gods. But she identifies herself as a Buddhist, and continues to practice all its rituals, including prayers to the dead and shrine offerings. Another gives offerings to the pillar of her home as a spirit.
Even a Christian I know continues with every single aspect of his religious life, despite denouncing the biblical god as monstrous and non-existent, because “the message is good”. He knows gods aren’t real 100%, but he is still religious.
Defining Atheism?
For eastern cultures, gods are not always required. There is no need to worship a deity when an ideology would suffice. No reason to pay tribute at a temple, when a bowl of rice on the roadside provides the same effect.
Here, woo, the supernatural, rituals, ghosts, and monsters, all are woven into the fabric of theistic religions alongside gods and deities. They function without each other if needed, and can hold just as strong religious powers by themselves.
This entire field has only recently been called transtheism. Every single hallmark of traditional theism exists here, except gods may or may not be involved.
While the field is relatively new to westerners, only coined in the 1950s, the idea has lasted throughout all Asian communities for thousands of years.
I wish my western friends would understand that their view of theism, of gods and worships, are all just words written based in their own tiny myopic part of the world, with those handfuls of religions they’ve come to know.
The history of religion and the fanaticism it drives changes from one culture to the next, with Asia having more religions within its border than the years of existence in all of western culture.
In our goal to properly educate people on the humanist and atheistic world views, we must make an effort to look past the barriers of our own cultures and do as what we’ve learned as atheists.
In this world, gods need not apply.
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