A believer's guide to understanding non-believers
- Dec 5, 2016
- 3 min read
Non-believers don’t believe in nothing. They certainly believe in something. It just all depends on how they identify themselves.
“When you get into the community of non-believers you’ll find that one of the points of contention is what labels people will be comfortable with. Some people are comfortable with the term atheist. It depends on where the message is coming from,” says Edan Tasca, a 39-year-old volunteer at the Centre for Inquiry in Toronto.
“There are a lot of people in CFI who are atheists but you are also going to get a lot of people who refuse to use that word. A lot of people would say ‘I’m agnostic’, some people would say ‘I’m a secularist’,” Tasca explains.
CFI operates nationally as a charity and is one of many institutions in the non-religious scene that shares secular, humanist and scientific ideologies and welcomes skeptics of every kind. Collectively, they identify as non-believers and are non-religious.
Cue the gasp of shocked religious folks. It turns out that non-believers don’t gather in cavernous spaces to practice satanic worship.
Though many young people I spoke to prefer not to participate in organized communities, such as CFI, their list of cultural hotspots to meet likeminded individuals are everyday locations.
Your local vape lounge might be a breeding ground for debates on the existence of the afterlife. Right now, there’s an anthropology student questioning their religious upbringing when they should be prepping for their exam.
In fact, Bria McLaughlin, 22, has encountered many fellow non-believers at comedy shows and says her reason for not engaging in non-religious communities is partially due to the negativity that follows identifying as an atheist.
“I’m not [a] part of any groups or anything like that…I think there’s a stigma that non- believers are lost or hurt and jaded or hate God or something like that,” she says.
McLaughlin’s rejection of non-religious communities comes from her past involvement with Christianity. Raised as a Pentecostal Christian, she recalls her time at church as being a period of disbelief and confusion.
“I don’t understand how people could just aimlessly believe and I still don't. For a long time that made me feel broken. I thought of church as a community, but realized it was a club with some wild terms and conditions,” she says.
McLaughlin’s detachment from that religious contract has helped her spot personal conflicts that brought her closer to atheism. She says it contributes heavily to her identity.
“I believe in treating people well with no expectation in return and that contradicts with organized religion,” she says. “I reject the idea that I will help my neighbour out of debt to Jesus and for my own gain in the after life and instead help my neighbour because they exist and it’s a kind thing to do. That shapes who I am.”
Noticeably, millennials like McLaughlin are a minority in organized non-religious communities such as the British Columbia Humanist Association. Ian Bushfield, 30, is the executive director of the BC Humanist and contributes the low millennial membership to shifting values.
“I think there’s this sort of shift in the mindset of the millennial generation where it’s less about being a part of something or being a member of a group,” Bushfield explains.
This year BC Humanist conducted a survey that showed 72% of British Columbians between the ages of 18 and 34 said they do not practice a particular faith. Though their millennial membership is low, groups like BC Humanist continue to support campaigns for the best interest of the non-religious public such as abortion or assisted suicide rights for patients.
But with the majority of BC Humanist being the older generation, Bushfield says there is a difference in what social issues younger people want to focus on in comparison to the older members.
“I think there’s a shift between older generations and younger generations in what issues are first and foremost. [Younger generations] are far more in touch with social justice issues…like religion, race, sexuality…and that at times can challenge some of the older members, but not all,” Bushfield says.
Regardless of different social concerns, it seems older generations might be doubting years of traditional religious upbringing and flocking to non-religious groups. You might want to look out for the satanic beads and Darwin fishes in your grandparent’s basements.
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