I am observing, for more than a three decades now, how a friend of mine, becomes more and more religious. Catholic. When we met, he was a militant leftist atheists. What was quite a norm under communism we had back then here. If not a norm, then something you can easily expect from a young ambitious teenager. Did I say, he was quite a radical anti theist? I was not very comfortable with his rantings against “fools”.
Then it started. He insisted on a work free Christmas day, which we had not under the communists. Then he was outraged by my view, that the Socrates was a better man than Christ, what I have only copycat-ed from Russell. Then he started to insist, there is a devil, in his “jokes”. Then he rejected Dawkins’ Darwinism. Many small steps, toward the God. He is half baked now, I think.
My point is, that the small signs may indeed indicate some “tectonic” shifting inside one’s mind. Just as the OP stated.
My guess was Poland where Catholicism has become very popular after the fall of communism. From your description it seems that your friend gives a lot attention to the current ideological climate—under communism, let’s be an atheist leftist; communism is defeated, let’s adopt some new, more fashionable worldview. Thus my question: my hypothesis needed Catholicism to be the predominant religion of the country you live in; if your friend was, say, Bulgarian, opting for Catholicism couldn’t be solely explained by (perhaps subconscious) desire for conformity, since that would lead him towards Orthodoxy instead. Slovenia is fine for my hypothesis, but I may be mistaken even then, of course.
Do former Yugoslavians often confuse Slovenia with Slovakia, by the way?
No. Former Yugoslavians sure not. But almost all the others. George Bush was one of the first, who made this mistake in the public arena, even before he was President. But then he visited two times. (Can come anytime again, if I was asked,)
Okay, what matters here is this drifting of an atheist toward a religion. God finding of a rational atheist. The breaking down of a sane view into illogical one.
The scary part is this. If I was under the same process, would I notice at all? The even scarier is this. There are bigger rational handicaps than a religion.
I am observing, for more than a three decades now, how a friend of mine, becomes more and more religious. Catholic. When we met, he was a militant leftist atheists. What was quite a norm under communism we had back then here. If not a norm, then something you can easily expect from a young ambitious teenager. Did I say, he was quite a radical anti theist? I was not very comfortable with his rantings against “fools”.
Then it started. He insisted on a work free Christmas day, which we had not under the communists. Then he was outraged by my view, that the Socrates was a better man than Christ, what I have only copycat-ed from Russell. Then he started to insist, there is a devil, in his “jokes”. Then he rejected Dawkins’ Darwinism. Many small steps, toward the God. He is half baked now, I think.
My point is, that the small signs may indeed indicate some “tectonic” shifting inside one’s mind. Just as the OP stated.
What country is your friend living in?
Near you, prase. In the same one as I do—Slovenia. You know the difference with Slovakia, don’t you?
Your socialism had even more bitter taste but you are too young to remember much, I guess.
Cheers!
My guess was Poland where Catholicism has become very popular after the fall of communism. From your description it seems that your friend gives a lot attention to the current ideological climate—under communism, let’s be an atheist leftist; communism is defeated, let’s adopt some new, more fashionable worldview. Thus my question: my hypothesis needed Catholicism to be the predominant religion of the country you live in; if your friend was, say, Bulgarian, opting for Catholicism couldn’t be solely explained by (perhaps subconscious) desire for conformity, since that would lead him towards Orthodoxy instead. Slovenia is fine for my hypothesis, but I may be mistaken even then, of course.
Do former Yugoslavians often confuse Slovenia with Slovakia, by the way?
No. Former Yugoslavians sure not. But almost all the others. George Bush was one of the first, who made this mistake in the public arena, even before he was President. But then he visited two times. (Can come anytime again, if I was asked,)
Okay, what matters here is this drifting of an atheist toward a religion. God finding of a rational atheist. The breaking down of a sane view into illogical one.
The scary part is this. If I was under the same process, would I notice at all? The even scarier is this. There are bigger rational handicaps than a religion.