Monthly Archives: February 2012

SHAFT: The story of Utah’s first secular student group

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(I would like to dedicate this eccentric little note of mine to my dear friend Mr. David M. Heiner. Unfortunately David is no longer with us. He was one of the original founders or the Big Five as we called ourselves then. Not only was he a staunch atheist who loved to ruffle everyone’s feathers, but he was more importantly one of the nicest, most loving people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. David never got to see any of the success that SHAFT has had, which is the gravest of shames. I think he loved the club more than any of us. And I know this is going to sound cliché, But I feel his legacy is still very much alive in the club, as he lives on through it now. It’s very satisfying to me that something he created is going to last for years and years to come. I’m sure he would be just as tickled as well about it, smiling that damn impervious grin of his that he was so famous for. Haha. He was residing in my thoughts as every letter of this writing spilled out of my brain onto the page, in what I’m hoping landed in a not so entropic state. And although he would have arranged the words in a much more eloquent way… this is the best I can do David, so you’re just gunna have to fucking deal with it!)

The topic that I’d like to discuss is something that is very important to me and I thought my voice might add a different perspective to the questions at hand. So, I’m taking a break from the screenplays for a little while to write this for all you lovely people.

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Mike Patton. I’m one of the original founding members of SHAFT. I was the main officer for the first year of our creation. I wrote the constitution of the club, organized meetings, courted professors, registered with the campus, and spammed every atheist, agnostic, non-believer, or just any all-around interesting people I could find within a 30 mile radius to join.* I was taking 18 credits at the time and it was a lot of work to build a club from scratch, but I sure did enjoy every second of it. As the club took off and became more and more exciting, I regularly spent more and more time on the club then I did on my classes. Eventually I stopped going to classes altogether…which is probably why I ended up dropping out? **Haha. But looking back on it now, I couldn’t care less about the homework. When I try to think of my most memorable times throughout my college experience, the only thing that comes to mind is all the fun I had being involved in all the clubs.

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Giving Up on Atheism

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People change. I’m finished with the word and philosophy of the ‘Atheist.’ Its baggage no longer has much use beyond draining precious energy and confusing the situation.

The Latin word humanitas was coined by Roman philosopher Cicero as an equivalent of the Greek paideia. This entails a well-rounded, mature cultural education, and by no accident humanitas evolved to suit our modern colleges of Humanities. This is due in large part to the dangerous artistic rebellion of Renaissance thinkers against iron-handed medieval Christian schools.

History reveals that such repression can not last; we see the rise of the Freethinkers during the French Revolution as well. The thoughtful animal will not be suppressed, and we should not be stopped. The pumping blood of the human heart will always be the fountain of art, music, philosophy and literature in all forms, from escapism to realism. With its lineage in the classical era, the worry about the purpose and design of our existence lights a candle at the shadowy core of true education. The inward spiritual struggle is part of every human being, and it is what brings you and I together today.

We all seek after two things: what is good and what is right. This is our unsatisfied need, and it has led to a wealth of experimentation through the ages in many forms, all conjoined in the tormented bliss of experience. Our goal in studying our lives, and developing words to suit our philosophies, is to share with each other our private contributions to these questions. Should we choose to sever ourselves from conversation, we eliminate the value of our own precious contributions.

Our ideas procreate in a pool. Because we must labor our ideas through the work of others, the quality of our beliefs hardly matters as much as the quality of our communication. Words are used to anchor us, within and without, to who we are in a world of fighting ideas. Words have the most value when they bring us together into groups, defining our contributions to the big questions, and we can share our ideas effectively – we are the most symbiotic species.

Atheism, the word, has a fluid lineage as long as anything we know about Western civilization. As I hope we can agree, it entails “Denial of any gods.” Historically a pejorative for those who do not contribute anything to the aforementioned spiritual struggle, from the Greek Atheos to Atheism, the term has been used when in relation to a particular God…

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The Atheist Dogma?

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“The free, independent spirit who commits himself to no dogma and will not decide in favor of any party has no homestead on Earth.” – Stefan Zweig

Atheists are dogmatic, but not in the caricature we usually get.

Notice the name of the group. We have four different words that are trying to hint at the same thing, even without throwing in Agnostics. Why so much fuss and bother? Terms are ambiguous, and it causes us trouble.

We’ve all heard the argument. Atheism is only, “Not believing in gods.”

First, “gods” doesn’t tell us anything. Our first question, before even addressing dogma, is, “What do we mean by gods?”

Even naturalists can describe mere Nature as “God,” or physicists could describe the Big Bang as “God,” or meta-physicians could describe the underlying immaterial mathematical systems of our Universe as thoughts of “God,” or Eastern ideas about eternal change and suchness as “God.”

We shouldn’t split hairs about what it means to be an Atheist. With a bit of common sense, Atheism should be better known as the lack of believing in the world’s many mythic, supernatural religious characters drawn from sacred texts.

Atheism refers to this guy.

  1. I am known through scriptures, prophets, prayers or revelations.
  2. I am all-powerful and all-knowing, but also benevolent.
  3. I am the source and judge of your Morality.
  4. I can be loved, and love you back.
  5. I require worship and faith.
  6. I provide an immortal afterlife.
  7. I take a direct hand in human affairs, such as superbowls and wars.

If God has any of these characteristics, I say, “No, thanks.” Because the world’s gods almost always do, it’s just easier to just say I’m an Atheist and go on with my life.

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