Atheist attending church

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And it hurts who to let someone think you believe something you don't, just because it makes your life easier?

A lie is an act of violence against the truth.

When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.

Also, lying is a violation of trust. Lies always hurt people.

Instead of a broad metaphorical and philosophical statement, please give me examples of exactly who this will hurt and how it will hurt them?

Truth is a concept. It has no feelings or physical body so it cannot experience violence.

You cannot murder something as vague as "some part of the world".

Yes, lying is a violation of trust, if there is trust there to begin with. How much trust exactly do you put into your fellow parishoners on Sunday mornings when you look around? Do you have that much invested emotionally in them being Christians? If the OP were to take communion, that would be a violation of the priest's or Eucharistic minister's trust, yes. However he is not planning to take communion. He's not saying he is Christian. He's sitting, standing, kneeling, standing, sitting, kneeling, standing, shaking hands, kneeling,, sitting, kneeling, sitting, and then walking out. There is no implied contract there with anyone to violate. He did not take communion.

Lies always hurt people is not true. Sometimes lies make people feel better. If I am sick and look horrible, but am not going anywhere for people to see me, and you are there with me, and I ask "Do I look terrible?" and you tell me no I do not, that makes me feel better. It doesn't hurt me one bit. I'm able to relax more, and not be so worried with my appearance. So, a blanket statement of "lies always hurt people" is not true.

Please give me an example of how the OP's going to mass will actually hurt someone. A person. Mentally or physically. Real people, not nebulous ideas.

Okay, my previous answer was a bit glib and lazy... but if you want to start attacking answers...

I find it completely fantastic that you place more importance on eating a cracker passed out by a child molester in a dress than in being truthful to your fellowmen. That's just completely asinine.

I'd think most sincere people would expect their fellow parishioners to actually be Christians or at least be entertaining the possibility. AND I'd think it would be reasonable for them to feel betrayed by people who are there for other reasons like networking. As a matter of fact, according to the OP, there are people in His/her church who are upset, at least in part, because of this very issue.

If you enjoy being lied to, good for you. However, I think most people would appreciate the truth, perhaps expressed tactfully. I know I do. If I look like s**t, I'd rather someone lets me know so I can take steps to tidy myself up... Your mileage may vary.

Frankly, I don't have the time, energy or desire to present you with a proof on the value of honesty. If you don't value honesty or see it as something optional--a tool to be used or boxed as convenient--then apply it as you will. As long as I'm not dealing with you, I don't care. If I was dealing with you, you'd only get to lie to me once.

Well, when I go to church I go for my own reasons, I don't care what motivation anyone else has. Someone with that much emotional investment in other peoples motives for doing a harmless activity needs to learn to focus on other things.

Sure, honesty is important in most situaions. In other situations it's not important at all.

If you can't see that, then there is no use continuing this debate with you further.

I KNEW that if we tried hard enough, we'd find something to agree on!

I wanted to thank you for this post. Even if I don't believe I'm serving a deity, I think that doing good things and helping out in the community is good for me and others. That's what matters to me, the Catholic church in this area feels a duty to help their fellow man and I feel the same way. I don't know if God exists or if anything intangible and indemonstrable exists, I'll never know, so I hold no beliefs about the unknown. If doing good and being good brings me closer to anything good, then that's fine. I won't fake a belief but I will uphold my morals and do what I think is right.


As for the debate further in the thread, it's a small town, a small church, and they all know I'm not a believer, so there is no lie by omission. What they do know, and I think it's what makes them accepting of me, is that many of my morals are in line with theirs, and they know my reason for joining is because I want to help do good. They think it's good that an atheist is able to determine morals on her own and those morals aren't far from their own.

I'm not hiding anything from them and I'm not lying to them about anything. I discussed this with a pastor and got his consent before I began attending. Believe me, I'm not keeping any secrets from these people.