-So, there’s a special Holy Mass this Sunday. In the church in front of our University. Would you like to join us, Aga?
-Eee, nope.
-Oh, do you have some plans, already?
-No, I just don’t go to church. I’m an atheist.
-You’re what? Hm... So you believe in this... Jehova? Or what’s your god?
-Hahaha. I AM AN ATHEIST. I don’t believe in any god.
-How come? What do you mean you don’t believe?
-I just do not. I do not believe in any god, I do not believe in spiritual powers. I also don’t believe in elves, dwarfs, trolls and flying spaghetti monster.
-I’m so sorry for you. Probably something bad happened in your life, right? It’s gonna be fine, trust me. You will find your god, eventually.
I didn’t make it up. Unfortunately. The main problem I have with Poles is that, although they are great believers, apparently they don’t believe that atheists exist. It’s out of their scope. They can easily accept the fact that you’re a Muslim, Jew, a Jehovah's witness, but not that you’re a non-believer. You must believe in something.
Because of our history of the Soviet time, atheism in Poland is strongly associated with communism. The communism in the form we’ve been through, not the pure ideology that I’m likely to follow; but this is a subject for another post. It means that, if you’re an atheist, you’re a bad, cruel person, with no moral values. And obviously, you worship Stalin. The problem with atheism in Poland is not that people don't tolerate, oppress or harass it. In most of the cases, is just being ignored.
Frequently, people ask me to define atheism. But there’s no one definition. Atheism means something divergent to different people. It’s more like personal philosophy, the stream that drives you, the outlook that continuously makes you think, consider, subvert, criticise, ask, keep your mind open.
But ok, let me try, and put this term in some frames. From a philosophical point of view atheism is a rejection of theism which states the existence of a god; attributes to him various mysterious properties and powers. Doesn’t matter if it’s one god, many gods, or one in several persons, whatever that means. Atheism recognizes theism either as false or as incomprehensible or meaningless. According to the atheist, the mythological and naive versions of the thesis that portray god or gods as corporeal beings are false. However, theological and philosophical versions that describe god as a disembodied absolute, self-existence or real being by itself are incomprehensible and have no sense.
Krzysztof Sykta - a Polish, independent biblical scholar, former editor of the biblical section of the portal racjonalista.pl., claims that “faith" in the existence or non-existence of god is not a pure faith because it is often based on various arguments, and thus attempts to prove one's own right. Faith in god is usually a result of a viral lack of thinking and religion is a form of manipulation. When unbelief is just another faith but it’s a result of something – it’s a result of thinking.
The atheist asks what makes religion so widespread. Why, despite such development of science, religion still has so many followers. Searches for the answer to this question in the sociology of culture and tradition. Sometimes doubts the authenticity of someone's faith. Most Poles consider the atheist attitude as dishonest or too impermanent. Recalls many cases of conversion, especially in the face of death.
Have you ever been a part of such conflict?
PS Since I'm a photographer I felt obliged to complete the post with some pictures. Therefore, my little "collection of Jesuses" seemed just right.
Thank you for reading!
Agniese
It's not only Poland theme, people in every strong belliver country is thinking same way, for example I live in Georgia and you will recive same questions and answers if you say you are atheist,even more negative you can see in muslim countries,they hate us and are wishing only our death in name of god
Yes, I'm totally aware of that. It's not only about Poland. But when it comes to this country, I guess, I have more rights to criticize hehe ;) You know, we're not objective in general ;) By the way, I used to live in a few different countries, that are also pretty religious but I've never met such ignorance like in Poland. But yeah..., I know I'm usually treated a bit different as a foreigner, so who knows, maybe just my impression. By the way, Georgia is on my list :) Thanks so much for your comment!
Sounds great,I mean here you will definitely like, Georgia is beautyful country with great nature and tasty food ;)only minuse is that 89% of people are fanatic christians but thats normal,probably you are adapted and immunized as me ;)
Hehe, exactly! Not much can surprise me ;)
This is an ancient global debate. Thanks for sharing your unique perspective.
Obviously :) Thank you Dear, for reading.
The Bulgarian perspective
The communist regime in Bulgaria oppressed the church for over 40 years, and to be a Christian and go to church was considered a really bad thing. Nowadays, nearly 30 years after the fall of the regime, a big chunk of the population are atheists, and communism surely contributed to that, although I can't say to what degree. In general, people here don't care whether you are an atheist or not.
Thanks for sharing the Polish perspective @agniese :)
Thanks, Dan. Sometimes I have the feeling that Bulgarians don't care who you are in general ;)
Yes, that's something I was considering adding to my previous comment :)
Nice collection of "Jesuses", i find the following statement appropriate: "Holy Christ!"
The same thing happens in my country, Romania. I am kind of an atheist, meaning i don't believe in a god, but i believe in a form of energy. Don't know how to explain it in a larger form tho :))
Followed you, nice sense of humor and frekin' great photos :)
Thank you, Victor! I follow you back. I'm so happy that I find more and more people who get my sense of humor. I'm so grateful for your existence, guys, I know it's not easy sometimes :D
Btw, I love covrigi! Especially those with sesame :)
In Romania we suffered quite the same fate during communism, I believe you already know that. The religious minds are driven today by politics in our “russian influenced border” countries. I was in Krakow last year and I was impressed by the city though left with a sour taste in my mouth as even the guy driving the golf cart through the city spoke to me about Poles being a very religious people, including him.
As we are experiencing new economical and social realities in developing our countries, there is this new ideological wave (nothing new in nationalism if you ask me, though) to develop our own ways of advancement; not listening to Brussels.
All of this, together with the top russian influence, finance and propaganda are driving different political parties take power and develop political schemes on the back of religious people.
In romanian villages the vast majority of priests are still electoral speakers for the socialist democrats. Together with the support of the Patriarchy of course.
They already state financed a huge cathedral in Bucharest and at the last elections we have seen even statements like “you are a good christian if you have at least one child”.
Sooo...yeah...things are becoming weird for non-religious people in our zone.
Sorry for the long comment... my bandwidth will surely be depleted now. 😄
Don't be sorry. They say the size doesn't matter but personally, I appreciate long comments ;)
I'm pretty much familiar with the situation in RO since I used to live in Bucharest for some time and have a few, very good Romanian friends so I can only agree with your point. You're right, that the major issue is that the church is involved in politics. And vice versa. But this is nothing new :/ Unfortunately.
I can understand the conflict. Yes.
I believe in God. I don't believe that you are bad if you don't nor would I judge you. You have a free will to believe in whatever you choose to believe or not believe. No one can make you believe or follow any ideology.
Thanks for sharing this @agniese.
Hey, Honey! That's the point! The diversity makes us beautiful. We should communicate, share views, learn from each other and stay open :) Thank you, @countrygirl!
Sure anytime. You are very welcome @agniese.
Why so widespread... Because lack of human being about being created ( I am an engineer and I also agree about it... There out of the sky is a creature... But books and rules are ruined my faith...) and also human being needs a purpose in his/her life... Second and most important reason why the religion is so widespread is political issues... You can dig about it... Politic and religion are stepbrohers... At least I think so...
Have a nice day...
True, politics and religion stick together since... forever? I'm aware that this status quo makes the question rhetorical, but still... To me, this is somehow crazy - that nothing is changing, and getting even stronger I would say.
Thanks a lot for stopping by. Have a nice evening :)
Wow thats such an interesting post especially with respect to the links to communism and Stalin (which while obvious I I had never though to look at it with that perspective).
Thanks for sharing.
This phenomenon is quite complex and needs some research indeed. I'm glad you got interested. Thanks for stopping by!
I can relate to this firsthand. I have Polish heritage and when I have visited there, people cannot understand that I am not religious. If you say you believe in the flying spaghetti Monster, they at least understand that you believe in a higher power, just not theirs. Everyone is different and every part of Poland is different, but there some rigid patches deeply embedded in a monoculture of Roman Catholicism. It's impossible for people there to understand other options, because they were never presented to them. But when you do go to places like Warsaw, it's much more cosmopolitan and less conservative, and you see a lot more acceptance because people have opened up to more varied beliefs and lifestyles.
Thanks for reading, @bradlovesbeer :)
Yes, Warsaw is a capital city. Multicultural, diverse, open.
So, have you enjoyed your stay in Poland?
I loved it. I have been there many times and enjoyed staying in the country as well as the city. I went to a wedding awhile back in Krakow. The city is probably one of the most under appreciated beauties in Europe. The wedding was out in the country, and pretty much 3 days of drinking and dancing. Probably one of the funniest times I’ve ever had. I stayed in a cabin over in the Carpathian Mountains that I am pretty sure was haunted. The ghosts seem to like me though and left me alone for the most part, I think they just were looking for a drinking buddy.
Hahaha, I'm happy that you had fun. Personally, I like the south of Poland very much. Maybe because I'm from the north, so to me, is like going abroad ;) I wouldn't say that Kraków is under appreciated tho. We have loads of tourists there, the city is quite international. It's also top UNESCO Heritage site in Poland.
Next time I invite you to Gdańsk! Great place for craft beer lovers. I think you would like it ;)