As I've grown, however, I've reached my own conclusions and my own decisions and made my own choices in my life as to what I believe and what I don't believe. My choice and my belief is that there is no God and that I choose to be an atheist. It's my choice
Oh, man. Mad swell. Learned a lot. I think you need to start interviewing people. And I think the amount of depth of understanding of the topic is really amazing. And your perspective and the way you look at things is very different compared to us. I'm really inspired. Please do open your own podcast. I put it up on Spotify. I'll be your first follower. Thanks, Ma'am
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 4:28
I didn't feel awe particularly in the realm of what religion was asking us to feel on. But I did have a reverence for the history of my people as a culture, as a group of people who identify through their experiences. So being a Jewish woman really is very delightful and easy for me to celebrate. But I feel like my conversation about God and with God is very personal and I have no shackles on that conversation
Carey Braidt
@countryswell · 4:19
And since my grandfather wasn't very practicing in any religion either, even though he had a Jewish upbringing, it was her belief that she needed to expose her children to religion so that they could make a decision about whether or not to believe themselves as they became adults. And it just reinstated that word that you said, choice. I think that that's very important. And one of the things that has helped me embrace different faiths is to find the common ground
J.L. Beasley
@Her_Sisu · 4:43
And so I had that lens that I viewed people who said they were an atheism from that perspective until I became an adult and moved out of my parents home. And I remember I didn't graduate from college and I'm working, I'm in the work world as a full out professional. And I met this woman I worked with who was we're taking care of patients in the healthcare setting. And she was kind and she was nurturing, and she always looked out for other people
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:30
And I remember just looking at my friends, and we'd be laughing as this person is, lord, please bless our lives. Bless the lives of these young black men. This is very weird, but it's a very societal thing, religion. It works on a societal level. It works on a cultural level, and I understand that. But I am an Agnostic. I'm not an atheist, but I am an agnostic
Benedict Garrett
@Bendi_G · 4:59
As I mentioned, I think I mentioned before, I can't remember if I mentioned it here, but I also had a fascination with Judaism, and more particularly, I think, in the way you see it, with the Jewish people, their history and culture. I'm not Jewish. I don't have any Jewish background, as far as I know, although there was some talk of having a Jewish ancestor. But I wasn't able to trace it in my family tree
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Benedict Garrett
@Bendi_G · 1:17
Hi, Aryan, sorry for not replying sooner. Thank you for your feedback. I really appreciate that. And I think that's wonderful. The wonderful things about Swell is you we can hear from different people, people from all over the world in different places, get different perspectives and different ideas that can maybe let us look at things in a different way, maybe question the way we think about things. Not that it has to change our mind, but certainly maybe presenting alternative views
Benedict Garrett
@Bendi_G · 5:00
Even if that faith goes completely against many of the values and beliefs of their own faith, then it would be some of the atheism. Saying that you're atheist is a bad word is one of the worst things to be in some societies, as I mentioned. But you're absolutely right. We should all just appreciate that people have a choice
Benedict Garrett
@Bendi_G · 3:44
And listen, there's certainly things in my life I've done which go against religious teachings, not that I'm personally ashamed of, but would not be considered to be religiously acceptable in many religions. So there's certainly reasons why I might swell be heading towards the h***. But I also tried to do some good in my life. I tried to be a good person much of the time. I can be an a****** too
Benedict Garrett
@Bendi_G · 3:24
So there was pressure, I suppose, that I grew up, but it was more so from within my own family. My own grandmother was the religious element of my life that imposed any kind of guilt on me even for not going to church on the days that I refused to go and then making me feel guilty when I finally decided that it just wasn't my thing
Binati Sheth
@Binati_Sheth · 5:00
It's the same in other countries, too. Very rare. Lucky families give the choice of choosing faith to their children. Grandchildren are given the power to choose what they place their faith in. But India is not one of those countries. The religion of your family is your religion. And if you dare question it, it's such a s*** show. So my family knows I'm an Atheism and they resent it to their core
Binati Sheth
@Binati_Sheth · 4:54
So divide and rule was working very well. And then there were initiatives by the likes of Palgangadal Pilak, who was like, we need to unite people. So that's how the concept of Ganthari BA Pamoria came in. That for Ganesh dadoti. Everyone comes together and everyone works together and celebrates and just have a blast for ten days. People can choose to do it for one day, half day, five days, seven days. It's very convenient
Binati Sheth
@Binati_Sheth · 4:59
You never see these problems happen in atheistic societies. Look at the Satanic Church, which is, I think, one of the biggest congregations of atheists on the planet. They fight for human rights. They don't fight for all the other random things, all the other, I think, control issue things that religious people fight about. The atheism are fighting for human rights and somehow the atheism are the unholy bad elements of society