| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"New10." |
| Date: |
05 Aug 2004 10:57:46 PM |
| Object: |
OUR ATHEISM BROUGHT LOVE |
OUR ATHEISM BROUGHT LOVE
By New10.
For fifty years my older brother and I were just brothers but we
Were not Friends. He would never call me; if I wanted to speak to him
I
Would have to call him. Even as children he kept me separated from his
Friends. I was not allowed to play on the same block were he played. I
Liked my brother but never felt close to him. We did not have a lot in
Common. He was a self-employed successful businessman with a family
That excluded me. He never invited me to his home. Never invited me to
dinner even when he had our distant cousins from France. I remember
when
we were out to lunch together and his stockbroker came over to the
table he
did not introduce me to him when I asked him why? He said, "he didn't
know".
He said that he remembers treating me poorly as children but said that
He does not remember the reason.
We were not raised in a religious home and when we were older I don't
Think we ever thought about discussing religion. His belief in God was
insignificant and was not really a part of his life. Religion was a
topic we
never talked about we had no interest to do so. Some years ago I
started to
send my brother my articles and letters to the editor. My
sister-in-law who
gets her education from the Los Angels Times who believes in God had
become hostile towards me, and told me she was not interested in what
I
had to write. My brother too was not a big reader. I gave my brother
Atheism a Case against God by George H. Smith. It was after reading
this
book was the beginning of a relationship with my brother that I never
thought possible. I also gave him On The Gods and Other Essays by
Robert Ingersoll that he loved. Our Atheism united us to a loving
relationship. We finally had something in common.
When he comes into Los Angeles and we meet for breakfast we hug
and kiss each other. Now he calls me least once a week. He often said
that
he looks forward to having breakfast with me. I'm the only atheist he
knows. We often tell each other " I love you"
I also bought him a subscription to Freethought Today that he likes
very
much.
All their friends are God believers and my brother fortified with all
that he
read can hold his own when his friends make dumb remarks defending
their
religious superstition. My brother feels very much empowered by
letting his
friends know that he is an atheist .My sister-in-law who is a very
critical
lady and one who is short on praise said to my brother "You are
becoming a
worldly man". My brother paid me the highest complament I had ever
received
in my life, he told me "I was his best friend"
.
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