I’ve gone from a 1 to a 6.
So, going from being a professional newspaper editor and owning a 3-bedroom house in the suburbs to SSDI and renting a 100-square-foot room… in the blink of an eye, I’ve had to rely quite a bit on “the kindness of others” over the past few years.
I have been respected and helped by Christians as well as non-Christians. And I have been gaslighted and betrayed by Christians as well as non-Christians.
I really think that in general, most people just are who they are -- they have certain personality traits, regardless of their religion or lack thereof. I’m not saying that some people don’t undergo massive changes in outlook when they convert or deconvert … clearly this happens. But overall, I think we make too many assumptions about people based on their “label.”
I know that my own values, ethics and morals really have not changed since I stopped believing. (Right at first, I panicked, wondering if I was going to become a horrible person, and actually became MORE cognizant of such decision-making. Ex-Christian friends have told me this is common.)
One big challenge I faced was the need for dental care; in my state, there literally are no options to access non-group dental insurance, and when basic work can run into hundreds or thousands of dollars, breaking some teeth becomes a crisis. That is what happened to me, and there was nothing. (My income was too high for Medicaid, but not high enough to actually afford what I needed.) And I was super freaked out.
Then a couple of retired dentists, who happen to be Evangelical Christians, formed a local non-profit organization to provide dental care to the uninsured. Much of the equipment has been donated, and the dentists each work 1-2 days per week, on a volunteer basis. They do good work at 20-50% of what regular dentists charge.
There are no set income limits, and you don’t have to provide them with proof you are low-income. It is basically an honor system.
They don’t proselytize, but they don’t make a secret of who they are. They have free Bibles if you want one. Their website has some Bible verses. My first couple visits I was worried about being triggered, but their actual paid staff (dental assistants and techs) are pretty obviously NOT Fundies. (I can tell from their anti-Trump bumper stickers and the rock music they play in the office!!)
So … I love these people. (And yeah, they know about me. We laugh at it.)
I’m certain that if you asked the dentists, they would say they do this BECAUSE they are Christians. But I suspect that in an alternative universe, these two guys would have done the same thing, even if they had been Jews, Buddhists or atheists. Because only a certain kind of person who is 70 years old, and worth $80 per hour, will go to an office and work for free 8-16 hours a week.
I guess you could say I went from a 2 or a 3 to a 6.
I went through an anti theistic phase years ago. Looking back now, it was caused by teenage anger and nihilism rather than any problem with religion — which I have always been fairly indifferent to.
Today I understand from anthropology that religion is not going anywhere, but science can go way much more easily because we evolved to benefit from one and the other is just a byproduct of a very narrow slice of human culture.
This book explains a lot: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Religion-Natural-Science-Not/dp/0199341540
It may be that in the right conditions (e.g., density of and well functioning towns/cities) we are naturally prone to develop a cultural proclivity for science. And more so, over time as it tends to build upon itself, and to add to the success of the group as a whole.
I would say I’m a 6.5. Neither 6 nor 7 really completely apply to me completely. I know for certain there are no gods, but I accept the possibility that I may be wrong, given that I cannot prove my belief. But I am still 100% certain about it. So, maybe a “scientific 7”? I know how it is with certainty, barring new evidence to the contrary?