i read communist text books a lot, how about you?

The Matrix is one of my favorite movies of all time.
I just rewatched it recently, but this time I noticed
something I hadn’t thought about before: Neo
waking up from the matrix is a great analogy for a
theist waking up from religion. Of course, it all
depends on one’s perspective. When the movie
first came out, there were Christians who actually
thought the Wachowski Brothers were trying to
convey a Christian message. For example, the main
character’s first name is Thomas and at first he
has doubts . His last name is Anderson which
means “son of man.” A character says to him,
“Hallelujah! You’re my savior, man. My own
personal Jesus Christ.” Morpheus says he was
prophesied to save humanity. He is betrayed by a
friend. He dies and comes back to life. And at the
end of the movie he ascends to the heavens. But
the Wachowski Brothers are most definitely not
Christians, and the sequels pretty much destroy
the idea that Neo is a messianic archetype,
anyway. As I said, it all depends on your
perspective. The Matrix could also be thought of
as a Buddhist film , or just a philosophical film.
And since I’ve been thinking a lot about atheism
and religion lately, from my perspective The Matrix
seems like a film about deconversion. This is not
meant to be a scholarly essay on this topic, and
I’m not going to analyze the entire film. I just want
to share some things I thought about while
watching it. (Sorry, but I’m not going to bother
with the second and third films; I didn’t like them
as much.) Follow the white rabbit. In one of the
first scenes, Neo sees this message on his
computer. Shortly thereafter, he sees the tattoo of
a white rabbit on a girl who is going to a club, so
he decides to follow her there. Because of this
decision he meets Trinity, who introduces him to
Morpheus, the one who tells him about the matrix.
For future apostates, the first step on the road to
atheism is the choice to investigate something that
casts doubt on their belief system. It could be
something they read online, something they heard
from a friend, or something they thought of on
their own. These things are white rabbits. Most
theists either don’t notice or choose to ignore
white rabbits, but future apostates follow them.
Morpheus: I imagine that right now you’re feeling a
bit like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole. Neo:
You could say that. Morpheus: I can see it in your
eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts
what he sees because he is expecting to wake up.
Ironically this is not far from the truth… Let me tell
you why you’re here. You’re here because you
know something. What you know you can’t explain,
but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that
there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t
know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your
mind, driving you mad. At the point where Neo
meets Morpheus, he has been trapped in the matrix
his entire life. He still believes he lives in the real
world, but he feels like something is wrong with it.
He just doesn’t know what. Before theists lose
their faith, they usually have the same sort of
feelings. As far back as they remember, they’ve
been taught that god exists and that their religion
is the way to salvation, that they are characters in
a story about the cosmic struggle between good
and evil. They accept this because it’s all they’ve
ever known, but it doesn’t seem real. As Morpheus
says, “You have the look of a man who accepts
what he sees because he is expecting to wake up.”
Because it doesn’t seem real, they are willing to
ask questions, and they are willing to hear
answers. Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is
all around us, even now in this very room. You can
see it when you look out your window, or when you
turn on your television. You can feel it when you go
to work, when you go to church, when you pay your
taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over
your eyes to blind you from the truth. Religion is
everywhere in our society. We see it on the
television, we hear about it at work, and it seems
like there are churches on every other street
corner. But the things taught in church have no
basis in reality. They are nothing but stories that
prevent people from discovering the truth. Neo:
What truth? Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo.
Like everyone else you were born into bondage,
born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or
touch. A prison for your mind. Unfortunately, no
one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to
see it for yourself. Children who are born and
raised in religious homes are also “born into
bondage.” They are told to take things on faith
before they reach the age of reason, leaving them
saddled with cognitive biases and errors that affect
the way they think about the world (this is why
religious people are more likely to fall for
conspiracy theories). They are slaves to their
beliefs, and their minds are imprisoned by dogma.
And unfortunately, there is no way to tell them the
truth about religion. It doesn’t matter how logical
or reasonable you are; nothing gets through the
prison bars of faith. They have to figure it out for
themselves. Morpheus: This is your last chance.
After this there is no turning back. You take the
blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed
and believe whatever you want to believe. You take
the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you
how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember, all I’m
offering is the truth. Nothing more. The blue pill
represents the choice to reject reason and
evidence. Theists take the blue pill every time they
say things like, “I don’t care about facts; I have
faith” or “I know that I know that I know.” They are
so frightened by the possibility that they could be
wrong, they reject it out of hand. The red pill
represents the acknowledgement that one could be
wrong. When theists take the red pill, they accept
the possibility that there might not be a god and
investigate the matter to see whether their beliefs
are justified. They want to know if their beliefs are
wrong, and that’s because they care more about
truth than about being right. Morpheus: Have you
ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was
real? What if you were unable to wake from that
dream? How would you know the difference
between the dream world and the real world? God
can seem very real to the believer. So real that it
can be difficult to distinguish the presence of God
from ordinary human emotions. Atheists experience
the same feelings as theists–awe, joy, peace–but
they understand that these feelings come from
within themselves, not from some imaginary spirit.
Or take the Bible. If theists were to read a novel
that featured talking animals, water turning into
wine, fire falling from the sky, people rising from
the dead, and so forth, they would quickly
recognize it as a fabrication. But when it comes to
the Bible, theists can’t tell it isn’t real. So when a
theist finally realizes the Bible is just a book of
legends, it makes sense to say to them, “Welcome
to the real world,” as Morpheus said to Neo. Neo:
Why do my eyes hurt? Morpheus: You’ve never
used them before. The first few months after
becoming an atheist can be very overwhelming.
You have to rethink everything you thought you
knew about philosophy, science, history,
psychology, and ethics. That last one is the most
difficult. Most theists don’t think very hard about
what’s right and what’s wrong; they just consult
the Bible, their church, or their favorite religious
website. Since atheists don’t have any moral
authorities, they have to construct their own moral
code. For new atheists, this can be exhausting.
Having to reevaluate so many issues (both
personal and political) can be confusing,
frustrating, and could even tempt them to ask,
“Why does my brain hurt?” To which the
appropriate response might be, “Because you’ve
never used it.” If all of your opinions were decided
by the home and/or church you grew up in, you’ve
never really used your brain. Morpheus: What is
The Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer
generated dream world built to keep us under
control in order to change a human being into this.
[Morpheus holds up a battery.] Neo: No, I don’t
believe it. It’s not possible. Morpheus: I didn’t say
it would be easy, Neo. I just said it would be the
truth. What is religion? Control. Religion is a human
generated dream world that feeds off the hopes
and fears of believers. Because of their deep-
seated desire for life after death and cosmic
justice, theists often invest significant amounts of
time and money into maintaining the church so it
can recruit new believers. When ex-theists realize
they’ve invested so much time, money, and
emotion into a fantasy (one that slows down the
progress of humanity, no less), sometimes they’re
so horrified that they try to convince themselves
“it’s not possible.” But as Morpheus says, “I didn’t
say it would be easy.” Neo: I can’t go back, can I?
Morpheus: No. But if you could, would you really
want to? Many apostates have asked each other
these questions. For some of them, escaping
religion can be liberating. But for others, it can be
terrifying. Some even try to believe again. But once
you see the Bible for what it is (a book of fairy
tales), you can’t make yourself believe it again
anymore than you could make yourself believe in
the tooth fairy again. As Cypher says, “Why oh why
didn’t I take the blue pill?” Later he says,
“Ignorance is bliss.” Perhaps. But ignorance also
keeps us from making the world a better place.
Morpheus: I feel I owe you an apology. We have a
rule. We never free a mind once it’s reached a
certain age. It’s dangerous. The mind has trouble
letting go. And for that I’m sorry. One of the
reasons for the rise in secularism is the Internet.
For example, just twenty years ago it was difficult
for atheists to explain why they think the Bible is
full of contradictions. Now they can just send
people links like this or this . As a result, atheism
is on the rise. But as the saying goes, you can’t
teach an old dog new tricks. This is why the
majority of new atheists are young people. They
are not set in their ways and are therefore more
willing to reconsider their beliefs. And when they
do, it is not as damaging psychologically.
Sometimes the older you are when you become an
atheist, the harder it is to deal with. Morpheus: As
long as The Matrix exists, the human race will
never be free. And as long as religion exists, the
human race will never be free. Humans are
capable of solving almost all their problems with
logic, rationality, and the scientific method.
Unfortunately, religion tends to resist these things
because it relies on faith, irrationality, and dogma.
Fortunately, humanity has made great progress in
spite of religion. But until religion is gone,
humanity will never reach its full potential. And if
religion begins to spread again, the human race
could be wiped out by a war with religious
motivations, or it could sink into another dark age.
Neo: What are you trying to tell me, that I can
dodge bullets? Morpheus: No, Neo. I’m trying to tell
you that when you’re ready, you won’t have to. The
agents in the Matrix represent evangelists, and the
bullets represent threats of Hell. These threats
serve two purposes: To convince unbelievers to
convert, and to keep believers from deconverting.
The former doesn’t usually work, but the latter can
be very effective. Even after deconverting, many
new atheists still have a deep-seated fear of Hell.
It might seem illogical to fear something you don’t
believe in, but emotions are not always logical.
Emotions are the result of conditioning, so it can
take lot longer to change them than it does to
change beliefs. At the end of the movie, Neo
finally sees the matrix for what it is and realizes he
can control it. So when the agents shoot at him,
Neo simply holds up his hand and stops the bullets
stop in midair. For the new atheist, this is the
moment when he realizes the idea of Hell doesn’t
frighten him anymore. This is the moment when he
is truly free. There are many other Matrix quotes I
could comment on, but these are the ones that
really stuck out to me. I want emphasize that this
is just my interpretation of the movie. I seriously
doubt the Wachowski brothers intended to convey
any of these messages. But that’s the great thing
about art: it can mean different things to different
people. To me, The Matrix is about deconversion
and atheism. if your an Atheist please come to our site.
https://agnostic.com/?source=member&ad=Marcus_Angelus

hello my fellow Atheist,

hahaha...Atheist and Agnostics are in the same forum..It should be separated you know.

Hahaha nice..Atheism is not a Belief ..bro ..

hello im new here,glad to met you guys..