Introductions?

[MelanieArt]

I hope no one minds, but I thought this group could use an introduction thread. :) I'll start:

My name is Melanie, I'm an artist, and I am married with no kids and 2 cats. My husband is a non believer as well. I first decided I was an atheist about 4-5 years ago, but I've leaned that way anyways for quite a while. I'll write more about me and my path to non belief later if no one minds my rambling. ;)

[BurtWorm]

1. I introduced myself in the welcome thread.

I'm too lazy to introduce myself again. :hi:

[BlueEyedSon]

2. Hi. I'm in your minority too. nt

[devinsgram]

3. Hi, my name is Kathy

I have 5 children and 8 grandchildren and 1 great grandson. I was widowed when I was 29, remarried 3 years later and last March celebrated 25 years. 2 cats and 1 dog round out the gang with new puppy coming in December. I was raised by my Baptist grandmother and sadly watched her give her last dollar to those bastard tele-evangelists before she died several years ago and that did for me.

[Carla in Ca]

4. Hi, I'm Carla

I'm a floral designer, married 26 years, childless by choice. We have a Beagle (rescued) named Jean.
Religion has never been a part of my life.

[slutticus]

5. Hello. My name is **** ****

Seriously, my name is Tony.

I grew up in the bible belt, and was raised catholic.
My emergence into atheism took about 4 years, it probably started my freshman year of college. By graduation time, the conversion was complete. I don't know why I switched sides (so-to-speak)...I guess I just started asking questions that people didn't want to (or couldn't) answer. I eventually contemplated the following question: "Is it more likely that god created man in his own image, or is it more likely that we created god in our own image?"

The answer has become quite clear to me as I linger in this world.

[leftofthedial]

6. I'm leftofthedial. My friends call me lotd.

I suppose my thread and missions statement "started" this Group, although it really owes its existence to all you DUers over the years who have asked the questions and not been afraid to call "bullshit." It also owes its existence to this incredible place that Skinner, elad and the others have built out here in the digital ether.

I'm 48. I'm a professional songwriter, musician and entrepreneur. I live "out West." I have two incredibly great kids. I've been an atheist (and called myself that by name) since 1972.

I positively, affirmatively believe there is no god, certainly nothing like what is described in the Bible. I'm as certain of that fact as I am of the force of gravity or that 2+2=4. If I’m wrong, and there IS a god, one like the Bible describes, I hate the sick, murderous, sadistic bastard and certainly wouldn’t worship it.

I believe religion has tried to provide some social justice from time to time—never enough to challenge the political status quo. I also believe that faith provides comfort and strength to some individuals--but those individuals would be pretty much the same people without that faith.

I think organized religion has been the most destructive force, by far, in the history of our species. I think it is a con game--a scam designed and used to control the weak-minded through their fear of the unknown. (Sorry for any DU believers if you feel I've called you weak-minded, but I do feel you have been had, exploited, taken, used, misled . . . ) Virus-like, religion has gone horribly wrong, probably because it just happens to exploit some bit of faulty wiring in the primate brain or some tiny wrinkle in the primate genetic code. It is a fraud, based on lies. It makes us kill one another--not always in an individual sense, but undeniably in the collective sense. It is undeniably one of the biggest threats to our country, our civilization and our species.

I distinctly remember asking my father, when I was about 9, about God. He pointed at the night sky and asked, rhetorically, "How can you look at all those stars and not see God?" But I didn't. I saw incredible beauty and majesty and mystery and unimaginably great distances and massive balls of flaming gas and nuclear reactions that looked tiny because they were so impossibly far away. I was awed, but not by anything religion had to teach.

[Dzimbowicz]

18. Hello!

I was wondering how I would/could put my feelings into the right words, but you did it for me. I could not have done a better job of it. Thank you for a job well done!

I grew up as an Episcopalian in SC and began to question the whole system, especially as the monetary collections were made during the services, then the priest would hold the offerings up to the cross. All this time I would watch the smug, wealthy congregation sit back, content with their latest mortgage payment on their place in heaven.

As I went out into the world as an adult, I saw so much injustice, hunger and disease (I was a Marine and went to several under-developed countries) and asked myself: How could a "loving god" allow this? I saw the plight of the poor in the inner cities and asked the same question; I could only conclude that there was no "loving god" or any deity at all. My only conclusions concerning the bible and other religious writings were that they were nothing more than man's glorification of man. Vanity and egocentrism at its highest.

I currently reside in an area where fundamentalism is rampant and I must hide my true beliefs from most everyone, to include my family.

For humans to think that we are alone in this universe and that we are the only intelligent beings is ludicrous! It makes me think of things I had to study in child development psychology: babies can only see their immediate surroundings and know of nothing else; adolescents become aware of greater/larger surroundings, but choose to keep themselves in the center; however, truly mature intelligent individuals see an even larger picture and know they are only a small part of a greater whole. Sadly, I believe that most humans are stuck in the second stage of development (Piaget's model).

As I am a school teacher in a rather religiously prejudiced region of the south, I must keep my true identity concealed, because for the time being, I need this job. Also, I do have some anxieties concerning my physical safety if my true beliefs were to become public; and, one never knows who lurks about reading these posts.

But, once again, thank you for putting our common perspective into a lucid and concise statement.

:yourock:

[leftofthedial]

21. welcome

At least you have one place where you can be yourself!

[BigMcLargehuge]

7. Howdy everyone

Lounge Mod, writer, martial artist, atheist, father, husband, friend, homo sapient.

:hi:

[curse10]

8. Hi! I'm Kirsten

I've been an atheist for the bulk of my life now (I'm 25). My boyfriend and two kitties are also atheist :D I'm currently in law school, but I'm a former professional musician.

Even as a young child I questioned the existence of the big man in the sky. I remember always asking my mom: "where did god come from? where are his parents?"

[slutticus]

10. LOL

I finally get your name.

[asthmaticeog]

9. Hello, all.

I'm asthmaticeog, designer, musician, writer, smartass, atheist. Nice to see this group here.

[hyphenate]

11. I'm Mary

I'm not quite a complete atheist, but my beliefs are somewhat eclectic.

I grew up Catholic (like most good little Irish/Canadian girls in Boston) but rejected the church relatively young.

After awhile, I started questioning more until I realized I didn't believe all the crap I was taught. In my teen years, I got into New Age areas, including Tarot, Numerology, Psychometry, Reincarnation and Astrology, and found the possibilities endless.

Nowadays, I have rounded up a whole bunch of different beliefs that don't seem to discount others and am a happy camper, except when Christians of the Far Right Wing variety try to argue with me.

Not married, but "Mom" to a current household of 5 four-legged kits,living in central Massachusetts, love to travel when I can, and always ask too many questions whenever possible.

[Gold Metal Flake]

12. Hello, fellow humans.

I changed my name because I put my lack of belief first on DU, and never do anywhere else. I am very "golden rule" about religion, which means I am almost constantly annoyed lately. :-(



Anyway, CAD guy, gearhead (car guy), tube amp tech, know a little about a lot of things, know a lot about very little.

[fudge stripe cookays]

13. Hi all.

I'm Fudge. I'm very theologically confused.

I was raised Catholic/Episcopal until about 13 (parochial school for four years as well). We alternated, if you can believe that, but always considered ourselves Catholic. My father died when I was 13 (he was non-church going Lutheran).

When all the Catholic priests were busy that week, and my mom couldn't get ONE out of the 5 priests at our church/school who could say the service for him, after we'd been good parishioners for years, she left the church after 47 years. She was so disgusted at their attitude.

One Sunday she went to the Episcopal church again, came home and told me we were now officially Episcopal. So we went, but as I got older, and wanted to sleep late on Sundays, I got less and less enthusiastic about going.

When we moved to San Antonio when I was 16, we started at a new church, and a fat annoying goober who was the son of one of the church elders decided he had a crush on me. He would not leave me alone. That was it. I wouldn't go back, and nothing she said would change my mind.

In college, I became even more disenchanted with religion. I haven't been inside a church in 20 something years except for friends' weddings. But I've been heavily considering the Unitarians. The one parish that I'm very interested in around here is quite aways from us. If I can find one that's closer, I'll get more eager about trying it.

FSC

[pauliedangerously]

14. Pleased to meet you

Paul is my name. I was baptized and I've been in forty or fifty churches, mainly out of curiosity. Never really believed in God. I made the Greek mythology to Christianity comparison when in elementary school. I always figured adults were just patronizing us kids with God the way they did with Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc.

I've lived in four states...hoping to make it five in a year or two; I've had many careers and have lots of skills. Received my BA in 1991. Dropped out of grad in 1994. Married and divorced twice; ex-wives were atheist, but parasitic and intellectually stifling. Read tons. TV is in the attic. Natural-born rebel, impartial observer of the human experience.

The older I get, the more amusing life becomes. Though I see a distinction between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom, it isn't much of a distinction really. Though some put their brains to good use, most seem to be tortured by their "little gift from God."

I think most religious leaders are closet atheists using "god" as a tool. I don't think GWB belives that crap at all. The Republicans jumped on abortion and morality in the seventies to save their defunct party. GWB's born-again sob story is merely political strategy...and it WORKED!!!

[fshrink]

15. Hey!

Finally found you guys. Psychologist here. Was raised by French intellectuals in the 50s, then members of the Communist Party, although they left after Budapest. Like so many others. I never felt the slightest need of getting into anything even remotely religious. As far as I'm concerned, it's completely useless and utterly dangerous.

[immoderate]

16. Hi. I'm Jay

I'm copying some stuff I wrote in the welcome thread.

I'm a Jewish atheist.

Atheist literally means without god. I'm also agnostic which means without knowledge, as opposed to a gnostic who would have direct knowledge that there is no god. Where would you get that knowledge? From god, I guess.

I say I am Jewish because that is a tribal identity. And based on my sense of humor and choice of breakfast foods, it's not deniable. More seriously, being atheist does not inoculate one from anti-semitism, and if they come for the Jews again, they'll surely get me.

I am actually a born atheist, and have not believed in god since I was old enough to differentiate real from imagined. I remember discussing this with my friends as a child, and the consensus on the street was that god was imaginary.

I was a schoolteacher, and had occasion to counsel (cautiously) students who couldn't express their skepticism elsewhere. Sometimes they needed someone to tell them they were OK.

It's nice to have a forum, but I miss being in the general discussion where we can enlighten people.

--IMM

[StrongbadTehAwesome]

17. Hi, everyone, I'm Nicole

I'm 22, married to a non-believer, no kids, lots of homework, and one kitty who's alternately sweet and psychotic.

I grew up in a devout, bordering on fundie, Lutheran household. Basically, we were fundie in all the things Missouri Synod Lutherans actually believe - literal creation story, existence of Satan and demons and all that - but thought ourselves superior to Assembly of God-type people who thought drinking was a sin, spoke in tongues, etc. Hey, Luther was German, you really think they'd make beer a sin? ;)

Anyway, I basically grew further away from the faith the more I learned. My middle-school confirmation classes were enough to prove to me that I wasn't a Missouri Synod Lutheran. My HS theology classes showed me that I wasn't Lutheran at all, and was more liberal than most Christians I knew (I thought the death penalty was wrong, I didn't see why women couldn't be pastors, didn't believe homosexuality was a sin, etc.).

In my sophomore year of college, I got the crazy notion into my head that I was "called" to be a minister. I started going to Campus Crusade for Christ meetings, joining Christian discussion boards on the internet, re-reading the Bible, all kinds of stuff. I started studying apologetics on the side so I'd be better prepared for seminary...and I found out that the arguments of the most famous Christian apologists are pure crap. I was looking for ways to bring my atheist roommate to Christianity, and I found out that she was right all along. All C.S. Lewis' and William Lane Craig's arguments boiled down to "God can do whatever he wants because he's God."

It took about a year before I finally convinced myself that there was no way I could still be a Christian. That was a weird year. It was kinda like trying to make yourself believe Santa exists after seeing presents from "santa" in your parents' closet on Dec. 23rd...and thinking that watching movies like Miracle on 34th Street really will do the trick.



Now, I guess I'm somewhere between weak atheism and agnosticism. I don't personally hold a belief in any gods. I don't reject the possibility that some sort of deity may be out there, but I figure it doesn't matter because if so, said deity is either a) benevolent and not the type to send people to hell just because they grew up in Botswana and never heard "the good news" or b) isn't benevolent, which means he/she/it/whatever isn't worthy of being worshipped anyway.

To me, anymore, I think if the Christian God exists and the Bible accurately describes him, then he's a hell of a lot more like a really heinous version of Star Trek's "Q" than the Merciful Father they all speak of.

[Biased Liberal Media]

19. Hi, I'm Biased Liberal Media

and I grew up in liberal California (although the place I'm originally from isn't all that liberal) and relocated to rural Washington State with my husband and daughter back in 2003. It's been a challenge living in such a Christian, conservative place, but I think I'm doing fine for the most part.

I was raised Christian (particularly what I consider "born-again") by my parents. Before my parents divorced we attended the Assembly of God for years before my younger sibling was born. After they divorced my mother became born-again and made us attend her Calvary Chapel church. I HATED that church, the men were sexist, the women were Stepford-ish, and the church in general showed true hypocrisy. When the pastor's child got pregnant out of wedlock at 15 years old, he made a huge announcement to the church. It truly disgusted me. When one of the ushers daughters got pregnant out of wedlock (although not a teenager) there was a huge announcement made as well. Can we say HUMILIATION?? I mean, they got support but hello! You don't announce that shit to the world...you know?? The thing that bothers me the most is how they convinced (more like brainwashed) my mother into believing she is not a lesbian. They sent her to an Exodus conference out of state. If anyone is familiar with Exodus, they know that this organization is hell-bent on "reforming" gay & lesbian Christians. Funniest thing?? The FOUNDERS of Exodus finally stopped lying to themselves and found their own perspective partners, got "married" (well, as any gay couple can get "married"), and stopped lying to the world (apparently, according to my gay uncle's partner). In any case, my mother is lying to herself. I'm sorry this got so long- point? I stopped attending church when I was 16 and never went back. In college I dabbled with Judiasm and Buddhism. By the middle of it I decided I was Agnostic. This past month I decided I was Atheist for a lot of reasons. I JUST CANNOT believe in a God.

So this got long-winded and all, my apologies.

Nice to meet you all.

[goddess40]

20. Always been a non-believer

even though my mom, who is now an atheist, used to make me go to Catholic church. I've been baptized, first communioned and even jumped through the confirmation hoop, all under protest. I don't ever remember believing in a high power - other than my grandmother who I adored.
I have two kids both atheists and a hubby who waffles, he was a Catholic school boy who likes to hedge his bet. I'm a stay at home mom, thanks to an inmate that injured my back 16 years ago when I was a correction officer. While I'm glad to have the disability income I despise house work and would much rather work in the outer world.
My brother is a non-active Catholic and my sister went from atheist to born again asshole.

[fugue]

22. You can call me fugue ^_^

Thirty-nine, aspiring writer/artist, Aspie, asexual, agnostic all my life, mommy to the world's cutest dog (see my avatar).

I can go on about my own run-ins with religion, if anyone is interested. I think my personal favorite is my first: the church my mother took me to gave out "Young Reader's Bibles" to every third-grader in Sunday school. I made the mistake of actually reading the thing. I was thrown out of Sunday school for asking why it was OK for Lot to get drunk and have sex with his daughters when it says in Leviticus that fathers and daughters can't have sex together and (somewhere else--I forget now but knew then) it says that you shouldn't drink strong drink.

It was the end of a long line of queries. The first two being why are there two mutually exclusive versions of creation in Genesis and where are the dinosaurs? ("But I've seen dinosaur bones! They were big. How could the bible ignore them?")

[Malva Zebrina]

23. I just found this forum now

due to another post in the old forums. I am amazed at the threads here and so happy to see it.

I am a little slow at times. LOL

Introduction:

Was born into Catholocism and went through the entire Catholic school system--graduated from an all girl's Catholic high school

I came to atheism or the beginnings of atheism when at the age of twelve, I, in spite of being forbidden by the nuns, decided to visit the synagogue that was adjacent to the school. I, just on impulse, walked up the steps, opened the door, and went inside. I was inside for about ten minutes gaping at all that was there, even touching the tassels on the shawls that were hanging by the front door.

A rabbi then emerged--and greeted me. He then proceeded to give me the grand tour. We had a nice little conversation--I remember saying to him when I spotted the light hanging in front that "we" also have a light like that in the church. I think he said something like, "yes"

I never told anybody what I had done that day. It was then that I began to realize that I was not being told the truth--at that time, about the "Jews" who were responsible for killing Jesus--and yes, we were taught that.

After that, I began to question a lot of things, privately in my mind.

By the time I became twenty, I was pretty well convinced that it all was nothing more than fantasy and fairy tales, most especially the tales about the virgin birth. Most especially after being exposed to the real world that existed apart from Catholic school, that contained a varitey of people with a variety of beliefs re a god. I was delighted to discover this fascinating world.

I am married also to an atheist, who also went through the Catholic school system.

[Modem Butterfly]

24. Good to have a place to call our own

I'm a 32 year-old atheist. I was raised religion-free, though my mom believes in reincarnation and my father believes we're some kind of experiment left behind by space aliens (no, I'm not being sarcastic, and yes, they're both from California, why do you ask?)

My partner of ten years has been an atheist as long as he can remember. His parents made him go to church, but none of it ever seemed real to him. His ex-wife was a hard-core fundie type who pressured him to go to church. Turns out she was quite the hypocrite.

Anyhow, it's the two of us, our cat and our dogs, all of whom are athesits as well. We're childless by choice and religion-free, living in a red state. I like to think of it as our missionary work.

[Longhorn]

25. Kick. n/t

[sybylla]

26. Thanks for the kick. I was so busy I missed it the first go 'round.

It's nice to meet you all.

I was baptized Catholic but my family thankfully separated itself from the church mere months before the brainwashing (catechism) was to begin. My uncle's wife had cheated on him and left him. Being a good Catholic and a member of a founding Catholic family in the community, he filed for an annullment. The priest refused to process the paperwork until my family forked over a large contribution. That was the last day my family stepped inside a church. The family patriarch, my grandfather, decided he could worship God more by sitting in a boat out on God's beautiful lakes than he could in a RC church and that was it.

So I've lived a relatively areligious life. I didn't immediately shun belief. In fact, I didn't really ever give it much thought until I was into my twenties. Many in my family have found other paths to religion and at least in appearance have kept their beliefs. I'm odd woman out in my family. The only person I suspect of sharing my atheist tendencies is my father. When we have attend weddings and funerals, I see that he rarely bows his head in prayer either.

But my hubby is atheist and we have raised two boys to think for themselves. Should they adopt religion, it is their choice and no one else's.

I'm a writer (technical, copy, creative), a business owner, a genealogist, a wrestling mom, a Red Cross volunteer, a lover of English literature, foreign languages, Native American cultures and history. I collect books but rarely get a chance to read them. And almost exactly four years ago I became politically active.

I look forward to some interesting conversations with my fellow Atheists and Agnostics.

[opiate69]

27. HI, all...

My name is Rick, and I'm a 35 year old married father of 3 living in Olympia, Wa... been questioning the whole faith thing for as long as I can remember, but I guess 9-11 was the catalyst that lead me to where I am now.. also, I hope it's not bad form to advertise another atheistic web forum here, but if things around this thread are occasionally too slow for you, there's a great bunch of freethinkers here:http://www.atheistnetwork.com/index.php in any case, I'mlooking forward to exchanging ideas with you all.

[onager]

28. Howdy!

I may be an Evil Twin of Mr. Dzimbowicz, up there. I was also raised in South Carolina and served in the Marines.

My parents were Southern Baptists, and the church I knew is not the holy-roller cliche usually depicted in the media. We were fairly "mainstream." I did occasionally go to church with other relatives, some of whom belonged to churches that would have put William James back on the laughing gas for good. Severe Fundamentalist sects who practiced speaking in unknown tongues, faith-healing, etc.

The Marines sent me to the Los Angeles area, where I have more or less happily remained ever since.

One thing I could not do, growing up, was question religion. So after I got out of there I set off to educate myself about it, an ongoing process I expect to take the rest of my life.

I've been lucky in that my job has taken me all over the world, so I've been able to observe different religions close up. I lived for over 2 years in Saudi Arabia, not far from Mecca (which I could not visit, being an Infidel). I've admired Shinto shrines in Tokyo, wandered thru a gorgeous rural Buddhist retreat in Korea, and marveled at the colorful animist shrines in Taiwan. And had my sense of irony tickled by the signs outside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris--"Beware of Pickpockets."

Everything has convinced me that all religions were made by humans, and usually abused by them.

I don't believe this has caused me to be any more negative or cynical. Probably the opposite. I'm convinced that we humans are stuck with each other, and we have to solve our problems ourselves.

Anyway, I didn't intend to write a novel here, so it's great to "meet" you all and I look forward to yakking with you.

(I probably won't be around for a month or so, starting next week when I go off on another long business trip.)

[Longhorn]

29. Howdy, Yourself!

Your post struck me because my son is a 20-year-old Marine. I was a little worried about how he would be treated in the Marines as an atheist and a liberal. He told us just before the Crucible at Camp Pennington, the DI asked for a show of hands on how many didn't believe in god and he took the half-dozen or so of them outside. He proceeded to ask them who they turn to in tough situations. No one answered so my son responded that he finds strength from within himself. He elaborated as he has the gift of gab and then the others more or less said, "What he said." The DI seemed satisfied with that answer and said as long as they have some source of strength, it was fine with him. I found that pretty amazing and not at all what I expected.

He's stationed at Iwakuni, Japan, and will be going to Korea in a couple of months for the Foal Eagle and possibly to Thailand next. He's a network administrator attached to an air wing so at least he's safe for now with three years to go in the Corps.

Good luck on your business trip and Semper Fi!

[onager]

30. Well, I was an atheist DI...

...at MCRD San Diego and Camp Pendleton. This was several hundred years ago. ;-) And give your son a big Good Luck and Semper Fi from me! I was an Air Winger myself, then somehow got ordered to go to DI School.

It may have been my Evil Influence that once irked our Chaplain and caused a drop in weekly chapel attendance. I guess they still allow the one hour off on Sunday to attend either Catholic or Protestant services.

I was prone to say things on Sunday morning like: "You'd be better off staying here and learning more about that rifle, instead of going over to the chapel and yakking with Jesus. Your rifle can save your life, but Jesus has a bad habit of not showing up just when you need him the most."

The Battalion Chaplain finally sent out a memo saying that at least 50 per cent of each platoon should be at Catholic or Protestant chapel on Sunday morning. (As always with religion, appearances are more important than actual feelings. You know how that works.)

I didn't have that many who wanted to go to chapel, so I just walked down the line and picked 'em at random: "You're a Catholic, you're a Protestant, you're Catholic...now go to the Magic Show. And hurry back!"

[Longhorn]

31. My son went to chapel once, I think,

to get away from the DIs! :) But he was a squad leader and eventually platoon guide and he felt he needed to use that time to get "squared away," especially since he had no interest in going otherwise.

I have to say that I've mostly been impressed with the Marines as far as my son is concerned. Sure, there have been some bureaucratic snafus and I'm not addressing war policy, etc. But the individuals that my son has met have been, for the most part, intelligent and tolerant. He even spent one night on phone duty debating the elections with his conservative first sergeant (my son is a lance corporal) and when morning came, the sergeant told him he enjoyed the discussion because my son "made him think."

Being in the Corps has done for him exactly what he hoped -- it has made a man out of him while retaining the essence of who he is. Yes, he would have grown up without the Marines but not as quickly and he'll always be proud of his service, as we are. It was rough after he saw F9/11, though. He was ready to walk away (he was at MOS school in CA at the time) but we convinced him that our nation still needs a strong defense and he is supporting the Constitution and his fellow Marines, not the idiot president. I don't know what we would have done if he had been sent to Iraq but so far, it's not an issue.

Thanks for your good wishes -- it's good to have you with us!

[lapislzi]

32. Hi, I'm Ginny...recovering Catholic

It was like teflon with me. They kept throwing religion at me, but nothing stuck ('cept the guilt). All children are born atheist. I was lucky enough to stay that way.

I'm a writer by trade. One kid, nonbeliever; one man, nominal believer; 2 cats, nonbelievers.

Glad to be here. It can be lonely in the world of believers.

[DavidDvorkin]

33. I'm David

Novelist by night, unemployed software developer by day.

Brought up Jewish, became an atheist during my teens. I've written an essay titled "Why I Am Not a Jew" and have it on my Web site:

http://www.dvorkin.com/essays/yinotjew.htm