be a proud atheist

In the past year I have lost my uncle and grandfather tragically. My uncle drowned in the Gulf of Mexico and my grandfather fell and hit his head. These were the first and only deaths of family members in my lifetime.

Through the week of my grandfather in the hospital there were numerous prayers and reassurances of “he is going to a better place”. I realize this gives people peace but how naive. My mother and father are the only two I have openly spoke to about my Atheism, but I know my grandmother suspects because I confronted here about a decade ago with some questions that made her very uncomfortable. I held their hands and participated in the prayer circle for their benefit not mine since I know that some of my family was more affected by their deaths than I was.

Most of all it highlighted the difference between my view and my family’s view of the afterlife. They say there is about 10 minutes of brain activity after your body dies, I believe this is where heaven exists. Time is relative and who knows what takes place inside your brain for those ten minutes. Those ten minutes could stretch to eternity, we have all experienced it while sleeping. You take a twenty minute nap but have a dream that seemed to last an hour. No one really knows if any of this is actually real, our brain tells us it is real but that is all relative.

Nothing is absolute, nothing….

Why is it so hard for people to let you believe what you want?

My wife is a christian or says she is, even though I know more about christianity than she does. (Wow that is annoying spell check wants me to capitalize christianity, too bad spell check!) Anyways she knows my denial of god’s existence but tells me that I am “confused” and that I “don’t really believe that”. I love her with everything but keep that to yourself I don’t go around poking holes in your security blanket. I respect your belief so respect mine.

A issue for her is “What about our kids?” which I agree is a big issue. She wants me to go to church to provide them with a good foundation of moral values. Since when is an Atheist immoral or have any effect on a person’s values. I am an Atheist and I am a very courteous upstanding member of society. I hold the door open for old people whenever I can, I pick up a couple bucks a person absentmindedly dropped and return it, I do not lie, I do not steal. I say let our children decide for themselves just like I did.

I believed in god just like I believed in Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and monsters under my bed. I outgrew it plain and simple. I was introduced to the theory of evolution in seventh grade and it blew my mind. I went home and I asked questions of my parents and grandparents and got ambiguous answers. I wrestled with it for several years calling myself Agnostic since Atheist has such a bad connotation attached to it.

I still do not proudly announce it and that is my goal through this site. I feel persecuted and condescended upon by society, even though it should be the opposite way around.

We all know that atheism is the future. As we enter a new age of enlightenment, where we can fearlessly pursue knowledge and truth without fear of attack from institutionalized religious factions working in harmony with government leaders, we can START the enormous task of answering lifes most puzzling questions. We won’t have the answers today, tomorrow, or 200 years from now. But through the evolution of thought and technology, we can start to form hypotheses that can be tested and retested to show legitimacy.
It’s obvious why religious factions fear, hate and slander atheists. We take money out of their pockets. Less people in the pew, less loot in the collection plate. We must continue to pursue our goals, allowing those who voluntarily question the blind faith instilled in them through socialization to view our work and results so that they may start to question the really important issues of our (and future) times.

Yeah, I am. I don’t need a religion and I just don’t have one. Lots of religions have lots of ‘hate’, and lots of ‘rules’. Who needs any of that?

I am always a proud atheist! :)

Atheists are good people too! there is no reason to hide or be ashamed of our faith. or lack thereof.

I was raised a Southern Baptist. It seems to me the worst kind of Christianity. I have just recently started to “find myself” for lack of a better term and realizing I don’t believe in God was part of that. I am an athiest. I think that’s the first time I put it in black and white. At this point I feel like I have just started on a long journey to becoming a proud athiest. I feel like I am alone in the “real world” except for my fiance. I feel surrounded by people who would think I’m some kind of evil. Even at work people talk about God all the time and it makes me uncomfortable. At the moment I am reading The God Delusion and I find myself hiding the title from people for fear of being shunned. I want to be able to be proud of who I am and now I am looking for support from those who are going through or have gone through what I am going through now.

I must admit even when I was going through primary school the whole notion of God and religion fascinated me from a non-religious point of view and it still does today.

I am proud to be atheist. I appreciate greatly my religious friends (mainly Christians, 1 Muslim and 2 Sikhs) who accept my choice and not try to sway me (an act which seriously annoys the shiz out of me).

I’m becoming more comfortable with this aspect of my identity. I’m trying to include the “health benefits” of religion. For example, I found a great community of like-minded people in the organization I volunteer for. Tai chi replaces prayer as a soothing meditation. I use visualization to give me the confidence to accomplish my goals. Most of all, I embrace many healthy habits like sobriety and wholesome foods.

With that in mind, religion is obsolete. It’s why I’m such a proud and happy atheist. If others want to conclude that I have a first-class ticket to hell, so be it. :-)

I was born an atheist, raised Catholic, and now I’m an atheist again! :)