Atheist Attic Visitor Profile
What is your name? (Real or pseudo)
Temy R. Beal (Atheist Preacher)
What is your date of birth?
What is your gender?
What is your race?
(mostly Caucasian) Dutch, Irish, Cherokee, etc.
What is your e-mail address? (optional)
What is the name and URL of your homepage? (optional)
Where do you live? (City, State, Country)
How would you best describe your form of freethought? (Atheist, Agnostic, Humanist, etc.)
I am a "strong" atheist, in fact, an atheist evangelist. Atheism and materialism are my foundations. I am also a humanist, a realist, a rationalist, and a communist/anarchist. (See the Anarchy FAQ to understand what anarchy is, and is not, and read SOAR.)
Were you raised as a freethinker or to be religious?
I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness for most of my childhood. Upon beginning to seriously question my religion, and in a search for truth, over the years I participated in many churches; several flavors of Baptist, Holiness, non-denominational, etc. The last church I attended was the First Assembly of God in Dothan, Alabama. My wife and I were in the choir there and for three years we were on local (and sometimes national) TV, and participated in the Christmas and Easter productions.
What originally set you on the path to freethought?
In late 1988 - early '89, I was going through a period of severe emotional turmoil. My questioning nature, my experiences with so many different churches and their teachings, and my reading about many other religions of the world and the history of religion itself, brought me to a point where I began to demand proof from God of His existence. After several months of that, and receiving nothing I could reasonably consider a response from God, I realized that I had become an agnostic, and it was frightening. After a relatively short period I realized I had actually become an atheist and I was terrified. Yes, for a brief period, I was an atheist who was terrified of going to hell for disbelief. I prayed the "help my unbelief" prayer many times. Didn't help. I kept reading. I read about the nature of consciousness and understood that consciousness is the working of the brain and that when the brain ceases to function at death, you cease to exist. That helped a great deal in dispelling my fear. I found that there was an inverse correlation between my fear level and my level of understanding of reality. The more I learned about the facts of the real world; of how the universe began, of how life began, of neurology, of mythology, etc., the less fear I had. Finally, I came across this bit of eloquence from Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899) which expresses how I felt better than I can:
When I became convinced that the universe is natural--that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light, and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world--not even in infinite space.
I was free--free to think, to express my thoughts--free to live to my own ideal--free to live for myself and those I loved--free to use all my faculties, all my senses--free to spread imagination's wings--free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope--free to judge and determine for myself--free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the "inspired" books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past--free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies--free from the fear of eternal pain--free from the winged creatures of the night--free from devils, ghosts, and gods.
For the first time I was free.
There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought--no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings--no chains for my limbs--no lashes for my back--no fires for my flesh--no master's frown or threat--no following in another's steps--no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously faced all words.
And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain--for the freedom of labor and thought--to those who fell on the fierce fields of war, to those who died in dungeons bound in chains--to those by fire consumed--to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men.
And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high,
THAT LIGHT MIGHT CONQUER DARKNESS STILL!
When did you "come out" as a freethinker to family/friends/public, and how did it go over?
In 1989 I discovered the Alabama Freethought Association (AFA), the Alabama chapter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). My wife and I began attending meetings and continued to do so sporadically, until about 1996, when I became the editor of the group's newsletter The Alabama Freethinker (TAF). We made almost every single meeting during my tenure as editor until July of '99 when AFA decided to no longer publish a newsletter, and I was prompted to begin SOAR. Thankfully, my wife had come to atheism on her own at roughly the same time I did or shortly after, despite being raised a Baptist all her life. I told my half-sister and she accepted me though did not agree with my position. She has since died. I have also told her eldest son, the closest thing I ever had to a brother, and he accepts me and is questioning himself, though it is very difficult for one recovering from many years of drug and alcohol abuse to not fall for the "higher power" myth.
Do you feel it necessary to continue to hide your beliefs in any circumstances, and if so, why?
I don't really hide my beliefs, but I don't make a point of making them known locally, especially to in-laws on whom my wife and I must rely to some extent for occasional financial help. There is little doubt that we would be ostracized and shunned by all in the family if they knew we were atheists.
Have you ever been the victim of discrimination or abuse because of your beliefs?
Not physically. Though I cannot prove it, I know I have missed some employment opportunities. Note that, unfortunately, some alleged freethinkers have also tried to muzzle my expression of some of my beliefs. Note my definition of the term below.
In what types of freethought activism, if any, do you participate?
I publish and edit my own print freethought magazine called SOAR. (Being a fan of acronyms, one reason I chose the name was because it can stand for Stamp Out All Religion). I maintain The Learning Place, engage in written debates with theists, pass along information to other freethinkers. Because I live in poverty and because too many "regular" freethought groups are so narrow in focus, I cannot do nearly as much as I would like.
What do you feel is the best part of being a freethinker?
First, I will give my definition of this term. It is essentially the same as that of FFRF and its chapters, except that instead of having it apply only to religion, I believe freethought should apply to everything. My definition, as given on each copy of SOAR is: "Freethinker: One who applies critical thinking and logic to all areas of human experience; rejects supernatural and authoritarian beliefs; values rational and scientific inquiry, individual freedom and responsibility, and recognizes the need for tolerance and cooperation."
Being free of the fears of gods and devils and after life tortures. Being able, through the discoveries of science, to grasp and understand the true nature of reality, to think for myself, to arrive at my own conclusions about my own self and everything around me.
What do you feel is the worst part of being a freethinker?
Aside from the real and/or metaphorical slings and arrows of theists, knowing that I must die, in large part because of religion having held back scientific progress for 1500 to 2000 years. The emotional pain and outrage at having been lied to by religion; the utter disgust of knowing that most people do not even comprehend, or are not psychologically capable of accepting, what death truly is -- believing the comforting lie of religion that we are immortal, thus not engaging in the effort to acquire real immortality. Knowing that the future of my species and its descendents, if any, depends on the intellectual and cultural evolution of the species, which remains, in many ways, astonishingly primitive.
What is the societal atmosphere for freethinkers where you live?
Though I know of a few very liberal Christians, and maybe a handful of agnostics or deists, devout Christianity is the overwhelming ideology. Dothan, Alabama, in the southeast corner of the state is the largest city within a 100 mile radius, with a population of about 55,000. It has been described as having more churches per capita than any city of any size in the US. I live about 35 miles from Dothan. Any person who made a public splash of announcing his disbelief in God in this area would almost certainly lose his job, probably most of his family, and it would not be at all surprising to hear of his house being burned or even of him meeting a similar fate to that of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming or Billy Jack Gaither of Sylacauga, AL who was beaten to death with an ax handle, and burned on a pile of old tires for being gay.
How do you define "freedom of religion" and do you think your country attempts to grant this?
To me, the absolute minimum definition of "religion" is: "The belief in and/or worship of supernatural being(s)." If the system of thought does not include this, then whatever it might be, I consider it incorrect to call it a religion. The term "freedom of religion" implies that one can make a conscious choice as to what religion he will believe in. I do not accept that as possible. I think my country makes at least a token effort to grant this "freedom," which is a mistake. That is, I do not believe any government should be neutral on religion, as defined above, but should actively encourage rationalism instead, which will inevitably lead to atheism -- freedom from religion, in all who have the intellectual and psychological capacity to grasp it. There is much hypocrisy in the notion of governmental neutrality toward religion, though even most freethinkers do not seem aware of it.
If you could share one thought with whoever might read this profile of you, what would it be?
Only one!? Surely you jest! For a guy with diarrhea of the keyboard this is nearly impossible. Read and understand Ecclesiastes 9:4-13 and disregard most of the rest. Question yourself as to the degree of honesty, psychological strength and integrity you have. Ask yourself if you can fully agree with this statement I came up with: "I would rather hear the single worst truth in the universe than ten thousand beautiful lies." If you can, then I implore you to help spread the Gospel (good news) of atheism. And lastly, check out what's wrong with this picture? There are roughly 20 million adult freethinkers in the USA alone. There are only about 4 million Jews in the USA. Jews hold very disproportionate levels of governmental offices, and many are extremely famous personalities. Everyone has at least heard of a Jew (and yes, many Jews are also freethinkers). (No, this is not anti-Semitic in any way -- it is merely a fact.) The average American has never heard of a freethinker and has no clue what they are about. How many currently living freethinkers can you name? How many are listed on this site? Please encourage every freethinker you know to post their profile here. Maybe, just maybe, if the rest of the population became aware of the significance of our numbers, we might begin to experience more of the civil rights rightly accorded to Jews, blacks, gays, etc.
"The time appears to me to have come when it is the duty of all to make their dissent from religion known." --John Stuart Mill
