Atheist Attic Visitor Profile
What is your name? (Real or pseudo)
What is your date of birth?
What is your gender?
What is your race?
White (Irish/English/Polish)
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.)
Ex-Atheist, ex-Catholic, ex-wishing with my heart to become a christian... now just a guy fighting close-minded fools.
Were you raised as a freethinker or to be religious?
I was raised basically Catholic. I left the church by my own will at about age 8.
What originally set you on the path to freethought?
I began asking questions that Church couldn't answer. I began researching Christianity and learning that what I learned in church was extremely minimal and almost always left out any "questionable" material. Nobody I knew really examined the Bible, so I have since picked it up and begun reading it, at first in the hopes of becoming a Christian, but I only became more and more against its writings. Read it! It doesn't make sense, at all! It doubles over itself, it contradicts itself, it repeats itself... it's a terrible book. I don't understand why some people call it the "handbook for life." At times even Jesus threatens to kill inocent children and burn the earth. And the God of the Old Testament is far worse, the people in it lie, the stories sound mostly like odd drug trips, and the prophesies have mostly failed.
When did you "come out" as a freethinker to family/friends/public, and how did it go over?
Only just recently. It caused some friction at times, but my friends, family, and coworkers are all liberal enough to basically "live and let live." Even my most conservative friends still see me as a good person and don't try to convert me.
Do you feel it necessary to continue to hide your beliefs in any circumstances, and if so, why?
I feel it is very important to share my beliefs, to help staggering believers come over to our side, to reinforce the views of non-believers, and to simply reinforce my views to myself.
Have you ever been the victim of discrimination or abuse because of your beliefs?
I did get a mouthful from my ex-girlfriend's ex-priest father one time, but other than that no.
In what types of freethought activism, if any, do you participate?
Myself and a few fellow free thinkers are working on our website, and trying to create some form of organization in our town and surrounding area. I have worked extensively on the internet, but done very little elsewhere.
What do you feel is the best part of being a freethinker?
The ability to practice my open-mindedness. The ability to think for myself, to learn without boundaries. The knowledge that I am in control of my destiny and I'm free of the bounds of religion.
What do you feel is the worst part of being a freethinker?
Other people, the closed minded fools who don't want to know anything other than what the church tells them.
What is the societal atmosphere for freethinkers where you live?
I think a lot of us are free thinkers here. I see the "Darwin" Fish with feet metal emblems on cars, and I really don't encounter too many regular churchgoers at all. Most of the people around me and I think in the country are weak Christians; they believe in Christ, but don't know anything about him or the Bible and really don't care.
How do you define "freedom of religion" and do you think your country attempts to grant this?
Freedom of religion is the U.S. citizens' right to practice whatever form of religion they so choose. I think the government does a fine job of allowing and protecting this freedom.
If you could share one thought with whoever might read this profile of you, what would it be?
Maybe more than one. Religion is neither good nor bad, but a powerful means of doing both. It is ultimately up to us to decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. I am just sick and tired of seeing bad people using religion to hurt good people, and I am sick and tired of seeing smart people close their minds because all the answers they need are in the Bible. I'm sick of weak people praying to God for strength and I'm sick of strong people thanking God for it. It's time that mankind grows out of this childish notion of God and takes responsibility for its own collective actions.
