What is your name? (Real or pseudo)

Phil Benson

What is your date of birth?

11th October 1980

What is your gender?

Male

What is your race?

White

What is your e-mail address? (optional)

pystough@hotmail.com

What is the name and URL of your homepage? (optional)

I don't have one.

Where do you live? (City, State, Country)

Bristol, England

How would you best describe your form of freethought? (Atheist, Agnostic, Humanist, etc.)

Atheist and Naturalist. Not sure if there is exactly a single clear meaning of 'naturalist', but in this case I mean 'somebody who views themselves and indeed our entire species as part of the natural world and not separate from it'.

Were you raised as a freethinker or to be religious?

Neither of my parents are particularly religious, so I wasn't forced to go to church or anything, although I don't really think my parents were ever freethinkers either.

What originally set you on the path to freethought?

Religion was never forced down my throat too severely. I went to a christian school, and had to sing hymns and attend religious assemblies daily, though this was never reinforced at home, and so with no real incentive to be religious - not being punished if I didn't 'get with the programme' I was always ambivalent towards christianity. It was when I was nine that I decided religion was fiction.

When did you "come out" as a freethinker to family/friends/public, and how did it go over?

I asked some of the other kids in my class if they believed in god, before announcing that I didn't (I was a fairly troublesome child). A few of the other kids were shocked. Others didn't care. I can't remember ever getting into serious trouble for saying I didn't believe.

Do you feel it necessary to continue to hide your beliefs in any circumstances, and if so, why?

I don't go out of my way to tell people I am an unbeliever; I'd never pretend that I do believe however!

Have you ever been the victim of discrimination or abuse because of your beliefs?

Only very mild abuse. I have made people angry by saying that the very existence of god is a figment of our highly-evolved imaginations, but I don't go out of my way to antagonise believers, usually. I've been ridiculed, but it's not really something that upsets me!

In what types of freethought activism, if any, do you participate?

I try to be highly objective about everything. Absolutely everything. I try to form opinions based on a broad depth of rational knowledge or else I don't form them, and I share my opinions with people.

What do you feel is the best part of being a freethinker?

The satisfaction of truly knowing my place in the world, and feeling superior to those who cling to superstition and faith. The latter I suppose betrays the fact that we need there to be many more religionists than freethinkers. Believers are the context which makes freethinkers special, and without them, what would we be?

What do you feel is the worst part of being a freethinker?

I don't really think there are many bad parts. Ridicule is inevitable - and when outnumbered by non-freethinkers, their opinions become 'truth', as they are the majority. A little annoying perhaps. And also, despite thinking freely, decisions still have to be made which inevitably will upset people. Upsetting people is not normally something I find enjoyable, but sometimes it is unavoidable!

What is the societal atmosphere for freethinkers where you live?

It's very permissive. Strongly religious people are increasingly, I think, seen as extremists!

How do you define "freedom of religion" and do you think your country attempts to grant this?

Not having to conform to a religious set of ideas. Britain grants this for sure. But religions do not have a monopoly on blind faith. Patriotism is blind faith too. So many people support wars as a matter of patriotic duty, almost always without knowing much about the carnage carried out with their blessing. People who oppose wars often get smeared and slandered by governments and the media as 'extremists' and 'traitors'. Repugnant. I think there are many, many hindrances to freethought - and religion is just one of them, though perhaps the greatest. In addition to blind faith in the benevolence and moral rectitude of your country, your social class, your sex, your personality, your phobias, and many other things which make you feel either comfortable or insecure are powerful influences guiding most people away from freethought. I can more than understand that being a freethinker is a very scary proposition to so many people.

If you could share one thought with whoever might read this profile of you, what would it be?

Think for yourself.