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?
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.)
Were you raised as a freethinker or to be religious?
What originally set you on the path to freethought?
Years ago when Madalyn Murray-O'Hair was having her fight over school prayer, I wasn't even aware of what an Atheist was, and I asked myself; "Who the fuck does she think she is?", but the more I read in the news media, the more I felt she had a legitimate complaint, so I believe that's when I started to really ask questions about religion that I couldn't get any satisfactory answers to.
I think I always had a fair amount of skepticism even before this because as a child I doubted a lot of the crap I was taught in Catholic school. Reading the bible was the final stroke of my total Atheism, and I've been VERY happy with who I am ever since.
When did you "come out" as a freethinker to family/friends/public, and how did it go over?
It's hard to say when I "came out," but it was very early in my Naval career, and I tried to allow this as an option to my kids, so although they might be Atheists, they seldom talk about it as they believe religion to be a waste of time.
Do you feel it necessary to continue to hide your beliefs in any circumstances, and if so, why?
I've never really tried to hide my Atheism from anyone at all, and whenever ANYONE says anything of a religious nature to me they are just opening the door for a "bible-lesson" from me, and they usually end up walking away pissed-off.
Have you ever been the victim of discrimination or abuse because of your beliefs?
The only time I felt I was discriminated against was about 5 yrs. ago when some ass-hole told me I shouldn't wear my Darwin-fish T-shirt in this town because "They won't like it.".... I just told him to fuck-off... Later I found out he was the former Town Manager.
Another form of discrimination is that even the Jehovah Witnesses don't come knocking on my door any more, and hell, I was the only guy in the neighborhood who wouldn't turn them away.. I LOVED IT when they visited me and I'm sure that many of them left my house asking themselves the same questions they could not answer.
In what types of freethought activism, if any, do you participate?
I don't take part in any freethought activism because I live in a small town and there's only one other known Atheist here. I do get into letter-writing campaigns when it comes to sleazy politicians who attempt to breach the church/state wall.
What do you feel is the best part of being a freethinker?
The best part of being a freethinker is having very high self-esteem, and moral values that far exceed those of religious people because I don't believe that genocide or hating your family are "good things". Another item I really enjoy about my freethinking is that ever since it began I've been on a never-ending quest for knowledge which has led me to areas that never before interested my very much such as politics, social issues and especially science.
What do you feel is the worst part of being a freethinker?
If there is any "worst part" of being a freethinker I have yet to experience it.
What is the societal atmosphere for freethinkers where you live?
The social atmosphere of freethinkers in this area is almost nil, but there is a Humanist group that meet once a month in a city about 20 miles from where I live and that's about it.
How do you define "freedom of religion" and do you think your country attempts to grant this?
I interpret "freedom of religion" as being just what it says as long as it doesn't infringe upon the rights of others as Christians have been doing for so long.
If you could share one thought with whoever might read this profile of you, what would it be?
A thought I would share with whoever might read this is that when you bet on science, you can't lose.
