(Via Jeff Clanton)
There was no set day. No event. I’ve been an atheist for over ten years. I argued existence in college with buddies and I’ve made it known on occasion to my family for years. Recently, I became active in the movement. My participation includes debating and posting on YouTube, posting the great YouTube vids I’ve found on my Facebook and MySpace pages and inviting my Christian friends to discuss religion.
I’ve had a few friends delete me since becoming outspoken. Sad as it was, I felt very liberated by my decision to make a stand for what I know to be reasonable and good. Surprisingly, many of my Christian friends have been supportive in my endeavors and see the problems I present. Many of them have commended me for having the courage to speak about my views in spite of their unpopularity. I’ve earned their respect. It has been my great pleasure to learn that most of the fears I carried about what people would think are of little merit compared to reality.
August 8th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
It took me about forty five years to admit it, but when I did the momentum kept growing. A turning point of my life came where I had to admit that the platitudes in this Bible never worked when applied and that if I was to escape the sorry fate of living my whole life deluded by the unreal worldview, the unreliabe promises of the bible , which always seem to come with a fine print saying "Not for use on this planet", and the simplistic explanations about people, motives and situations, I would never really begin to think for myself and see advancement in any of the areas of my life that needed resolution. Surprizingly clarity came after making a decision to earnestly study the bible for clarity, rather than relying on what others said about the bible. The first shock came when I started to compare accounts of the same matter in different books of the bible. The inaccuracies that cannot be reconcilled, then the horror of the character of Yahweh became clear. Next the research into the evolution of the bible revealed the dubiousness of any claim to inspiration.
August 8th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Clair's coming out continued:
Another reality check follwed aserious research into the history of the church, not just the Catholic, as well as the church fathers like John Newton who engaged in the grusome slave trade twenty five years after writing "Amazing Grace", I discovered that Martin Luther wrote a lot more than that the just shall live by faith, I discovered the immoral teachings in holy writ that the cruelty perpetrated under colonial powers, sanctioned and underpinned by the church. It all came together to show me what I had long resisted accepting, the futility and the falsehood of it all. That also explained the failure of the church and religion in general to bring abouit genuine change. I live in an African-Caribbean society, which is largely very fundamentalist though well educated. I have spoken to my immediate family about my views but they selectively forget, or try to reconvert me. I would like to find like minded people with a view to becoming part an organization.