Matthew wanted to write in to share a story about a close friend of his while also taking the time to write in a question that I’ll try to answer next podcast.

Hi. First let me say I really enjoy your podcast.

I have a friend who is an atheist but has reasonably fundamentalist parents. (fairly unusual here in Australia) He has very strong views against religion like I do but he hasn’t come out to his parents and probably never will. He’s even sat with them while filling out a national census and allowed them to put him down as a christian because he doesn’t want them to know his true views. If he does that, you wonder how many other people have done that. According to the last census here, nominally 70% of people are christian but I think a lot of people just pay lip service to it and aren’t all that serious about it in their day to day lives. From my experience it seems that, with young people at least, that about 90% of them aren’t religious or if they are they don’t say it or act like it. It’s a very secular country but people like my friend are still afraid to come out so I think the true number of atheists is even higher than what the census says. That might be the case even more in America as people would face much more discrimination over there for being an out atheist. The Pew forum said about 16% of Americans weren’t religious but hopefully it’s even higher than that in reality. As for my story, my parents are both Anglican and took me to church when I was younger, along with my two sisters. I always found church to be boring and pathetic and I don’t think I ever really believed in a god, although my indoctrination was much lighter than for some people. I stopped going to church when I was about 15 and my parents were disappointed but didn’t make too big a deal out of it. Neither of my sisters are religious at all either. I can’t even remember when they stopped going to church. Neither of my sisters are at all interested in the topic of atheism or religion. They are more like apatheists than atheists but don’t like to use any particular label for themselves whereas I’m happy to call myself an atheist and skeptic and secular humanist. Most of my knowledge about freethought has come from American podcasts on the topic and atheist books. No one seems to care much about religion or atheism over here but I’ve become a lot more militant in my views after all I’ve read and heard. I’ve even joined the Freedom From Religion Foundation to get their FreeThought Today newspaper and I’m thinking about subscribing to CFI’s Free Inquiry magazine too.

My question is about a Word doc my Mum sent me with supposed evidence for the existence of Jesus and the truth of the new testament. I’m going to email her a response to it but I don’t have a lot of knowledge about Tacitus (and possibly other historians) mentioning Jesus (although I remember hearing there wasn’t much to it and I have a few ideas on counter arguments to other things mentioned) so I was wondering what you thought about the “evidence”? I’ve included the text below but I don’t know whether you can be bothered reading it as it is fairly long. I’ve heard elsewhere that sometimes a tactic of Christians is to spend a few seconds copying and pasting a slab of text by someone else that they agree with, and that it takes a lot of time and effort to counter all the points in it, and yet the person themselves would be unable to articulate the arguments without referring back to the text, which I think might apply in this case.

Since starting this section of the website, I’ve many great stories, but none were as intense as Krista’s. Her early life exemplified the dangers of belief, especially when combined with mindless superstition, ritual, and dogmatic platitudes. Here is her story:

I decided to write this in order to draw attention to the damage that religion can cause to children. At the same time I want to say that my parents love me very much and have never done anything selfishly or to hurt me. Throughout my lifetime they have demonstrated that they would sacrifice endlessly to supply my needs and work towards my happiness. They are simply ignorant people who have always done what they thought was right.

Not two days ago I saw one of the children that used to be in my Sunday school class. “Do you remember me?” I asked him. Of course he didn’t. That was over five years ago. The memories came back to me of taking on the task of teaching children about Jesus even though I no longer believed in any god, didn’t like children, and the job made me very nervous. Why did I do it? I had become an atheist and was slowly realizing I was a lesbian. I couldn’t stand sitting in church anymore but there seemed to be no way out of it. I took on the class when I was asked to just to get away from all the people and all the preaching. I printed out coloring sheets every weekend and tried to find the most kid-friendly bible stories I could find. Believe me, this was extremely difficult! I ran out of stories in no time and found myself editing the ones I was left with to leave out the sex and the violence. Now and then the story wouldn’t make sense and one of the kids would call me on it. I then had to find some way to explain without explaining that Potifer’s wife had tried to seduce Joseph, or why the men in Sodom and Gomorah were yelling outside Lot’s house. I couldn’t even stand telling the crucifixion story. I sometimes spent less than two minutes on a story and spent the rest of the time just singing and playing around with them.

Skip to me at age three. My parents loaded the family in the van and we drove hundreds of miles across America and into Mexico to become missionaries. In Queratero we had a tiny house. I remember that house in such detail. I hated ever leaving it. Outside the bars of the front gate were people who not only looked funny but they spoke to me in frightening gibberish. They insisted on touching my white-blond curls. I hated even for my mother to touch my hair. I was left in the house half the day with a babysitter I couldn’t communicate with. This place was starkly different. It was dirty and concrete and bleak and I was terrified, constantly wondering when we were going home.
Growing up in a foreign country simply didn’t work for me. Someone once told me that some people are born too sensitive for this world and that I must be one of them. I never learned the language fluently, stuck in a depressive stage of culture shock for years on end. I lived for the long trips to Texas to renew papers and enjoy the wonders of Wal-mart and McDonalds. When we went to the States I had trouble telling all the white people apart. People looked like movie stars to me because that was the only place I ever really saw Americans. And yet, I was still American, wasn’t I? Really, I became a person without a culture at all and I still feel as if for the rest of my life I will only be passing as a regular American woman, doomed to feel like a foreigner forever.
As a teenager I developed severe social anxiety disorder and depression. I know I was born shy but the harshness of the difficulty of language and cultural differences turned me into someone who felt fear almost twenty-four hours a day. But I was home schooled and that made it easy to never speak to anyone at all or try to learn to speak Spanish more fluently.

I rebelled a little. How so? I listened to Christian contemporary music and tried to leave the house wearing pants. I can’t remember how many times music was confiscated from me because it had too much of a beat.

At age thirteen I started questioning religion and stopped believing in god for two whole weeks. Those were the darkest two weeks of my life and I spent them teetering on the edge of suicide, feeling as if not only had I fallen in a black abyss but I had become it. There was no way out. No way to tell my family, no way to escape the lifestyle that was forced on me, no way out the country I had been dragged into. I was trapped, jailed.

Ultimately, I re-brainwashed myself into believing again. There was no other way to survive.
Later that year I began to have panic attacks in the night. I now know they were panic attacks but when I described them to my parents they said it sounded like demonic attack and proceeded to calmly open all the windows of each room and exorcise the house. They were convinced that the house was haunted because the previous tenants had had a Catholic shrine downstairs. A prayer was said over my head that God would place a protective sheild around me and I pleaded with God not to let it happen again. That night, my eyes darting around the room, terrified that there were demons present I, of course, had another panic attack but this time I didn’t call out to my parents for safety. I knew that I must not be a good enough Christian and that was why God wouldn’t protect me. I told my parents that it had stopped and suffered every night after that in silence. For several years after that I lived in terror of Catholic churches and shrines which are everywhere in Mexico. I lived in psychological trauma.

I was about fourteen or fifteen when my family came to the States on furlough which is basically a break from the mission field and a time to visit all of the churches that supported us. The plan was to live in Georgia for a year or so. I was determined I was never going back, even if it meant running away and being homeless.

As thrilled as I was to leave Mexico, trying to fit in in the States was more jarring and difficult than I expected. Not only did I suffer from the severe social anxiety but I had to try to fit into a new culture as a self-conscious teenager. I couldn’t tell people apart, couldn’t understand people’s southern accents, and didn’t understand any of the colloquialisms and jokes. I took things literally when I shouldn’t have and laughed at all the wrong things. This is understandable coming from a foreigner but I was a foreigner who was white and spoke perfect English. I was just really weird. I spent the tenth grade in a small Christian school never saying a word to anyone.

Life went on and I ended up in the Christian college my sister was in, following the path that was expected of me. There I relished my psychology and astronomy classes and in those classes I began to question again the logic of Christian theology and the existence of God. The teachers would teach facts that to me presented obvious contradictions to what they were teaching in chapel and bible classes. I looked around at the other students and waited for someone to ask these obvious questions but no one ever did. Too shy to raise my hand and too ashamed to admit I was having any doubts, neither did I. I let those questions nag at my mind, grow, and breed new questions.

I dropped out of college shortly for financial reasons and started to work instead. The questions had built up steadily until it seemed they were literally infinite. I began to fear that there was no God and at the same time that I was about to damn myself to hell for thinking it. At nineteen I went through a dark period similar to that I experienced at thirteen but this time much more intense. I could sense and envision the fire of hell directly under the floor I stood on in my bedroom and couldn’t escape it. I wanted desperately for God to give me answers so that I could stop questioning but there was no response, not in the Bible and not in the theology books on my father’s shelf.

I remember the day – the morning – when I knew that I was letting go of it all. I finally felt all of the lightness of spirit, the inner peace, the understanding that Christianity had promised me all of my life. I felt free to be myself and pursue my own happiness and dreams for the first time. My subsequent thought was that this solved the problem I had with the idea of marrying a man. I could have sex outside of marriage, and hell, I thought to myself, I could be with a woman instead if I wanted! I laughed at this idea when it occurred to me but of course, it wasn’t long before I realized it was what was right for me. At nineteen I went through a mental puberty for the first time and found out what everyone was talking about when they spoke of attraction, affection, romance, and the rest of it. I let go of all the rationalizations I had come up with for those feelings.

But everything didn’t fall into place after that. I was still dependent on my family and had no clue how to break free of them. I had to pretend and the pretending took a great toll. I will leave out some details here but the strain of it all left me in the psych ward having overdosed on sleeping pills and unable to explain my actions to anyone. When I came home my psychiatrist told my parents they had no choice but to snoop in my room and make sure I had no dangerous tools or medications handy. My homosexuality was found out and after much family turmoil, forced “Christian Counseling”, and my first relationship with a girl (my first time dating at all) which my parents could not tolerate, I ended up living in my car for a summer and didn’t talk to my parents much after that for about three years.
Even now, feeling alone in the way I grew up and suffered because of the mission my parents dragged me on (a mission they told me was automatically mine also, although I had heard no calling) I remind myself that I am not alone because I once met a girl who seemed to be like me. Her family came to our church in Georgia and her father gave a slide presentation of their fruitless work in a remote area of the French Alps. He explained that people there were unfreindly to outsiders and scoffed at religion, thinking that they were too smart and educated for it. He mentioned that his children had never made friends in the many years they had lived there. The daughter I’m thinking of seemed as terrified of people as me. When she was asked to go out bowling with the youth group that night and her parents told her she had to go she went away and cried before coming back and putting on a strong face. That face was so miserable. I knew just how she felt.

Here’s a short one from Adam in Pennsylvania:

Hello, my name is Adam and I live in PA. I saw recently saw the post on The Good Atheist and decided to share the sorted [sic] road that led me to my lack of faith. First I feel its necessary to explain my family background. Both of my parents are very religious Protestants and my grandmother is a devout Catholic. The rest of my family though is not the least bit religious as they never go to church and find it unnecessary. I myself was very religious in my youth because of my parents influence, and attend 6 years of religious education at a very fundamentalist school, and because of my bisexuality this inevitable led to some deep personal conflicts between my religion and sexuality. Around the age of 12 I began to realize the deep divide between the two parts of myself, at that time I considered myself a christian above all else as the entire close knit community I lived in were all deeply religious and encouraged my Christian activities. It got to the point where I couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror. It wasn’t only the personal conflicts though; it was the entire attitude towards anyone who wasn’t like them, and considering how fundamentalist they were, that was a very select group. Around the age of 14 my family moved and I was taken out of that environment. It was after I moved that I realized that there was more than just Christianity and that there were different options. Around the age of 15 and after much soul searching I concluded there was no god and that religions in general were a waste of time and a horrible lie. My parents recently found out about my atheism about a year and a half ago and have made appalling comments ever since, and considering I’m only 17 and still in high school I can’t leave. They still haven’t told them about my bisexuality and I don’t plan on it until I move out.

I’ve been getting a lot of emails with people wanting to share their stories of atheism. I want to make sure every single one of them gets enough time and exposure for people to really sink their teeth into. I am amazed at just how open, trusting, and honest all of you have been while telling us about your lives. It is this kind of attitude and behavior that makes me truly believe human beings look to connect with others. Here is Jeff’s story:

I was raised in Arkansas, where we have just as many churches as liquor stores. I went to a private school, and grew up learning about the Bible. I learned Bible verses in school, and got taught Bible stories every morning. But, there was something different about me. The school I went to had kindergarten through 12th grade. Every once in a while, the older kids would come do stuff with us younger ones. I didn’t mind talking to girls, but I was really shy around the older boys.

Well, eventually, I left the private school, and went to public school, where I had to toughen up. Still went to church, because that’s what you do. I knew most of the Bible stories already. Well, this continued until about 9th grade. Then, I had a realization. Yes, growing up, I did have crushes on girls, because they were pretty, and I hung out with the boys my age, but certain boys I couldn’t talk to. I finally realized I was gay. Well, being Christian, that shouldn’t have happened. I tried fighting it, denying it, and covering it. Then, I realized, how could I be given this curse by a god who loved me. Over time, my faith started to wane, and before too long, I realized what religion is….nice stories you tell yourself so you can sleep at night, and mind control.

Well, eventually, I came out to everyone, my friends and my family. Mom said I was confused. They don’t make gay people. Well, Mom and I have an unspoken agreement not talk about it. Eventually, I came out as an atheist…but just to my friends. I still haven’t told my Mom. I don’t mind her knowing I’m gay, but please don’t tell her I’m atheist.

After moving up here in Virginia, I started looking for other atheists, and soon got disenchanted. While they claim to be atheist, they really just seem anti-christian. I’ve come to realization that religion is very hard to change, and not something a simple discussion can do. You’ll stay in your corner, and them in theirs. However, most atheists I’ve met like to tear into Christians specifically. I think that’s pretty simple-minded, because while the majority of the US is christian, they are just annoying. Other religions will kill you for not being part of them.

Well, now I stand alone. A gay atheist, who respects your religion, but wants nothing to do with. And I’ve moved to the point to where now, I’ll tear into a religious bully, whether christian or atheist. I know enough about both sides to smack both people down, although fighting for Christians is much harder. Voltaire once said “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” and if I have to defend people’s right to say “I’m a Christian”, then so be it.

I’ve been getting a lot of emails with people wanting to share their stories of atheism. I want to make sure every single one of them gets enough time and exposure for people to really sink their teeth into. I am amazed at just how open, trusting, and honest all of you have been while telling us about your lives. It is this kind of attitude and behavior that makes me truly believe human beings look to connect with others. Here is Jeff’s story:

I was raised in Arkansas, where we have just as many churches as liquor stores. I went to a private school, and grew up learning about the Bible. I learned Bible verses in school, and got taught Bible stories every morning. But, there was something different about me. The school I went to had kindergarten through 12th grade. Every once in a while, the older kids would come do stuff with us younger ones. I didn’t mind talking to girls, but I was really shy around the older boys.

Well, eventually, I left the private school, and went to public school, where I had to toughen up. Still went to church, because that’s what you do. I knew most of the Bible stories already. Well, this continued until about 9th grade. Then, I had a realization. Yes, growing up, I did have crushes on girls, because they were pretty, and I hung out with the boys my age, but certain boys I couldn’t talk to. I finally realized I was gay. Well, being Christian, that shouldn’t have happened. I tried fighting it, denying it, and covering it. Then, I realized, how could I be given this curse by a god who loved me. Over time, my faith started to wane, and before too long, I realized what religion is….nice stories you tell yourself so you can sleep at night, and mind control.

Well, eventually, I came out to everyone, my friends and my family. Mom said I was confused. They don’t make gay people. Well, Mom and I have an unspoken agreement not talk about it. Eventually, I came out as an atheist…but just to my friends. I still haven’t told my Mom. I don’t mind her knowing I’m gay, but please don’t tell her I’m atheist.

After moving up here in Virginia, I started looking for other atheists, and soon got disenchanted. While they claim to be atheist, they really just seem anti-christian. I’ve come to realization that religion is very hard to change, and not something a simple discussion can do. You’ll stay in your corner, and them in theirs. However, most atheists I’ve met like to tear into Christians specifically. I think that’s pretty simple-minded, because while the majority of the US is christian, they are just annoying. Other religions will kill you for not being part of them.

Well, now I stand alone. A gay atheist, who respects your religion, but wants nothing to do with. And I’ve moved to the point to where now, I’ll tear into a religious bully, whether christian or atheist. I know enough about both sides to smack both people down, although fighting for Christians is much harder. Voltaire once said “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” and if I have to defend people’s right to say “I’m a Christian”, then so be it.

As some of you may know, I decided to invite all of you to share your stories about being an atheist. I hate to admit it, but my own story is just not that interesting. Atheist parents and their wisdom to let me chose for myself what I would believe made me the man I am today. But not every atheist life is as plain. I think there are compelling stories that have yet to be told, and this new section is intended to help you connect with others who have had similar experiences. Here is Jack’s story:

My story may be unique in its particulars, but is quite similar to how most atheists experience their religious acquaintances. My first experience with Christian Evangelicals who vigorously proselytize was my freshman year in college attending Elon University. I am a senior at the moment. At the time I was an apathetic Catholic and had little interest in pursuing my faith, but I was quite interested in making friends and not feeling lonely.

One day I was playing volleyball with some random people and a girl came up to me and extended an invitation to attend “Intervarsity.” She said “it was a lot of fun.” I naturally agreed because well, who doesn’t like to play sports and socialize? Mistakenly, I interpreted “Intervarsity” to mean sports due to the “varsity.” O, how naïve and malleable I was then. I arrived at the building, winded my way through the hallways and eventually arrived at the destination, and to my surprise it was not a sports club, but rather a time in which people could worship Christ…..Needless to say, I was rather surprised and felt rather sheepish. I said to myself, “It’s ok, this is not a foreign environment to me, I am a Christian.” Despite me saying this to myself, I quickly found out that these people were not like me. They enjoyed watching homemade videos they made about Bible quotes and loved to sing weird songs they made up about Christ. At Catholic mass there was none of this. Afterwards, one of my acquaintances came up to me and asked if I wanted to participate and join them on their beach retreat. At this time, I wanted to expand my borders and consented. I consented in part to my latter reason but also to certain extent peer pressure. To a lonely or semi-isolated freshman at college, it is a nice feeling to be accepted and have “friends.” Christian groups take advantage and manipulate these feeling and give freshmen a “friendly” environment but then mold and “brainwash” them. It is malicious, malignant practice and does violence upon impressionable and vulnerable people.

Fast forward to the beach retreat, and before leaving I was conflicted on how I felt. At first I was looking forward to it, I might be able to rekindle my faith as a Catholic despite their very Protestant practices and worship, but I could not help a feeling that this group was different in some way. They acted bizarrely that I couldn’t put my finger on. It was soon revealed to me at the retreat. After the excruciatingly 4 hour ride to the beach, we made presentations that somehow exalted Christ. Some made raps, others did a play, etc. Afterwards, I had an interesting conversation with one of the student leaders. After graduation, he intended on traveling to Eastern Europe to convert people there because they held mystical beliefs such as black magic. It was his job to help them apparently. I remember that many of the people there fawned after him, flattering him that he was such a good Christian as if he was a celebrity. Silly indeed. The next day we played what amounted to random silly games that had nothing to do with religion. For instance, we cross dressed and did relay games on the beach. (On a side note, I refused to do so and was looked down upon. Why would I want to wear women’s clothing in front of people I do not know?) We were broken into teams of 10, there were over 70 people at the retreat! We competed against each other, and did pointless things like carrying eggs with a spoon to the finish line. Furthermore, we had to run and carry a balloon without using our arms. I will spare the reader the rest of the inane details, but the point has been made. These Christians were little toddlers that enjoyed puerile fun.

Obviously the real Christianity part came when we went into our little groups and talked about our Christian faith. I said that I was trying to rekindle it, as I really was, but this retreat in fact retarded its growth. Yet I will never forget what one girl said as it struck me as fundamental and scary. She stated that she could not wait to reach heaven’s doorstep to worship and pray in front of God for eternity and that this retreat helped her realize that. Wow….Just let that sink in, simmer a bit, ponder it, and then shake your head in disgust. It’s ok, I did that as well.

Finally as the weekend was coming to a close, all the people went onto the beach for a service and prayer. Some went into the water with friends to have a special prayer session, as if they were going to get closer to god. Others listened to the pastor and received communion, the little meaningless wafer. I abstained because as of then, I knew I did not believe in the same god as them and this experience would begin my ascent to atheism and my rejection of faith.

Afterward, I stopped going to the meetings. My “friends” I had made there started to call me or stop by to see if I was “ok” and why I was not going to Intervaristy. I told them it wasn’t for me, and that their practices and ways of worship were not mine. I wish I could of have told them in a stronger tone, but as of then I was not a confrontationist (pardon my neologism). Little by little my faith dwindled away to be only supplanted by my interest in philosophy and history. Only then did I actively begin to reject the idea of god and believe in humanity rather than some metaphysical being to tell me how to act. I am a slave to no one, and certainly not to a god that can be called loving and damn people to hell. I will dictate how I act. A god can’t ride my back unless it’s bent and I have damn good posture. (I couldn’t resist the opportunity to make a bad joke)

I’m beginning to understand intellectually debating religion is a giant waste of time. The blog Atheist Revolution has an interesting article on the types of ‘religious trolls’ who frequently comment in atheist’s sites and the tactics they use. However, there’s something important here that is not being mentioned: what exactly is their motivation?

It’s easy to dismiss trolls as simple troublemakers who want to start flame wars with atheists, but that’s not the whole answer. Sure, there are bound to be a few shit disturbers, but for the most part, I’ve always found that although these religious ‘trolls’ were unusually insistent and persistent, the motivation behind their actions are, to them at least, genuine and pure.

Imagine I want to convince you my favorite restaurant is simply the best place to get fried noodles with chicken (it is, but that’s not the point). I would try any tactic available to convince you. Did you know they make their own noodles there? That the business is owned by a small family who lives in the same building as their restaurant, and work 15 hour days? Sure, their cooking equipment is primitive and the service is slow, but I promise you the chicken is the tastiest around!

Ultimately, there’s an element of personal taste that enters the equation I cannot account for. Maybe you don’t like chicken. Maybe you prefer fancy places with lounge music. Whatever the reason, the reason behind me telling you about my restaurant are genuinely kind; I want you to experience the same pleasure and satisfaction I do. Religious people share this same need to proselytize; many feel their lives are richer for believing, and cannot understand why anyone would choose to live a life without God. The details of how the arguments unfold masks a far more primitive need every human being shares: the need to tell others about something good. I personally love my favorite restaurant specifically because I share it with others. This need is part of the reason we are a social species. Like the lion’s pride that learns to share for the good of the group, so have we learned to share those experiences that make us more healthy, and more happy. Whether or not religion does this is irrelevant; it’s important only that some people FEEL it is in order for it to be true to them. Everything they do can be explained from that one simple need.

So rather than worry about the kinds of arguments I can use to convince them on the logical truth of my ideas, I have come to see the reason I am an active atheist is I want to share how profound and incredible the realization of a godless universe is. In that sense, I am no different from my Christian counterpart, with the exception I have perhaps the stronger arguments. Ultimately though, if I am blinded by my emotional attachment to an idea, I may be unable to see why it may not be universally appealing to others. The only value I can hope to instill on others, therefore, is that one always has to be willing to question their assumptions. This is something very few religious people do, and the vindication I have in my unbelief is I will always try and maintain an open mind.

There are casualties in the struggle to answer fundamental questions about the universe. For a long time, it has been powerful religious institutions that have burned, sliced, chopped, eviscerated, and snuffed opposing world views that undermined their own. Some may claim the Inquisition and Crusades were political in nature, but it cannot be denied the strength of the Church’s power and the continued desire to maintain its foothold were the real motives behind these political moves. Their most powerful tool was the use of fear; the terrifying prospect of a world without their order and their mandate was too frightening to imagine.

Nowadays, the hold of Christianity is waning. Without the political control they once possessed, the focus has now been placed on creating fear that without them humanity faces nihilism and dread. It’s been repeated so often that most Christians literally believe atheists are somehow immoral, corrupt and perverse. This notion permeates our reputation, and is a powerful way to keep the flock from investigating the possibility their religion may not be true.

Jesse Kilgore was a young man who struggled to figure out what to believe. After having read Richard Dawkin’s book, The God Delusion, he became depressed and morose. He believed laws and ethics were not sacred but rather products of societal convenience. Without the moral crutch of Christianity, he felt alone, isolated, and ultimately killed himself. His father, a highly religious man, feels it is atheism and Dawkins that are responsible for his death. Little does he understand, however, his entire belief system was a major component of why Jesse took his own life.

Christians like to keep the stakes of belief high. Fail to believe in God, and the whole world falls apart. If human beings are animals, they claim, then all things are permissible. But if this was true, why are atheists on average more law abiding than their religious counterparts? Surely if no law is sacred, then why obey them at all? This false choice is a common tactic to bash atheists. Laws and ethics do not need to be divine to be true, nor do human beings need the threat of Hell to ensure good behavior. What Jesse failed to realize was there is an instinctual need to cooperate, to have friendships, and to love others. His religious upbringing made him feel as though he had nothing to live for if his faith was gone. There was no voice of reason to tell him there is no need to feel nihilistic in the face of a godless universe.

Atheism isn’t a belief. It is simply the denial of god. What a person chooses to believe once a moral arbiter is removed is an individual decision. Most atheists choose to become humanists, trusting that human nature is cooperative and life is both precious and rare precisely BECAUSE it developed and flourished on its own in a universe that is hostile to organic life. Although it is true some atheists can become nihilists, it is a belief that is an entirely self destructive belief system.

It’s sad religious conservatives will use this death to continue to propose having no religion is somehow cancerous to the human mind. If they perpetually raise the stakes in this manner, they may notice their family and friends may be forced into such extremes the only way out may be drastic. I do not claim atheism makes you more or less moral. It is merely a conviction on the non existence of God. I can no more control this instinct than I can control my need to drink water when thirsty. What is certain is some human beings might be so shocked by this finding they may be unable to cope. I would venture to say the deep shock many highly religious people may face would be tempered if they realized ethics and morality are not bound by absolutes. They are the work of fallible men and women who wished only to make the human race more successful and peaceful, and despite what some religious people might tell you, I find this to be more beautiful and touching than any myth.

I’ve written on the subject of an organized atheist movement for years now. The response so far, overwhelmingly from many atheists, is such a movement would violate the notion atheism is not a religion, but rather a particular viewpoint about the non existence of God. Over this same period of time, however, a number of individuals have emailed me expressing their feelings of isolation and loneliness at not being able to share their world view with others. It has convinced me that the idea of forming a community is not such a foolish idea.

It is my belief human beings have a need to be understood. The way we typically achieve this is to make friends or lovers who share many of the same beliefs and ideas as ourselves. The knowledge we are not alone in our thinking is what helps us feel a connection. It is as though these shared thoughts prevent us from feeling as though we are prisoners in our own minds.

It is partially this need that drives some to search for God. The idea that a supreme being can know even our most intimate thoughts brings not only comfort and stability, but a sense of permanence about our existence.

Although it is tempting for many to search for this connection through the concept of God, for many others, this belief is simply not enough. After all, the relationship goes only one way: we may feel that God knows our mind, but we can never know his. The comfort God brings to some does not inherently make it real. If I wanted desperately to be rich, it would not change the fact I am poor.

Those of us who abstain from the belief in God find company and comfort in the physical world around us. Rather than look to the supernatural for comfort and meaning, we find our place in the world with the knowledge that there is nothing special or unique about our existence.

It is true this belief can sometimes lead to a type of nihilism. I have met atheists who felt the lack of inherent meaning and the impermanence of all things meant there was no real reason to their existence. But this was not the way the majority of atheists I have met and talked to believe. Instead, when I sat down and talked to them, they explained their realization the brief time they have on earth compels them to make the most of it. While religious folks might be obsessed about their ‘after lives’, they in turn wanted their present ones to be more meaningful and fulfilling. In other words, they recognized they only had one shot, and wanted to make it count.

Sometimes though, the desire to make the most of life can be curtailed by the painful realities of the world around us. The atheists who have written to me about the loneliness and isolation they feel are often treated as outcasts of society. The failure of society to make these individuals welcome is exactly why an organized community of atheists is so important. To state otherwise would be to forget that like their religious counterparts, the need to feel a part of something greater than yourself is a part of the human experience.

I realize even as I write this, I will be bombarded with emails and comments about how institutionalizing atheism is a terrible idea. I do not pretend to do anything like that. There is no atheism dogma to spread, or atheist ideals to preach. But it’s not at all about that. It’s about reaching out to people that feel alone. If religious beliefs are not needed to act out of kindness for our fellow man, what is so wrong about other atheists making a conscious effort to organize?

There is a naive tendency to believe atheism is an inevitable conclusion that educated and liberal minds will automatically conclude. After all, it’s clear the universe needs no divine hand, and nature is not the product of a designer. But if the only opportunity for human beings desiring to make a connection with others is by joining a church and subscribing to religion, then we cannot be surprised when truth is replaced with comfort. After all, atheists are a minority specifically because they offer nothing but the cold implacable truth.

We need to offer more, not only for people who may doubt the existence of God and fear becoming isolated themselves, but also for those already feeling that isolation. Although atheism is not a philosophy, the conclusion there is no God makes us all humanists, since the measuring stick for good and evil becomes man-made. It is therefore our responsibility to ensure that our ethics and morality be just and equitable in a universe which cares little for such concepts.

The idea we are all better left on our own devices ignores the fundamental truth that we are social creatures who have the desire to be understood and cared for. Although I don’t pretend to understand how an atheist community would look, I can say with conviction it must conform to the highest standards of ethics and morality; far beyond those claimed by religion. It is my hope I can convince others such an undertaking is both positive and needed, and my hope that by opening a dialog on the subject, we can begin to create a community anyone can be proud of.

I frequently use Digg.com. I’ll admit I am partial to the left wing slant most of the articles seem to have, but if I am to believe the LA Times, the site has some kind of atheist agenda.

Call me crazy, but since when has expressing your opinions become equivalent to trying to spark a revolution? Yes, it’s true a large proportion of Digg users appear to be atheists, but so what? Is it some dark agenda, or more symptomatic of the type of people it attracts (technically minded young people who turn out to be, you guessed it, mostly non-religious)?

Here’s a quote from someone they interviewed for the piece that shows just how poorly researched and thought out this whole article is:

“Just as religious people want to convert people to their perspective, atheist people want to convert people to their point of view,” Winston said. “The irony here is that atheism is a form of religion. You’re still in something.” – Diane Winston, professor of media and religion at the University of Southern California

I guess this goes to show even a professor of religion can still be pretty damn clueless as to what atheism actually is. So, if religion means being ‘into something’, does this signify my love affair with Pink Floyd means I’m part of a cult or something? Shit, I better be more careful! Last year I was part of a softball team, without realizing it’s actually a religion.