Good evening, godless sodomites...

[MrE2Me]

Hello everyone, I can sincerely say it's a pleasure to be here. I've spent the last few days browsing around, and it's reassuring to find so many other people who are frustrated by the religion phenomenon. Yet, at the same time, it's a sad state of affairs when such oases of rationality as this are the only places where one can feel at home, especially in this day and age. I feel like a non-smoker who, despite increasing evidence about the harmful effects of cigarettes, has more and more trouble finding the non-smoking section in a restaurant.

A wee bit of biographical info: I'm 29, was raised - for the first 16+ years of my life - as a Protestant, though not once do I recall ever actually believing a thing that was drilled into our young brains week after week. It was innate skepticism, possibly picked up from - ironically - the very man who forced me to go to church: my father, who teaches science at a school for the deaf. He is far from fanatical and close-minded, but hadn't shaken the behavior he was taught from when his own parents took him to church as a boy. When the time came for all of my Sunday school class to be "confirmed," I was the only one who refused. I did this for two reasons: 1) I didn't believe anything I was supposed to, and 2) I wasn't going to go ahead with it despite that fact, just because it's what everyone else was doing (surely the reason most of my classmates went through with it). This was a bit of a defining moment for me, as I finally stood up for my own beliefs, regardless of all the external pressure to ignore them in favor of "tradition." I was good friends with the Reverend's daughters, and I remember him sadly asking me if I was sure that was what I wanted to do. I never felt more sure of anything in my life.

Since then, I've wavered between atheism and agnosticism - only occasionally flirting with the latter primarily because I'm stubbornly open-minded, and hate to make absolute statements about something I can't possibly know everything about. Still, I think "atheist" is a much more accurate description of my mindset, and I always approach such questions from a critical, scientific angle.

What prompted me to finally, actively seek out fellow atheists was a recent viewing of the incredible documentary, Jesus Camp, which I'm sure you all know about. I'm a hardcore horror movie buff, yet this film scared me more than anything I've seen to date, by far. I knew such practices and places existed, but I was blissfully ignorant of just how heinous and widespread they are until confronted with it head-on. If this movie doesn't act as a wake-up call to people, I have a hard time imagining anything that would. Seeing so many beautiful, intelligent, and, most importantly, innocent children brainwashed, manipulated, lied-to, used as pawns in their parents' delusional army...it filled me with unbearable sadness, anger, frustration and disbelief that my fellow human beings could stray so far from anything remotely resembling intelligent, rational and loving behavior, especially in regards to their own children. The political aspects were appalling too, of course.

Bottom line: sure, it's cathartic to see the humor in, and hear jokes about, some aspects of this nonsense (blessing PowerPoint presentations, condemning Harry Potter to death, praising Bush for bringing so much "credibility" to the Christian faith, etc), but when the effects of this mentality are laid bare, it is no longer a laughing matter at all. It's one of the most serious issues facing us today, IMO, not just in America but all over the world.

But enough of my babbling, this is all "been there, done that" material to you guys.  Thanks for providing the forum and the intelligent debates, and I look forward to participating to the best of my ability.

~ Chris

[McQ]

Nice intro, and welcome to the forum! Thanks for sharing your background. Always nice to have another person who likes to think for himself here.

The beer is cold, the wings are hot, and the music is loud, so come on in!

[MrE2Me]

Thanks muchly!  You don't have to ask twice...   :wink:

[Whitney]

Hey Chris, welcome to the forum.  That woman on the Jesus Camp movie actually made me ponder for a second if Satan is in fact real...she'd certainly be a prime candidate.  It's terrible what she is doing to those kids, even worse that the parents encourage it.

[MrE2Me]

Yes, she's quite a character.  Some of her statements amazed me enough to submit them as quotes on the IMDB page for the film.  Things like:

It's no wonder, with that kind of intense training and discipling, that those young people are ready to kill themselves for the cause of Islam. I wanna see young people who are as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam. I wanna see them as radically laying down their lives for the Gospel as they are over in Pakistan and Israel and Palestine and all those different places, you know, because we have... excuse me, but we have the truth!

and

I can go into a playground of kids that don't know anything about Christianity, lead them to the Lord in a matter of, just no time at all, and just moments later they can be seeing visions and hearing the voice of God, because they're so open. They are so usable in Christianity.

At least she blatantly admits to using them.  The logic (or total lack thereof) of the first quote really floored me, though.

The film has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary.  I didn't think the movie itself was THAT well-done, but this should certainly give more exposure to the issues it deals with.

[Squid]

I was good friends with the Reverend's daughters, and I remember him sadly asking me if I was sure that was what I wanted to do. I never felt more sure of anything in my life.

So was she hot?  

j/k - welcome aboard.

[MrE2Me]

Thanks!  And yes, all three of his daughters were hot.  :oops:

[donkeyhoty]

Did the right Reverend get that glazed over look in his eyes, like the hamster on the wheel in his head just pulled a hammy?

[MrE2Me]

No, it was more of an "I wish I could prevent you from damning yourself to hell" expression.