Some stuff about some guy (me)

[Persimmon Hamster]

Hi everyone,

I plan to post a few things on here, so I figured first I should add my introduction in case everyone wonders just who the heck I think I am.

So far the best term I have found for my world view is "ignostic".  I'm not too attached to that term yet, so if I find something more apt I am flexible.

I was raised in Christianity (seems the case for many here).  The earliest doubts I had, that I can recall, were in early-to-mid-adolescence (I'm 29 now).  I've always naturally been a logical thinker and have always had an insatiable curiosity for nearly every subject, so I don't think it could have ended up any other way, really, in the end.

At the time my doubts started to become too loud to ignore, I was attending a church I would classify as evangelical.  I've had a lot of exposure to different churches throughout the years, for various reasons.  I went because my parents & grandparents went, and I continued to attend despite my doubts because I didn't mind and it was just what we did, every Sunday.  I'm sure I was also afraid of what they would say/do if I told them I didn't want to go and didn't believe.  I have not regularly attended church since I went off to college and gained greater independence (and privacy).  Now, I still go a few times a year (Christmas Eve, mainly, but for other reasons as well), to show respect to my family.

I think my parents know deep down that I don't believe, and that they aren't likely to change that.  But I also think they try not to think about it, to the point where they sometimes forget or pretend otherwise.  Rarely do we get into debates about beliefs...when we do, they seem surprised all over again and usually start what I would call guilt-tripping.  "Don't you want to be in Heaven with us?"  That sort of thing.  Every time I call my grandmother on the phone, a portion of the conversation will be her telling me I need to come to church with her sometime (by which she means all the time), and I have to just ignore it and/or change the subject (which isn't always easy once she gets going).

Anyway, I've decided I need to be a better non-believer and work on my debating skills & strategies...brush up on my philosophical & religious vocabulary...and so forth.  Living in the midwest, I often feel surrounded by irrationality and smothered by stigma.  Even though people in my life tend to know I don't believe, I feel like I'm stuck in the closet when it comes to most of them -- like I can't really talk openly about just how MUCH I don't believe...and why.  Where I'm from (and still live), the general atmosphere is that if you aren't Christian, there must be something wrong with you...something seedy and immoral going on somewhere.

I have also started to feel like atheists/agnostics/freethinkers/etc maybe ought to to really unite and work together under a common banner to try and destroy the social stigma against us.  Like maybe we need a "church" of our own and to be just as active in the community as a religious church, to show we also care about the poor and our fellow man, and that we also have morals and want to see liberty and society thrive.  Maybe I will find that is already happening...if so...where?  A friend of mine says (in partial jest) the problem with that idea is that atheists are a lazy bunch.  Are we?

Reading more online, and joining this forum, is one component of my efforts to increase my awareness and decide what I should do next...

[The Magic Pudding]

A friend of mine says (in partial jest) the problem with that idea is that atheists are a lazy bunch.  Are we?

I don't think Bill Gates is lazy?
I know Bill isn't popular with everyone, but to amass such a fortune and declare his children wont be inheriting it, then using it do good.  Take that christians who say wealth is a sign god's on their side.

Where I'm from (and still live), the general atmosphere is that if you aren't Christian, there must be something wrong with you...something seedy and immoral going on somewhere.

I feel that way about those smarmy preachers with their strange hair.
Where do they get that hair?

Is a "Persimmon Hamster" a colour variety of hamster, or a dish utilising hamsters and persimmons?
Doesn't matter though, I don't think we have a hamster, welcome.

[Persimmon Hamster]

I don't think Bill Gates is lazy?
I know Bill isn't popular with everyone, but to amass such a fortune and declare his children wont be inheriting it, then using it do good.  Take that christians who say wealth is a sign god's on their side.

Doesn't the overachieving minority just make the rest of us look that much lazier?  

I feel that way about those smarmy preachers with their strange hair.
Where do they get that hair?

I tried to think of a pun involving hair and religion and failed.  Instead my mind focused on that old gem children are often fed, about how God knows exactly how many hairs are on your head.  I think I could probably figure that out, too, if I wanted, but since I don't have as much time as God it's near the bottom of the to-do list.

Is a "Persimmon Hamster" a colour variety of hamster, or a dish utilising hamsters and persimmons?
Doesn't matter though, I don't think we have a hamster, welcome.

Good question.  I don't know if either of those things actually exist, but they seem possible.  The reason it's my handle is that in this day and age, when everyone and their brother/mother is on the Internet, the best approach I've found to picking one that isn't already taken is to think of two of the least likely words to ever be combined with one another and go with that.  But I do like dwarf hamsters...as pets, not appetizers.

Thanks for the welcome!

[Thumpalumpacus]

Hi.  I never did care for either persimmons or hamsters, but I reckon you're neither.

[wildfire_emissary]

It is they who pray that's lazay! Welcome!

[Cycel]

I've always naturally been a logical thinker and have always had an insatiable curiosity for nearly every subject, so I don't think it could have ended up any other way, really, in the end.

If there is one thing I've learned about Evangelical Christians it is that many also see themselves as logical thinkers and claim to posses an insatiable curiosity.

I have not regularly attended church since I went off to college and gained greater independence (and privacy).  Now, I still go a few times a year (Christmas Eve, mainly, but for other reasons as well), to show respect to my family.

Completely understandable.

Rarely do we [my parents] get into debates about beliefs...when we do, they seem surprised all over again and usually start what I would call guilt-tripping.  "Don't you want to be in Heaven with us?"  That sort of thing.

That makes me laugh.  My kids get that from their mother from time to time.

Anyway, I've decided I need to be a better non-believer and work on my debating skills & strategies...brush up on my philosophical & religious vocabulary...and so forth.

Debating Christians may be the best way to accomplish that.

I have also started to feel like atheists/agnostics/freethinkers/etc maybe ought to to really unite and work together under a common banner to try and destroy the social stigma against us.  Like maybe we need a "church" of our own and to be just as active in the community as a religious church, to show we also care about the poor and our fellow man, and that we also have morals and want to see liberty and society thrive.  Maybe I will find that is already happening...if so...where?

Richard Dawkins has said that "Organizing atheists has been compared to herding cats, because they tend to think independently and will not conform to authority."  There are organizations of atheists, of course, though there may not be any in your area.  Since you live in the USA you might check out American Atheists at http://www.atheists.org/.

Reading more online, and joining this forum, is one component of my efforts to increase my awareness and decide what I should do next...

Enjoy the journey!