Brand New Atheist

I’ve been asked that question and the answer is, “No.”

What could possibly make me think while someone is being tortured right now that God is making sure I get a new client?

The answer to that question is nothing.

A month ago while participating in the iTunes free song from Starbucks, I got a song that, frankly, defines my journey.

That song? “Show Me” by John Legend. Lyrics, Website with full song and iTunes song Sample.

I don’t know John Legend’s personal beliefs nor is that important.

The thing that strikes me about this song is how much it speaks to my personal journey to atheism. Since I heard it after my journey was over, it really encompasses what I was going through and the things that I thought. The song is by no means a definitive reference of my journey; you would need to read my whole blog for that.

Now that a few people are aware that I don’t believe in God they are praying for me and praying for Karen.

What’s interesting about this is I know why they are praying for Karen; they are supporting her the only way they know how.

But why are they praying for me? Do they think I’m lost? It really doesn’t make any sense to me.

Here’s why it doesn’t make sense. Prayer doesn’t work. This has nothing to do with God. Let’s speculate for a moment that God (any God) was real. Prayer has proven to not work.
So even if you believe 100% in God and think that I’m lost, your prayers never get answers. It’s been proven in many different ways that prayers aren’t answered.
And people who look at the facts that prayers aren’t answered and still believe in prayer are fooling themselves and ignoring the truth.

I could link to a bunch of websites about how prayer doesn’t work or link to some videos that show you the same thing. But I’m not going to.

Because if you want to believe in something that has been proven to be false, that’s your right to as an American citizen.

People who haven’t been shown the facts don’t know any different. What concerns me the most are the people that have been shown the facts and ignore them.
These people are running our government and teaching our children facts about the world when they themselves ignore facts that have been presented to them.

My journey was a long one and the first thing I realized about living on this Earth is that prayers do not get answered. And at the time I still believed in God.

If you want proof, go get it yourself. It’s not my responsibility to convince you. You have to learn it your own way and in a way that makes sense to you.

So please, don’t waste your time praying for me. I’m not going to spend an eternity in your hell or any other hell.

This is my first Thanksgiving as an atheist.

First I’m going to explain what Thanksgiving means to me now, then I’m going to look it up online.

Before Research: Thanksgiving is the one day a year where we over eat. And we do it because pilgrims landed in America and traded stuff with Indians. Why does Thanksgiving exist? Celebration of Europeans making it to America in some small ships. Is Thanksgiving related to some other event? None that I’m aware of. I look at Thanksgiving as nothing more than an excuse for companies to market stuff you wouldn’t normally eat. I get Thanksgiving and Columbus Day mixed up.

After Research: Thanksgiving turns out to be a Thanksgiving to God. Are you serious? It can’t just be about some people doing something. Thanksgiving is a day that means many different things to many people. Each country has it’s own Thanksgiving for one reason or another. Thanksgiving is extremely unimportant to me. If it wasn’t a national holiday, it would pass by without me even knowing. Kinda like Saint Patrick’s Day.

This is my first funeral as an atheist.

I have to limit what I can say here to remain respectful. Seeing all of these Catholic rituals from the eyes of an atheist was an interesting experience.

The rituals must be important to someone but they seemed very silly. At one point a priest was waiving a smoking pot thingy and every time it reached a forward apex a car alarm sounded, it was quite humorous.

I wasn’t sure what his response would be but it did surprise me a little. He chooses to not be labeled but said that he thinks the way I do.

He said he thought that I always thought that until he visited last year and I talked about church and our lives. He chalked it up to people changing.

He wasn’t surprised that I made it here since he thought I already was. What did surprise me is that he said I was making too big a deal about it.

He hoped I’d never have to learn some of the truths that he has. For instance right and wrong are completely different in the Middle East.

He saw value in some of what Christianity provides to some people. He thinks they would have a much harder life if they didn’t have a pleasant after-life to hang on to.

I was pleasantly surprised by his response.

I will not be responsible for your beliefs. Whether you chose to believe the way I do or not will not be my responsibility.

Nor do I want it to be. You can never know me well enough to know how my brain works. For you to understand something you need to make your own connection.

You cannot believe something just because someone else does.

If you’ve read all of the information here and have changed your mind about God, I say to you, “Do some more homework.”

There is a world of information that doesn’t exist here. It may lead you in a completely different direction. I think like a scientist, my beliefs are evaluated with each new piece of information. To me there are no permanent facts, only evolving ones.

There is no God, but don’t take my word for it.

There’s a great line in the first season of “Lost” where Jack asks John if he’s going crazy, John says, “You’re not going crazy, because people who are going crazy think they’re getting saner”.

Using that kind of logic I would not be able to even have this train of thought. But I do think I’m getting saner. I think things make more sense now.

Yesterday I sent Karen some information that I found interesting. Some inconsistencies in the bible.

Her intolerance of my atheism leapt forward and didn’t want to hear it or talk about it. Once again I was described as badgering and bombarding. I didn’t feel I was doing that all, just bringing it up was a problem. I’m not saying Karen’s faith is weak but it does make sense to think that someone with weak faith can’t afford distractions. And she was mean to me.

Jump forward to today. After Church Karen has informed me that not only has she told her pastor that I’m an atheist but also her best friend and her Sunday school class. This does not bother me. Karen’s Sunday school class has indicated that she should embrace my discussions of the bible. Karen’s main fear was that I was going to try and force her to think my way. Since I’ve never been able to force her to do anything I don’t think she was thinking rationally.

So here we are now with the ability to discuss my findings. She even said that she will proof read my atheism blog, which she had previously chosen not to do.

How does this affect me? Greatly. It means that she may see view some of my thoughts and the information that I thought of and I’ve found with a more open mind.

I did promise, however, that I would never force her to try and think my way.

This is my first Veterans Day as an atheist.

First I’m going to explain what Veterans Day means to me now, then I’m going to look it up online.

Before Research: Veterans Day is the one day a year that we celebrate war veterans. Which war? I have no idea, I assume all wars.

After Research: Veterans Day is both a federal holiday and a state holiday in all states, it is celebrated on the same day as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world, falling on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. So I was mostly right, but I had no idea why it was on this day. Another holiday without religious meaning, woohoo.