Brand New Atheist

When I believed in God I also believed in all of that other supernatural stuff. You know, like miracles and ghosts. Like most believers I grew up thinking that those people I loved that died were watching over me.

I never really thought about why they were watching over me or when. Unless of course when I may have been masturbating. Why? Unlike during sex (with someone) when you don’t think a lot, masturbation allows your mind to wander while you’re pleasuring yourself. Many of those times I wondered if my Grandmother, Grandfather, etc. were watching over me at that moment. If they were, why? And if they weren’t, is that because there are rules to when they can watch over me?

Regardless of the fact that I thought people were watching over me, it never kept me from pleasuring myself. Which if you think about it is weird because most people would be embarrassed to be caught masturbating. But it’s OK if dead people watch you do it.

I could never reconcile this thought fully because it didn’t seem plausible that those watching over me would invade my private space like that. But like most people I just made that up in my head because that’s what made me comfortable.

When I became an atheist I immediately realized what a completely ludicrous thought process that was and how funny it was that I ever thought someone was watching over me at that moment.

So for all of us men and women that are the masters of our domain, fear not, for no one is watching over you when you are pleasuring yourself.

Approximately one year ago today (October 1st 2007) I became and atheist. Every now and then I educate myself or I get educated. For instance, about a month ago (August 26th 2008) I became a vegetarian. And about a month ago (September 2nd 2008) I became a democrat.

A lot has changed for me since I became an atheist but my overall life has changed very little. I haven’t been disowned by anyone nor have I had to defend myself physically. I started writing down my thoughts the day I became an atheist and that eventually became BrandNewAtheist.com. Then I created my Twitter account to post small thoughts and sarcastic comments. I have a small following on Twitter which means a few people are occasionally interested in what I say.

What has changed the most for me is the way I think. Once I removed anything supernatural most of the ways I think about things changed in an instant. It has made me so much happier than I ever was before. It’s like being released from a mental prison and knowing they can never put you away again.

I thank all of you who have befriended be on Twitter and commented on my site.

I hear atheist say that it’s ignorant to actually claim to know that there isn’t something out there. They are giving the opinion that we certainly don’t know everything and this too is truly unknown. Claiming differently to them is foolish. I completely disagree.

I don’t have to consider the possibility of a God because of some old book and people’s beliefs. That’s no different than claiming all the other Gods have just as much right to be possible. And I say no they don’t.

I’m going to make up a God right now. It’s name is “Puedam”, but when pronounced in it’s native tongue it sounds like wind. It has 4 nipples and feet like a camel. It’s all powerful and all knowing. Now that this God is out there you have to consider the fact that it could be real. Claiming otherwise makes you foolish. This is what other atheists have convinced themselves they must do to remain rational. They’ve convinced themselves that this is what separates them from people who believe in Gods without any proof of said God. I say you don’t have to consider the possibility that something is possible because of clever writing or popular belief.

I will never believe in Puedam, nor will I waste my time considering its legitimacy. Puedam is no different than the God or Gods people believe in today. He was made up by thinking men for a purpose. Puedam was invented to make a point, God was invented for crowd control. However, in thousands of years Puedam will be listed as possible Gods people believed in and I just made it up.

So to all you atheist out there that say it’s irresponsible of me to claim to know that there isn’t a God (regardless of my own belief in that God) just because there’s no evidence, you can bugger off.

P.S. Puedam will be at next years Comic-Con signing autographs, yeah, get your God to do that.

When I get an email from someone who is more of an acquaintance than a friend and their email is asking me and others to pray for their friend, what do I do.

Karen has indicated that letting them know by replying to their email is not appropriate, I get that. But then when, out of the blue, randomly?

This question popped into my head the other day and it defines my position on everything. I question everything.

More than anything else this question applies to the bible, a book that claims to have answers.

I just finished watching this show that I thought was going to be about evolution when it was really about creationism. I knew it wasn’t going to be a science show when I realized it was on TBN. The show is hosted by David Hames and Dr. Jobe Martin.

Dr. Jobe Martin attempts to legitimize himself by saying he went to college for biology and was an agnostic and claims to have been an evolutionist. You can tell the direction the show is going by the way he discusses the Big Bang Theory. He discusses study he did against evolution that led him to believe in God but doesn’t indicate how long ago it was.

He regularly says that things had to be created whole because they wouldn’t work otherwise. He’s talking about “irreducible complexity”, and science had proven that something that doesn’t appear to be able to work when any part is missing will in fact serve a purpose.

Interestingly he repeatedly says “scientists don’t know” when it comes to how some things work, yet when he does have an answer it’s a scientific one. Unless of course he doesn’t have an answer and says “God did it”.

At one point he discusses that they are teaching things in school about evolution that are not accurate. There is some truth to this, however, it has more to do with the school system reprinting books with information that has changed than the teachings themselves. It would be as if schools still taught with a school book that said the Berlin wall was still standing, it’s not the Berlin wall’s fault the school is using an out of date book.

Dr. Jobe Martin can’t conceive that these animals evolved (natural selection) into what we see today over the period of millions of years given we have proof of just that. Yet he doesn’t have any problem believing in an invisible God that he only knows about from the translated text of a two thousand year old book.

I might be a Brand New Atheist but I am not a moron. I can see right through his apologetics. If you want me to believe in what your saying show me some proof, I don’t care how you feel. I would believe in God if there were any proof, as it stands right now, there is more proof for Bigfoot than God.

1. Do you believe the bat is a bird? No you don’t, you know it’s a mammal. Science one, bible zero.
2. Do you believe the Earth is flat? No you don’t, you know it’s round. Science two, bible zero.
3. Do you believe the Earth is the center of the solar system? No you don’t, you know the sun is. Science three, bible zero.

For you to truly believe the bible you need to believe that the Earth is flat. If you do not believe the Earth is flat then you deny the teachings of the bible. If there is a single error in the bible then any part can also be in error. If the bible were the word of god then he would have known the Earth is round and the bible would not state the contrary.

There is enormous amounts of evidence for evolution. Why, if your bible is wrong about so many things do you not believe the same science that tells you about evolution?

This is how religion retards intelligence, it forces you to deny evidence.

Fractal Wrongness is defined as your idea as a whole is wrong and also equally wrong at any resolution.

What I’m trying to say is that if you build your entire knowledge base of any given topic on one idea that’s wrong, then all of your proceeding conclusions on that topic will also be wrong. For instance, if you believe in bible then you can’t believe in evolution. If you believe in the bible then you must also believe the Earth is flat.

The Theory of Evolution is a scientific fact. Yet your belief in the bible (your foundation) is wrong therefore making your conclusion about evolution to also be wrong.
Religion has retarded your intelligence about evolution.

The Theory of Gravity is a scientific fact. Since this theory doesn’t cause some type of conflict with your religion you will accept the scientific answer as fact.
Science has made you smarter about gravity.

The Atomic Theory is a scientific fact. Since you probably don’t even know what this is you will accept the scientific answer as fact.
Science has made you smarter about atoms.

The Cell Theory is a scientific fact. Since this theory doesn’t cause some type of conflict with your religion you will accept the scientific answer as fact.
Science has made you smarter about cells.

The Theory of Heliocentrism is a scientific fact. This theory goes against the teachings of the Bible yet you accept the scientific answer as fact.
Science has made you smarter about the sun, in spite of your bible.

At the top and bottom of the list we have theories that conflict with your belief in the bible, yet you don’t believe the first one and you do believe the last one.

Can you come up with a logical reason that your own beliefs aren’t consistent? You shouldn’t believe either because of your bible. This is what religions do, it makes people stupid. Religions makes you stupid in the face of proof and evidence. At one time they taught in schools that the Earth was flat and the center of the Solar System, thanks to science you don’t believe that.

Religions and your bible retard intelligence because it makes you abandon evidence.

What do all of these theories have in common, proof evidence, testability and they are all scientific facts

This morning I was sleeping when all of the sudden I woke to my house shaking. My first thought was my wife was washing something and the washing machine was off balance during the spin cycle, only the vibration was about 4 times that. When I sat up to understand what was happening the house had been shaking for about 15 seconds, then all of the sudden it got about 10 times worse. I stood up and headed down stares with the house shaking and by the time I made it to the bottom of the stairs it was over.

Is God angry with me for being an atheist? What was God trying to tell me? Should I sacrifice a goat? What? These are questions you and I would have been asking ourselves 1000 years ago. This something that religious people don’t get, God was created by man to answer questions they couldn’t. Science has continued to answer every question the Gods were created to answer.

As it turns out this is the 21st century and we are all aware of what an earthquake is. The goats are safe.

Can you be considered rational and still believe in something that remains unproven and in many cases disproved? I don’t think you can. Once you’ve been shown that what you believe in is false you have two options, ignore them completely or do some serious homework. If no one has ever questioned your own personal beliefs to your face then you probably believe whatever you were taught as a child and took it as truth.

Sometimes I consider using the shock factor and saying something so outrageous about their God that they would seriously think he would strike me down where I stand. But I am 100% confident that long after they had that thought I would still be staring them in the face with a condescending look. Your God can’t touch me because he is imaginary, which means I can whatever I want to him or about him and nothing will ever happen to me. Here’s the kicker, so can you.

The reason I don’t use the shock factor is respect of the person, not their beliefs. I made a joke to my nephew that I had killed God and he could worship me now. He took that as a personal attack and asked that I refrain from such things, I doubt he would have felt the same if I made a similar comment about his choice for president, etc. I agree 100% with Richard Dawkins about people thinking that their religious beliefs are above criticism. Why do believers think their religion deserves a level of respect that puts it outside of criticism?