I’ll leave the site up but I don’t plan on tweeting from my BNA account or posting anymore articles. I’ve even gone to the trouble to delete some BNA accounts and disable others. Thanks to all my Twitter followers and anyone who took the time to have a conversation with me. If I get any comments to this article I may respond in 2009 but not 2010.

While this journey was educational it was also stressful and not always enjoyable. We only get this one life and I want to spend as little of it as possible on things that don’t bring happiness to me and my family.

Wish me luck and I’ll see you in the next life (that was a joke) :)

It seems to be a two part question. Almost as if you’re saying, “If I died, would you desecrate our marriage by marrying someone else?” and “If I died, would you remarry and have sex and more kids?” Oddly, these things seem important when you believe in an all powerful being that left a book behind 2000 years ago with rules on how to live your life today.

In a world where you believe in such things these can be important questions. Because to you, it says a lot about the person you’re going to marry or are married to. While I think most peoples answers would be the same, you really don’t want to hear the answer. Most people will remarry and have sex and possibly have more kids.

What changes when you stop believing in the bible and your church? Well, for me, I’ve decided if my wife were to die I would not remarry. Not because of some vows I said when I was 20 years old or some feeling of entitlement towards her. The truth is, I would never marry again.

My marriage is as important to me today as it was the day I got married only for different reasons. The thought of getting married has completely lost it’s meaning. Without an all might being marriage is just a government issued legal contract. Any new relationship for me would be like Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.

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.

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 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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

So what happens when I tell you that the universe is so big you can’t even understand it, you’re not able to comprehend it’s size? Does your mind play tricks on you and try to convince you that God is powerful enough control the universe? Do you make your God as powerful as he needs to be for you to believe in him? Let’s take for instance this image of the Omega Centauri. This is a tiny image through a tiny pinhole of the universe. And it contains hundred of thousands of stars. You can’t actually see the stars with your naked eye, but you can see the cluster of them which is Omega Centauri.

When scientists refer to the universe they use phrases like millions of billions of stars. Millions of Billions, not only can you not convince me of God here on Earth but take into account the Million of Billions of stars, those star’s planets and those planet’s moons and you don’t have a chance. There isn’t anything that made this, their isn’t anything controlling this and the universe will still be here when humans no longer exist.

Here’s the original article with higher quality images of Omega Centauri. Want to be reminded daily of just how small you really are?

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

Before Research: Easter is the one day a year that children hunt artificial or boiled and painted eggs. It seems to have no relevance to adults. Why does Easter exist? I have no idea. Is Easter related to some other event? None that I’m aware of. I look at Easter and Halloween as very similar. Kids gets candy. Easter has never meant more than kids and candy to me.

After Research: Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus three days after he was killed. I didn’t know that but it doesn’t really surprise me. Easter is also linked to Passover. As far as I’m concerned Easter will remain about kids and candy. If I can age 36 years in America and not know what Easter meant then it doesn’t deserve more than a colored goose egg.

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

Before Research: Saint Patrick’s Day is the one day a year that Americans pinch each other for not wearing green. People also like to make things green that normally wouldn’t be. Why does Saint Patrick’s Day exist? I have no idea. Is Saint Patrick’s Day related to some other event? None that I’m aware of. I assume Saint Patrick’s Day is something they celebrate in Ireland and we do it here just for fun.

After Research: Saint Patrick’s Day turns out to be religious. Are you serious? I thought it was about a place or a thing, it never occurred to me that it was an actual person. I was partly correct, it’s celebrated in Ireland. The story of Saint Patrick’s Day isn’t very interesting either. The day was mostly over before I even knew it was Saint Patrick’s Day. And it still doesn’t mean anything to me.

I think what amazes me most is how I watched this show for 10 years and never thought about it’s relationship to real religion. Now it seems almost comical. The crazy stuff they come up with isn’t any less crazy than the real stuff. Have you seen the drama with Scientology.

Even the robots in Battlestar Gallactica “Praise the Gods.”

I wonder if almost all Sci-fi writers are atheists? One of my favorite Sci-fi writers, Joss Whedon, is an atheist. He produced the awesome TV series Buffy and Firefly.

It doesn’t matter if you’re atheist, christian or muslim, the more I learn about our government the more I realize these high level politicians aren’t as concerned about my rights, as they are their inflated salaries. It’s amazing that politicians live a better life (financially) than 99% of the people they are making decisions for. Even after receiving an inflated salary from the tax payers the same high level politicians will make decisions favoring big business rather than the people.

Not only are they paid well, but they do it without having to do their job. Their job is to do what’s right for the people. It’s only a small number of them but it’s enough when one of them is the President.

So who are these high level politicians? We can start with the President of the United States of America. If Homeland Security reads that they will probably flag me as a Domestic Terrorist. Simply for speaking out against the government. Yes, Homeland Security violates many of your inalienable rights.

You see, as American citizens you have your constitutional rights (inalienable), those rights are not given to you by the government. Many people willing give them away because they don’t understand what government is doing or how the government works. Most people believe their rights are provided by the government, this is false.

So who are the rest of these politicians that are not doing what’s best for the people? (here I go again) It’s probably a relatively small group, the Clinton’s, it’s certainly not the majority but it’s enough to mess with your state of living.

I get the feeling the only reason we went to war in Iraq is because they walked on George W. Bushes Daddy’s face at the Al-Rashid Hotel.

I try to vote for the one that I think is concerned for the right of the people. I’m so glad Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee are out, I guess God didn’t want them to be president or have Huckabee change the constitution. I voted for Ross Perot twice because he made sense to me. This time it’s a toss up between Ron Paul and Barack Obama. John McCain, does the constitution change meaning when read by a christian? McCain thinks so.

I voted for Bush twice, so sometimes I’m definitely Judgmentally Challenged.

I haven’t done much research on this but it’s crossed my mind several times. Many civilizations worshipped the Sun. It seems to me that the Sun may be the most worshipped item ever. If you think about this coincidence it’s almost seems farfetched. Of all the things Jesus represents, he just happens to be called the son of God. Think of the things he or she could have been called or referred to as. Mother, Father, daughter, King, Queen, proper name. There are many more examples of what the name or reference could have been. But of all the possible references it just happens to phonetically the same as Sun. That’s a pretty big coincidence.

Christmas was the hijacking of an existing Winter celebration (The Winter Solstice). Jesus’ life is littered with plagiarism from previous prophets. Unicorns, really?

Now take into account that Mary was not a virgin, but a maiden (mistranslation, look it up) and you have a man, “Jesus”, who was born to a man and a woman (if in fact this individual ever existed) not the immaculate conception (a product of the original mistranslation) that is claimed in the current translations of the Bible.

You can begin to see that the current beliefs of Christians are founded in plagiarism, mistranslated text and Bible books that have been selectively removed (Book of Judas and Book of Jasher).

Why can Christians read the Bible and see the mistakes (the Earth is not the center of the universe) yet think other parts are without error? Even a simple story of the Bible will be taken as a exact representation of the real story. This doesn’t make sense, if any part of the Bible is in error, then that proves that any other part of the Bible can also be in error.

I’ve begun to understand that Karen doesn’t care what the Bible says. What I mean by that is she’s not concerned about the accuracy of the Bible. She believes in a personal God. I’m not really sure how you can separate God from the Bible because without the Bible there is no God. Regardless of any inaccuracies I point out in the Bible it doesn’t affect her relationship with her personal God. I understand it but I don’t think it makes sense. The only way I can relate is to imagine an imaginary friend that you love like a real person.

Now we have the problem of God and Jesus. If you can only speak to God through Jesus and the Bible is wrong about Jesus then how do you know what to believe? What I’ve found is that most Christians simply believe whatever comforts them. So the nuances between two Christians beliefs are small and the main difference is that each is comforted by something different. I don’t think it’s even possible to convince a Christian that something they take comfort in could be in error.

So who or what do you believe in?

No. I have never read the Bible from beginning to end (though I tried in the Army). I have never read the Bible entirely (every single page). I have never read the Bible to prove a point. I have looked to the Bible for wisdom. I am reading the Bible online.

I’m not a book reader, I could probably list all of the books I’ve ever read in under 60 seconds. Karen couldn’t list all of the books she’s read in 2007 in 60 seconds.

I do, however, spend about 8 to 12 hours a day on my computer, I read more online in a year than most do in a lifetime. I’m a research fanatic and since becoming an atheist I have researched and read the Bible online. I still can’t bring myself to read it from beginning to end or try and memorize it for the sake of knowing it.

Since becoming an atheist I know more about the bible than my prior 36 years. Because I now have an interest in why it’s so messed up and why people believe it. If I could quote the Bible like some can, I would be a horribly obnoxious atheist.

I’m bothered by people who trust the Bible yet discount the Old Testament because of the New Testament. If the New Testament changed the rules then why hasn’t God updated the Old Testament and removed the unnecessary rules? Imaginary characters can’t make real changes, that’s why. There isn’t another single book I can think of that would leave in the old rules after changing them. If God was real, and he wrote a book, it would be the best damn book ever written and everyone would read it. But he’s not. The Bible is not a good book, it’s schizophrenic, hard to understand, contradicts itself and difficult for people to agree on the meaning.

Now that I’m and atheist I don’t really care that I never read the Bible. I know people who have and they don’t understand what they read. Besides, now that I’m an atheist I’m well aware that the Bible was written by men for men. So I don’t really feel like I missed out. Had I read the Bible before now, I would have become an atheist much sooner. I believe we have so many christians in America simply because they haven’t read their Bible.

Never accuse me of simply passing along or believing what I’ve been told by others about any subject. My opinions are mine, after my own research. If I simply believed what I was told I would still be a christian and I would believe banks are looking out for my financial interests.

I say “I’M BEAUTIFUL!” instead of “I’M DOING BEAUTIFULLY!” because the reactions are funnier. And it’s easier to blurt out.

I’ve been doing that for about 8 years now and “I’M BEAUTIFUL” represents how I feel on the inside.

I’m quite happy, with my wife and girls, with my job, with my things, but I definitely strive for more.

As little as two years ago I would listen to the same christian music tape in the car everywhere I went and I would sing along out loud. When I was by myself of course. I really believed and wanted to be surrounded by Gods love. It’s fortunate that when I realized God doesn’t exist it didn’t have a detrimental affect on me, I can see how it would on others.

I’m not trying to contradict myself at all. I may have said in the past that I wasn’t very religious but the truth is I was never openly or outwardly religious. I believed in God, I prayed almost daily for someone other than myself, I occasionally broke out the Bible to look something up. I didn’t spend my days reading the bible. I know more about the Bible now and have read more of the Bible now than I did in my previous 36 years.

First of all let me explain that when I was a believer I kept it to myself. So when I became a non-believer I kept it to myself. Fortunately I began writing everything down. Even when I thought I might share this new part of me there was an obvious concern. How will friends treat me, will they suddenly become afraid of me somehow?

In “The God Delusion” Richard Dawkins says, “The status of atheists in America today is on par with that of homosexuals fifty years ago.” Thats’ a scary thought, are people going to fight me because of this? It’s reason enough to be concerned or take precautions. In my previous post, I thanked several individuals for their help. They helped by indicating what it’s like to be a known atheist in America today. They all said hate mail is virtually non-existant. So if christians only occasionally get animated then should I worry about Muslims? Then I realized, they view christians and atheists as infidels, so we are no different to them.

Now that I’ve ruled out threats and harm, who am I afraid might know that I’m an atheist? No one.

Christians openly show what they believe with their Jesus fish on their cars, and their crosses hanging from the rear view mirror. If they can openly share their personal beliefs without fear of harm then so can I.

To answer your question Rob, “Why did I wait so long to come out the closet?” Fear of the unknown, I really didn’t know what would happen when people found out. I wanted to wait and get some answers from seasoned atheists about whether or not I was endangering my family (because my family come first). It was only 5 months ago yesterday that I decided I was an atheist, so it really hasn’t been that long.

If you give that any serious thought, you realize, 1800 years after Jesus, women were allowed to be the property of a man and slavery was encouraged.

And if you read your bible you’ll see that it was not only allowed, but encouraged. These are the bibles teachings.

My would women and black people even chose to believe in a God that would allow them to be viewed as worth so little?

I think the answer is education. We still have people on the Earth today that can’t read, how many slaves do you think could read?

What did a slave who could read think, when he saw in his bible that slavery was encouraged? I would imagine so few slaves could read that any real knowledge of what the bible says, was simply passed on from other people. And I’m certain they only heard the parts that eased their minds.

What about women? 150 years ago my wife would be my property, like my bicycle. The bible says that women are property of men and women lived that life.

Here’s my point. If it weren’t for a few enlightened people in power 150 years ago, women would still be property and black people would still be slaves. This was not the work of God, Jesus or women and black people fighting for rights, but a few people who saw faults in the way humans treat humans.
Why would a black person pray to a God that encourage the slavery of their ancestors for 1800 years after Jesus?
Why would women, who were told by the bible, that they were the property of men, want to have anything to do with the God that encouraged this behavior?

If it wasn’t for these few enlightened people in power who changed the rules about women and black people, you wouldn’t be able to spend your Sundays worshipping a God that allows you to be property. If you’re a women, in an Arab country reading this today, you are the property of a man. Because they still take those damn holy books literally.

Yet, I’m part of your God’s plan. WHO ARE YOU TO QUESTION GOD’S PLAN?

See what I mean. As much as you may dislike my point of view, it’s beyond you to question it.

Now that’s messed up, isn’t it?

I exists and I can prove it. Ask your God to do the same, nothing will happen.

And don’t accept or ask for that feeling of God or thoughts in your head BS.

Tell him to appear out of thin air in front of you like he’s done in the past. And have your video camera ready. Stop accepting that he can do whatever he wants or that he has a plan.

I have a plan and it doesn’t include starving children. But I’m not omnipotent so I can’t just feed them all at once. But your God claims to be able to, yet children are hungry.

If I was omnipotent I would feed all of the children, doesn’t that make me better than God?
If I was omnipotent I would cure disease and pain, doesn’t that make me better than God?

My point is, if any of us were omnipotent we would immediately do things that God has neglected, that would make us better than him.

If God loves starving children, it must be tough love.

You see, there are starving children all over the world, yet this gentlemen believes that starving children take a backseat to his dog. Seriously?

So many people in America, live with this notion that our country is similar to to the rest. They seem to think their little bitty problems are being managed by God while people in other countries would simply like God to stop the guerillas from killing them for no reason. Neither one is being overseen by a omnipotent being.

I certainly don’t have faith in science. For me to have faith in science, I would have to believe whatever they said and be ignorant to any proof.

You can’t have faith in something that has proof.

But the bible doesn’t get updated. Many people claim to use it as a manual for their lives. But why would you use a 2000 year old book to decide how to live today.

In the same way that a 1967 and 2007 auto has 4 wheels and a steering wheel, humans 2000 years ago and today have two legs and two arms. But what runs them (auto engine/human brain) is profoundly different. In reference to our brain we don’t think the same way, work the same way or live the same way as humans from 2000 years ago. We are significantly smarter than humans 2000 years ago, why would you use a book written for a 2000 year old human mind on today’s mind? “You shouldn’t.”

The bible still refers to the Earth as the center of the universe, this is incorrect. Yet the bible has not been updated to reflect this new information.

Therefore the bible is not a manual, it is a novel.

This is important because today she does not believe that. Why? Because of the empirical evidence that science has proven. You would be considered a lunatic today if you believed the Earth is the center of the universe. The bible has many references that have been dis-proven through science. Realistically speaking it’s only a matter of time before science dis-proves even more of what the bible teaches it’s followers.

“Think of all the answers we have today that once was a scientific answer and was replaced with a proven religious one. You won’t be able to think of one, but turn that around and the list gets very long. Think of all the religious answers we once had that are now explained by a scientific one.” Sam Harris

I heard Mike Huckabee say that he would always refer to the bible answer if it conflicted with science, in which I told my wife, “Mike Huckabee believes the Earth is flat and is the center of the universe.” In reality he probably (I use that word loosely) doesn’t, which means he picks and choses what to believe is true.

Just as many people ignore the bible referring to the Earth being flat, 100 years from now believers will fully believe in evolution and ignore that part of the bible that it conflicts with. They will reject Genesis and focus on the parts of the bible science has yet to dis-prove.

An example of religion interfering with and holding back science is Galileo’s discovery of the Heliocentrism in 1616 (the theory that the sun is at the center of our Solar System). The Catholic Church banned the reprinting of Galileo’s work for 100 years because they contradicted the Bible. On 31 October 1992, Pope John Paul II expressed regret for how the Galileo affair was handled, and officially conceded that the Earth was not stationary, as the result of a study conducted by the Pontifical Council for Culture.

This example is exactly the reason evolution is not being taught properly to our children today. Religion still has a tiny hold over this evolution, but it will fall through and evolution will be taught in the same way Heliocentrism is.

Side Note: Heliocentrism is a scientific theory as is the theory of gravity and the theory of evolution. All of these theories have enough evidence to be considered facts.

The people today that don’t believe in evolution are tantamount to those people 500 years ago that thought the Earth was the center of the universe. And they will be replaced with people who do believe in evolution. And so on and so on until bible believers have nothing left to cling to and the bible is little more than an ancient novel.

It’s only a matter of time until science disproves almost every aspect of the bible and people are capable of living without a God.

Here is a question that doesn’t exist, “Does the Sun really exist?” The reason that question doesn’t exist is because of the empirical evidence. Have you ever heard anyone ask that question? No, you haven’t.

If there were any empirical evidence of God’s existence there would only be one religion. Since there isn’t, we have many different religions and many different Gods.

I feel as thought my brain has been set free and it’s exploring entirely new areas of thought.

Those areas previously stifled by the Bible. Not that I read the Bible before becoming an atheist. But by those people I listed too who did read it. What I’ve come to find out is that they focused on the fluffy parts and left out the insane parts.

I’ve learned more about religion and the bible in the last 5 months than I knew in my previous 36 years. You would think if God existed I would have found him, but it’s exactly the opposite. When you look for something that doesn’t exist you find nothing.

Back to me being born again (since it’s OK for the bible to borrow many of it’s stories I’m borrowing born again), my mind has been set free. Until you have a free mind you will never know what I’m talking about.

Flash forward 12 years after I discover that God isn’t real and all of the sudden gay takes on a whole perspective. When you’re a God believer, gay is wrong and marriage is between a man and a woman. When you’re not a believer all of the sudden gay isn’t wrong, its just not natural. Meaning a gay couple can not procreate. But they can be together if they want to be. And their isn’t any reason they can’t marry if they want to. Marriage is legal bond between consenting individuals. Marriage doesn’t have to have anything at all to do with religion.

Now I have to figure out if marriage is a religious thing or if it’s secular.

In test cases, the placebo effect has proven to cure people with the use of inert medicines.

What does that mean? The way I see it, this is the same way people believe in God.

When enough people around you are telling you there is a God, it makes it easier for you to believe.
When a trusted doctor is telling you that this pill will make your headache go away, it makes it easier to believe it will.
So for a portion of the people, their brain will treat the pill as if it had the same effect as real medicine because they believe it will.

And then there are people like me that the placebo doesn’t work on because I don’t have blind faith in anything.
Even when I take store bought medicine I don’t think they will work. I take them hoping they will work this time. And some times they do.

So where’s the problem? Even if you tell the person that took the placebo (who had a cured headache) that it had no effect whatsoever, they will still believe something in it worked. They will deny the fact that their brain was tricked into believing something that wasn’t true. This is the same with believers.

God is a placebo. It’s something with no power to make changes at all but your belief in it will effect how your brain treats it.
Believing in God is a trick your mind plays on you because you allow it. It’s all in your head.

If the prayers of a child were answered:
My wife’s knees would be better.
My business would be out-of-control successful.
Our adopted daughters birth mother wouldn’t be defective.

I heard these and many other prayers for years and do you know what happened? Nothing.

I proved it to myself and it’s been proven throughout the world that prayers aren’t answered.

Why? It’s simple, the only being that hears all of your prayers (spoken aloud or in your head) is you.

And unless you have magic powers (which I’m certain you don’t) then your time praying is wasted when you could be doing something about it yourself.

When I told my wife, I had yet to do any research online. Yet the information online is so compelling I wonder how people are capable of believing?

I’ve since done dozens of hours of research online and it’s been good in the fact that I can answer questions better now.

Many people who are atheists have posted elaborate messages online, many of which are extremely well educated and thought out.

It’s like when I made my decision I had walked through the door and closed it behind me and I just keep walking further and further away from it.

Let me try and explain my meaning.

In many peoples world with God they have cancer, love and soft drinks.
In my world without God I have cancer, love and soft drinks.

Where’s the difference supposed to be? Isn’t there supposed to be a benefit to worshipping a God? And I don’t mean after your dead.
I mean right here on Earth. Yes, men and women make decisions based on their beliefs, but that doesn’t really affect the world.
The problem with the question is that worshippers will tell you that either payment comes later (which means we live in exactly the same world and they receive no benefits while here on Earth) or that their prayers are answered when it’s Gods will.

Since people don’t come back from the dead with heaven or hell answers, there isn’t any (and there never will be any) proof that worshipping is anything more than a mind game.
Perpetrated by who? I don’t know who started it but they would be perplexed that modern man still believes something they made up a thousands of years ago.

Back to my original question. There isn’t a single difference in the world today between a worshippers life and mine. In a way that seams unfair for them. They put all of this effort into their beliefs and they still have cancer, love and soft drinks just like I do.

We have evidence on 3, 4, 6 and 7 million year old human bones that appear to be bi-peds.
Scientists believe the dinosaurs are hundreds of millions of years old.

If man, was walking upright on Earth 4 million years ago, then what are the chances that the Earth is coming close to an end?
If the Earth has been supporting life for 4 billion years then, what could possibly stop it from doing so?

So then where does all of this life go? I was thinking about that too.

If you look at the most recent Tsunami, it literally changed the landscape and anything that wasn’t heavy enough to withstand the pressure was washed away.
It makes me wonder about the ruins that we look at today and the only thing left are heavy stones that could have withstood a Tsunami.

Of all the civilizations that have lived on Earth, we may be the most advanced. We base it on what they left behind.

If man has looked relatively the same for thousands of years then how long does it take for you to see evolution?

I posted this article two days ago and just today found a new and excellent book from The National Academy of Science. Science Evolution and Creationism

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

Before Research: New Year’s Day isn’t actually celebrated I don’t think. It’s the first day of the year.

After Research: New Year’s Day is the first day of the year. But is not a holiday at all.

Today is my 16th wedding anniversary. As I watch the video of my wedding I have trouble listening to myself say things that I no longer believe. I hear the preacher sayings that I no longer agree with. Sadly, it takes a bit of the fun out of watching the video. I like the video better without the preacher in it.

If I was married for 16 years under God. Then why am I married now? Because I love my wife and children. Even though the “why” has changed, the reason for staying married hasn’t. Family. I can be married without God. Marriage is actually a state thing now and the ceremony is just tradition and has no affect on the marriage license.

Would I change anything? My answer to that question is always no. Changing the past changes who I am today, I have no need to be someone else.

I always preferred “Man and Wife” vs “Husband and Wife”, I think I just like the way it sounds.

Here’s to 16 more wedding anniversaries as an atheist.

First I’m going to explain what New Year’s Eve means to me now, then I’m going to look it up online.

Before Research: New Year’s Eve is the one day a year where we celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of the next. It usually means parties to most people. And fireworks.

After Research: New Year’s Eve is only the celebration of the last day of the year.

What does Christmas mean now? A very good question. As a new member of the non-believers, Christmas hasn’t changed.

I never saw Christmas as really having anything to do with God or Jesus. And since that’s the way the majority of the believers feel anyway, Christmas is pretty much the same.

Even the stores are trying to turn it into a generic holiday. I think they are embracing more people rather than trying not to offend anyone. Happy Holidays.

Christmas is a yearly party with family where everyone exchanges gifts. A few people go to a special Christmas service. But the majority don’t.
The staunch believers try to make all of the other believers feel bad because they think since Christmas wouldn’t exist without Jesus. That it’s only fitting you attend.
Most believers want to take the day off and not have to go anywhere, even if it is to celebrate their Lord’s birthday (most believers don’t know Jesus wasn’t born in December).

Even churches themselves bend to the will of the majority. I can imagine a time when the church told it’s congregation there would be service on Christmas day and the congregation knew they had to attend. But the church has lost it’s power. Churches merely exist at the hands of a few generous tithers. I think maybe that would change if their God presented himself or gave some real proof of his existence, but even believers have learned that God has little to do with the world today. There’s no penalty here on Earth.

One small thing is different for me. For the first time in my life I don’t want to hear Christmas music. My girls started playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving.
I’m not really sure what it is, but I think most Christmas songs have lost their meaning for me.

To elaborate, children can’t defend themselves nor can they make life decisions. Since this is a fact, then why wouldn’t God intervene on behalf of a child?

Children don’t choose to be hungry nor do they choose to be sick. America is full of christians because we have it so good here.

It’s easy to believe in God in America because most of us aren’t hungry. But let’s focus on the children.

Do you think you could convince a hungry child that God exists? Don’t feed the child, just tell them stories of the bible. Let the child pray for their own food.

People don’t think about these things because they are contrary to their beliefs. For instance, most believers would read this article and think, “There must be a reason.” Then they will put it out of their minds because it goes against the grain.

Do you seriously think a supernatural being is guiding you everyday, helping you in anyway whatsoever while the child in the photo starves? If you do, then the way you think is absurd.

For instance, I’m beginning to think that it’s absurd that anyone ever believed in any God.

But in the year 2007 the majority of Americans believe in a some supernatural being. I know, I did too, but I never chose to believe, I was taught to believe. I chose to find the truth and it revealed no such being.

As a christian my religious references were thought of as insightful with potential for learning.

As an atheist my religious references are thought of as ignorant and without value.

I haven’t changed so much as my beliefs have. If my references contained value before, you would think they still would, but they don’t.

It’s interesting to see people react to my change when it’s no longer inline with their beliefs.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

But, the majority of what you’re reading are my own thoughts and they have not been influenced by the internet.

I’ve actually spent a good deal of time looking religious information online since I became an atheist. I know more now than I ever did about religion.

When it comes to the atheist information I’ve found online, very little of it differences from my own thoughts. So when I want to share something with someone I may use a video clip I found that gives the same information. I could make my own video clip I just don’t want to.

So if you’re reading this thinking that I have somehow been duped by these videos or information on the internet I want to make it 100% clear to you that they support my position.

I’m an atheist of my doing and choosing. And these are My Own Thoughts.

If you’ve ever done anything for anyone in need chances are you did not get the credit you deserved.

I’m not saying that you deserve more credit than you got, I’m saying that you didn’t get any credit.

If you didn’t get it who did? According to theists God got your credit. According to atheists you get your credit.

And while you’re helping them they will thank God right in front of you as if you’re merely a pawn to the will of God.

If I helped you it’s because I cared or knew I could help. I’m no ones pawn. I did it, no one else.

I’m talking about evil that comes from a disturbed mind, not evil that comes from the belief in a God.

Any human on the earth can have or get brain damage. From brain damage can come dementia. If you have dementia then it doesn’t really matter what your beliefs are because your brain does not work properly.

What about evil in the name of religion? Yes, there have been many evil men and women on the world that did evil things in the name of their God. Christians today have killed people affiliated with abortion clinics. Muslims fly planes into building.

What about evil in the name of atheism? No. It’s simply not logical. There are no recorded cases of anyone causing harm to anyone else in the name of not believing in God. Do you see how ridiculous that sounds?

But there are records of atheists doing evil things. Of course there are, but they didn’t do it because they were atheists they did because they were mean, evil or crazy.

How can this be? It’s simple, people who don’t believe in God don’t believe in his alter-ego the Devil.

If a child were raised without the mention of God, as an adult he would view all religions (and your) the same way you view other peoples religions.

Did you ever hear the joke about the woman cutting the end off of her roast then wondering why she was suppose to do that? The girls asks her Mom “Why do we cut the ends off of the roast” her Mom said “That’s how my Mom taught me.” So the girl asks he Grandmother “Why do we cut the end off of the roast?” and her Grandmother says “That’s the way my Mom taught me to do it.” So the girl asks her Great Grandmother “Why do we cut the end off of the roast?” her Great Grandmother said “When I was your age they didn’t make pans as big as they do now and I had to cut the ends off or it wouldn’t fit in the pan.”

Will you ever be able to go back far enough to find someone who actually picked the religion your family believes in? No you won’t.

The point here is that no thought went into your teachers decision to teach you whatever religion it is that you believe.

You are cutting the ends off of your roast and you don’t even know why.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that tricking me or brainwashing me would be impossible. Why? Because I don’t take anybodies word for anything, I’m spectacle of everyone and I’m aware that at any given moment anyone can do anything. Why am I an Atheist? Because I’m a truth seeker and a fact checker.

So if I’m an Atheist then I’m not in a cult. Because cults are small and harmful. I just happen to be like minded with a large group of individuals that don’t believe in the God of the land. I say in the God of the land because I have something in common with an Iraqi that doesn’t believe in Allah.

Having the majority of people refer to something incorrectly does not change it’s definition.

He says “Atheism is a belief plain and simple. It takes as much FAITH to believe a god does not exist as it does to believe that a god does exist.”
This statement is completely false. If you’re not an Atheist then you really don’t understand how we think and he proves that he doesn’t.

He continues the video as if his prior sentence is true. Since it’s not there is no value to be had in the remainder of his comments.

You wouldn’t trust a plumber with advice about how to fix your electrical. Why would you believe a theist knows how an atheist thinks? It’s fair to say that you shouldn’t.

I’ve been both. A theist and now an atheist. I work on both Macs and PCs and it’s obvious to me when someone makes comments that are completely false about Macs.
This follows that same rule. When a PC user (who doesn’t use a Mac) makes claims about Macs that are false he only proves his ignorance to people who use both.

The theist in the video does not understand both sides. But he does have the right to express his opinion, even when it displays his own ignorance.

You can’t understand what it’s like to be poor if you were born rich. I’m trying to make the point that you can’t trust what he’s saying because he doesn’t understand both sides.
He only understand how the other side looks from his point of view.

My point of view differs in the fact that I’m very familiar with both sides and I understand them completely.

The mind can be tricked in many different ways. Half of any number of sick people will feel better after taking a placebo they thought was a pain pill.

Your mind can play tricks on you. Make you think you saw something that you didn’t. A tired mind can send misinformation.

What if I tricked your mind in believing in a God that doesn’t exist? I start you out early while your mind is very impressionable. Because everyone in the world is born atheist. You have to be taught to believe in a God. The God you’re taught to believe in depends on where you were born. As a child I tell you stories of this God and show you a book that he left behind from 2 thousand years ago. The book is called the Bible and even though it has been translated hundreds of times in many different languages with different interpretations we believe it one hundred percent.

After you’ve stopped believing in childhood phantasy characters like Santa I keep you believing in this God. Now I send you out into the world to survive on your own.

Now tell me, what exactly is it you believe and why?

Maybe not the planets that we are currently aware of. Who’s to say that an advanced life form doesn’t already know of our existence?

If you look at your own family tree eventually you will loose the trail. Does that mean existence for your tree began where the trail ends? No.

Cause and reaction, you learned it in science class.

Even the Army professes that Freedom isn’t free.

How does this apply to the Bible? The Bible tells you that you’ve been given free will. What it doesn’t tell you is that you have to give up your free mind. And many people fall for this trick.

Think of Christianity as a forest. Every tree is a Christian. All of the trees that border the clearing are agnostics. Sometimes the agnostics stay on the borders of the forest for a long time. They can see the clearing but are afraid. Because the Bible has told them the only thing in the clearing in eternal damnation. Good trick to keep them in the forest.

What the Christians can’t see is their own forest, for the trees. Since they can’t see there own forest they are unaware that other forests exists. They are unaware that they are in a forest. Not all of the trees are the same, some are Baptist trees some are Pentecostal trees but they are all truly unaware of the world around them.

When you head out into the clearing as I have you see all of the forests. Some are small, some are big, sometimes you have one crazy ass tree all by itself.

What’s in the clearing? A lot of light (I’m being metaphoric) like a real clearing. Clearings are always easier to traverse and easier to navigate because you don’t have those tall trees that block the light or all of the other trees to walk around. Sometimes people accidentally walk out of the forest.

But you can never truly return to the forest. Because you now know that what you’re entering is a forest.

Like in real life we all know that forests get smaller. And sometimes when a large section of trees leave the forest the animals that inhabited that area scurry around all confused because the light is blinding and hurts their eyes (Matrix reference). So they run deeper into the forest to escape what scares them.

For example, If I told you that there is a new species of horse that have two heads. Would it be your job to disprove the two headed horse? No it wouldn’t.

But that’s the way Religion thinks. And it is wrong.

Most religions have Bibles, so why would a non-believer believe your Bible is accurate and not the others?

Someone might say to me that I don’t believe in God because I can’t see him. That’s not a true statement.

I used my mind to determine God’s existence not my eyes and not the propaganda of an individual or group.

I have a great mind and a great memory. It took me 10 months to figure it out, all in my head.

The millions of children around the world that believe in Santa don’t make him any more real than the Easter Bunny.

The millions of Muslims around the world that believe in Allah don’t make him any more real than Santa.

The millions of Christians around the world that believe in God don’t make him any more real than the Tooth Fairy.

Just because millions of people believe doesn’t make it true.

All you have to do is look at the past God’s to see for yourself.

Morpheus “Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself” “You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.”

I took the red pill.

It’s a fact that if you were born on different parts of the world you would believe what those people believe.
How can you have possibly lucked out and been born in the right location where everyone believes in the real God?

Does it end there? No, eventually a child’s brain will question the belief of Santa or a friend or sibling will tell them (plant a seed of doubt) there is no Santa. Some like myself do the same with God.

What’s a child’s first response when they think or hear there is not Santa? They ask their parents. The Parents are well aware they were making it up the whole time and will probably tell the child to truth. But this is different than when your brain tells you that there is no God, who do you ask if it’s true?

A child asking a parent if Santa is real is not fair to the child. Because no adult believes in Santa, the answer will always be no. If there was a word for someone who didn’t believe in Santa every adult on the planet would be one. So does the child ask another child who believes in Santa? Whether the child is told yes or no eventually there won’t be enough evidence to support Santa’s existence therefore the child will have no choice but to denounce Santa. They will come to their final conclusion using there own mind.

They will also eventually conclude the same thing about the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.

So when an adult uses there own mind to decide whether or not God exists who do they ask if it’s true? No one. Because the answer will always be slanted in the direction of the believer or non-believer. Like the child the adult will eventually figure out that there isn’t enough evidence to support God’s existence therefore the adult will have no choice but to denounce God.

If only it were possible to show who started the God myth then adults would have a starting point to end another make believe character from their lives.

He points out that atheist should not actually have a designation or name. His example is a racists. If you’re not a racist people don’t call you a non-racist.
This makes sense but sometimes these things come about because of timing. For instance, calling someone a racist after slavery ended was negative thing.
While slavery existed many people were racist but weren’t called racist because it was common to accept this way of life.

Another example of why we are called atheist as apposed being called nothing would be similar to books.
I imagine many of the first books written were stories of actual events (even if they were inaccurate). And then along comes stories that were touted as being made up.
At this point you have books and fiction books. I assume fiction books quickly out numbered books since making up stories is easier than knowing someone’s story well enough to write about it. Therefore we have fiction and all books that were not made up are non-fiction.

Another explanation would be why things are named Classic. The original iPod was not called the iPod classic, it was just iPod. Now that we have dozens of models many years later they wanted to define it from the subsequent models. So we have iPod Classic and Classic Coke, you get the idea.

That would be a good explanation as to why non-fiction books don’t have legitimate designation but merely defined as not fiction.

That leads us to atheism. Am I an atheist or a non-theist? They are the same. Atheism is merely defined as not a theist (like non-fiction).
Non-theism and non-fiction oddly are the definitions for truths, facts and reality. Definition by declaring something that you’re not.
With so many Gods and religions in the world it would be impossible to go through out life declaring nothing.

Atheism at least let’s theists of all religions know were we stand.

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

Before Research: Halloween is the one day a year that children dress up and visit the neighbors for treats. It seems to have no relevance to adults. Why does Halloween exist? I have no idea. Is Halloween related to some other event? None that I’m aware of. I look at Halloween and Easter as very similar. Kids gets candy. Halloween has never meant more than “kids and candy” to me.

After Research: Halloween turns out to be religious related. Shocker! I was actually surprised. I know two men who didn’t and don’t let there kids dress up and get candy on Halloween, because it’s evil. The reality is, even the religious people can’t agree on how to handle Halloween. Why? Because it has a dozen meanings. And not all of them are even religious.

So those of you keeping your kids from having fun on Halloween because of your preconceived notions of it’s evil origins, lighten up. Your kids only believe in God because you tell them to. So tell them Halloween is about dressing up and having fun. They will believe you. Because as far as the rest of the population is concerned, that’s all it means to them.

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

Before Research: Columbus Day is the one day a year that we celebrate Columbus making it to America in some small ships. Other than that I don’t know why it’s a holiday. I get Columbus Day and Thanksgiving mixed up.

After Research: Columbus Day has nothing to do with religion, woohoo. I was right, it’s about Columbus arriving in America on October 21, 1492. Not much more to it than that.

Atheism isn’t something that describes bad or lost people. I describes people with free minds.

Most Christians can’t understand Atheism because it requires logical thinking when applied to religion.

Atheism is another way of saying people who chose to not choose a religious side.