Deconversion story

A man named Shelby Sherman wrote a powerful story of his struggle to understand religion, which appeared at Ebon Musings. The second paragraph of his essay sets the stage for the story of his struggle:

Hello, I am 55 years old and an atheist. I was married to the same woman for over 33 years, lived in the same house for 12 years and my taxes are paid. My wife and I raised two sons who are both college graduates and doing well. The last 37 months of her life I was a full-time caregiver for a wife who was unfortunately diagnosed with an incurable, anaplastic astrocytoma (malignant brain tumor). After a three-year struggle, she passed away on May 5th, 2003 and I will miss her terribly. Taking my marriage vows seriously, I gave up my career and I considered it an honor to care for my wife. In the past three years I have lost virtually everything, my wife, my career, most of my net worth, my medical insurance, my freedom and most of my friends. When I die, according to the Christian belief system, I will head straight to HELL without any hope of intervention. I will face an eternity of unspeakable pain and torture for simply not believing in a concept that is not backed by a single shred of evidence. Jeff Dahmer, who was convicted in Wisconsin of twelve 1st degree murders and was sentenced to fifteen consecutive life terms for these murders, accepted Jesus Christ as his savior and was baptized in prison. Jeff was subsequently murdered in prison and will go to HEAVEN for simply believing in these concepts. The fact that Jeff brutally murdered who knows how many young men, tortured them, slept with some of the corpses before chopping them up and either freezing or eating them, does not matter to the Christian cult. According to the doctrine of Christianity, Jeff goes to heaven, to be greeted with open arms by God, Jesus and all the heavenly hosts, a child of God. Can anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?

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Celebrity nontheists

I hadn't read a list of prominent nontheists (atheists, agnostics and other religious skeptics) for awhile. Here's a recently updated list with lots of prominent names. Here's another. Both of these lists include background information regarding each name on the list. Some famous contemporary atheists, agnostics and skeptics are: Daniel Radcliffe Bill Maher Pat Tillman Oliver Sacks Bill Gates Omar Sharif Dave Barry Warren Buffet Phil Donahue Katharine Hepburn Angelina Jolie Lance Armstrong This list includes numerous scientists, along with many actors. Noticeably absent are politicians, which brings to mind polls showing that half of Americans would absolutely refuse to vote for any atheist politician. What follows are the percentages of people indicating in 2006 that they would refuse to vote for "a generally well-qualified person for president" on the basis of some characteristic; in parenthesis are the figures for earlier years: Catholic: 4% (1937: 30%) Black: 5% (1958: 63%, 1987: 21%) Jewish: 6% (1937: 47%) Baptist: 6% Woman: 8% Mormon: 17% Muslim: 38% Gay: 37% (1978: 74%) Atheist: 48%

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Atheist billboards spring up in St. Louis.

The "Religion" section the local newspaper (The St. Louis Post-Dispatch) has reported that a new billboard has sprung up smack dab in politically and religiously conservative west St. Louis County:

"Imagine no religion," it reads in a medieval-looking font, framed in a colorful stained-glass window pattern. The small billboard, on a strip of Manchester Road crowded with retail outlets, also gives the Web address for its sponsor, the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation.
The Post-Dispatch article includes an interview with the founder of FFRF, Annie Laurie Gaylor. She was asked about the inspirational aspects of religion:

What about the message behind the Beatitudes that Christ delivered in the Sermon on the Mount? The meek shall inherit the earth, blessed are the peacemakers, etc.

"I have a lot of objections to the Beatitudes which encourage meekness, docility and not changing this world," Gaylor said. "That's a good message for rulers to give to those who they rule over."

The stated purpose of FFRF is to promote:

the separation of state and church. Its purposes, as stated in its bylaws, are to promote the constitutional principle of separation of state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

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The Interview

Via the Barefoot Bum, I found a list of interview questions posted by the Wintery Knight. For now, I shall leave alone the good knight's contention that Hitler was a "Darwinist atheist" (certainly not a Darwinist and arguably not an atheist, given his obsession with Nordic mythology and the occult, not to mention those SS belt-buckles that said "God is with us"), as well as his claim that "Atheists struggle with morality, it just doesn’t sit well on their worldview, even though they sense God’s law on their hearts, like we do." Both are baseless and false and not worth any decent person's time. I shall answer his questions though, and with as little snark as I can muster, given that I know I'm answering someone who believes I may have "fascist tendencies" (bah - I've never once advocated a merger of state and corporate power) and struggle with morality even though I apparently really do believe in God, even though I say I don't - but obviously I'm just rebelling against our heavenly father like I did against my real one when I was 15. Really, if Christians wish to have an open dialogue with atheists, these tiresome myths must be left at the door. Anyway, on with The Interview (I have sent this post as an email to the good knight and eagerly await his reply:

1) Do you believe that the universe was brought into being out of nothing by a person (agent)? Is it possible that this agent could communicate to us, or that we could discover something about that agent? (i.e. – does God exist, is he knowable)
No. However, if an agent powerful enough to create the universe existed, you'd expect such an agent to be able to communicate with us in some way we could all understand, all at the same time. Also, if such an agent wanted anything about itself to be discovered, surely that agent would know the best way for us to do so. Revealing himself to a small number of people and letting them fight amongst themselves about who was right about what for two thousand years doesn't make a lot of sense.
2) Explain to me in which religion you were raised by your parents, if any. How did your parents approach religion in the home? (strict, lax, etc.)
My parents didn't raise us in any faith. I became a Christian at a young age after being exposed to it at primary school (age 5-12). Religion didn't come up in conversation at all at home (let alone positively or negatively). We were, however, taught the importance of empathy, politeness, generosity, respect and decency (both directly and indirectly, by our parents' examples). Both my parents are fine moral people, having proudly served their family and community their whole lives. My father was a public school science teacher (now retired but continuing to serve with Meals on Wheels). My mother was a long-time public servant and both parents were tireless social campaigners in our local area, defending our community hospital and local bushland reserves against corporate and government interference.
3) What events in your past affected your beliefs about God’s existence and knowability? (e.g. – I studied biology, comparative religions or anthropology, or I met a girl I liked)

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The Blessing of a Tolerant Atheist

On my FaceBook profile, I currently list my religion as "Tolerant Atheist". This was not carefully crafted to annoy absolutely everybody, but rather to allow for conversation. I recently received this strip of paper with an eBay purchase. I try to accept the caring and sharing intent of the message, rather than be irritated by the inference that I am damned to hell for all eternity because I don't share their dependence on a particular brand of invisible friend. Just after I graduated from college, I was somewhat less tolerant. That summer, I visited St. Peter's in Rome with my Jewish girlfriend. We followed an American priest/guide around and got some wonderful architectural and artistic behind-the-scenes insight, beyond that of a regular tour. Saint Peters As he led us out, we handed him a tip in honest appreciation of his sharing. He returned the gesture in kind, by blessing us each with a thumbed cross to our foreheads. My companion handled it with aplomb. I was less graceful. I'm sure my face reflected an expression appropriate to being blessed by a primitive savage priest with some unpleasant goo. Many atheists vehemently reject religion much like recovering alcoholics reject alcohol. They had been eager partakers, and now pity anyone who hasn't yet seen the light. Recovering Cathoholics and other Christ-shuns. I was raised atheist, so I don't have that particular bent. It's not that I disagree with Dawkins and PZ and their ilk about the dangers and inherently infantilizing nature of these beliefs. I just think that atheism will become better accepted in America if it isn't so intimately associated with vocal anti-Christianity. Here is how a well known irreligious bloviator candidly expresses his experience of receiving an evangelical gift. His point of view seems to match my own. Accept a gift as it is intended.

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