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"ONCE I WAS BLIND, NOW I SEE."
Thank you all for helping me clear my head of the muck of blind faith. The world is so, so much clearer, more beautiful, more awe-inspiring and more stimulating when viewed through my new "No God" glasses. I love it!
I am a new atheist (6 months as of Dec 2009) and I can't fill my head fast enough with ration and reason. My ipod is filled to capacity with podcasts/audio books (all of the 4 horsemen books and nearly every atheist/skeptical thinking podcast I can find). It's as if my mind has been hungry for years and is now feasting at the bountiful table of skepticism and critical thinking.
Religous beliefs were not the only casualty of my conversion. I was a flag waving, fox news watching, Glenn Beck loving conservative back when I was blind. Hell, I even liked Ann Coulter. I now understand important topics so much better then before - issues like global climate change, health care, separation of church/state, the economy and so much more.
What happened to me, is I think, the single most damaging aspect of religion and blind faith - how it distorts, clouds and strangles critical thinking. Now, more than ever, our world needs the full power of ration and reason, without the burden of irrationality inspired by religion.
As a thank you to everyone here, I'll do my best to "spread the good news" of ration and reason to everyone within my sphere of influence, especially to my two children.
Larry L
I am a new atheist (6 months as of Dec 2009) and I can't fill my head fast enough with ration and reason. My ipod is filled to capacity with podcasts/audio books (all of the 4 horsemen books and nearly every atheist/skeptical thinking podcast I can find). It's as if my mind has been hungry for years and is now feasting at the bountiful table of skepticism and critical thinking.
Religous beliefs were not the only casualty of my conversion. I was a flag waving, fox news watching, Glenn Beck loving conservative back when I was blind. Hell, I even liked Ann Coulter. I now understand important topics so much better then before - issues like global climate change, health care, separation of church/state, the economy and so much more.
What happened to me, is I think, the single most damaging aspect of religion and blind faith - how it distorts, clouds and strangles critical thinking. Now, more than ever, our world needs the full power of ration and reason, without the burden of irrationality inspired by religion.
As a thank you to everyone here, I'll do my best to "spread the good news" of ration and reason to everyone within my sphere of influence, especially to my two children.
Larry L
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Courtney King on -
I'm a very new Atheist (5 days ago to be exact) I was always an Atheist at heart as a child but I've only just been able to find courage to really say it to people. If you would like to read the story just click on my blog on my page.
Best of luck to you!
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Permalink Reply by Cara on -
Good for you Courtney, I lack your courage at the moment. Partially because I have children and I'm worried about the backlash they could recieve from it. Oddly, it's my children that are the most expressive about it. So far it has only backfired on us once, but it can be scarey when it does.
and welcome to our community :)
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Permalink Reply by Courtney King on
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It is very scary. I revealed myself to my dad, who is really open-minded person. The biggest hurdles will be my mom and cousins who all play active roles in my life and who all are heavily religious. I haven't told them I'm an Atheist yet. What I most fear is when I have children I think that will be where my beliefs (well lack of) will be under scrutiny. Because I have no doubt that they will want my to bring up my children Christian, which I will under no circumstances do.
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Permalink Reply by Cara on
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Just curious as to what it was that made you change your mind.
I have always been curious as to why people believe what they do more than what they believe. I was amazed at how people could be so certain about something even without evidence to support it. I have always been an atheist, though most of my life I didn't even realize there was lable for my worldview.
Congratulations on your new worldview, you seem to be happy and excited about it. One of my favorite books from Richard Dawkins is The Selfish Gene; I highly reccomend it.
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Permalink Reply by Courtney King on
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Well the reason why people believe it in the first place is either because they were indoctrinated as a child that it was the truth as I was. Or they were living a less than desirable life and somehow the church and "god" helped them get out of it as was the case of my dad.
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Permalink Reply by LarryL on -
Just curious as to what it was that made you change your mind.
I never really thought about challenging my beliefs before. Once I opened up my mind, it was as obvious as could be. Giving up religion was really pretty easy. Reading "Under the Banner of Heaven", a few email exchanges with my biologist brother and listening to "Skeptoid" podcasts was all it took. "God Delusion" was the final nail in the coffin.
Changing my conservative political views was much, much more difficult. Too many years of listening to conservative radio really got to my head. I was damn proud to be a Conservative and couldn't believe how idiotic Liberals could be. Conservatism had me firmly convinced that the word "Liberal" was synonymous with "America hating, homosexual heathens".
Anyways, my religious conversion made me really challenge how I came to all of my beliefs. I became skeptical of nearly everything I "believed in" and deliberately sought out different perspectives in search of something resembling truth. It sure requires a lot more work (reading/deep thought) but it is also much more rewarding.
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Permalink Reply by Rayray on -
My son passed away April 1st of '07. (this was no April fools joke) God didnt help him to survive, he ignored my pleas, lied to me and then in an instant, didnt exist. Dont get me wrong, I would rather be blissfully ignorant again just to have my son back. But now that I am atheist, it is so compelling all the things that you learn and unlearn.
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Permalink Reply by Courtney King on
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I am so sorry for your lost. I can't begin to imagine how painful it is for you. You have my condolences.
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Permalink Reply by Courtney King on
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I think this is directed toward me, if not please disregard lol.
Well I was always a skeptical kid, and I had this nagging feeling that something about God was fake even in church. And I was a science and history buff anyways, and it was though this book I had and read quite often called "The Big Book Of Questions" and "The Science Encyclopedia for Kids" I learned about evolution and other facts about our origins.
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Permalink Reply by Rayray on
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I was taught it since childhood. When you sing childhood songs about God, Jesus and such, and listen to your elders constantly make praises and giving glory toward to God, it just becomes something that you dont question. We are taught not to question because God knows our hearts. Looking back it is neat how the human brain can become programmed like that. Wow, it feels good to be free of it all though.
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