FreeThinkingAtheist.com

    Yesterday, I attended a religious discussion event at my university. In a nutshell, the even creators intended on having a wide variety of religious world views present so that they could split them up where there was one religious view at each table. At each of these tables, there was a mediator present to ask questions on faith and each person answers the question. The whole purpose of the event was to educate others on your religion and to encourage respect of each other's beliefs.

    My table had me: the Atheist, a Muslim, two Christians, a Jew, a Catholic and a Pagan. We had quite a variety! Each person had excellent answers to just about every question. I learned a lot from the Jew and the Muslims in particular. The two Christians at the table seemed to be learning a lot from just about everybody. What I particularly liked about this event was the amount of respect I was given while representing the Atheists of the world. I'm so accustomed to being told things like "Oh, well Jesus forgives everybody, even Atheists like you", or "what?!?! you don't believe in God?? Aren't you afraid of going to hell????". But I received nothing of this sort while there. In fact, not only did I receive solid respect, but I also seemed to be enlightening on everything I said.

     Turns out, none of them knew hardly anything about what an Atheist is. The very first thing I said was "Alright, let's get this straight now. Atheism is not a religion. Atheists come in very different flavors. The only common belief Atheists share is that they lack the belief of a creator, God, or gods. It's not that they believe there IS no God, but rather, they lack the belief of a God. There are Atheists who believe there is no God, there are Atheists who claim we'll never know and just simply lack the belief."

    On the topic of what books our religions followed, one of the Christians asked "So what books to Atheists read, like science books?". I told him jokingly "anything by Richard Dawkins", and nobody got the joke which is a good thing I suppose. It means they are pro-faith, rather than anti-Atheist. I then told him that Atheists don't have a unified book like The New/Old Testaments, Koran or the Kabbalah. Atheism is not a religion. I told him the most common flavors of Atheists are the scientific ones who are heavily into science reading, and the humanist ones who approach things more from a humanist & philosophical way.

     On the topic of creation, every person gave their religion's view on how they got here. The Pagan surprisingly claimed to not know, but she thought the Big Bang was some sort of hoax. And EXTRA surprisingly, the rest of the people at the table didn't discredit the Big Bang Theory. In fact, one of the Christians tried explaining it to the Pagan girl, that our universe is expanding constantly and had to come from some single point. I then proceeded to explain to everyone just what a scientific theory IS, and how it's not just some made up hypothesis, that it's a conclusion that all the facts and evidence points to. I also explained that it remains a "theory" because they don't know what caused it. Just to leaves things open so they could relate to it, I even mentioned the possibility that even "God" could've caused the Big Bang and that was his medium for creation. In short, nobody knows. But I told them as religious people, they should never try and compete with science.

    Overall, it was a pretty cool experience, with pretty cool religious people. If only all religious people were like them! 

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I'm sitting in USF's library right now trying to do homework. But my attention has been caught by 3 USF students sitting near me doing a Bible Study (from the book of Romans in the Old Testament.. if you were curious). They are probably the creepiest USF students I've seen so far here.

They sound so sure of themselves, judging people as a whole. Saying that God created Hitler for a reason, that he created a tribe of Barbarians who go around and rape and pillage others, for a reason. They are arguing whether or not Romans should be taken within a historical context or not. One is arguing that if the Bible is to be taken within a historical context, then it makes God seem weaker (and thus he chooses not to take it historically for that reason). The other is arguing that since man wrote the books of the Bible, that they live in their own historically subjective time, and that you need to understand history to understand certain messages in Romans. This I agree with, but what I don't get is why are they arguing over this in the first place? Why should Bible interpretation be so damn ambiguous? How come some choose to take the meaning literally, others take it symbolically, others take it historically etc. It seems to me they do whatever's convenient to them, like student 1, who seems to have a complex of his God being viewed as "weak", and so he chooses to believe that his word is universally independent from time and history. He believes whatever is convenient for him. How fucking convenient is that?

I suppose what annoys me three the most is that earlier, before they started their Bible study, they were studying for their Racism in America class. They were going over topics and disagreeing with just about everything. They were saying that even the term "hate crime" itself is stupid. They were saying things like gays should not be allowed to get married, and if they ARE allowed to have civil unions, then straight people should have that right as well for tax benefits. One of them states that calling a crime a black-hate crime is racist towards white people. He said it should not matter what the white guy's motive is for committing a crime against the said black person, whether it's because he's black, or because he didn't like the way he smiled, that it should be considered as just "a crime".

Complete bullshit. And then, one of them trailed off about how he called his friend on the phone to see where they were parked at, because they were leaving soon, and he wanted their parking spot. His friend told him where, and apparently when he pulled in the parking lot and drove to the spot. When he arrived as his friend was pulling out, somebody girl was already sitting there waiting to pull into the spot. So this jackass pulled AROUND this person, and then drove right into his friend's parking spot and parked. When he got out the girl started bitching him out and he was making it seem like SHE was the asshole and he told her that he was "technically waiting longer" than she was for the parking spot, because he already called his friend a few minutes before. Then he compared the whole situation to if he pre-ordered an Xbox, and Walmart had one left, just because that girl just showed up and has been waiting in line, he still gets the last Xbox.

Talk about comparing apples to oranges..

Then the conversation trailed off and they started talking about how they like doing acid, and one starting talking about shrooms.

So yeah, these Christians creeped me the fuck out with their shit morals, and their Christian obsessions, and their hypocrisy. How do you go around judging anything and everything like they do? What a bunch of arrogant dickheads. What pisses me off the most is that whatever I would have or could have said to them, they would just argue with me until they're blue in the face. They seemed like the type. That and I don't believe in pushing your beliefs on others against their will. So why fucking bother? They choose to be the way they are, and their religion is just their outlet of justifying their means.

I just got a really bad feeling about them. Fucking creepy they were.. gave me the willies!

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So I was walking in USF today to class, and there were a bunch of presentational stands up. One of them was an Atheist one (ha! Never seen that one before.. there’s always at least 3 religious stands though..). I started talking to the Atheist running the stand, and noticed a flyer he had printed up. It contained a picture of Hopewell Baptist Church’s billboard sign that read “A free thinker is Satan’s slave”. The picture here is all I could find online. But this man wrote the church an excellent letter:

Dear President, Pastor, Board and Congregation of Hopewell Baptist Church,

I noted your billboard as I passed by your church; I know it must make you very proud. It confirms the true nature of Christianity, not as an institution nurturing brotherly love but rather an institution nurturing hate, bigotry and intolerance.

Your attempt to stereotype “those who use their head for something other than a hat rack” as agents of evil is typical of the Christian Right. It is not at all surprising. It’s clear, the greater the love of your mythical god, the greater you must assail the universal brotherhood of mankind. No doubt you will continue to nurture bigotry and divisiveness in the name of your god. After all, it’s scriptural. Luke 19:27 Admittedly, Jesus says it all and you’re right on target.

As for me, I will reject your idea of so called “brotherly love.” Instead, I’ll embrace the values of a freethinker.

• I will practice inclusiveness, equity and just for all, regardless of their belief or the lack of it.

• I will practice empathy for those who are different, whether by choice or not.

• I will respect the right of the individual to think independently, challenge faith with reason and to choose.

• I will never label or stereotype groups in divisible ways that seek to disenfranchise, cause them to be despised and/or treated as second class citizens.

 I will do these things because I no longer allow institutions like yours to spoon feed me their anti-human dogma. Yes, I am a “freethinker”. I have evolved beyond your ideology of despair to realize… “There are only human solutions to human problems, if we can’t or don’t do it, it won’t get done.” If that makes me your mythical Satan’s slave then so be it. My life you may take, but my integrity… never. I am proud of my values and my rejection of your god’s so-called “love”. If you want to do humanity a favor, you can start by insisting your evil god do his own dirty work!

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     It is repulsive that God allows so much pain, famine, death, and sin in this world that appears to serve no purpose in a spiritual nor biblical sense. If God was all-knowing, then he knew Eve would eat from the tree, he wanted to bring us pain. If that’s the case, and God exists and is just content with sitting on the sidelines, then this world has no use for God. This so-called God is merely cosmetic and not worthy of devotion. Humans are obsessed with themselves and many can’t accept the fact that we don’t mean a damn thing in this universe, that we are just a mere nothing, in the blink of time. No, they must think that they are all important and have a purpose in life and that somebody is watching over them.

     Humans are social creatures, and they can’t stand the thought of being alone, but we are on our own. We live by our choices and we die alone just like any other animal. We are without a supreme deity who guides us through life and moral choices. Those moral choices come from within. Religion can only form a thin yet deceiving veil over an immoral person. Religion is natural way of humans to act in their obsessive compulsive ways, and is nothing more than a crutch for all to lean on in trying times, at its best. However, it is also responsible for some of the most bloodiest and gruesome conflicts in human history and can bring as much misery as it relieves. We should live by our own code of decency. We don’t need organized religion to guide us, nor hinder us in our choices.

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The "Bible Belt" is a slang term used for a geographical region in the South and the midsection of the United States — areas that host large groups of fundamentalist Christians. The area of focus here is basically the southeast of the U.S. I personally live in Florida and I once thought all of America was so Christianized. Although I don't feel exactly accepted here, because I can't just go around saying I'm an Atheist. People tend to look at me differently, and think something must be wrong with me if I don't believe in God. So the only people I bothered talking about Atheism with is close friends and family really. I plan on moving to Pennsylvania or perhaps another state in the northeast when I finish college. I'm glad to see that things will be much better there!

To be a true Bible Belt Christian, you must have a clear understanding of the things you don't do, like smoking, dancing, going to the pool hall, drinking, or making a public appearance without a Bible in hand. You must believe that your actions are controlled by the Holy Spirit and that doing God's will is the most important part of your life — no matter what scoffers might think.

Some say that certain people in the Bible Belt go overboard in both their religious and political (usually conservative) practices. But Bible Belters believe that their lives are totally controlled by God and they could no more change their ways than fly. Furthermore, they don't apologize for their seemingly irrational behavior. Like a favorite bumper sticker declares, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven."

Quoted from: http://ca.essortment.com/whereisthebib_rgux.htm 

Of course, the quote is poking fun at the Bible Belt, but unfortunately it's an all-too serious issue that does get to me at times. Living in its proximity has caused me to develop a bias towards Christians many times when I have to keep reminding myself that it's just the people around here. Not all Christians are like them. In my area, Christian businesses who proudly display Jesus Fish on their business doors and signs are ripe for the picking. I all too often see Christian bumper stickers, some cars having more than 5 at once. There are so many people here who advertise their faith, and it's only Christians who do it. There is even a local Christian yellow pages called "The Shepard's Guide", that has Christian-only businesses in it. To me, this is both wrong, and foolish. It's wrong because public yellow pages should not be allowed to single out and allow Christian businesses only. That would be like having "The White Man's Guide" that has a list of businesses that host an all-white man staff, no blacks, women etc. And it's foolish because the fact that a business is Christian does not mean crap, they'll still rip your ass off. A lot of Christians are using "The Shepard's Guide" to find Christian businesses that they trust just because the business is Christian. That is just plain ignorant.

Picture of the Bible Belt: The most conservative, gay-hating, flag-waving, Jesus-worshipping, anti-evolutionist, church and state joining, conservative Christians are located in the red area. I'm in Tampa, FL, at the very bottom of the blurred red area. I cannot imagine what the dark red areas are like! Pennsylvania looks very nice to me!

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