Who am I?

I am Secular Humanist.

As a Humanist, I feel that people bring shape and meaning to their own lives without any reliance upon the supernatural or appeals the deities.  Through science, art, ethics and community people create societies that can be the best for it’s members, both individually and as a whole.

That said, we live in a world mixed with religion, and crossed with superstition.  As an American living the USA, the religion I experience the most contact with is Christianity.  In fact, for the beginning part of my life, I was a Christian.

Many Atheists pride themselves on knowing a lot about The Bible.  I’ve read lots of different parts of the Bible, parts that most Christians are surprised are in it.  But I’ve never read the entire thing.  It was always something I felt I should do, both as a literary exercise and as a counter to Christian apologetics.

Oh, yes.  I am an Atheist. (Notice the capital “A”).  I am a rational atheist, who wants better evidence for an all-powerful being than I have been presented with so far.

Why I’m an Atheist (the short version)

I was raised to believe. Sunday school, discussions of God, prayers, etc etc.  But as I grew, I learned more about the world, and what I was learning started to directly conflict with what I was taught in my religious instructions.  My answer to this was to find a way to reconcile the differences and solve the conflicts.  I wanted to have both.

Yet, the more I learned, the greater the gap, until I came to the realization that I just couldn’t believe anymore.  I tried.  I sincerely tried, but the working knowledge of the “real world” far outweighed the internal faith I had been told was true.

All the arguments I have heard for the existence of a god seem to have fallen into three catagories:

  • It conflict with real world evidence
  • Based on a logical fallacy or is logically inconsistent
  • Applies to multiple gods, each of whom are exclusive in their religion

Until better evidence can be presented the only reasonable and ethical stance to take is disbelief.