IronChariots.org

[bugsoup]

Hello everyone.

First, I'd like to thank the Moderation Gods for this forum. I know that includes at least Matt; I'm not sure who else. And Second, I am an atheist. I was born an atheists (as in, ALL babies are atheists), raised to be a Methodists, but never believed that someone was really going to punish me for falling asleep in church. I've been a skeptic all my life and in general love to know how things work.

Please be patient, this may go on for a while. I promise, it's all relavant.

I think I follow a typical path for an atheist as far as labels go. I considered myself Methodist (while keeping my distance from the crazy Catholics in my town) but never really cared if God was real. And certainly didn't believe the creation mythology, Easter mythology, or any fantastic story that required magic or faith. It just never made sense to me and I didn't "feel" the love.

After graduating from High School, I joined the AIr Force and was a chapel guide for every Sunday service. I was relieved when the services were less about praising god and more about realizing that family and community connections will get you through the day. And that particular brand of service did get me through some tough weeks in Basic Training.

Skip ahead to my first assignment, with a roommate (and best friend) from a strict Christian home. He and I often agrued for the sake of arguing. Mainly I would take the opposite position from his just to have something to debate. He was an admittied agnostic theist, so even though I didn't care really, I "became" an atheist for the debate. Our discussions usually turned into debates on the feasiblilty of the stories in the "Good Book" ended with him saying "I don't know why I still go to church, my mom would be pissed if I stiopped going", These discussion sometimes turned to politics, which a hated talking about at the time, and really got the ball rolling on my way to the truth.

Are you still with me? Good

So at this point, I finished my four years on Active Duty and start college. Sophomore year, I took Philosophy 100 and it was the easiest course I have taken or will ever take. I loved the mental gymnastics that the professor made us do, and instantly found the need to learn more. When I say it was easy, I mean I understood all the concepts immediately, but it was a lot of work in terms of reading and time.

Skip ahead to a few months ago. I find the ACA wbsite and the Atheist Experience podcast. To date, I've watch most of the episodes posted to Google Video. I can't get enough. If I had any money, I would buy all the DVDs.

My final story is about this past Easter weekend. Who thought it would be an appropriate time to tell my family that I am an atheist? Definately not this skeptic. Anyway, a tiny backstory is that my 91 year old grandmother finally moved back up north from Florida, just in time for the usual family Easter dinner. This will be the first time in about five years that I've seen her because I'd live far away and have no money to travel to Florida. I should share that I did not tell my loving old grandmother that I was an atheist. This is partially because of a comment my mother made to me.

"Your grandmother thinks she might be going to hell because she hasn't gone to chuch in a eight weeks." said mom.

I saw my opening so I said, "Well, I could reassure her that there is no such place." I procede to tell my mother that I've always been agnostic and explain that she is really an agnostic. She learns from me that gnosticism and theism are not mutually exclusive. The next two hours in the car are spent talking about religion and church. In a good way. We are both very logical people and I use a lot of the arguments I learned from the AE. She mainly agrees with everything I have to say.

Next up is my aunt. I know for a fact she is very open minded so I never feared telling her. She went to Woodstock. Do I have to say more? So anyway, I told her about my interesting conversation on the way down to her house and she showed me a book by Esther Hicks about the New Age philosophy. We discussed why I don't believe in all of it and I showed her the AE website and Beliefnet.org which I found through the podcast.

This New Age BS was one reason I want to join this forum. Look for a question to the community on this subject in the near future.

Thanks for reading all of this.
Now you know my side of my story.

Scott

Edit: I never did state my beliefs. As of now:

1. I do not have any reason to believe in, fear, or worship a higher being.
2. The God of the bible is impossible.
3. There are infinitely many things we do not know about the way the universe works.
4. No one has the right to legislate morality if it is based on an unproven entity.
5. The United States is NOT, and never has been, a Christian Nation.
6. It should be the goal of everyone to come up with rational reasons for what they believe.
7. I can be wrong. (and frequently learn things and modify my beliefs)

I am very opinionated and have more beliefs, but thats all that I can think of at the moment.

[jhawksgirl]

What is it with the military and atheism?
Glad to meet ya'.

[bugsoup]

[jhawksgirl]

There's at least one other ex-military man on these boards. That's all I meant.

[bugsoup]

I shouldn't assume so much.

I wonder if there are other ex-military members here. I'd definately be interested in their stories. Another reason one might give is that the exposure to different cultures through our travels around the world gives us an opportunity (if we chose) to find alternatives to our own beliefs. It's a perfect chance, if conditions are right, to realize that their are other options. Maybe Matt would agree.

Please don't mind my rambling. In my current position in life, I don't often get to voice these thoughts.
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[MyT]

[bugsoup]

[MyT]

The Air Force does make for a good ride though I prefer the Japanese Air Force (smoother ride).
I have also never seen an A-10 here. They pretty much only fly 16s and cargo/transport craft around here.
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In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move.
-- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[bugsoup]

So I had another good (and long) conversation with my aunt and she asked me a few questions that I knew I could answer but not as to-the-point as some articles I've read. She asked me:

1. Why do you care so much about this subject (religion and atheism)?
2. What are your motives for continuing to discuss this with me?
3. What unites atheists (beliefs)?

I'm sure there were others, but these specifically were interesting to me.

1. A personal question which most active atheists probably have thought about. My personal feelings continue to concentrate on the seperation of church and state. It never bothered me until I moved to NC and lived in a dry county. I still don't understand blue laws and why this isn't a clear violation of my personal freedoms. I understand that there are other ways of buying alcohol, but if that is the case, what is the point of prohibiting the sale in an entire county? She mostly agreed with this reasoning.

2. At first, I told her I just wanted to learn more points of view and see what she thought of mine. Later, I confessed that I wasn't entire truthful. I told her that while I did want to know her point of view, I also would like confirmation that I'm not nuts and that she would or might modify her somewhat benign beliefs. I told her I kinda wanted to "convert" people to my point of view. Then we discussed the issue of "pure motives".

3. A common question which is easily answered. I told her that the dictionary definition often doesn't explain it all and that refinement of the definition is necessary. I explained strong vs weak atheism, but the topic shifted before I got to Gnostic vs Theistic.

After leaving and sleeping on it, I remembered the most important answer to #1 is the surveys showing Atheists as the most untrusted minority group in the country. Does anyone have links to the articles explaining this survey? I'd like to email her the links.

Also, since my main goal here is to expand on my debating skills as well as learn how I truly feel, please let me know if I ever (or have ever in the past) contradict myself. When I do, it is a sure sign that I need to think about something more in depth.
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[spblat]

[bugsoup]

Thanks very much for the link. Even though she is very accepting, and she has even reduced a god concept to a universal positive energy, I still wanted to answer her question as honestly as I could.
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