Greetings everyone,

Here is a short, Nyquil influenced bio of who am I and why I've arrived here.

I'm from Missouri, right smack in the middle of the Bible Belt.  I was raised in a Christian household, although I willingly dismissed the notion of a creator at a rather young age (Certainly by the age in which we develop mature thoughts).  My mother, while a believer (And now borderline agnostic), encouraged free thought and hoped I would someday find her God.  Well, many years later I've became every more entrenched in my ideology and if anything my steadfast hold on reason has perhaps convinced her of the error of religiosity.

I was a subtle Atheist, one not born of shame but of tolerance.  The subject would arise in conversation with friends and they knew/understood/tolerated my stance on the subject as I was certainly tolerant of religion.  However, life has changed me.  I've come to recognize religion as an oppression that seems to envelop our culture and lives.  Hitchens, I've come to accept, is quite right when he states the poisoning effect of religion. 

I am a nurse, so naturally I work around the dying and ill daily.  I've seen religion deny patients choices in healthcare, I've seen mothers cry over the death of their teen as he 'was not saved' before his wreck and I've seen cancer laden patients lament why their savior had forsaken them.  Some may believe wars and intolerance are the nastiest consequence of religion.  I would challenge the inward emotional mutilation I've witnessed as the most sad and pathetic.

So, here I found myself, ready to cast aside any notion of bystander and take religion on.  I will no longer silence myself on the tolerance of their belief.  I will be active in the oncoming enlightenment of our age.  So, I offer myself, my thoughts and my time for any aid I'm capable of. 

Thanks for the site and I look forward to being a member here.

Ryan