I paid for a Deluxe Life package, and I got this!
Offline I put off doing this, or at least I didn't see an intro with my handle on it.
OK, who am I?
6'4" (1.9m) tall, 230 lbs.(104k), green eyes(hazel), formerly black hair turned gray and
receding. really fair skinned, but tanned all over somewhat (grin).
Although born in Louisiana and mostly living in Mississippi, I have had many people
be unable to ID my accent. A fact I take a bit of pride in. Deep fried in Baptist theology, but my interest in classical mythology, horror legends, and sci-fi probably helped me develop a somewhat rational mind. I found superhero comics at 13 and being a
visually oriented person, I was hooked. I was probably also drawn to the power they
had. They didn't have to suffer. They could make a real difference in their lives and
others. I have owned and read over 3000 sci-fi books, and comics too. I found I have
an aptitude for computers, and have been proficient in many programs and hardware
including proramming in HTML. Not too up-to-date on networking, though.
I was very troubled by religion. I couldn't reconcile the prohibitions against sex with
my own natural desires. It scared me so bad when I looked at a girl, that I couldn't
deal with girls at all. I became seriously depressed. I continually questioned
everything, because there must be a way for the religion everyone claimed to believe
to make sense, after all, they seemed to not be having such a problem with it. Since I
did, I must be doing something really wrong. Long story short, I finally realized that
the relgion is what didn't make sense. Everyone else was just ignoring it and doing
what their bodies told them to anyway. Still couldn't shake the guilt, and at 40 I was
still alone and so depressed I was suicidal. I couldn't go on so I got help.
I found out I wasn't alone, others had problems like mine. I realized that the religion
had stolen all my best years. I found a woman, went back to school, got a degree, got
a good job (for this area anyway), and am living fairly well considering I never thought
I'd live beyond 40 or be with a woman or own a decent house. I am somewhat irrational about religion. I want it wiped out, because I can see that it will always only
hurt people, some worse than others. Some it will destroy or kill. Whatever good it
might accomplish is not worth the detriment it costs. I firmly believe that we would
have a much more scientifically advanced culture and a more free and equal society by now, a virtual utopia, if we had gotten rid of religion centuries ago.
I have a poem published in Covalence Magazine (covalencemag.org?) issue 3, which they should put online at some point. I did an article for Flashback Universe blog. I wrote an article for Exchristians.net. All this year, and all unpaying (lol). I have written
poems, short stories, and even a screen play (just to say I did), all unpublished.
I want a more secular, open minded, freedom loving world, but I can barely survive.
So I write comments online here and there hoping I can make a small contribution to the things I feel so strongly about.
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Glad to have you here.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
Welcome.
I share your feeling. Religion is a mind fuck and a half. It took decades to shake it out of my head.
Religion Kills !!!
Numbers 31:17-18 - Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
http://jesus-needs-money.blogspot.com/
I am honored to be among such company. Thanks Vastet
welcome to the forum
EM, you make me feel lucky to be me, which is a rare thing.
“A meritocratic society is one in which inequalities of wealth and social position solely reflect the unequal distribution of merit or skills amongst human beings, or are based upon factors beyond human control, for example luck or chance. Such a society is socially just because individuals are judged not by their gender, the colour of their skin or their religion, but according to their talents and willingness to work, or on what Martin Luther King called 'the content of their character'. By extension, social equality is unjust because it treats unequal individuals equally.” "Political Ideologies" by Andrew Heywood (2003)
I sympathize with a lot of what you mentioned as to your background (except I was never a theist). Congrats on seeking and obtaining help. That's a big mind-shift and it's worth it.
I don't know about utopia, but I agree with the general idea that society would be much further along if we hadn't been held back by religion for so long.
Welcome to the forums, looking forward to interacting with you!
As for your writing success, that's awesome! If you're looking for an extra outlet for your creative writing, Weston Bortner has organized the Atheist Literature Club, and we would all welcome your contributions.
Wonderist on Facebook — Support the idea of wonderism by 'liking' the Wonderism page — or join the open Wonderism group to take part in the discussion!
Gnu Atheism Facebook group — All gnu-friendly RRS members welcome (including Luminon!) — Try something gnu!
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Well, your experiences are a bit different from mine but there is some intersect.
I was born in Indiana but my parents were from Boston and I have lived in Connecticut for most of life, so nobody can twig to my accent.
My father had an argument with the priest when I was seven and we stopped going to church. My parents were divorced when I was a teen and mom had us back in church promptly. I was still young enough to take things at face value but I was also a huge sci-fi fan have read as many books as I can soak up and done the same with movies, I was somewhat prepared to understand that it was a story.
A couple of years later, when I moved out on my own, I discovered that everyone asks “where do you go to church?” not really expecting that I was going to their favorite but that it was somehow important that I go to church. So I tried a few. None of them were of any use to me and the last couple were mind blowing cults.
So I was out on my own for many years after that, having concluded that religions were all man made. At that time, I had not quite given up on the general idea that there might be something out there though.
Skipping several steps, I ended up on a high performance computer forum where one of the mods was a professional philosopher with five PhD degrees. Why a computer forum needs to discuss religion, I have no idea but there was a debates section that touched on all manner of controversial topics. I ended up working that one pretty heavily and the aforementioned mod helped me greatly to realize that I really did not buy into god claims.
It took a few years after that but I eventually ended up here.
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Glad I could assist. It cracked me up. Reminds of that wise quote
"No man is completely useless; he can always serve as a bad example"
Religion Kills !!!
Numbers 31:17-18 - Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
http://jesus-needs-money.blogspot.com/
Thanks Natural, I'll check it out.
Answers In Gene: Sounds like you had a relatively painless time of it, but of course I only hit the highlights myself. It would have been fantastic if my de-brainwashing had been more of an accepted quest for self and not a secret I not only couldn't tell, but had someone to ask about and not be judged.
Kapkao: I have always thought we can learn something from everyone, even if it is how NOT to act. From the mentally challenged, we can learn to be patient and kind to those not as capable as ourselves.
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Actually no. As I said, I skipped over the complicated part. When I was moving from church to church, I got mixed up with a couple of cults.
You would not know it from the public face, but the Salvation Army is a huge cult. Up front, the seem like nice people running a charity. The regular Sunday service is kind of nothing much as well. When you scratch the surface, they have much more going on.
First was the strange bible teachings. The reading plan is to read the NT starting with the gospel of John. Nice way to make sure that those not yet sucked in don't get to see just how different the gospels really are. Then there is the glossing over of the first several centuries of church history with the line “not much in known about the early church”.
The real danger lies when they think that they have you softened up enough. Then you get invited to the weekend retreat. Sure, it starts out nice. A camp deep in the woods. Fishing, boating, shooting. All fun but they are slowly tightening the screws. By the time you get home on Monday afternoon, you just don't know which way is up.
I only got away from them because I got suck into the Landmark Baptist movement. They were far worse. The brain wash job they do was so deep that I can't even remember much of it in any detail. I do remember that at the time, I had shoulder length hair and a beard.
Well, everyone knows that all christian men have short hair parted on the side, are clean shaven and wear white shirts with black ties. So I just had to ask about all the images of jesus.
“Oh, those are just paintings.”
So what did the dude look like? Well, only pastor is allowed to read the OT. Because he has been specially trained to interpret it for everyone else. He whips out the book, finds a single verse about men cutting their hair and as soon as I have read that one line, the book gets slammed shut. Great, men's grooming tips in the bible. I cut and ran from there soon after.
Then I was pretty much adrift for several years, until I found that forum I mentioned with the philosopher on staff. It was during my interaction with him that I finally made it out.
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I've had to learn to stop beating myself up over years waisted with religion.
The problem is it would have to be replaced with something better, something that actually works.
Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world, while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success. --Mark Skousen
AIG, do you think that had you been more exposed to scientific method during your childhood, either in curriculum, or simply by being exposed to more books on it and such, that it would have prevented you from believing in religion, and/or 'drifting' all those years, looking for some type of grounding?
I get really curious when I listen to ex-theists, as I really can't relate. Maybe I take my completely secular upbringing for granted too much.
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris
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Actually it would not have helped me redneF. I had a fairly solid science background with nearly no religion at all.
Most of my memories of church were playing in the nursery while the big people went off for something else. I think that a time or two, I was brought into the big people room for something that I did not really understand.
Then my father had a break with the church over the date when my baby brother would be baptized. If memory serves, dad had picked a day and the priest already had too much stuff scheduled that day. So dad called the priest who had married my parents and he came down from wherever he lived for the deal. The downstairs bathroom sink was the source for the holy water.
So yah, I pretty much grew up without religion. As I said earlier, there was a period after the divorce where we went to church and I kinda followed that but that was because I was old enough to think but still young enough to not really ask the right questions.
It was not until I got out on my own and discovered the world where it was assumed that everyone goes to church that I had to deal with it. Then I went exploring the matter.
The catholics had the collection plate at the end of a pole. So you could not pass it to the next person. It would stay in front of you until it was established that you had put something in. Only went there once.
I tried a few others before I got mixed up with the cults. The thing being that cults rip you a new mental asshole.
Really, I had an uncontroversial public school upbringing (apart from court mandated bussing of blacks in fourth grade but that is a different subject). I knew what was what going in to religion. When I was on that retreat, they had me fully under the spell when I was informed that I would be required to believe in YEC crap. I knew that that was wrong but I was in a mental fog at the time and I was like “OK, that is what I have to do”. There was no question at that point. I knew that I had to believe what I knew to be wrong.
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