I read about you on ABC News... I can not BEGIN to articulate just how much I want to THANK YOU for existing! As a hardcore atheist of 7 years, I have learned to hide my beliefs; I can not discuss them, rationally, with anyone- not even my best friends. People are stunned, shocked, baffled, and offended by my knowledge (not opinion) that not only does any type of god, creator or holy spirit exist, but that the belief in he/she/it is responsible for more pain, agony, death, destruction, self-hatred, depression, REpression, anxiety, sexual misconduct, war, and misery than ANY other construct of the human imagination. I have resigned myself to the sad fact that I can not so much as whisper the fact of my atheism in any social gathering. I have long been searching for like-minded individuals with whom to share the overwhelming frustrations of not being able to communicate the simple fact that my atheism has allowed, not prevented, me to see and love life more clearly than I ever knew possible. Raised a Christian, embracing the truth of godlessness was a terrifying and difficult experience. But, one that I knew I had to go through; at a certain point, it became impossible for me to fool myself any longer. Once it became clear to me that there simply is no god, I realized that my only choice was to be honest and truthful with myself. I could not hide behind the cloak of agnositcism, or simply call myself "spiritual." It was the hardest, and consequently most rewarding, leap of faith I have ever made- to accept the fact that my former belief in god was the single greatest source of misery in my life. Why? Because it was a lie, and I'd spent my entire life being controlled by it. Which, incidentally, is precisely what Christianity has been manufactured to accomplish: control people. Am I saying that billions of people are wrong, and a tiny handful of people are right? Um, yes. I am saying exactly that. Anyway, I realize I'm rambling. I'm just so freakin' happy to have found you! Thanks so much.