My Atheist Journey

The best way to understand why atheism is so important to me is to start with a little background. I grew up and still live in Texas, the region other Texans regularly refer to as the religious part of Texas. So my experience has also been shaped by my environment. I don't want to focus too much on emphasizing how religious the culture is, but I do want to give an indication. For example, few people I know accept the theory of evolution or the Big Bang; non-creationist scientific theories are largely perceived as bullshit with the infamous “just a theory” argument. Perhaps an anecdote can help illuminate further:

I volunteer at a small place that helps low-income people without prescription insurance obtain medicine. I have no idea how much the director earns but the non-profit small business world isn't known for making people rich. In other words, the director is an extremely intelligent, ethical and hardworking person who chose to use her talents in a way that benefits others. One of the benefits of volunteering there is having good conversation during the rare times we're slow. In the midst of one conversation the director casually mentioned that there's no such thing as an atheist (with the implication being that no one can be truly free of religion in their “heart of hearts”). This was simply a casual comment by an otherwise intelligent person that was so culturally acceptable no one even batted an eye.

This is also the sort of culture that I exist in. Which means that I've had to learn how to walk softly around many people I want to maintain relationships with. There are exceptions, for example my closest friend who is training to become a Lutheran minister, but as a general rule I need to tread lightly or else the ...

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...had to discover it through difficult sustained introspection of some of my most cherished beliefs. It was a lonely journey, and in a lot of ways it still is. My sincerity in my opposition to religious faith hasn't wavered as I've matured, but my opposition has become much more nuanced and, one hopes, more reflective of thoughtful opposition. The journey wasn't always pretty, but the reward – a mental freedom from religious dogmatic oppression – was well worth it.

Once I accepted that god doesn't exist (or its corollary of allowing our beliefs to be exclusively based evidence and reason rather than faith) I was free to use my mind to the best of my ability. I'm free to find all the answers I can about everything imaginable. It was a scary feeling at first, I'm so incredibly ignorant of so much about the world, but embracing that ignorance is incredibly empowering!