Yeah, I really don't know what I'm doing here. I guess I thought it would be more fun than signing up to a Christian forum.

Since people seem to describe the history of their relationship with religion in these bits, I guess I'll go ahead and do the same. Though it will likely be pretty close to the opposite of most members.

I grew up in an atheistic family, there was never a mention of God so far as I can remember at all. My only encounter with religion was at funerals, though since I'm in England, where it's sometimes pretty hard to tell if even the heads of the church are actually religious or not, it wasn't too bad. Oh, and the Jehovas witnesses with their weird pamphlets, I remember those guys coming knocking, though they don't knock any more. I think I got myself put on the Jehovas witness blacklist, when I see them coming round our street now, they invariably knock on every door but mine. If anybody wants to know how to get rid of the crazy little dudes just ask.

My first real contact with religious people was when I was at university studying biology. I had a real nutty girlfriend who also studied biology whilst being a christian. I began to wonder how she squared all this cool science stufff we were learning with her religious beliefs. But she would never talk to me about it. It slowly became apparent that she didn't square them. She didn't even try. She just kind of ignored any problems. So I, kind of justifiably, began to believe that religious people were just weird.

This getting way longer than I intended, so I'll start skipping through it. So, I became one of those atheists who thinks all religious people are nuts and the world would be better off without them. ALL OF THEM!!! Started reading Nietzsche. Got interested in philosophy more broadly. Broadened my mind (or polluted it, depending on your viewpoint) with dudes like Kierkegaard, James, Aristotle et al. and many more philosophers, both theistic and not. This made me realise that I didn't know half as much as I thought I did. I became an agnostic and realised that going around saying things like "Oh, all theists are just irrational" was just a bit stupid. For a while I decided I wanted to become a christian, but couldn't quite make the leap, so I gave up, and just stayed agnostic.

So, that's me. Hello All.

Howdy!

Hi there, nice name by the way. Interesting introduction; from its title I sort of got the impression you'd stumbled in here by accident or something. No matter, you're amongst friends in the main.

Greetings.

(September 4, 2012 at 3:51 pm)Stimbo Wrote: Hi there, nice name by the way. Interesting introduction; from its title I sort of got the impression you'd stumbled in here by accident or something. No matter, you're amongst friends in the main.

Yeah, it was a stupid thread title. But, I couldn't think of anything clever, so it was a choice between stupid and banal.

No, I certainly wouldn't say it was stupid; it is eyecatching though, which means it does exactly what a title is supposed to do, draw the audience in. Like me, for instance!

Don't worry about having to prove anything here, my friend. Nobody's going to judge you for yourself. Well, maybe a few will but their opinions can safely be ignored anyway.

(September 4, 2012 at 3:41 pm)discordianpope Wrote: If anybody wants to know how to get rid of the crazy little dudes just ask.

Tell them that you've donated blood. That instantly puts you in the "shall not enter heaven" category. The last time I had a call from them, my opening line was that I was a militant atheist. I'm not quite sure what a militant atheist is, exactly, but they'd woken me up and tired-headed me wanted shot of them. Half an hour later, I remembered the blood donation line as they were already leaving. I could have closed the door at any point, but sometimes it's fun having a living breathing theist to tussle with.

(September 4, 2012 at 3:41 pm)discordianpope Wrote: I became one of those atheists who thinks all religious people are nuts...I became an agnostic...I wanted to become a christian...just stayed agnostic.

Jesus fuck, man... pick one football team and stick with them.

(September 4, 2012 at 4:14 pm)Stimbo Wrote: No, I certainly wouldn't say it was stupid; it is eyecatching though, which means it does exactly what a title is supposed to do, draw the audience in. Like me, for instance!

Don't worry about having to prove anything here, my friend. Nobody's going to judge you for yourself. Well, maybe a few will but their opinions can safely be ignored anyway.

Don't worry, I didn't mean stupid in that sense. I meant it as in wacky stupid not dumbass stupid. Damn it's hard to convey what you mean on forums. But I guess that's why emoticons exist.

Thanks for the greetings.

Hello, dis.

(September 4, 2012 at 4:24 pm)Red Celt Wrote: Jesus fuck, man... pick one football team and stick with them.

Haha. I don't know if you're talking proper football or NFL but, if the latter, I was even worse at that. I went from the packers to the falcons to the bengals back to the packers to the eagles back to the patriots to the giants back to the falcons before finally settling on the ravens. If you mean that other game, then, I have always been and will always be a Newcastle United supporter. Since my support of Newcastle is pretty much a matter of blind faith I'm not sure it is the best model for choosing a worldview though. I prefer the way I picked an NFL team. Check them all out and see which one grabs you.