Hello!
My name is Zack and I live just outside of Bloomington, Indiana. I discovered this forum by searching Google for atheist forums. After reading a couple posts I decided to register. There are few if any people in my area I can talk with about the absence of belief.
I never felt the need to label myself as a humanist, secularist, atheist, etc. I just replied to questions about my faith with, "I'm not really a believer." I don't give gods and religion much thought outside academia. I never learned much about atheism, agnosticism, or skepticism either. As with religion, these things rarely crossed my mind. Recently, I came across a video on Youtube, "A Brief History of Disbelief" and became enamored with the ideas Jonathan Miller discussed. This video led me to Bertrand Russell's "Why I Am Not A Christian," Sam Harris's "The End Of Faith," and numerous Christopher Hitchens lectures. Then came other documentaries and lectures from Dawkins to Grayling to Dennett. Since I prefer literature over any other medium I read Hitchens "God Is Not Great" and just started Michel Onfray's "Atheist Manifesto." Now my mind is starving for more and I can't seem to get enough.
I feel I should mention how I think my lack of belief originated. My mother believes in God but doesn't practice any kind of religion; whilst my father is a disillusioned Catholic. He was raised in a very observant Roman Catholic family and attended Catholic school; replete with knuckle-cracking nuns in traditional habits. After college he moved to Bloomington and stopped attending Mass regularly. His first child, my brother, was baptized in the Church and later enrolled in the local Catholic school. By the time I was born, it had been several years since my father had returned to his hometown parish. He took me to the church he had been baptized in and asked the priest when I could be baptized. The priest informed him that it would not be possible. Since my father had left the parish,was attending a different church and had not payed the tithe; I would not be baptized. On the way out, my dad dipped his fingers in the holy water and performed his own "baptism." To add insult to injury, shortly thereafter representatives of this church knocked on our door wanting God's 10%. Needless to say, my father made sure I never stepped inside a church except for weddings and funerals. He never encouraged me to doubt; neither did he once speak of God, Heaven or Hell, or religion in general.
Having started life without any exposure to religion; all the religious oriented things that my family, friends and neighbors do/did seem foreign to me now, creating a feeling of alienation. I tried to sit through my nephew's baptism but I don't speak Latin and the rituals were very confusing (all that sitting, standing, kneeling, call and response was too much). Now later in life I am starting to identify more and more as an atheist. I am trying to learn as much as I possibly can about atheism, especially the associated philosophy e.g. Democritus and Epicurus. Thankfully, I live in a college town but this is still Indiana and finding an outlet for discussion on this subject can be difficult.
I know this was supposed to be an introduction and not the whole book but I like to write. And if I am writing about something I like, it's kind of hard to "turn it off." Hello again and thanks for making the effort to get through all that.
My name is Zack and I live just outside of Bloomington, Indiana. I discovered this forum by searching Google for atheist forums. After reading a couple posts I decided to register. There are few if any people in my area I can talk with about the absence of belief.
I never felt the need to label myself as a humanist, secularist, atheist, etc. I just replied to questions about my faith with, "I'm not really a believer." I don't give gods and religion much thought outside academia. I never learned much about atheism, agnosticism, or skepticism either. As with religion, these things rarely crossed my mind. Recently, I came across a video on Youtube, "A Brief History of Disbelief" and became enamored with the ideas Jonathan Miller discussed. This video led me to Bertrand Russell's "Why I Am Not A Christian," Sam Harris's "The End Of Faith," and numerous Christopher Hitchens lectures. Then came other documentaries and lectures from Dawkins to Grayling to Dennett. Since I prefer literature over any other medium I read Hitchens "God Is Not Great" and just started Michel Onfray's "Atheist Manifesto." Now my mind is starving for more and I can't seem to get enough.
I feel I should mention how I think my lack of belief originated. My mother believes in God but doesn't practice any kind of religion; whilst my father is a disillusioned Catholic. He was raised in a very observant Roman Catholic family and attended Catholic school; replete with knuckle-cracking nuns in traditional habits. After college he moved to Bloomington and stopped attending Mass regularly. His first child, my brother, was baptized in the Church and later enrolled in the local Catholic school. By the time I was born, it had been several years since my father had returned to his hometown parish. He took me to the church he had been baptized in and asked the priest when I could be baptized. The priest informed him that it would not be possible. Since my father had left the parish,was attending a different church and had not payed the tithe; I would not be baptized. On the way out, my dad dipped his fingers in the holy water and performed his own "baptism." To add insult to injury, shortly thereafter representatives of this church knocked on our door wanting God's 10%. Needless to say, my father made sure I never stepped inside a church except for weddings and funerals. He never encouraged me to doubt; neither did he once speak of God, Heaven or Hell, or religion in general.
Having started life without any exposure to religion; all the religious oriented things that my family, friends and neighbors do/did seem foreign to me now, creating a feeling of alienation. I tried to sit through my nephew's baptism but I don't speak Latin and the rituals were very confusing (all that sitting, standing, kneeling, call and response was too much). Now later in life I am starting to identify more and more as an atheist. I am trying to learn as much as I possibly can about atheism, especially the associated philosophy e.g. Democritus and Epicurus. Thankfully, I live in a college town but this is still Indiana and finding an outlet for discussion on this subject can be difficult.
I know this was supposed to be an introduction and not the whole book but I like to write. And if I am writing about something I like, it's kind of hard to "turn it off." Hello again and thanks for making the effort to get through all that.
![[Image: tumblr_n1j4lmACk61qchtw3o1_500.gif]](https://66.media.tumblr.com/5fb74c6d16622fb3dbb358509c9aec03/tumblr_n1j4lmACk61qchtw3o1_500.gif)
Zack! Stick around, chime in, and have fun!
