Re-Introductions Thread

[Nine]

I came up with this idea a few weeks ago but wanted to save it till today seems its my accounts 2nd birthday. The plan is that people can re-introduce themselves seems a lot can change in the years people are on here. Plus it gives newer members a chance to know about members who joined a long time ago without having to go tracking down their intro thread.

So starting with me:

---

I'm Mark a 21 year old from the south of England. I live in a town right in the middle of the south downs national park. Its great in the summer but pretty miserable in the winter. In the winter I spend most of my time inside lurking around the internet trying to find anything interesting to do. In the summer I try to be outside as much as I can manage. Though I hate the heat and usually stay in the shade..

As a kid I spent a lot of time with my friends usually doing something ridiculous. Nothing too bad but usually somewhat dangerous. We mostly stopped after a friend almost died after falling off a rope swing we set up in the middle of the woods. I had a big falling out with another group of friends I had when I was like 15-16 and fell out of contact with most of the others. Now I spend most of my time in my own company. Reading that back it sound depressing, its not. I've never been a fan of talking I prefer sitting back and observing.

Seem this is atheist forums I should probably add something about religion. Growing up it really wasn't something I ever thought about. I thought nobody really believed other than the old, weird and the stupid. I figured everyone played along just for the sake of them. It wasn't until I was older when I actually found out a lot of people genuinely believed.. I took religious studies at school and then college because I found the whole thing bizarre. Then I was completely taken back by how horrific the 5-6 really religious people in the class were. Things like if there was no god they would just kill, steal and whatever else because it wouldn't matter.

Thats where I repeatedly got reminded by them they thought I was going to go to hell. It honestly hurt my feelings at first. Obviously not because I thought hell was a thing. Just because I knew they believed it and said it happily, they were glad that I would be tormented for eternity? For nothing other than not believing. I'd known assholes before but never met nice people that were so twisted inside. It completely changed the way I saw humanity. I've never liked bullies and I saw these type of people as another group of bullies and made it my goal to be able to put them in their place when I needed to.

---

If this thread does well I might remake them every 6 months to a year. Could be interesting

[Mister Agenda]

Congratulations, glad you're still here, Insanity!

[fr0d0]

*looks for a derail opportunity*

But seriously

That's my experience of religious people too. Especially the younger ones I think. They think they're special yet have zero actual understanding behind their claim to elite status. Indeed quite the opposite.

Nice to learn about you again insanity.

[Minimalist]

I haven't changed!

[Nine]

Congratulations, glad you're still here, Insanity!

Thanks man. This place is too much fun to leave

*looks for a derail opportunity*

So long as its an interesting derailing I'm game.

---

I haven't changed!

The active members have

[Napoléon]

My name's Napoleon, I used to believe in ancient aliens (a few people might remember that), but now I'm happy to say I'm not so much of a retard.

I'm still a fair bit of a retard though.

Hello AF!

[Violet]

My name's Napoleon, I used to believe in ancient aliens (a few people might remember that), but now I'm happy to say I'm not so much of a retard.

Wait... you still DO believe in me, right?

[Angrboda]

[c172]

Interesting idea for a thread!

OK....Hi, folks. I came over from atheistforums.com, where I had the same moniker . TBH, some of the social interaction over there frustrates me, and this site is somewhere I don't feel a need to try too hard to fit in (though at times I do; it's a habit of mine in all spheres of my life).

I'm a 38 year old male from San Diego. I have spina bifida (T-2 incomplete myelomeningocele for those who are part of the SB world). I was first raised in a YMCA church (not even sure which denomination that would be. I was a little kid. My babysitters took me). Around age 10, I joined my local Unitarian Universalist church, but around age 23, I fell out with that religion.

I'm a political Independent. I'm pro-gay marriage, pro-death penalty, pro-gun, against affirmative action inmost cases, and slowly starting to understand global warming.

and enjoy watching college sports, especially soccer (and pro soccer as well, including MLS, NWSL, and fleetingly some other leagues). I also enjoy motorsports. In particular rallying and sports car racing, both current and historic. Favorite car marques are Volvo, Subaru, Volkswagen, and Chevrolet (love the 5th-gen Camaro).

Not sure what else to say, but hello! Again!

[fr0d0]

Hi, I'm fr0d0. I live in mid Wales UK. I'm 53 and married, although separated, with two kids aged 11 and 13. I love my kids dearly and crack up if I don't see them in the week and every weekend. My wife and I are on good terms and are working it out.

My parents, the only direct family I've really known, and my maternal grandmother I guess, are/ were all atheist. My mum the only vocal atheist. My dad just generally mocked

At age 25 I became a Christian after extended conversations with a work colleague, which lead to other exploration. The year Nelsen Mandela was released I became an atheist. Lots of negativity had grown into me against my church of origin and some of the people there. I was happy at my new church but felt I needed more personal thinking space. The conversion, just like the conversion the other way, was a light switch affair. Upshot was, I became a very militant atheist. I had anger problems where I'd imagine stabbing people from my original denomination.

All this time I had Christian friends. My wife is a religious, obedient type. She pretty much bore the brunt of it. I got to a point, must be 6 to 8 years ago now, where my head was back rationalising God. That was directly as a result of discussing it at length on a tech forum, where I was confronted with full blown atheism as we know it here. So I became a Christian again. I joined Richard Dawkins forum, which was a baptism of fire, and moved here when that collapsed.

I've got some great friends here, and lots of people that I admire and cherish, from all angles on belief.