I haven't had a chance to thoroughly observe this forum before posting, which isn't necessarily the best way of going about things, but it's been a long day and it's nice to indulge in a bit of impatience every now and then. I did, however, read over the rules, the guide over netiquette and briefly over the use of codes - I'll reference them more as I need them.
I did come over from atheistforums.com and I can see a few names I recognize. However, I'm not here due to jumping ship, but simply out of curiosity. AF has never caused me any grief and on many occasions has offered an outlet for the anti-theistic thoughts I have at times, especially when patience and careful thinking ends and frustrations begin. This tends to happen as I live in the United States, particularly in the arrogantly dubbed 'Bible-Belt.' I live in a small town that is reluctant to recognize other beliefs and especially caustic to lack of belief. The libraries are censored, and although there are those in the science departments who happily disprove creationism, students at the local college are subjected to creationism and other unsubstantiated theological arguments in many of the other classes.
Since I am not one to remain quiet over things I feel impassioned about, I have opened my mouth when I probably shouldn't have, I have voiced my lack of belief (and the reasoning behind that) when I probably shouldn't have, and I have questioned every instructor every step of the way employing the very critical thinking skills that is mandatory for every college student to learn. A few of the students have applauded my efforts, but I am skeptical if it is because they felt my reasoning was sound or found my rebellious nature to be amusing. In either case, for the times when I have to bite my tongue or when I know my emotions are unfounded or unfair, it has been nice to voice such things on AF. However, I feel that I've spent enough time wallowing in such emotions and need to be a little more mature in the manner in which I conduct myself.
There are some discussions over scientific fields, but these discussions are not the focal point and tend to be sporadic. So, I came here looking for information pertaining to that. Also, atheists can vary to a wide degree, so different ideas can be enriching.
I strive to be unbiased, fair, and scientific in my approach, but like anyone else, I am human and will ultimately fail. I welcome criticisms to my viewpoints and find it particularly useful for any fallacies or misinterpretations to be pointed out. Also, I'm not above doing a little research as long as I'm pointed in the right direction.
I did come over from atheistforums.com and I can see a few names I recognize. However, I'm not here due to jumping ship, but simply out of curiosity. AF has never caused me any grief and on many occasions has offered an outlet for the anti-theistic thoughts I have at times, especially when patience and careful thinking ends and frustrations begin. This tends to happen as I live in the United States, particularly in the arrogantly dubbed 'Bible-Belt.' I live in a small town that is reluctant to recognize other beliefs and especially caustic to lack of belief. The libraries are censored, and although there are those in the science departments who happily disprove creationism, students at the local college are subjected to creationism and other unsubstantiated theological arguments in many of the other classes.
Since I am not one to remain quiet over things I feel impassioned about, I have opened my mouth when I probably shouldn't have, I have voiced my lack of belief (and the reasoning behind that) when I probably shouldn't have, and I have questioned every instructor every step of the way employing the very critical thinking skills that is mandatory for every college student to learn. A few of the students have applauded my efforts, but I am skeptical if it is because they felt my reasoning was sound or found my rebellious nature to be amusing. In either case, for the times when I have to bite my tongue or when I know my emotions are unfounded or unfair, it has been nice to voice such things on AF. However, I feel that I've spent enough time wallowing in such emotions and need to be a little more mature in the manner in which I conduct myself.
There are some discussions over scientific fields, but these discussions are not the focal point and tend to be sporadic. So, I came here looking for information pertaining to that. Also, atheists can vary to a wide degree, so different ideas can be enriching.
I strive to be unbiased, fair, and scientific in my approach, but like anyone else, I am human and will ultimately fail. I welcome criticisms to my viewpoints and find it particularly useful for any fallacies or misinterpretations to be pointed out. Also, I'm not above doing a little research as long as I'm pointed in the right direction.