Hello everyone, just thought I would introduce myself. I am 33, married with a 17 month old daughter (Isabella and my love for early punk music is the reason for the screen name) and live in North Carolina.
I am a recent atheist. I was raised Christian, around the age of 17 I read the Bible cover to cover and realized I could not reconcile my world view with the 'inerrant' word of God, so sent out of a 'quest' to find God. I read the Quar'an, the Book of Mormon, books on Hinduism, books on Buddhism, and I talk to leaders of all sects that I could find. I found a wonderful Sufi quote that resonated with me, "The religions of the world are like the panes of glass in a lantern, God is the single light that shines from within." So I was a pantheist for a around 8 years or so. After some more thought and searching, I realized that that a personal God wasn't logically possible, so I migrated to deism and a few months ago realized that my deist stance was just my way of holding on to a childhood belief structure that I no longer needed and stepped firmly into weak atheism.
I would like to make clear that I have no problem with personal belief, but I do have issues when that belief influences the public square. I find dogmatic beliefs to be dangerous in today's multi-cultural world. That is one reason I am here. To fight something, one must first understand it. I have not been Christian for 15 years or so and I forget the reasons that I believed.
And to be one hundred percent honest, I would like to believe. I have known some very wise and serene people that attribute their wisdom and serenity to God. I envy that sense of peace. But I cannot force myself to believe in any God that I have found. Maybe I can find him here.
I am a recent atheist. I was raised Christian, around the age of 17 I read the Bible cover to cover and realized I could not reconcile my world view with the 'inerrant' word of God, so sent out of a 'quest' to find God. I read the Quar'an, the Book of Mormon, books on Hinduism, books on Buddhism, and I talk to leaders of all sects that I could find. I found a wonderful Sufi quote that resonated with me, "The religions of the world are like the panes of glass in a lantern, God is the single light that shines from within." So I was a pantheist for a around 8 years or so. After some more thought and searching, I realized that that a personal God wasn't logically possible, so I migrated to deism and a few months ago realized that my deist stance was just my way of holding on to a childhood belief structure that I no longer needed and stepped firmly into weak atheism.
I would like to make clear that I have no problem with personal belief, but I do have issues when that belief influences the public square. I find dogmatic beliefs to be dangerous in today's multi-cultural world. That is one reason I am here. To fight something, one must first understand it. I have not been Christian for 15 years or so and I forget the reasons that I believed.
And to be one hundred percent honest, I would like to believe. I have known some very wise and serene people that attribute their wisdom and serenity to God. I envy that sense of peace. But I cannot force myself to believe in any God that I have found. Maybe I can find him here.
