I am an atheist. I don't believe in any gods or deities. In fact, I don't believe in any supernatural phenomena, be it leprechauns or alien abductions or Jesus rising from the grave. Although I was born into a Catholic family in Quebec, and I regularly attended church in middle school and high school, I have only had one real moment of religious belief in my life. When I was around 12 or 13, my parents bought me my own Teen Study Bible, which I promptly dove into. It had lots of extra sections with editor commentary and questions for the reader. I was soaking it up like a sponge and quoting passages to my parents. At the time, I did not know enough nor have any real reason the question the veracity of this "holy" book, and I was reading through it at a quick pace until I came to a section discussing Ouija boards. The publishers of this bible were trying to argue that Ouija boards actually could communicate with spirits and that using these, even in jest, was a sin. When I read this, I was astounded at the stupidity. Ouija boards were being sold by Hasbro at my Target retail store, and it was plain to anyone that this was nothing more than a few pieces of cardboard and plastic.
This prompted my first real skepticism and I quickly concluded that everything in the bible that seemed too extraordinary to be true, like people living to age 600+ or two of each animal fitting on one boat, was just completely fabricated. This, combined with a secular education that included mathematics, physics, biology, geology, history, music, literature, and exposure to people of other faiths and ideas rendered the need for any god completely extraneous, and so I discarded it. There was no singular moment at which I knew I was an atheist, but I remember silently arguing with with sermons on Sunday mornings. I never really voiced my disbelief and I was never really anti-religious until my college years, until I was introduced to some really hateful "God Hates Fags" type of people.
They were outside the campus library holding signs condemning us all to hell for "sins" like homosexuality and masturbation and girls wearing pants. I waited for quite a while to speak with this bizarre man, who felt he was on a mission from god to save our souls. He really fascinated me because I had no idea what compelled him to spend his time spewing this hatred of such "sinful" behavior. Patience paid off and I finally sat down to speak with him. A local band was playing a Beatles song across the lawn, much to the chagrin of this god fearing idiot. I asked him why he hated the Beatles, and he responded by telling me that any secular music is an insult to the lord. I asked him for biblical validation and he provided some rather odd verse. I asked him why he was spending his time casting stones and judging others when he had imperfections of his own, and he responded by saying that he lived a completely pure life, devoid of sin. The discussion soon came to the question of whether the bible was literally true, and when I disagreed with him and told him that it includes some good guidelines for behavior, but it's not all completely true, he refused to speak to me any more. This was insanity with religious justification. These people want respect and deserve none for shouting ignorance and evil.
That same year, I read several other "holy" books such as the Bhagvad Gita, the Quran, the Tanakh, etc. and I took a class surveying religions in America. This strengthened my conviction that although all religions laid claim to truth none was capable of following through on this promise. A few years later I discovered some great atheist intellectuals, such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. This changed my mind; I could previously understand the need for religion in our society, but these eloquent men showcased religion as the unnecessary and sometimes plainly evil waste of time that I now see it to be.
In this blog, I will be reading the bible from cover to cover, and using this as a dialectical journal of my thoughts. I don't have any time frame for this project, but I'll try to update this once or twice a week. Feel free to comment with your own thoughts, opinions, or beliefs, and thanks for reading.
-Alexis
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