The Atheist Blogger

I was trying to think up new ideas for articles on this blog, and I realized that whilst I have talked at great length about what I believe as an atheist and why, I haven’t really covered why I rejected Christianity. So this is the first article in a new series.

Whilst I can’t speak for all atheists who have deconverted from Christianity, these are my personal reasons for losing my faith. I was brought up in a semi-religious family and attended two Church of England schools, one of which was situated right next to the church.

Sexuality

One of the main reasons I think I rejected Christianity (as well as other religions) is the issue of sexuality. I was brought up under the Church of England, and whilst I wasn’t a fundamentalist per se, I did believe that women were responsible for all sin. Whilst I had no idea that homosexuals existed (I was younger than 10), if I had met one of been told about one, I would probably have been disgusted.

Of course in a secular place like England you cannot hold these views rationally for long. I eventually became very anti-sexist as I learned more about biology and humanity as a species. Science dictates that whilst the differences between male and female are distinct, there are “advantages” to both. Without women, we wouldn’t have children, and their minds are more adept to solving complicated puzzles faster. Men on the other hand have the obvious higher average strength and height, a gift from years of Evolution. They are also more adept at visualizing problems in their head without the need for paper.

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A the title suggests, I would like to know which state (or area) of the USA is considered the most secular / non-believing. Since I live in the UK I am putting this question out to all my American readers in hope that they can throw back some figures for me.

Why do I want to know? Well, I’m currently going into my second year of university studying Computer Science with Information Security (which is way more interesting to me that it sounds to you). It’s a three year course, and at the end I will weigh up my options before deciding whether to do a PhD in it. Whenever I actually leave university, I have always had plans to emigrate to America. Truth be told, there are far more jobs in the computer industry over there, especially in the areas I want to go into (Gaming and/or Web Technology).

I don’t want to end up in a Bible Belt area for obvious reasons, so I’d like a place where I could feel at ease with my beliefs, and find other secular people to hang out with. California’s “Silicon Valley” is a good place to start, since it has the technology and I know of at least one secular/atheist group for workers there. Amiable Atheist recently made me aware of Arizona which has an increasing number of non-believers.

So, which state do you consider the most secular / atheist? Do you have any figures to show this result? What other aspects of this area would make it desirable for a liberal atheist technology geek like myself?

I await your answers!

Make of this what you will, whether it is just my over-analytical mind working overtime, or evidence of secularization in action.

The UK is thought of as a very secular place, which historically is quite odd, as unlike America there are no direct laws that separate church and state. Also, the country has always been quite religious, although this was disrupted massively when King Henry VIII created the Church of England. Nevertheless, in recent years there have been polls showing the increase in atheism, and a poll last year which revealed 42% of a 2,200 person survey thought that “religion caused more harm than good”.

What I noticed the other day was on a more personal scale. I was visiting hospital, and as usual had to confirm my details on the system. They did a few updates, change of address, phone number etc. Then they got to the question of religion.

In a non-secular country the question one would pose is “What is your religion?”. In a secular one you would expect a more neutral approach, perhaps “Do you have a religion?”. However the receptionist asked neither of these questions.

In fact she took the latter and added two words, which to me made a massive difference. The question she posed was:

Do you have a religion at all?

It may not seem like much, but these two simple words impose a certain level of doubt or expectancy on a question. It’s the type of question you ask when you don’t expect the answer to be positive, but you ask anyway in the hope that it will be. In this scenario, the receptionist phrased the question as if she didn’t expect me to be religious at all.

Of course, my answer was the usual “No, I’m an atheist” since I am not concerned with what people think of my particular beliefs, especially those concerning the non-existence of gods. As far as I can make out, this event proves either:

1) Secularization is on the increase, and more people are aware of the separation of church and state, but moreover the general lack of interest and support religion gets in the modern world.

2) Students are considered to be apathetic about absolutely everything and she really didn’t expect me to go into details about any of my personal beliefs.

I hope hypothesis 1 is correct though, because if you believe for one second that students are “apathetic” about anything you have never been to a modern student rally. If anything, students are more fundamental about their beliefs than anyone. We have no money, no possessions, so our beliefs and what we stand for are all we really have to work with.

My apologies. This article seems to have turned into a defense of student activism, which really does prove that my mind is simply too overactive for it to stay on one subject for very long. I’d better cut off now, before I start talking about something I find more interesting than religion, and that’s coming from a guy who finds assembly language and logic gates “interesting”.

As I said at the start, make of it what you will…

What with all the pressure put on her by the blogging community and the media, and the mere fact that her outburst has travelled around the globe in a matter of hours, it was just a matter of time before Illinois State Representative Monique Davis apologized to atheist activist Rob Sherman.

For those who still need a memory refresh, the transcript of the outburst (which happened whilst Rob Sherman was testifying against the Governor for donating public money to fund a church) is here:

Davis: [. . .] I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous–

Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?

Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! [. . .] I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

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The Council for Secular Humanism were the first secular organisation to ask for the resignation of Monique Davis, the Illinois Representative who shouted at atheist activist Rob Sherman whilst he was giving his testimony to oppose a $1 million tax-payer donation proposed by the Governor to a Baptist Church.

The confrontation went thus:

Davis: [. . .] I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous–

Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?

Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! [. . .] I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

Amid a large backlash from the blogging community, and the media (with Keith Olbermann declaring her the “Worst Person in the World”), the Council for Secular Humanism had the following press release:

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