I'm 38 years old. I'm a teacher by trade. I like good food, non-fiction books, sports and anything Star Wars-related.
I've been married for 16 years. I have one child.
I was a longtime believer. Not a strong one. But a believer none the less.
I was a regular at church from the time I was 3 until roughly around the 3rd grade. Just got tired of going. Occasionally went on Easter and for family functions, but didn't go regularly again until high school.
Quit going regularly around my junior year of college....no reason, just lazy.
Married a girl who was a back-sliding baptist....like me. Been married ever since.
But here's the thing....up until 2009, I never once really questioned what I believed and why I believed it. I was always uncomfortable discussing Jesus and "Gawd" with church folks, and never knew why. Was it guilt? Maybe I just "knew in my heart" all along that it was all bullshit.
So, back to 2009. I watched a youtube video that rocked my world.
I began watching more atheist videos. Mostly old episodes of "the Atheist Experience." It was like a floodgate opened. I became curious about science and I watched AronRa's "Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism" series. ThunderFoot's "Why Do People Laugh at Creationists?" I got on Netflix and watched Carl Sagan's "Cosmos." I felt ten years younger.
Unfortunately, there's a down side.
My wife has no idea that I have accepted an atheist point of view.
Quite frankly, i'm afraid of what would happen if I told her. She comes from a family of fanatics...and has fanatical tendencies herself.
As a matter of fact, very few of my family and friends know. Most wouldn't care....as most are as apathetic about faith and religion as I was. But for some, it could be quite traumatic. Maybe one day i'll figure out a way to navigate all this. Until then, I bring myself to the safety and relative anonymity of the internet. "Just another freak in the freak kingdom."
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