#AtheistRollCall

I was born into a Church of England (Protestant) family in 1969. My parents and brothers weren’t particularly religious, but from an early age I was taught about Santa Claus and God, and how if I was a good lad, Santa would bring me presents and God would reserve a place in heaven for me. From the age of four until eleven, I attended a Church of England primary school with a service and hymns conducted by the headmaster every morning. At the age of eleven, I was enrolled in both a Roman Catholic secondary school and a Methodist youth group. So as you can already surmise, theologically at least, my childhood was somewhat confusing.

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I am an atheist because it just makes sense. I attended Roman Catholic Primary and Secondary schools but can never remember truly believing in the existence of a supernatural being, even as a child. I may not have known things about science that I do now but I can’t ever remember replacing that lack of knowledge with God. I didn’t fill the gaps. If I didn’t know I would seek to find out. My favourite lesson during my secondary education was science and I would often stay back after class to ask questions to clarify or further my understanding. I used to, and still do, get so much pleasure from knowing. If I had a query for my science teacher he would endeavour to answer the question based on knowledge of the facts. If I had a question for my RE teacher I was scowled at, looked upon as a trouble maker and fed evasive, twisty rhetoric about how ‘it just is’.

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Follower of Christ- that’s what my name, Christiana, means. Contrary to the definition, the path I choose to follow is my own.  Admitting my atheism to the world opened my eyes to the possibilities. Many people still fail to understand how my life can possess meaning and happiness without believing in a higher power. Religion instills its own meaning into a person, not allowing her to think for herself. Atheism is the cure for that poisonous indoctrination. I’m an out atheist because I want to serve as a living example that a humanistic worldview makes for a more fulfilling life. I strive to show nonbelievers in the closet that coming out unifies us, telling believers that reason prevails.   

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I’m an atheist.

I’ll let you recover from that shock for a moment, and let that sink in… Good? Okay. So, for those of you who didn’t swoon in disbelief, faint from shock, or run to the hills fleeing my godless blasphemy, let me explain:

Once upon a time (which incidentally, is how I think The Bible should have opened), I was a Christian. Yes, really. I didn’t come to Atheism and Anti-theism by accident, or from being jaded, abused, mocked, tossed asunder, or looked on with disdain. All those things happened coincidentally, and have no relevance on my chosen lack of religion. Those things still do happen from time to time, and that is just human nature.

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Being born a Catholic I went to Catholic school. I loved school. but my least favorite subject was Religion. My biggest problem was they told us that if you did not believe in Jesus you would go to Hell. I always wondered how you could really really believe in something that you could not see.

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I was raised as a Christian Scientist (I have not met any other atheists with this

background, which sort of surprises me).  Quick note about Christian Scientists:

they believe that the material world does not exist.  They also take literally the

“God created everything and it was good” part of the bible, which means they believe

there is no pain or evil, it is all just an illusion (like the material world).  So,

imagine being three years old

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The idea for this blog came from my wife. I’ve been ranting non-stop for the last year or so about my former religion, about the minute differences between agnostic and atheist, and how my life has changed dramatically in the last few years. And while I never tire of the sound of my own voice, I can’t help but think that she made the suggestion of putting some of my thoughts “to paper” (I’m not sure to what exactly one puts his thoughts in a blog) in order to have a break from it.

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My road to atheism was a long one but I will try to shorten it. At age 7, something happened that made me question if there was really a god. (If you really wish to know, I will tell you if you ask). During the next several years, I fell into a deep depression. Around 11, I started doing things that I shouldn’t have been doing as a “Christian.” I still prayed and went to church and the like.

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I suppose I first started off being an atheist when I was a child; I was an immigrant, born to immigrant parents, and we lived in London, a fairly multicultural place. My father used to tell me Bible stories, I suppose to pass on his cultural heritage to me, but I don’t recall ever believing them and my parents certainly didn’t pressure me to do so. I lumped them in with fairy tales and other fiction – I mean, talking snakes?! Oh, please. It didn’t hurt that my parents and I never went to a synagogue, not even for special occasions, and that if we did venture into any place of worship it was never to pray to a God.

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I am an atheist because claims without evidence can and should be rejected. I like to think that I never believed the stories and claims of the bible, but I know we project our current thoughts on to past memories.  I attended church with my family growing up and remember looking around when everyone was praying wondering if they really believed. I remember in Sunday School when they planned a updated version of Palm Sunday, I suggest swapping out Jesus with Michael Jackson. I started asking questions that none of the adults had answers for like how did Adam and Eve’s kids breed and noticed that they didn’t seem all that convinced themselves when they were talking about the stories of the bible.

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