Atheism Challenge: Day 15

Day 15: Recommend a book. :) (Doesn’t have to be relevant to atheism, just any good book.)

Okay, the only book that I have read lately that wasn't YA was The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood.  It was way better than the movie, if you saw the movie, which was good but mostly had Zac Efron going for it.  The whole ghost sex thing was a little weird but if you ignore that it was a very touching book.

Atheism Challenge: Day 14

Disclaimer: These are my beliefs and feelings.  I don't ask that you subscribe to what I say but I do ask that you respect me and keep nasty comments to yourself.

Day 14: On a scale of 1-10, how happy are you with life at this moment, and why?

Right at this moment I am pretty damn happy.  Things are pretty low stress today and my students entertained me more than they pissed me off.  If Adam wasn't TDY it would even be a 10 for sure!

Atheism Challenge: Day 13

Disclaimer: These are my beliefs and feelings.  I don't ask that you subscribe to what I say but I do ask that you respect me and keep nasty comments to yourself.

Day 13: Would you ever date/marry somebody who follows a religion? Be honest.


No, I wouldn't, we wouldn't have anything in common.  Religion is such a huge deal that there would be too many issues to overcome or too many compromises that we would regret.  When I have children I want them to have the choice to make their own decisions about religion and come to their own conclusions using their own reasons.  I don't want to force anything so important on someone.

Atheism Challenge: Day 12

Disclaimer: These are my beliefs and feelings.  I don't ask that you subscribe to what I say but I do ask that you respect me and keep nasty comments to yourself.

Day 12: What happens when we die? Do you fear death?

I think when we die we are dead.  When I die I want my body to be useful and I plan on donating it to science for research.  Even though I do not fear death, I don't invite it.  I would like to have a long, happy life filled with many experiences.  I do fear the loss of my loved ones mostly because I am away from them so much I don't get to spend all the time I want to with them.  When they do go I will celebrate their lives and cherish the times we had together.

Atheism Challenge: Day 11

Disclaimer: These are my beliefs and feelings.  I don't ask that you subscribe to what I say but I do ask that you respect me and keep nasty comments to yourself.

Day 11: Do you have/plan on having a career in the sciences? Alternatively: which branch of science intrigues you most?

My degree is in Mechanical Engineering and I worked for a while as an ME.  I am now a Math Teacher and I would like to say that is pretty related to science even though it isn't actually science but a lot of science wouldn't work if you didn't have math, right?  I find most all branches of science intriguing although I have always liked Physics and Astronomy the best.  I started studying Mechanical Engineering because I wanted to be an astronaut.

Atheism Challenge: Day 10

Disclaimer: These are my beliefs and feelings.  I don't ask that you subscribe to what I say but I do ask that you respect me and keep nasty comments to yourself.

Day 10: Are you spiritual, or are your feet always on the ground?

I am always with my feet on the ground.  I use reason and logic to rule my life and not fear, myth and legend. (I sort of sounded like Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory or Spock there.)

Atheism Challenge: Day 9

Disclaimer: These are my beliefs and feelings.  I don't ask that you subscribe to what I say but I do ask that you respect me and keep nasty comments to yourself.

Day 9: Even though you’re an atheist, have you ever experienced a moment that could be called “religious?” Like an epiphany about the world or complete peace?

This one will be short and sweet.  The answer is NOPE.  Just my regular roller-coaster life with no epiphanies, miracles or such.

Atheism Challenge: Day 8

Disclaimer: These are my beliefs and feelings.  I don't ask that you subscribe to what I say but I do ask that you respect me and keep nasty comments to yourself.

Day 8: What’s your political alignment? Does your atheism influence how you vote and how you feel on issues?

I am Democrat but I don't always vote that way.  I feel voting is very important and not to be taken lightly.  I don't use atheism to influence my vote.  I don't vote purposefully anti-religion.  I do use my brain to influence my vote.  I only vote when I know the facts about the issues and like to take time before elections to study them.  I let facts and reasoning lead me to how I vote and not emotions.

Atheism Challenge: Day 7

Disclaimer: These are my beliefs and feelings.  I don't ask that you subscribe to what I say but I do ask that you respect me and keep nasty comments to yourself.

Day 7: Except for God, do you believe in anything supernatural or pseudoscientific? (Ghosts, alien abductions, spirits, souls, demons, psychics, magic, Harry Potter, etc.)

No, I do not believe in anything supernatural or pseudoscientific.

I do find it all very interesting in an entertaining, fictional way.  In fact, one of my favorite TV shows in "Ghost Adventures" but I love to watch how the macho guys get so scared and usually screech like women.  Also, I love any books with vampires in them because there is just something so romantic and tragic.

Atheism Challenge: Day 6

Disclaimer: These are my beliefs and feelings.  I don't ask that you subscribe to what I say but I do ask that you respect me and keep nasty comments to yourself.

Day 6: How do you feel about so-called “militant atheists” such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris?

I think they are brilliant men.  Just look at their degrees and their credentials.  I think they are also very brave men for being so outspoken on such a taboo topic in our society.  I also do not always agree with everything they have to say but I do have respect for them.  (If you don't know who they are read about them on *gasp* Wikipedia.  Very interesting.)

Atheism Challenge: Day 5

Disclaimer: These are my beliefs and feelings.  I don't ask that you subscribe to what I say but I do ask that you respect me and keep nasty comments to yourself.

Day 5: Did you lose any friends because you decided to be an atheist? Did your family flip out?

No, and No. My friends either have the same beliefs as I do or they love me for who I am... same with my fam.

Atheism Challenge: Day 4

Disclaimer: These are my beliefs and feelings.  I don't ask that you subscribe to what I say but I do ask that you respect me and keep nasty comments to yourself.

Day 4: Do you think religion is obsolete and should be wiped completely off the face of the Earth, or does some good come out of it?

I don't really see the need for religion.  Most people use it as a crutch or even worse a reason to do horrible things.  You shouldn't need a book to tell you how to be a good person you should just do the right thing because it is the right thing.  I think if more people used rational thought, facts and deductive reasoning to live their lives and make their decisions and not make those decisions based off of fear and myth then life would be more peaceful and civilized.

Atheism Challenge: Day 3

First, I want to say I am just so happy to have received the response I have gotten from my first day Atheism Challenge post.  I really had been timid to write about this topic because it is such a hot button with people in our community, as is politics, and I tend to stay away from it.  But it is a relief to get a positive response and I am very glad that I have shared how I feel and found others who have the same beliefs as I do especially when "atheist" has become such a taboo thing to be.  With that said here is today's question.

Disclaimer: These are my beliefs and feelings.  I don't ask that you subscribe to what I say but I do ask that you respect me and keep nasty comments to yourself.

Day 3: Are you a more outspoken or more apathetic atheist? Why?

I wasn't really sure what "apathetic atheist" meant so I googled it.  I came across some "extreme" websites calling for revolution that made being an "apathetic atheist" sound like cowards and then I came across others that weren't so... "extreme." I am going to use *gasp* wikipedia to answer this question.

Apathetic atheism is "a disinclination to care all that much about one's own religion and even a stronger disinclination to care about other people's." (Johnathan Rauch)

I am interpreting this to say that an apathetic atheist not only rejects religion and the existence of Gods but also doesn't feel the need to change other people's minds about religion whereas a more outspoken atheist would try to convert others to believe what they believe.  Using this definition, I would have to say that I am an apathetic atheist.  I don't have the need to force others to see the world as I see it.  I know what I feel and believe and if you don't agree with me then so be it.  My mind isn't going to change no matter what you say and I highly doubt that it wouldn't matter what I said to you because yours wouldn't change either.  Plus, I don't like to engage other people in [philosophical] debates for fear that I will sound uneducated and that is probably my biggest reason for keeping my beliefs to myself.

Atheism Challenge: Day 2

Disclaimer: These are my beliefs and feelings.  I don't ask that you subscribe to what I say but I do ask that you respect me and keep nasty comments to yourself.

Day 2: What religion did you grow up with? Did you have positive or negative experiences with religion?

I didn't really grow up with religion.  My mom is an agnostic, of sorts, and my dad is a holiday Catholic.  I tried going to a non-denominational Christian church during middle/high school when the youth group was the huge draw.  Overall, I would have to say my experience with religion in MS/HS was positive because I had fun with all of my friends every Wednesday and Friday.  I see religion causing a lot of hateful things in this world and that makes my heart hurt for humanity, though.

I'll Go Ahead and Say It!

Disclaimer: These are my beliefs and feelings.  I don't ask that you subscribe to what I say but I do ask that you respect me and keep nasty comments to yourself.

I saw another blogger (ArmyWifeSara) doing this and I thought I would join in.  I have been wanting to do something daily like this lately and this allows me to share with you how I feel and what I believe.  This 15 Day Atheism Challenge... and I am an Atheist.

Day 1: At what point did you know you were an atheist? Why did you become one, what were the factors leading up to the decision, if you weren’t always one?

I was never baptized as a child.  My mom wanted to leave that sort of decision up to us and not force it on us.  When I was in Middle and High School I tried subscribing to Christianity and studied the Bible but the answers I was given to my questions weren't very satisfying.  I couldn't just believe... though I tried.  When I went to college I explored other religions but never really dove in to anything again.  I realized I needed to have conclusions, evidence and proof.  The more science I studied, and Engineering requires a lot of science, the more I realized that I couldn't believe in religion and any God and believe in science.  They contradict each other too much.  I don't remember the day or the time when I had the light bulb moment but I realized that science gives me satisfying answers that have evidence to back them up and religion doesn't.  If you believe in one you can't really believe in the other and for me being able to see, smell, hear, taste and feel is believing.  I made my decision and that decision didn't involve having religion in my life.  The older I get the more I believe in my choice to follow science and the less I believe in religion and I still don't see how you can believe in both.

If you are interested in this challenge all 15 questions are below and they came from http://xinxang.tumblr.com/post/2832501206/15-day-atheist-challenge