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Dealing With Fear — Part 2: Coming Out as an Atheist

There are several fear issues related to coming out as an atheist.

Beyond the more personal, internal fears any person in the midst of graduating out of belief might feel – “What if God is real and sends me to Hell for doubting? If I give up believing in God and Heaven, doesn’t that mean I’ll never see my granddad again?” – there are some real-world fears worth thinking about.

Fears that would spring to mind for any new atheist or atheist-to-be involve social issues — the fear of consequences that might arise at the prospect of coming out. Continue reading “Dealing With Fear — Part 2: Coming Out as an Atheist”

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Seven Billion Peeps: Thank You Jesus — and Oh, Shit!

[ Still feeling like hell, but I couldn’t keep away … ]

Here’s a personal reaction to a recent bit of news:

(And look at this BBC Where Do You Fit In? calculator. )

When I was born, there were 2.6 billion humans on the planet. Today there are 2.6 TIMES more.  World population is expected to tip over 7 billion in the next few days.

Speaking as an environmentalist (someone who cares about the ecosystem of Planet Earth), and a humanist (someone who loves human beings, and wants them to do well) I do not see any way in which this is happy news. Continue reading “Seven Billion Peeps: Thank You Jesus — and Oh, Shit!”

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Sick Day

Ugh. Persistent sore throat. Headache. Tired and achy.

I had hoped to finish the short series on dealing with fear, with a post on dealing with the fears attendant on being an atheist.

But it ain’t happening today.

Back soon, I expect.

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Dealing With Fear: Side Note

One of my readers, “anthonyallen” has submitted a couple of good comments on two other posts, The 30,000 and Dealing With Fear — Part 1: Everyday Life. Dealing With Fear was even written to address his first comment on The 30,000. But the reply I wrote to his second comment (which was long and also about dealing with fears), I thought I’d include as yet another post of its own. He inspired some thoughts that were, to me, well worth thinking, and then worth writing, and I hope the larger audience here will find them worth reading.    Continue reading “Dealing With Fear: Side Note”

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Dealing With Fear — Part 1: Everyday Life

The subject of fear came up in the comments on a recent post, one writer lamenting the life-freezing effects of it. Because the writer’s words felt soooo familiar, I both winced and chuckled. Winced because I’ve been there, chuckled because once again I realized that I’m not the only one who feels this sort of thing.

Quoting Richard Nixon, “Let me just say this about that …” Continue reading “Dealing With Fear — Part 1: Everyday Life”

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Greta Christina Says Something Fantastic. Again!

Well worth reading:

We’re Telling Them They’re Wrong: Why Coming Out Atheist Is Inherently Oppositional

I think we need to acknowledge that, for us, coming out is an oppositional act. That’s not all it is, of course. It’s also an act of visibility, of community building, of personal honesty and integrity. It helps overturns myths and misinformation about us. It helps normalize atheism and make it seem less scary, both to believers and to incipient atheists. It makes it easier for other atheists to come out… which helps make our communities stronger… which, in turn, makes it easier for still more atheists to come out.
But it is also an oppositional act. Even in its mildest forms. Even when all we do is put up billboards saying something as innocuous as, “You can be good without God,” or, “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone”… we are saying, implicitly, “If you believe in God, you’re mistaken.”

Read the rest. And there’s a Part 2 coming up!