Charlottesville Solidarity Vigil

On Sunday night (8/13/17) San Diego held a vigil for Heather Heyer, the victim of a white supremacist terror attack. Like many others I felt I needed to do *something* to show my support for her and for those that stood up against white nationalism. The vigil was attended by a couple hundred people of various backgrounds. There was a lot of comfort in seeing a community thousands of miles away from Charlottesville come together to express solidarity. There was singing, there was crying, and there was a lot of hugging. All these things are needed and are comforting

But.....

It isn't enough. If we are only coming together to mourn the loss of those fighting against Nazis and white nationalist, we will be doing a lot of mourning, a lot of singing. and a lot of hugging.

It is well past time that we (here I specifically mean white people) stop making our Black, Jewish, LGBTQ, Latinx, and Muslim friends be the front line against white nationalism. It is time to have uncomfortable conversations with your family and friends. It is time to call out those that propagate hate, it is time to recognize our complicity in allowing hate to prosper because it doesn't effect us.

I have often looked at images from the Selma march and wondered "if I was alive then where would I have stood?" Would I have stood with "law and order" or would I have stood with justice?

Would I have stood with the families of law enforcement as they watched their husbands/fathers beat the marchers? Would I have stood at home and ignored the whole thing, because it isn't about me?
I don't know where I would have stood then, but I know where I stand now.

Vigils are nice, but actions are better

Below are links to various groups that help fight against white nationalism (in varying ways)

SPLC

Redneck Revolt

Life After Hate

Things I Think I Think

I haven't made a real post in over 2 years and I know my thoughts on a lot of things have changed in that time. Looking back through some of my old posts and I find myself cringing a bit, but I think it is nice to be able to see my progress (or maybe some would say regress) into my current views. I'm writing this post as a way to document my current views (who knows what 2 more years will bring) and also to update anyone unlucky enough to stumble on this blog down the line. This will be a hodgepodge of ideas that I'm willing to defend.

Things I think I think

I understand and sympathize with calls for non violence in activism, I also think apathy/status quo is also in support of violence just violence they can more easily excuse

I think a secular society can and should make reasonable exceptions for religious beliefs, but also the religious must do the same. Example: a religious person whose beliefs forbid them from handling alcohol can still be hired at a supermarket with the understanding they would not have to handle alcohol. That same religious person must also understand that they are limited in the jobs they can promote into because of this restriction.

I think it can be (and is) true that HRC and Democrats ran a bad campaign and Trump and/or his campaign colluded with Russians to help win the 2016 election

I think Democrats need to do more to acknowledge that trade agreements can have a negative impact on people in America without appeasing the racism/xenophobia that is prevalent amongst Trump supporters

I think that there is some white supremacist like thoughts that ran deep in some of Bernie Sanders most ardent online supporters

I think that liberals/Democrats that are more concerned with "law and order" over justice would happily sacrifice PoC and LGBTQ people if it meant there lives didn't change

I think we all need to read more literature by black authors

I think the phrase "communism will win" is idealistic and foolish given the current state of leftist politics in the west

I think far too many leftist care more for disagreeing with the west than they do with caring for the marginalized

I think I'm a leftist, but I don't know what kind

I think the best political/social movements are rife with infighting and have many legit criticisms from the inside

I think the United States will no longer be united by the year 2050

I think optics matter when partaking in ground level activism


If anyone wants me to further expand  on any of these ideas send me a message on twitter @MWUnicorn

Thank you for reading

What Do We Do Now?

Like many of you I have been numb the last few days, and in fear. I am not scared for myself but for everyone that doesn't look like me. For those of you that don't know me, I'm a thirty something year old straight white male. I know I will be fine, with my line of work I might face some financial struggles, but my physical safety is not in jeopardy. Now I keep asking myself what do I do? What can I do to help anyone, who like me is scared, but because they don't have the same privileges I do. This is by no means an exhaustive list of things we can do but a few that came to mind. 

 (As a disclaimer when I say we in this post I'm specifically referring to people who look like me, if you're a person of color or LGBTQ you already have a good idea of what is happening)

1) Get in contact with your local Mosque, Synagogue, Sikh and/or Hindu Temple and see if anyone wants or needs a companion when they are out grocery shopping or running errands. Be a buffer between them and any person that may feel emboldened to act violently towards them

2) Volunteer with the ACLU, SPLC, or any other civil rights group that vows to fight for the marginalized. Especially if you have experience or expertise in relevant areas

3) If you have the means donate to groups that are protecting the people at the greatest risk please do

4) If for some reason you can't do any of the above it's time to really start challenging your family and friends that post the racist bullshit that we have been letting slide over the last forever years

Some of you may have seen this Facebook post or something very similar. Whether this particular story is true or not it is time that we (white people) are the ones that are getting spat on. Be a shield 

GCB vs Yahweh

This will be a relatively short post, I'm trying to flesh something out and as such would really appreciate feedback here

I want to use the biblical flood story to show that the Abrahamic God Yahweh is not the "philosphers God" or the Greatest Conceivable Being (GCB)

Instead using a flood to drown humans, God could have chosen to fill the lungs of humans with fluid. This accomplishes the same thing as a world wide flood in regards to killing all wicked humans but does not cause unnecessary suffering to non moral agents (non human animals).

Causing the lungs of humans to be filled with fluid allows for some suffering to humans (assuming this suffering is necessary) but reduces the amount of grotesque suffering that would be caused as people clamored for high ground and became separated from their families.

God could still have Noah build the ark as a test of faith (similar to the Abraham/Isaac story) so that technically God would not have lied about drowning the world.

It is my opinion that this is a better way to accomplish any goals the flood had, but done in a better way. Making Yahweh not the GCB

Thoughts welcomed and encouraged

thanks for reading

- MoonWalking Unicorn
@UnicornOnMoon

"God Is Not Dead" a Review

I went and saw the movie version of a terrible internet meme, God Is Not Dead I'll touch mainly on the message it tries to convey. (a synopsis of the film is here)

This movie is to philosophy what Religulous is to theology (except it isn't funny at all). Both movies are only concerned about winning over people already on their side, by using bad arguments that score "quick points".

God Is Not Dead is set in a world where the News Boys can sell out the Staples Center, but where Christianity is also somehow a minority. This is a common theme amongst evangelical Christians in general, and the film hits that point hard. The Evangelical Christians that see this film will eat up the messages portrayed even (maybe especially) the one's they didn't know where there. The not so hidden themes include racism, sexism, anti-intellectualism and fear/mistrust of anyone not like them.

Every non white character is the epitome of a stereotype. The Chinese student is an emotionless (until he finds Jesus) math major who's father is an uncaring, unloving, demanding figure. The Muslim family is ruled by a violent father. The African missionary is a happy go lucky fella that apparently has magic powers (he diagnoses a dying man by just being near him). Of course it isn't just non whites that get this stereotype characterization, every seemingly smart and attractive female is also a manipulative bitch that must have her way. Every non christian is either morally bankrupt or living an empty hopeless life. These are the (not so) subtle themes of the film the main points might be even more flawed.

The main character is Josh Wheaton who takes a philosophy course given by a (his words) "committed atheist" Professor Raddison. On the first day of class Raddison misinterprets a famous Nietzsche quote "God is dead" (full quote here) because he is apparently the worst philosophy professor ever (but good enough to be considered for chairman). Then like all bad professors do he demanded the students sign a paper that said "God is dead" so they can move on to more important things. Because the one thing you never do in philosophy courses is actual philosophy (I hope the sarcasm is evident). Of course our plucky hero Josh just can't compel himself to sign the paper so instead he is forced to defend his faith in a series of "debates". In which (spoiler alert) HE WINS! (because really Radisson is just mad at God for killing his mom) because again Radisson has never actually learned philosophy (theme here is professors are liars and are not as smart as they say they are). All while this is going on other side plots are being shown like the ministers that can't get to Disney World, a blogger gets cancer and Dean Cain doesn't care, secret christian Muslim girl gets disowned by her family, and Radisson's girlfriend dumbs down for Christ. This all culminates with the characters ending up at a News Boys concert. The now visibly shaken Radisson is also headed there to try and win back his girlfriend when suddenly he is hit by a car (then magically diagnosed as mentioned earlier). Of course like all atheists Radisson converts on his deathbed and everyone is happy!!!

What did we learn? We learned that traumatic life events are a bad reason to become an atheists, but are really good reasons to believe in God. We learned that Christians, especially the white male variety, are the most persecuted people in America. That converting atheists is super easy just yell at them for a bit then either give them cancer or hit them with a car. That beliefs are choice so why won't you just believe in God it's super easy. Lastly that the only people in the world that are truly happy are Christians.

I can't imagine anyone with any sort of knowledge of philosophy has many good things to say about this film regardless of their beliefs about God (as I was writing this I did a search for Christian philosophers reviews)
Chris Attaway
God of evolution (guest post)

This film will probably do more harm then good for the evangelical community because now they are equipped with really really poor arguments for God, but you may be annoyed by the number of texts you start to receive saying "God's Not Dead"

I have a lot more to say about this movie and will probably continue to tweet about it

follow me on twitter
@UnicornOnMoon 
or my new public FB account
Kyle MWU

Thanks for reading this now go read some real philosophy!

Why Would God Lie?

In this post I'm going to borrow some from people I admire greatly Justin Schieber and Dan Carlin, for the sake of this post I will also be assuming a monotheistic god of some kind exists and (hopefully) give reasons for why that god would want to lie to us

If we adopt skeptical theism, that is that god has reasons to allow suffering to happen. Then we must also adopt that god could have reasons to lie to us even if those reasons are unknown. I'm not convinced that those reasons are necessarily unknown or at least I can conceive of good reasons for a god to lie to us.

Why would a god allow books like the Bible and Qur'an be written about him if those books are not true? IF the believers of those religions think that their religions have helped mankind more than they have hurt AND that the good would not have happened without the influence of those books. Just like god allowing suffering to happen because some greater good only he would know about came from it, god could very well have lied to the authors of the holy books for very similar reasons.

A second but just as valid reason for god to lie to us would be very similar to reasons the Catholic Church did not want to Bible translated into languages the common person could read. That is god does not want to give us information that is beyond our current level of reasoning. Imagine an alien race coming down with superior technology and the "correct" version of god's word. The catch is that it's written in an alien language that no one on earth can read. We must rely on the word of the alien priests to tell us, until one rogue alien decides to translate this new holy book. What are the consequences to the religious here on earth? If you believe that they could be very detrimental than you have accepted a viable reason for god to lie to us. We are only given what he knows we can absorb even knowing we can, at times, only absorb a lie.


If you would like to listen to the audio files that helped inspire this go here for Divine lies and here for Common Language Problem

questions or comments welcome

@UnicornOnMoon

untitled

For whatever reason I'm sitting here inspired by the memories of loss
 inspired to tell you a story of pain.
 The holiday season is coming near and it brings about a time that I fear.
 The pain of loss doesn't go away but we move on
away from the pain but also away from the memories we hold so dear.
 Like an old picture that has faded.
The corners are frayed the memories are strained
 and I'm trying to remember just what I had lost.
One moment in time changed so many lives, I think of the moments now lost.
One moment took three but three carry on in memories and tears
sometimes joy sometimes fear but it's never enough

Their winter came too soon
we sit here with pain in our hearts
amongst family and friends that know
just how hard it is to alone in a crowd surrounded by love
engulfed in guilt we put memories on skin with pain
for the last memory to be a wreck that's now trees
it isn't enough it isn't enough

Bible Study Q&A

I'm currently on vacation and out visiting my Mom, she asked if I would be interested in doing a little Q&A with her bible study group and I agreed. I figured I would write down my experience and share with you lovely people.

The night started off with a prayer that was obviously meant to induce a sense of guilt in me.
    "We pray for our brother Kyle that he may know to come the Truth (capital T) we know his mother prays for him daily...." etc.. etc..

The night was based around a potluck dinner and just a general night of friendship. The people were mostly very nice (except for an older gentleman I will call "D") D was the one that led the opening prayer and was very passive aggressive all night, but more on that later.

After dinner we went around the room and everyone shared their high point and low point of the past week. As you can imagine most were centered around church/or blessings from God. If you're curious my high was being on a 10 day vacation and my low was only having 6 more days.

And then the Q&A started
Most of the group seemed a little nervous at first in what to ask me (whether that was from not wanting to hear an answer or just never have spoken to a "real life atheist" I don't know)
The first question asked was
 "what was the one thing that changed your view on Christianity and how old were you?" To which I replied "I was about 23 when I really started to investigate the claims of Christianity and no there wasn't one thing, but many. Maybe the biggest being the history of the church"
This is when D stepped in and started talking and talking and talking and talking. He would start with a point then trail off into who I should read. "X was a former atheist and a smart kid like you, and so was Y you should really read Y, and Z have you heard of Z, well what about ......"

I tried to explain that just because one isn't a christian that doesn't necessarily make them an atheist which then led to another long rant by D talking about Mormons, Catholics, and Jehovah's Witnesses

Honestly the night would have been a lot better if D wasn't there (for all of us as I wasn't trying to debate people but he kinda forced my hand)

One Lady asked me if the death of my brother had anything to do with my deconversion. I emphatically stated NO and was going to talk about my thoughts on heaven but she then informed me about the recent death of her brother in Iraq and I didn't feel it necessary to take that comfort away.

* Another long rant by D*

Another gentleman interrupted D to explain that this isn't why we are here and then asked me what I thought was the best question of the night
"What do you believe in?"
"Humanity" I said "I believe that we are a force for great things in and for the world and that generally speaking people are good, we help each other. We may not always get it right and we can also cause much damage, but generally speaking and especially within small communities we are great for each other"

The night ended with another prayer, but not before D came up to me and said "If I was younger I would beat the Truth into you"
ah there is that good ol christian love!

wish the night would have been a little more informative but it was mostly me trying to explain this isn't a phase and I'm not rebelling

maybe I can convince them to do another one next time I'm out but one that is a little more structured so it doesn't trail off into empty threats and nonsensical tangents

Thanks for reading
-Kyle

Oprah and Atheism - my take

I'm going to go ahead and be the nine thousandth internet atheist that comments on the recent Oprah interview of  Diana Nyad, hopefully my take is just a little bit different than others.

The reaction of the atheist I'm in contact through twitter seem to fall in to two categories "Who cares what Oprah thinks" and the "Oprah is a ignorant bigot" crowd. I firmly fall into the former (with the obvious glaring exception of me writing this blog, yay hypocrisy!)  

Let's look at the exchange that seems to have caused all the "outrage"

“I can stand at the beach’s edge with the most devout Christian, Jew, Buddhist, go on down the line, and weep with the beauty of this universe and be moved by all of humanity. All the billions of people who have lived before us, who have loved and hurt and suffered. So to me, my definition of God is humanity and is the love of humanity.” Nyad said

“Well, I don’t call you an atheist then,” Winfrey said. “I think if you believe in the awe and the wonder and the mystery, then that is what God is. That is what God is. It’s not a bearded guy in the sky.”


 A majority of the outrage I've seen towards Oprah quotes her as saying "You're not an atheist" when this isn't what she said. What she did say I can almost agree with based on Nyad's definition of "god". When Nyad says "my definition of god is humanity..." that does come across as quite similar to that of a pandeist. Now I'm not trying to say or imply that Diana is a pandiest, but when she describes her definition of god I could see how one (in this case Oprah) could be confused.

Oprah's reply almost mimics what Nyad says. If Nyad's definition of god is "humanity and the love of humanity" and Oprah's is "awe and wonder" really what is the difference? They are both using a slippery version of the term "god". When Oprah goes on to say "God isn't a bearded man in the sky" she kind of outs her self as a non theist. Both women identify with some sort of  spirituality the only difference is how they define it. Diana seems to not have a belief in any sort of supernatural element, but Oprah (who has had psychics and the like on her show) does.

So what is the outrage about? Because Oprah has a different definition of atheism (one commonly held)? Or are we just looking to be "offended"? If it's just about the latter we could surely find a more obvious offender, if it's the former then lets take the opportunity to educate not belittle.
Without trying to sound too authoritarian we shouldn't be so wrapped up in a label that we have to be offended anytime someone disagrees with what that label means.

comments welcome
thanks for reading

Debate Review!!! (and my thoughts)

I recently listened to the debate "Does the God of Christianity Exist" by Justin Schieber and Max Andrews. If you would like to listen it can be found here and transcript is here

Before I start my review I do want it to be known that I am not a philosopher or have any formal debate training. I will try my hardest to be as objective as I can, but since I do not have a belief in the Christian God I'm sure my bias will show.

 Max Andrews opens the debate with three points, two for the existence of a god (The Thomistic Cosmological Argument and The Fine-Tuning Argument) the third for the existence of the christian God The Resurrection of Jesus. 
I will only comment on the third point because in my opinion the first two do not matter as the debate topic is specific to the existence of the Christian God only. We can grant the existence of a god (deistic model) and that gets us no closer the existence of the God as described in the Bible.
Max's argument for the resurrection quickly turns into the "Who would die for a lie" argument and although I think Justin does a good job explaining why that is a bad argument he could have done better (and has). The empty tomb seems to be the crux of this argument and granting that said tomb was in fact proven to be empty that is only proof of an empty tomb not resurrection. There are a few other possibilities that should be considered. 1) The body was stolen/moved (this would fall under the rebuttal to "who would die for a lie"), 2) The guard(s) were paid off by Joseph of the Sanhedrin (who is the owner of the tomb Jesus was buried in) effectively faking Jesus' death.

The best argument Justin Schieber makes is his "God World" argument and although I do think Max makes a fairly decent rebuttal. My question to both Justin and Max regarding the "God World" argument is how does heaven factor into the point? Could God have just created heaven and would that erode the "God World"? If it doesn't then why is this temporal life necessary? If it does erode "God World" then Justin's argument stands solid.

Max takes great issue with Justin's Hell argument and I think that issue would be justified if the topic of debate was "Does God exist" but it wasn't. The Christian God is given very specific qualities in the Bible and by Christians if the god they describe also created hell than it is an issue. Specifically Max takes issue with the phrase "God sends people to hell" and I'd like to address why that is a valid statement (which I think Justin could have done a better job addressing). If God is omniscient and the creator of the universe then he created a universe knowing that only about 2 in 7 people would believe in the Jesus story. He could have created a universe where the evidence was overwhelmingly accessible and undeniable. He could have created a universe where blood sacrifice was not needed at all. He chose to create this one and therefore knows who would and would not accept the Jesus story and created this universe anyway. It is a valid statement that "God sends people to hell".

I do have one question for Max (assuming he reads this) regarding his belief in hell and judgement. How does God judge those that are never given the opportunity to accept or reject the Jesus claim past/present/future? Many Christians I have come across say they will be judged based on the "knowledge they have" which sounds an awful lot like being judged on actions and not beliefs to me. If this is the case than the resurrection is not necessary for salvation, which begs the question as to why the resurrection was necessary at all. If these people are punished for their non belief in something that they were never given the opportunity to accept or reject than God has most definitely sent them to hell.

I am not usually a fan of the formal (especially live) debates because generally speaking participants are forced to anticipate their opponents points and responses and don't actually address what is said. I enjoyed this one because both Max and Justin were given ample time to dissect and respond to the arguments made. My main criticism of each debater is they allowed (or steered) the debate to go from "Does the Christian God exist" to "Does a god exist"

Please listen to or read the debate and tell me where I am wrong

I want to thank both Justin Schieber and Max Andrews for a job well done (I also hope you don't mind that I addressed you both by your first names) this was one of the finer debates I have ever listened to

- MoonWalking Unicorn  


 

The Deconversion of a Unicorn

This is my second (maybe third) attempt at writing my "deconversion" story fully. I find it difficult because as I start writing I remember more and more things that helped "awaken" my critical thinking skills which led me to doubt. The other reason it has been so difficult is I am having a hard time remembering which events came first or if they were simultaneous. I think instead of agonizing over this I'm just going to write it as if this were a diary (but public because I'm crazy). If you would rather read a very compressed version of my story go here otherwise keep reading.

 I was raised in a very conservative and religious household. We went to church every Sunday and either every Tuesday or Wednesday depending on age. I first accepted Jesus at the age of seven, I still remember this event today (and I have a terrible memory). I remember being in the living room at my Dad's house and sitting on the couch looking out the window when I prayed the "sinners prayer". I never questioned my beliefs until after high school. Ironically ever since high school I have always felt "called" to challenge peoples belief systems.  Again I struggle to remember the correct order of events but these are a few of the things that spurred my quest for additional knowledge. The following events happened between the ages of 20-25

• The Daily Show - I watched The Daily show since its inception, back when Craig Kilborn was the host and it wasn't political at all. Had I tried to watch after Stewart took over I think my cognitive dissonance would have kicked in and I would have tuned out. The one episode that led me to start questioning my conservative values was with Jim Wallis as guest. He was on to promote his book God's Politics. I found it very interesting so I had to pick it up.
• God's Politics - Reading this book challenged many of the things I thought I believed. It was more of a liberal christian viewpoint of the bible. Challenging my notion of capital punishment, war, poverty/charity etc... This was my first real exposure to differing Christian views. 
• Christian music/P.O.D.- I was very into the Christian rock scene (don't judge me) P.O.D. being at the forefront of this movement (to me at least) as such I was a frequent visitor to their forum boards where I would lurk onto the religious discussion thread. This was the first time I had ever encountered non believers and the dreaded atheists
• Small group part 1- I was a member of a small group at church called College and Career, a group for 18-26 year old "young adults". In this group we discussed many issues of the day. In one meeting the question came up "If a friend gave you a book on eastern religions, would you read it?" I was the only one that answered yes (apparently the correct answer was no) My reply then was "If my faith can be shaken by a book, then I don't have strong enough faith" 
• College - I had decided as part of my "calling" to convert those of other religions, I needed to have at least a basic understanding of other religions. I took a World Religions course where I learned the basics about the major world religions and most importantly more about my own.
• Small group part 2 - My parents also had their own small group meeting at our house and I don't remember exactly the topic but I know during the discussion I asked one of the associate pastors " If tomorrow a study came out undeniably refuting the God of the Bible as being true, would you still believe" the answer was "Of course I would!" This is when I realized that these people were not interested in truth.

These things all contributed in awakening my critical thinking skills, but none of them "made" me an atheist. For a few years I was what I can best now describe as a Christian Deist. I believed Jesus was the son of God and came to "save" us. I just no longer believed that God really interacted with the world and I accepted the Bible had many historical and contextual inaccuracies. It was around this time a friend with similar worldview handed me a copy of Dawkins' "God Delusion". Even after reading it I still didn't identify as an atheist but I did slowly migrate into what is best described as a pantheist or as I identified Jedi.

It probably took another year or two of reading various things that I finally realized and accepted that I no longer believed in any sort of deities or supernatural entities. Even then I wasn't immediately open about it, but I had a twitter account and through Ricky Gervais I found @MrOZAtheist and @gspellchecker. For months I lurked and read their tweets/posts and finally felt ready to "come out" to friends and family. I lost a few friends and have become the black sheep of my family (I'm not shunned, but things are different) It was probably close to another year before I decided I wanted to try and help others through their own transition and created the @UnicornOnMoon account you all know me as now, but that story will come another time.

Again sorry for the weird format of this post, but I really struggled with the timeline and this was a way to get out a few of the "reasons"
I may post my rough, unfinished, draft in the comments if anyone cares to read that

Thanks for reading

Is Heaven Immoral?

I tend to commonly baffle my christian friends and family (not mention those I encounter online) with my statement "If heaven was real I'd rather not exist than go there, heaven is immoral". I'd now like to expand on to what I mean by that. As such for the remainder of this post I will be assuming Heaven is real (taken from a Christian perspective).

Firstly even the concept of a heaven/hell scenario seems horrible to me. IF we get our sense of justice/mercy from a god, how then does infinite punishment/reward for finite crimes fit our understanding of justice/mercy. True justice is when the punishment meets the crime exactly and mercy is alleviating punishment based on empathy/compassion/forgiveness. What crime could we possibly commit in a finite life that would justify infinite punishment?

Assuming heaven exists, I strongly believe that being there, for me, would either be a form of torture or completely immoral. It would be torture for me, mentally, for me to enjoy the "joys" of heaven while I know people I care for (or just people in general) are burning in hell. I care too much about the well being of the people I love to idly sit by and worship a deity that has deemed billions of people unworthy of "paradise". Based on my actions here on earth I know that I would begin a petition to release those in hell and if that didn't work I would out right revolt (is it possible Lucifer did what he did because he is more moral than God?) IF a god is truly responsible for our sense of empathy and compassion why allow me the ability to care for others on earth if for a far longer time (forever) I have to suspend those emotions?

The only way I could enjoy heaven is if God fundamentally changed who I am as a person in such a way that I am no longer me.  This, in my opinion, is an immoral act. We would not abide by those standards here on earth. Can you imagine the outrage if we tampered with someones brain to the point where they could no feel empathy (or any human emotion)?

If I die and a god tells me I have done well enough to receive the "gift" of eternity in heaven I will gladly and without remorse reply:
"Thank you for the offer sir (assuming male here) but I respectfully decline and would rather be non-existent"
I guess I can only hope he would be merciful and accept my request.

thank you for reading
thoughts and comments are always welcome

-Moon Walking Unicorn

How an Atheist Deals With Tragedy

First let me make it very clear that this is how I have dealt with tragedy and is in no way a blueprint.

Twelve years ago today (Feb 15 2001) my 14 year old brother and his two best friends (ages 15) were killed in a car accident. They were on their way to a high school basketball game when a man ran a red light and T-boned the vehicle they were in, killing all three instantly. Maybe some other time I will go into more detail about my brother and/or the accident, but that isn't the purpose of this post.

At the time I was a very devout christian and to be honest the belief I would see my brother again was comforting (and still is to the rest of my family) so how do I deal with days like today now? I try to remember my brother for who he was and how as a teenager he was so full of life and didn't let his stature (he was very short) stop him from doing the things he loved. I try to allow his passion for life live on through me. I do not believe in an afterlife, I do not believe I will ever see my brother or his friends again and it isn't that I'm "OK" with that I just understand it.

My newly found passion is to enjoy the one life I know I do get, and I do this in various ways. Most recently I have tried to become a bigger part of the online atheist community with the main objective to be an ear to others that find themselves struggling for whatever reason. That to me is the best way to honor my brothers legacy and his "spirit". Sometimes a listening ear or a hug can change somebodies day and that is what I try to do.

We all will (or have) come to a point where we will have to deal with tragedy and there are no magic words to make everything better. The idea of heaven is comforting to some, but that doesn't make it real. I know the stages of grief but understanding them doesn't make them easier to go through. What does make it easier is friendship and family (and sometimes a beer)

If I can give advice to anybody that is going through grief it's this: Allow people to be there, don't shut yourself away, but also don't be afraid to pause and reflect.

My advice to anyone that has a friend going through grief:
This isn't about you, if they ask you to go away do it, but let it be known you are always around. Above all else don't abandon them 3 months later the pain doesn't go away and phone call or a night out can make all the difference.

Sorry this post is a bit of a ramble and all over the place, but as you can imagine today can be a bit emotional

Thanks for reading hope it was helpful

p.s. sorry theist these events didn't make me mad at god in fact at the time I ran towards god it wasn't until much later that I began to understand god was only a figment of my imagination

You are an atheist, now what?

You have finally come to the conclusion that you are an atheist, and like many of us did/do you are asking yourself "now what?" Do you become a vocal atheist ready and willing to debate all theist? Do you hide the fact that you are no longer a believer hoping not to be shunned by family/friends? Religion, for all its faults, brought a sense of worth and direction in ones life, what does atheism offer?

The beauty of atheism is now, maybe for the first time, YOU get to choose what you do with your life! No Pastor/Preacher/Imam/Rabbi telling you what gods "calling" is for you. Only you can give your life meaning and worth and I think that's what makes this life better than the one controlled by dogma and outdated traditions.

You want to go out and debate theist? You can, but you don't have to. If you want to continue living your life the way you always have (minus of course that pesky guilt ridden god thing) you can do that too. Nothing and nobody tells you what kind of atheist you have to be.

I do however have some words of caution for you. Remember YOU are the one that changed your belief system, not your friends and not your family. Some (maybe most) will abandon you or pull back their friendship to lower levels. This is to be expected and really it is not unlike any other time in our lives where something significant changes. Remember when you left that job at (insert job here)? You and Johnny were the greatest of work friends and now you never or rarely see him. What changed why did your friendship fall apart? It is simple really the thing that brought you together was a common interest, the workplace. The same will happen now, friends that you may have had for years will slowly fade away, they may even say some nasty hurtful things. I am not excusing this sort of behavior, but try to look at it from their perspective. You changed and not only that you are saying their god isn't real, harsh reactions are to be expected.

Another problem we can find ourselves getting into is treating our new found atheism like a shiny new toy. It can be hard to remember that not everyone takes the same journey as us. They haven't read Dawkins, Harris, Hitch, or even the Bible. They don't know the same things you do. Remember your deconversion didn't happen over night, be gentle.

I don't say these things to scare you are push you from being a vocal atheist, I think more are needed to at least let the world know we are not baby eating, murderous, criminals. We are your neighbors, co-workers, friends, etc...

For possibly the first time YOU CONTROL YOUR LIFE, be who you want to be for the reasons you want to be it

p.s. If you need or are looking to get involved in some sort of community you may be interested in joining your local Humanist, SSA, or Free Thinkers club/society..... or you can find a great group of us on Twitter just tweet with the #AtheistRollCall and we'll find you and maybe even like you

Thanks for reading
remember you are never alone!

Moon Walking Unicorn

I once was addicted to a drug called Jesus

Hello friends,

I used to be addicted to Jesus. Like most addictions it started when I was young and ignorant. I was raised in a very religious house that showed me all the wonders of the Jesus drug. I was hooked at an early age, at about 7 I "gave my life" to Jesus vowing to always obey his laws and sell his "enlightenment" to everyone I knew. I did just that, getting my childhood friends to dabble in the ecstasy that is the "presence" of god by taking them to Sunday school and Bible camp, you know the "good" stuff.

By the time I reached high school I was completely addicted, shouting from the rooftops how great my life was and how others needed to "get in on this". I began to see the world differently and all the "evil" that was in it. The gay kid in my class must be told the errors of his ways so I ridiculed him mercilessly. After all my dealers (pastors) told me it was a sin to be gay and if they didn't stop their hideous ways they would burn in hell for eternity. Out of "love" I told this classmate that daily and mocked him and was genuinely afraid of catching his "disease".

Not long after I graduated high school my 14 year old brother was killed in an auto accident. Thankfully I knew he was "saved" and thus would be in heaven. This pushed me deeper into my addiction leading me to read the Bible daily and want to become a youth minister so I could make sure no one would be sent to hell if they died the same age as my brother.

I can't really pinpoint what brought me out of my addiction, except my thirst for more Jesus led to more bible reading and trying to learn the history of the church/religion. During my binge sessions I began notice things that didn't quite line up with my world view. The first to fall was my approval of capital punishment, Jesus clearly stopped a women from being stoned to death so he wasn't for it why should I be? More and more layers began to fall as I slowly opened my eyes to the damage I've caused to not only myself but to people I claimed to love.

Religion taught me about people before I even met them. Gays are evil, atheist are immoral, members of other religions are blinded by their culture (the irony!). I had only met one gay person up to this point, never knew an atheist and the few other religious people I encountered were moderate "users" at best. Then I began to open my eyes to the world around me,  my coworker is gay? but he's sooo cool and doesn't even prance! My friends brother in law is an atheist? but he's the most generous person I know! None of these people fit what my religion taught me about them, why? Questions led to more questions and less need for a preexisting world view. My therapy had started.

I still sometimes weep knowing how poorly I treated that young man from high school and I see everyday the damage caused by people like me. As it turns out my baby sister is gay and although she has come out to most of her friends and some family my parents don't know and she fears being kicked out of the house if they find out. This is partly why I have adopted the unicorn as my identity since so many would see it as a "gay" creature.

Like all addictions I still struggle at times with erasing the preconceived notions of  the people around me, but I know with the help of my new family (that's you twitter friends) I will overcome!

I sincerely apologize to all those I've hurt and to those that struggle because of people like me I hope it gets better, please stay strong! Don't let others ignorance be the cause of your pain

Thanks for reading friends
@UnicornOnMoon