Wow I live in Walnut Creek California and never heard of this group. I guess I have to look into it. Thanks for the tip

Something about organized athiesm really tickles my funny bone. Its a rather inspiring intitiative actually; the only weapon to fight radical religious nuts is with some radical athiesm right? One can only hope that Bush doesn’t see it as a declaration of civil war… wouldn’t be anything past mr. nutjob at the moment.

I live right next to Walnut Creek and had never heard of this group. I will have to check it out too.

Cant’ wait til O’reilly gets wind of this. He’ll go nuts…

Thank God for atheists. 

i am a closet atheist, i don’t tell people my beleifs. my mom asked me “your not an atheist are you?”, i said no. why should i be afraid to say what i beleive? religious people are not afraid to voice their opinions. the only people i have told is my boyfriend and my bestfriend. i have never met another atheist, or maybe i have and not known it. i never thought to much about this untill i read this.

Jory7777: I am a closet atheist

Bummer. 
In today’s AmerikA I’m lead to believe atheists are more deeply despised than gays.
What you could do is tell your mother you’re gay and after a few days tell her you were only joking - you’re really an atheist. 
I’ve never been in your situation so you’d be crazy taking notice of anything I said.
It must be pretty hard doing it (being you) alone.
Have a look at this and this.
Here are some quotes I’ve dragged from my archives:
ET: My mind is not for sale or rent to any god or government.
Robert Ingersoll: Eternal punishment is eternal revenge, and can be inflicted only by an eternal monster.
Christian forums: If you find that faith trumps evidence, it has ceased to be faith. It has become delusion.
Richard Dawkins – The God Delusion: The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pesilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.
Richard Dawkins: We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in; some of us just go one god further.
Net: Have you forgotten about Jesus? Isn’t it about time you did?
Net: People who don’t like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn’t have such funny beliefs.
AND just for some comedic relief ...
Douglas Adams: There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. 

Oh, by the way, there’s nothing wrong with lying to your mother to keep the peace.
Most of us have done it more than once. 

There are plenty of reasons to be afraid, Jory, starting with the fact that a lot of people will be hostile toward you for no other reason than your not buying into their delusion. It can cause wide and varied conflict and animosity among believing family members. It could cost you your job in some places. It some ways it also forces you to be more responsible for the simple reason that any failings you show will be blamed on your lack of faith.

Of course coming out as an atheist is not without its benefits. For starters it’s very liberating to not have to hide who you really are. If you find that you can handle the slings and arrows thrown at you from others for your lack of belief you’ll probably gain a new confidence in yourself.

So you are a closet Atheist Jory. Now that is interesting, how do you think we survived all these thousands of years in a theistic wonderland of nonsense? Our survival was not getting out a sign saying, “ Zeus is a figment of your imagination.” and walking down Main Street in old Athens, and expect to see the morning sun. Not much has changed in this modern day.

Closets are good to hide in, and if someone puts a gun to my head, I will kill a dove to any god they desire and do a tap dance to Jesus. But other than coercion, there are more facts in Star Wars and Micky Mouse than in religions.

Yeah I had to live in a closet, as I figured out how to get out of the religious cult I was involved with in my youth. Those days are long gone, but I can appreciate keeping your thoughts private, been there and done that. 

I was told not to read history books, that all I needed to know was the Bible, so YES, I literally hid in a closet with a flashlight and read history books. I hid history books around the house as a dunk hides his booze, least a church member comes over to my house and see the contraband.

In time, I came out the closet, as soon as it was safe. I went from hard core Christian fundy, to deism, to now a full-blown Atheist. Also, unfortunate to admit, I have chip on my shoulder and an attitude against religions, and I’m not going back in that closet unless it is at gun point.

I often wondered what it was like to live in a society that had no knowledge of their history, they could not read or write, had no science knowledge, no books, the earth is flat because it looks flat, no math, and they only knew what preacher-man told them; what would that life be like? What comes to my mind is one perpetual life in a closet from cradle to grave, and not even a chance to know the earth is actually round. 

Therefore, I will let you go and I am happy that your closet is where you can find it. Unbelievably, we still live in the religious dark ages, and it is dangerous to speak your mind at times.

You do know you can write a book on atheism in a closet. I will smuggle out the pages for you and I will nail them on the church door. 

Don

Jory, I didn’t let my parents know I was atheist until I was 21 (which means I let them know last Christmas at the dinner table). Ever since, they started with the “I’ll pray for you” and my mother tries to slide it in every time I talk to her.

That’s because I’m out of the house, where I don’t have to rely on them for anything (they were never really reliable anyway). I have the support of a loving woman, who is also atheist, and her family, whose beliefs, in general, are simple and well grounded.

Best way to express yourself if you’re worried about being attacked and whatnot (Christians prefer the term ‘persecuted’) is to write. Fiction, a diary, whatever floats your boat. It’ll let you say what you want to say, and the paper never gets offended.

So what we have is organized believers against organized non - believers ,trying to recruit from each others team.  Why does this remind me of a game?

it would really suck to live in those times where you had no choice in your beliefs, at least i have the choice. Religious people did not want us to know about science and knowledge because they were afraid we would see the truth. i fantasize that one day the bible will be seen as a myth by everyone, and no one will believe in a god. Then we could get on to the real questions of the universe, instead of thinking of some story that was weaved 2000 years ago that is suppose to explain everything. i have read some of the bible, and it all sounds so riduculous, i don’t see how anyone can believe it. My 12 year old son has not been brainwashed with religiuos beliefs, and he came home from school one day asking me what noah’s ark was, because he said his teacher said something about it. He has a very literal mind, being mildly autistic, i read him the story out of the bible because he wanted to know about it. He said it was ridiculous and it made no sense. He pointed out several reasons why it made no sense to. A few days later, his friend was talking about noah’s ark,saying it was true, my son laughed at him. i have never told him what to believe, i tell him to believe what he wants.  don i like what you said-You can write a book on atheism in a closet. I will smuggle out the pages for you and nail them on the church door. i saw richard dawkins on comedy central the other night. i will be buying his book.

I did the same with my three children also. Many times, we had family bible study. I pointed out the errors, contradictions, impossibilities, and foolishness in the bible. We also studied Copi, Russell, Gödel, Hume, Thomas Paine, and giggled with Mark Twain. We had history books all over the house “in plain sight”. 

To make a long story short, I raised some damn good Atheist and proud of it. 

My son came home one day with an initiation to bible school and wanted to know if he could go. I said sure, have fun, do not forget to take your bible that I gave you. About 3 weeks later he said he is dropping out because they offered him candy for every new person he could get to attend bible school. He said he want hard cash for his labor and not candy, he was not learning very much, that he knew the bible better than what was being taught, and his questions were not being answered.

I told my son, and two daughters, that is the way it is with religions. Do not ask too many questions, do not expect answers to valid questions, and not much has changed, or will change, for generations to come. Keep the peace, but don’t attend bible school, or other religions, if you don’t want to. Be the “free” people that you are. 

My son went a couple more times then dropped out. He said the bottom line was that he did not like being treated as a kid. He was about 10y at the time.  I laughed, and supported his decision.

Don

James wrote:

So what we have is organized believers against organized non - believers ,trying to recruit from each others team.  Why does this remind me of a game?

Don responded:

It is a game James, a very serious game, and at times a game of life and death. The theist, Christians, have had their way with humanity for thousands of years. We atheist have been raped, solemnized, enslaved, pissed on and pooped on, burned alive, had our lovely children confiscated, kept in ignorance with purposeful intent to destroy, and I’m not going to take it any more!

Every good thing that humanity tried to achieve Christians have sought to destroy, manipulate, violate, and desecrate; not even to mention lie about, pervert, bury, and ransom.

I stand by the rule of law, Torts, and take the Stupid Evil Bastards to an open and public court of law! Sue the crap out of them at every point, hit them in the pocket book, take all their money and resources all legal like, strip them bare and sitting in the gutter naked with a rag on their head for protection against the rain.

I will meet those Christians in the classroom, in open debate, and in the court of public opinion, in political vote and persuasions, and let the best team win.

I do not endorse violence, but to stay law abiding, according to torts, and statutory laws. I stand for human freedoms in fact not slogans. I stand for integrity and honesty in information and research, and I stand for an educated public. I stand for the advancement of the human race, the human mind, for all races and ethnic groups, and a political voice by the individual unrestrained.

I would be happy if a Christian would endorse even one of my points, but that would be against their beliefs in a god and would show their god null and void.

I also stand for religious freedoms, believe as you would, gather as you would, but constrained by common law (torts) for human justice one to an other.  These many items mentioned and even more, are to be in fact, in reality, and not in myths.

Humans first! Not some Stupid Evil Bastard as the Jesus myth!

Take a look at life threw the eye of the Hubble telescope.  The entire cosmos is ours for the taking by default of the many gods.  I say lets take it, take what rightfully belongs to us as thinking creatures, and enjoy it for all that it is worth.

Don

Say, who WROTE that interesting article you cited at the top of the page? Where could one get ahold of the entire thing?

Thanks a million.

R.J.

May I inquire as to what you have said, Don? If children are to be allowed to believe what they want to, then is’nt teaching them anything; atheism, christianity, islam, or buddism, forcing a belief on them? What if one of your children said they wanted to become a buddist, or one said they wanted to become a christian, how would you react to them? Or is teaching a child just informing them and giving them choices? If so then should not all chioces be treated in the same way? I am wondering what you think.

Curious - Don’t expect Don to answer back, he nolonger has a profile, I will answer some of your questions

If children are to be allowed to believe what they want to, then is’nt teaching them anything; atheism, christianity, islam, or buddism, forcing a belief on them?

You can teach without forcing something on someone - inform them of each idea, say that there is more out there and that they can make their own, and that they are free to choose what they want, you were correct with:

Or is teaching a child just informing them and giving them choices?

As long as something is a valid possibility then any is an acceptable choice, though you would have no reason for overiding direction if you cannot dismiss all other options. Whether all choices in general should be treated the same - each is a matter of consequence, as long as all partys involved are ok with the consequences, or you are ok with the consequences the other partys not being ok with it, then the choice is acceptable in my view

Ps to all in general, I will be away for a week after today