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Where are you and what do you do?

Where in IL is everyone located? What do you do to keep from going crazy here?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dennis on September 21, 2008 at 7:22pm

Nobody yet?

Let me start it off. I'm in Huntley, the edge of the Chicagoland burbs. Its difficult to stay sane when there is so much denial of science and reason out there. I had a discussion with a friend of mine the other day. Turns out he is more fundie then I had realized. I have known him some 30 years and knew he went to church, but he floored me the other day. We had a creation vs evolution discussion ( I am surprised every time someone denies evolution) and he whips out the one less rib argument as proof of god. Yes he believes men have one less rib then women because the bible says so. WTF? How can an educated man believe something so obviously incorrect? I did correct him, but I do not know if he will believe the deceitful atheist.

Permalink Reply by Blue Nine on October 13, 2008 at 9:57pm

I am in Chicago. It's okay. It's not as easy being atheist here as people think. I don't know if this is true in other countries, but it seems like in the USA it's either church or drinking. If you are not into either one, this country can feel like a vast empty space.

How are things in the St Louis area? Your blog looks pretty interesting, SisyphusFragment. Any reason you haven't posted in a while?

Permalink Reply by Sisyphus Fragment on October 15, 2008 at 1:21pm

I have a metric butt-ton of friends in the area here because I was stationed at a local Air Force base for the last 4 years. Programmers in the AF are mostly agnostic/atheist. I go to a lot of concerts in the summer and board games/movie/halo 3 nights occupy a lot of my winter. I really lucked out finding so many non-christian friends when I got stationed here so I always have something to do if I need it.

My blog has stagnated because of writer's block primarily, the rest of the blogosphere covers most of the big issues rather thoroughly and I don't encounter much personal drama in the way of religion because of my situation with friends and family all being fairly liberal. I'm in a cushy spot, lol. It's hard to write when you're comfy.

If I read less blogs I would likely have more to write about, but they all cover everything so well :(

Permalink Reply by Mike (FVThinker) Burns on October 16, 2008 at 7:57pm

I am out in Geneva. Since 9/11 and subsequently reading The God Delusion, separation of church and state has been my hot button issue. I am interested in sharing ideas about how to promote non-belief on a broad level. It doesn't seem like it is going to be an issue, but I was genuinely frightened at the thought of Sarah Palin being a heartbeat away from the presidency. Want to know more about me, you can read and interview of me by another blogger at http://fvthinker.blogspot.com/2007/09/my-new-atheist-interview.html.

Permalink Reply by Goodie Faithless on November 8, 2008 at 9:18pm

I live near Chicago.
I make friends on the computer and do crafts.

Permalink Reply by Michelle on November 9, 2008 at 11:00pm

I'm in Bloomington, Chicago is about 2 & 1/2 hours north if you stay within 10 miles an hour of the speed limit and go all the way into the city.
This area is not only Christian, but overly politically correct to the point of dishonest. There are two groups that I know of in central Illinois; Bloomington-Normal Free thinkers and Champaign-Urbana Freethinkers.
I'm not really fussed about how others view my beliefs. There is no hesitation about saying, 'no I'm not Christian', or 'Bible prophecy is no more accurate than Nostradamus' and the vast majority of response has been respect that I'm honest, while polite and not asking anyone to agree with me.
I also have the privilege of working somewhere that not do something against me based on religion. It is policy and the company is very image conscience.
Outside of that, I try to be as useful as possible, behave in an unwaveringly honest manner and show respect for others. I'm happy and those I truly love, love me too. The plan is to get all I can out of the life I have while I have it.

Permalink Reply by Devin on January 2, 2009 at 2:39am

I was born and raised on the Westside of Chicago but now go to college in TEXAS!! yeah I know but oddly enough it was at college in TX that I became an agnostic I had a very difficult weekend during my first spring semester where I stayed in my room the entire time eating pizza and just watching everything I could about atheism/freethinking etc. and reading Robert G. Ingersoll's works. I was a stressful two days mainly because for 80% of the time I only knew what an atheist was and i knew i did was not comfortable with labeling myself with that, then i finally found the meaning of agnostic/ism and thats how I got to where I am. But i mainly use sources on the internet to stay sane especially at school

Permalink Reply by Jen R on January 6, 2009 at 12:46pm

I'm in Urbana, which is pretty tolerant of nonbelievers, so I don't have too much trouble keeping from going crazy here. I'm pretty much fine as long as I don't read some of the letters to the editor of the local paper (which covers a much larger, and largely rural and religious, area).

Permalink Reply by Lance on January 6, 2009 at 1:42pm

I live down state in Carbondale and am working on a dissertation about secularisation. I'd love to hear/meet some other academic types to discuss atheism in the classroom. As for going crazy, I ignore the prosletyzing as best I can and tell the Gideon's to keep their book of death to themselves.

Permalink Reply by Mike Haynes on January 10, 2009 at 11:15am

I'm in Virden (a little town 20 miles south of Springfield). There's not to many Atheists/Agnostics that I know of around here. I attend a UU Church in Springfield that is Atheist-friendly and has a few members who are also Atheist or Agnostic. I also watch an Austin Texas based program on-line called "The Atheist Experience" (http://www.atheist-experience.com/). They have a lot of archived programs on-line and a live feed of their Sunday program.

Permalink Reply by Renee Obsidianwords on January 14, 2009 at 6:32am

I reside in Bolingbrook (about 30 min. from the city) between working, hanging out with the hubby and my dogs, reading and keeping up with internet forums/groups...I keep busy :-)

Permalink Reply by Scott Otto on January 19, 2009 at 8:09pm

Right now I am in the Army in Washington state. When I get out I will be in Charleston, or Champagne-Urbana going to school. I lived in Charleston before, and am looking forward to going back. Didn't do a whole lot there, just went to the college anime clubs, and hung out with my friends. When I get out (whenever that may be) I will be looking to get involved in whatever atheist groups are in these areas. I don't want to see my home state descend into ignorance. I heard a group recently put a nativity scene in the capital, and this troubles me greatly.