New to the Nexus, Introducing Myself, etc...

Hello, everyone.

I was directed to this site by someone mentioning it on Reddit and signed up because once I checked it out, I had a profound sense of 'being home' (if that makes any sense).

I was raised in an on-off-on again Cumberland Presbyterian, then Southern Baptist church enviornment.  As far back as I can remember, I considered it a waste of time.  The revivals were kind of exciting (picture a middle aged obese man at the pulpit with that southern drawl, yelling at everyone, begging and pleading for their souls.  On many of these occasions, I would think, As much as the preacher is spitting on every hard consonant, he's going to soak the bible in front of him clean through.  But it was only exciting in the way watching a sporting event is.

Fast foreward many years.  I thought I believed in a Christian God, and I absolutely said I did, but I gave it no more thought in my life than I did the weather conditions on the other side of the country.  But at some point -- I think it was when I was 17 or 18 -- I began to foster doubts.  I was becoming a young man and had more personal freedoms than I had ever had before.  I hadn't been to church in a long time.  I had always been raised to think for myself, and I was paying more attention to the news.  I began to see that what I knew (or thought I knew) about fields such as Science were not melding well or at all with ideas that I had learned from religion. 

The process of me personally ridding myself of religion was a long.  In retrospect, I wish I had given it more attention, because the liberation would have been much simpler. 

Today, I am 28 years old and since I have no longer had religion in my life, everything is clear.  I can take any given situation and come to a personal logical conclusion based on the facts given to me, assuming the problem can be solved now, and I believe I can be a good, moral person in the process.

These days, I consider myself an agnostic atheist.  I don't consider myself a great intellect, but I work on it constantly, and consider my mind a mold for other ideas to shape.

I'm here to surround myself with like-minded people who I can relate to, and generally to have and read good discussions.  Add me if you like!