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Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if all the Christians were raptured...

Latest Activity

Tim Habraig commented on Jared Smith's blog post Why I am NOT a "Bright"

"Please, please, take the time to look at the origins and usage of the word! More than 50,000 have already decided that the identity is for them and the number's rising every day. As I say, why use an word that presupposes that there are…"

Dec 24, 2009

Emekan A'dem commented on Jared Smith's blog post Why I am NOT a "Bright"

"Colleen, It just seemed a trifle childish to me. "I'm smarter than you are!" Like kids fighting in a sandbox. While not as extreme, the Brights movement reminds me of certain members of the Religious Right - "I am a Christian…"

Dec 16, 2009

Colleen Quinn commented on Jared Smith's blog post Why I am NOT a "Bright"

"Yes Emekan, I am of average intelligence and probably a science geek wannabe. I was always more of a social sciences kinda girl than biological. Was an Anthropology major but ended up as a school counselor. So many theists especially in elementary…"

Dec 16, 2009

Emekan A'dem commented on Jared Smith's blog post Why I am NOT a "Bright"

"I'm unafraid to use the term atheist - in many ways, I am already an other - but the term "Bright" does annoy me, at most. I'm aware of my own intelligence and people shouldn't need a movement to prove themselves...Plus,…"

Dec 16, 2009

Colleen Quinn commented on Jared Smith's blog post Why I am NOT a "Bright"

"I'm with you. I don't like the term Brights either. Nor do I like atheist. When I attended the AAI conference in Burbank last October, I would say it was a "science conference" and then add "and an atheist conference".…"

Dec 16, 2009

Aggiememenon commented on Jared Smith's blog post Atheist Library

"Then there's also the classic (1979) by George H. Smith; _Atheism: The Case Against God_ and Bertrand Russell's _Why I am Not A Christian_ (1957)."

Sep 12, 2009

Profile Information

My URL: http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=582590176

About Me: Since it seems that the popular thing to do in this space is kind of "introduce" your ascent to atheism, here's mine:

I was born, raised, and baptised Catholic and went to mass every sunday until I was about 10. At that point, my parents stopped going to church, except for Christmas and Thanksgiving. I don't know why they stopped, but I welcomed it. I found mass very boring, as do most kids.

When I was 12, my parents started going to different churches and deciding which one to attend. I wasn't that happy about it because I knew that when they finally picked one, that me and my brother and sister would be required to go. Eventually they picked one, a Southern Baptist church.
I was a believer back then. Not hardcore though, not to where I would try to recruit total strangers or anything like that. But I was deeply suspicious of atheism. Like all believers, I had my doubts and I was pretty good about mentally squashing them when they came up, as all believers are trained to do. I bought into the whole thing for about a year. I went to church every sunday (again) and read the bible all the way though and was so close to getting baptized.
One day, I was over at my friend Casey's house. Casey is an atheist and I knew this but didn't mind it. He was watching a video clip on Youtube.
He was watching a clip of a British man talking about atheism. I can't remember what he was talking about but I watched it the whole way through and asked Casey who it was afterwards.
It was Richard Dawkins. I read The God Delusion shortly afterwards and, well, here we are. That was about a year and half ago. I am now 20 years old.

Other than that, I'm a percussionist. I've been playing for about 11 years now. I'm a student at Metropolitan State College of Denver(Metro). My major is English/Writing and my minor is Religious Studies.

I chose this as my minor because of the last sentence of Christopher Hitchens book, "god is not Great". That sentence is:

"To clear the mind for this project, it has become necessary to know the enemy and to be prepared to fight it."

I'm an avid reader. Mostly fiction. My favorite authors are Stephen King, Kurt Vonnegut, Christopher Moore, Mitch Albom, George Orwell, Michael Crichton, Ray Bradbury, and John Grisham.
Other authors I greatly admire are, of course, the Four Horsemen: Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennet, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. Their books are incredible and should be a part of any personal atheists library.

I hate TV, I rarely watch movies and I refuse to play video games.

School/College/University: Metropolitan State College of Denver

Profession: Student

Age Group: 18-21

City and State (For Member Searching): Colorado

Country (For Member Searching): United States of America

Jared Smith's Blog

Atheist Library

Posted on July 30, 2008 at 5:54pm 5 Comments 0 Likes

Here's a short list of books I put together that I think represent the case for atheism very well.

Any atheist that is serious about his/her lack of faith should read at least some of these books. They aren't light reading though. But I've found that as I read these, I tended to read them faster and faster as they are such damn good books.

Being an atheist is easy but being informed about it and being able to defend it well are important things. We can learn a lot from these… Continue

Why I am NOT a "Bright"

Posted on July 28, 2008 at 6:11pm 5 Comments 0 Likes

The Brights. As in "I am a Bright." I don't like it.

I don't really like the term 'atheist' either. Sam Harris was right when he said that the term 'atheist' should not even exist because all it is, is an admission of the obvious. It's used to identify a non-believer but there are no words, or labels, for other groups or people who are non-(pronoun).

But I think that the term 'Bright' is the worst. Professor Dawkins is an intimidatingly smart man but when I first read… Continue

Comment Wall (6 comments)

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At 6:28pm on December 15, 2009, jeric harper said…: hi jared,
im Jeric and i am founder of Leaders in Free Thought, an atheist/skeptic group at CSU in in Fort Collins. we are hosting Eugenie Scott in January and i wanted to invited you and anyone else you know who wants to come. (its free).

she works for National Center for Science Education and defends evolution. i put up an event page here on nexus so you can check it out. just look up "Eugenie Scott: Not Over After Dover" and you'll find it. i've also coordinated with some evolution profs here to do a discussion after and then there will be some food. i hope you can come and spread the word.

see you there,
jeric

At 12:37am on August 20, 2008, mithu said…: revolting or what ever u say ,the idea is clear

At 12:36am on August 20, 2008, mithu said…: revolting or what ever u say ,the idea is clear

At 11:46am on July 30, 2008, Name Here said…: I totally forgot the two endings! I was so enthralled with the last one that I completely erased the other from my mind! I had to go back, just now, and re-read the ending to remember what you were talking about. King is such an ass like that and I love it! I think he is right about there never really being a happy ending. Even if you have a perfect life, at the end you will die and I can find no happiness in that. That goes right into what you said about the journey and not the destination. Good stuff!

I agree, some of the endings leave a bad taste in my mouth. He makes it too real sometimes. Well, as real as monsters in the sewer can be I guess . It's the emotion he fills his characters with that makes it so real and heartfelt and unfortunately it is the realness that makes some of the endings bland I think. Riding off into the sunset happily ever after is just not real.

I loved Tommyknockers, it is always amazing to me that he comes up with this stuff, what an imagination! Salem's Lot was the first King book I ever read and was one of the books that breed my love for reading. Now Cujo...that book actually scared the crap out of me! I am a dog lover and at the time Saint Bernards were among my favorites. That story just hit too close to home because of the actual realness of it.

Last night when I was replying back to you, I was looking up some of the names to the limited editions and found that new thing he's doing. It's a new episode of 'N' everyday until August 29 and it is actually a short story in his upcoming compilation called Just after Sunset. Awesome stuff, I can’t wait to read it and I love how he made the story into comics and is releasing one a day. Sorry man, I can blather on about Stephen King all day long!

At 7:14pm on July 29, 2008, Name Here said…

At 7:11pm on July 29, 2008, Name Here said…: Hey Jared,
That's so cool your a fan too! I have read every one that I can think of except for some of the limited editions like My Pretty Pony, Six Stories and Secretary of Dreams (and I'm sure there a few more). I just finished Duma Key a few weeks ago and went into my usual mourning that comes when I finish a really good book or anything by Stephen King. My favorite is a tie between The Dark Tower series, The Stand and It. They were all so powerful, I can't pick one! My mom actually called me at 2 in the morning screaming at me when she finished The Dark Tower Series. I thought the ending was horrifyingly perfect. Not giving away any spoilers what did you think?