I should clarify... it wasn't so much blind faith as faith because I'd get into serious trouble if I questioned god (read: tyrannical Catholic father). I felt pretty abandoned by 'god' when I was harassed to the point of tears at school every single day. I spent most of my time in church counting the ceiling tiles to stave off boredom rather then praying or joining the droning ChurchZombies.

When I was tired of being harassed, I tried praying pretty regularly in order to change my situation. I concluded nothing was going to change after I prayed consistently for weeks and received no reply. Nothing and no one was there to answer my numerous prayers, so naturally, I stopped. That was about the time when my family became too busy for church, so I stopped going to church as well. I went during Christmas Eve to appease my family, but that was it.

For some reason, I held onto other strange superstitious notions and plunged into Wicca/Paganism. For some reason, I differentiated the Goddess (I interpreted her as the earth and the Universe as a whole) and 'god'. I prayed to the Goddess, asked for the Universe to be kind to me, etc. etc. After a bit, I stopped caring about religion altogether.

I am one of the sad few who had to learn critical thinking and skepticism. I mean... I always asked questions, but they were the wrong questions and I was asking the wrong people.

Actually, I was raised Catholic. We've just mostly got Southern Baptists around here, so that's mostly who I hear from ... them and the Mormons and Jehova's Witnesses on my doorstep, from time to time. I think Catholics stopped burning their heretics 300 years ago, or there about.

Well, as long as you stick within a western country and don't make enough noise to attract roving terrorists, you're good. I remember that woman who wrote a book on the subject and went on The Colbert Report. She essentially lives under perpetual death threat. I can think of easier ways to get published. It's rough.

Haha, Yeah i'll be sticking in a non-muslim country, TYVM! I would like to do something for us ex-muslims, though, someday. But i live at home atm (im 17) and therefore laying low about my beliefs is a good idea to my family forever, in general, and to most of the world...for now :)

Success!

Things have been tightening up indeed. Just 10 to 20% of population don't attend church (http://www.economist.com/node/16767758). And these are people who were brought up in completely secular environment, studied real science at school and some even "Scientific atheism" at the university. Quite stunning!

It's a little worse with Moscow Orthodox Church in Russia, as it has basically grown together with the state (taxpayers' money are spent on building churches!). We're not there yet, but not far from it either. Ukraine has a "moral protection committee" which is unconstitutional and again, supported by taxpayers' money. Basically a bunch of newly converted religious jerks enforcing censorship. Ugh.

What is causing the "major atheist push" in the US now, you think? It is a common trend for people to abandon organized religion, but that doesn't equal supporting atheism... I'm wondering, what factors are making atheism attractive for some of the US citizens at this moment in history. Because this doesn't seem to be the case for Ukraine :-) Unfortunately.

Hey! Thanks for posting on my page =] Yep, every town (college or not) is fundie-heavy around here. I will say it may lighten up a little in the college towns, but still heavy nonetheless.

I know he can! Who do you think taught him that? lolz

I'm not sure, actually. I think my family may be an atheist family, but they're very open about religion and they told me to believe whatever I wanted to. I used to be really spiritual, but after a while I just forgot about religion. Then, I came back to it, and realized how stupid it really was. I've been really interested in religion lately and it's a really interesting topic; I've always loved science. :)
And I have been, I'm liking the conversation so far, but some of it is a bit advanced. I just love knowing that there's other atheists out there, because it's hard when mostly everyone you know is religious or spiritual.

Yeah, being so young makes it hard to connect with atheists anyways. I was thinking about starting a club at my school for atheists, but I figured I wouldn't find anyone. Most kids my age know absolutely nothing about religion; they just go to church sometimes and pray. I've always had trouble finding people my age that have my intelligence level, so I've been on a lot of sites like this, but mostly for younger people and without the atheism. xD
Oh, I love the Atheist Experience, I don't get them on TV so I'm constantly watching them on my computer. The theist callers tend to be the highlight of the show; they always leave me cracking up. I also watch stuff like Edward Current on youtube, just for the fun of it.
I'm still researching religion every time I can get my hands on a computer. Right now, I'm trying to read the Quran, but I'm also doing a project on evolution, and algebra homework, that's eating up a lot of my time.
But actually, I understand most of the religion stuff, it's just the political stuff that's a bit confusing. I guess it's because I find religion more interesting? I don't know, I love science, so maybe that's why.
Hah, don't worry, I ramble constantly.
Yes, I think I'm very lucky. The bad thing is, my brother is having a very spiritual stage (he's seven), since his friends believe in God and their parents have bible study every Monday. I had the same stage when I was age four to about age eight, then I had a completely agnostic stage where I didn't give a crap, then now I'm an atheist. My parents didn't educate me at all, so I came up with all of this myself.
Hopefully your mom lightens up. At least she's not a fundie.
I'm sorry for your loss! It's still good that he was probably an atheist, even if you aren't for sure.
My parents are the same way, they told me that I can believe whatever I want to, but they don't seem very religious. My mom is smart as hell, so she's probably an atheist for sure. I'm exactly like my dad, so he might be.

Well, what I mean is that I may transition out of it one day. Though I don't think that it'll be soon. It's just a precaution (ha!).

True, true. I still believe in reincarnation and spirits and crap like that. XD

Yeah, there was this guy I met at a bat cruise in Austin (yes, we have those) from Seattle who said he would much perfer a world with a majority Buddist than a majority of Desert Dogmas.

Yes well any religion who didn't have its crazy fudumentalists probably never survived. I also heard somewhere that the Tibetans went the opposite way of most other nations by starting as a violent nation and then becoming peaceful. But that could be wrong, I'm not sure.

You should come down here! The bat cruise is alot of fun and a thrilling experience. Just make sure you bring an umbrella!

Lol, i figured i wanted the poll to mature then come back in post.

Of course probably post in two weeks.

My mom and I brought an umbrella so we would have any of those "souvenirs" but when she tried to close it, all of the bat pee sprayed all over me. XD
I smelled like shoe rubber for a few hours afterwords.

I HAVE OCD TOO!!! Although it shouldn't be surprising considering the vast majority now has some form of OCD... Is yours just with cleanliness or do you have other forms?

I have a lot of friends in Montana, sort of. This state is like a dysfunctional family. Everyone has a live and let live attitude until your back is turned. At least its quiet and non-violent. During primarily gay events or locations its unusual for any protests to be made and it's normally one obsessed (generally closeted) person. Not bad for a red state.

Well, I have not written much recently, sadly.
I write poetry and often think of many novels I would love to write but I never have time. I'm also not much of a sitting person so building the motivation to write is quite difficult sometimes.
My poetry is personal, so I doubt it is any good to anyone else.
Do you write yourself?

That sounds interesting, your comedy plans. I don't usually like stand up comedy, or really any kind of comedy, at least not what's on tv or in distasteful movies. What are your "comedy stories" about?

You're right, I am a junior in high school. Although, I have my college picked out, a way to pay for it, and I have a somewhat good enough view on what I want for my future. Due to recent events, I have found myself changing my mind and I feel less sure of where I am headed..
I wish I had more talent for writing. I know I have potential, but when you don't have much inspiration and a prompt is hard to come by, it makes writing more of a chore than a hobby.

I guess what I meant about my poetry being too personal is that sometimes it doesn't seem careful enough. That it may be unedited, or sloppy. I don't really mind my poetry; when the rhythm might be off I just say Well, it happened that way so it sounds good (to me) that way.. You know?