I'm back... sort of...

Hello. Hey.

It's been a very long time. 4 months... entirely too long. I'm still on hiatus, but thought I'd just pop my head in and let you know I've been thinking about you.

So here is a quick catch-up, a quick summary of what is going to happen (very soon), and a post to whet your appetite and tie you over.

A) A Quick Summary

In October and November of last year there was an upsetting personal drama in my family. For reasons left unspecified here, my sister has decided to move on with her life without the rest of her family. This has caused quite an upheaval in my life as she was (until her departure) living with our 90-year-old grandmother, to care for her. That is no longer the case, and during the course of December and January, Chael and I have moved in with her.

Shortly thereafter, I had an accident on our lovely icy Michigan sidewalks. My leg went one way and my kneecap the other, and now I am stuck in a brace which prevents me from bending my leg. So I can't drive, I hobble around with a cane, and I cannot unpack.

The short of it is this: I don't know where my notes / plans for Deconvert.Me are (as well as some ideas for posts). I also cannot sit at my computer at home for long periods of time to write. So unfortunately this project has fallen by the wayside. Sorry about that.

B) What is Going to Happen

I am in the middle of repurposing Deconvert.Me into a full resource site. I am only about 1/5 finished, and expect to launch on my 1-year anniversary of April 14th. That's in a month so I better get cracking! I will have links to resources, YouTubers, book reviews, news articles, etc. etc. I will also be continuing the blog, but in a much more limited capacity as I am considering writing actual articles - I've been in this for a year now and have a pretty good idea of where to go; I want to help others who may be in the same spot I was in.

C) A Post: The Greatest Single Cause of Atheism

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." -Brennan Manning

When I was a die-hard Christian, this was absolutely my favorite quote. I believed the typical fundamentalist rhetoric that atheists were either mad at god or didn't want to be accountable for their desire to violate basic morality. Christians who didn't behave as they should lent justification to atheist nonbelief and gave them fodder to "convert" others.

Of course, now I realize that this quote is blatant hogwash - and I'm going to explain why...

There are three glaring flaws:

1. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center report, only 31.7% of the world identifies as Christian. (I am quite sure, as atheism has seen a surge in the last few years, this number is slightly decreased.) That leaves 68.3% of the population who identify with a different faith or none at all. It is arrogant to assume that your religion, accounting for less than 1/3 of the population of the planet, somehow has the greatest responsibility for the increase in atheism.
2. Only Christians seem to think that their "witness" - the way they conduct their lives - cause unbelief because they aren't being Christian enough. The truth is, any simple Google search will show that overwhelmingly fundamentalist Christians are among the top reasons why people deconvert - for being too Christian. The number one reason I could find is Christians who have fully read their bible. Debating science with religious myth is another top reason. All the horrible things done to those that Christianity oppose, throughout history and up to even today, is another. Christianity itself - not "worldly" Christians - is the real reason why people deny / deconvert.
3. Finally, an "unbelieving" world does not give two shits about your belief. In fact, what they do find unbelievable is Christians who can't seem to get with the times: Evolution is a fact. Women have equal rights. Sexual orientation is a sliding scale. Your are born into your parent's religion, are fed its doctrines before you are able to choose for yourself, and are typically threatened with eternal torment if you decide to discontinue belief.

The truth of the matter is this: the lifestyles of Christians has little or nothing to do with why people stop believing in a god. Our disbelief comes from looking outside religion, which is something you can only do when you examine your beliefs with an objective view, willing to adjust your mentality with whatever you may find. This is not something religion encourages and, subsequently, not something most religious adherents do.

For myself, after I allowed myself to ask the questions, to be honest, to examine - and then cast off the cloak of Christianity, I was able to see just how utterly ridiculous the religion (and religion in general) is.

"One of the greatest single causes of atheism in the world today is religious adherents: who believe in the truth and validity of only their particular version of god(s) above all others; try to push their antiquated beliefs on others; and deny science, reason, logic, and common sense in favor of unverifiable myth and anecdotal evidence. That is what atheists simply find unreasonable." -Me

A break...

My dear friends and readers, I have to take a break.

It is not for lack of topic, as I still have more to say. But unfortunately this time of year is the busiest time of year for me, and I am finding it increasingly difficult to find the free time to dedicate to the type and quality of posts I want here.

Unfortunately the way timing works in my life, everything has to hit the fan at the same time. My family has been thrown into a needlessly dramatic situation; the result of which will be me and my husband moving out of our current home and moving in with my grandmother to help care for her.

Any and all prayers will be appreciated...

..for a good laugh. Honestly, don't waste your time.

At any rate, I am going to hold off on publishing more posts until after the new year. I may try to sneak one or two in, for Christmas or whatever, but no promises.

Thank you for your understanding.

See you... soon,

Frank

Death and Politics

This past weekend, Brittany Maynard decided to end her life. She was not depressed. She was not suicidal. She was terminal.

Earlier this year she was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma, a terminal form of brain cancer. She was given approximately six months to live; her health would rapidly deteriorate. She would experience pain. She would lose control of parts of her body. She would become a burden to her friends and family. Chemotherapy would only prolong the inevitable death, adding its own unique side effects to the mix.

Brittany chose to take control of her own destiny, sparing herself and her friends and family the pain of slowly wasting away. She proactively chose to not be a physical and financial burden, to not suffer.

She chose to die with dignity.

And yet, many people are reacting in a dishearteningly disturbing way which is quickly stripping away that dignity:

"Some people fight until the end and some just quit because they are weak and not fighters."

"Like abortion, suicide is murder. She'll be judged by here Creator God for her actions."

"Next you death-lovers will be hailing a mentally-ill person for murdering themselves."

"Death is something that we all must face in our own time, or you could just take the cowards way out like Brittany."

Oregon, Washington, and Vermont all have enacted legislature (The Death with Dignity Act) which allows doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs under certain conditions. Brittany and her family moved to Oregon this past summer to take advantage of this.

Knowing that you are going to die and making the concious decision to control your own death is not cowardice, it is maturity. It is honorable.

I understand the comments, the hateful remarks made by Christians. They truly do believe it is horrible, is an affront to their god. When I was a fundamentalist Christian, my own opinion on the matter would have been that people should be prevented from doctor-assisted suicide. In fact, Dr. Kevorkian, the first true pioneer in this field, lived only a few miles from me in those days, and I used to curse him. Now I grieve that there are not more like him.

I believed, like most fundamentalists, that those who committed suicide would burn in hell for eternity. Why? Because of the illogical argument that suicide is murder, and one cannot ask for / receive forgiveness when one is dead.

Christians believe that "god will never give you more than you can handle." And yet, I can easily point to millions of souls throughout history who suffered to the point of death (Google the Inquisition, Slavery, famine, plague, and third-world starvation).

Regardless, today's post was supposed to be about tomorrow's mid-term elections. I was going to give reasons why everyone should be voting for Libertarian candidates; but I think that Brittany has more eloquently made my point in the most serendipitous way possible: after all, the Libertarian platform is all about small government and people making their own life decisions.

So, in Brittany's honor, I would like to wholeheartedly thank her friends, family, and supporters; I would like to thank those who enacted the legislation in Oregon, Washington, and Vermont which allowed her to end her suffering; and I would like to cheer-on those who continue to fight for our liberties and freedoms against the increasing tyranny of the fundamentalist movement.

See you in two weeks,

Frank

Six Month Anniversary!

Well it has been six months thus far!

I feel that, for the most part, my deconversion is fairly complete. I am sure there are still things I will have to learn, things to adjust to, and things to forget. I have certainly experienced all of the 5 Phases of Deconversion (this will be presented in a future post).

Time has marched on and, as I slowly start to settle into the life of an apatheist, atheist, agnostic, or whatever the hell I am (which is another thing I've learned: I don't have to accept any given label other than my name, and I can even change that) I am finding that I need this particular forum less and less.

No disrespect to you, my reader, but I can't make this blog and my raging lack of belief the central focus of my life. It is time for me to shift perspectives and start fully living this one life I have to live.

It is true that I want to, in part, turn this site into a resource for other Christians who are toying with joining reality; so in order to do that (and to do the aforementioned perspective shifting) I will no longer be posting on a weekly basis, but rather a bi-monthly basis.

This will allow me to work on bringing resources, media, and higher-quality posts.

I will miss our weekly chats, but trust me: the best is yet to come.

See you in two weeks,

Frank

Columbus Day!

Today is Columbus Day!

I am too lazy today (actually, I’m behind on a billion different projects) to actually write about all of the atrocities committed by Christopher Columbus (in the name of Christianity, don’t forget) so instead I will point you to TheOatmeal, which can illustrate the disturbing details of this horrific (yet ignorantly celebrated) point of human history.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day

I hope Matt Inman will forgive me for this slight form of plagiarism.

Until next Monday,

Frank

Prayer (A Reprisal)

In my last post, I closed by indicating that prayer doesn't work. I pointed to a previous post whereby I attempted to argue against the four common beliefs presented by the religious when it is shown to them that their prayers fail.

I feel like that was insufficient. I want to be absolutely explicit when I proffer the claim that prayer just does not work. And so I'm going to point out a few more quick things.

The problem is that the anecdotal evidence offered up by the proponents of prayer are, at best, confirmation bias. At worst, extreme arrogance. In between lie statistical probability, coincidence, and pareidolia.

Arrogance? How dare I! And yet, to declare the "power of prayer" works simply because you prayed for, and received, a promotion, or a good parking spot, or that special toy for Christmas is genuinely offensive to the millions upon millions across this globe whose prayers for clean water, or food, or medicine are ignored.

Those people pray, too. They may pray to the same god as you do, or to different gods. And yet the kind, benevolent, and loving god which blessed you with a little extra whipped cream on your mocha has turned his/her/its back on the disheartening cries of a mother pleading for food for her child. God looks away and hums when a teenage girl is being gang-raped. And god seems to love damning the poor to poverty, while blessing the pastor with abundant riches. Is it ironic that the poor who, in their naivete, give their last dollar to the pastor, because he promises blessings from god?

Complete bullshit.

Confirmation bias I say? Yes, absolutely. We tend to forget all the prayers that go unanswered. Why? Because so many of us suffer so little in life, we can afford to forget the little inconveniences that slip by.

Coincidence? There are billions of people on this planet, and billions of things going on each minute of each day. Pure coincidence can -- and does -- happen, quite frequently.

Pareidolia? Our brains are hardwired to find patterns, to search for meaning. We look for hidden symbols and answers in everything.

Statistics? 10 out of 10. If a radio show selects the 99th caller to win tickets to the circus, then 1 out of 100 callers will win. Someone is bound to be that 1 person!

And while I could easily turn this post into a huge dissertation citing examples and research and studies and science, I'm not going to. Anyone interested in furthering their understanding of why prayer does not work can start with the Wikipedia article on Efficacy of Prayer. If that isn't enough to get your brain gears working, then always remember: GIYF (Google Is Your Friend).

And finally, let's meet Bill: an average middle-aged Baptist church-goer from the Appalachian hills of eastern Kentucky. He has cancer. He prays daily to his god for healing, during his chemotherapy sessions. He visits his doctor once per month, and is sure to take his pills every day during his morning devotional. At church, he asks for the prayers of the congregation, for healing from his god. The cancer goes into remission. Who gets the credit? Hint: it ain't the doctors, and it ain't the medicine.

"Oh," but you say, "that's because god was working through the doctors and the medicine!"

Seriously? So what about all the people who are in the same situation, but don't survive? Did god forget to work though those doctors and those medicines? Or maybe it is part of some great plan -- perhaps the same plan where millions on this planet suffer and die in horrible, disgusting conditions?

Like I said, complete bullshit.

Until next Monday,
Frank