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Coming Out of the Closet: Aftermath

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After I came out as an atheist, I began dealing with familiar baggage along with new problems that people deal with when they come out of the closet. It's the type of stuff that would make a Bible believer go, "If only you didn't turn your back on God." The feeling of being an outsider returned after a three-year hiatus. That's what happens when you are socially withdrawn from by sixty-plus people. I spent twelve years as an outcast during my school years, so this was nothing new. I was continuing my education at UACCB and the chancellor (who I was working for) & the staff became like an extended family to a degree, but that stop my social anxiety from gradually growing. After a year, I started playing sick to miss work days because I was getting more and more scared of making a call-screening error or interacting with chamber of commerce people.   I also became suicidal, and Bible believers would be happy to run away with that. After seven years, I'v...
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Preaching and My Deconversion

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By the time 2013 rolled around, I was fully entrenched as a Church of Christ member.  I was leading prayers, passing out offering plates, and was one of the guys serving the tasteless crackers and wine (grape juice) for the Lord's Supper.  In July of that year, I was talked into going to a preacher training program held at the 84th Street Church of Christ congregation in Oklahoma City.  A few of the men had previously taken part in these programs, and were very much into the idea of going, so I did. One of the biggest sources of stress when you're a Christian in the Church of Christ sense is the constant pressure to control your thoughts and to always make sure you're doing something for a reason that would be pleasing to God.  If you don't, then it's just another thing to add to the list of a million other tiny things that could send you to Hell.  The thing with the thoughts was a pain during those ten days.  Why? Up to that point, traveling via public tra...
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Introduction

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Hi folks! First off, welcome to my new blog.  I've been an atheist for nearly eight years now.  Do I have any regrets?  Yeah, my life is just drab and meaningless, and I'm just a random set of chemicals pretending that a being that can make snakes talk doesn't exist so that hopefully I can enjoy baby burritos without a guilty conscience.  Nah, I have no regrets whatsoever.  While being honest about my beliefs has come with more than a few consequences, that is more to do with the fact that there's still plenty of religious bigotry to go around.   To begin my little autobiography, I was raised in Batesville, AR.  By the time I was 8, my grandma was raising me full-time because my mom had become severely schizophrenic.  I have seven siblings, all who have been raised by foster families.  Hopefully one day, I'll get to know them.   Being an atheist, yes, my old friends from my Church of Christ days definitely think my ...
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