Atheists are coming out of the closet

Unlike some Atheist bloggers I don't feel the need to make my whole blog about Atheism. Now that is not a criticism of those who do. I strongly support those who are "fighting the good fight" with all those "faith based believers" out there. I think for me it is more a case that I have been an Atheist for so long and from such a young age that I find it hard to imagine ever having believed all that religious mumbo jumbo.

Equally I was also very young when I "came out" as an Atheist and I never saw it as any big deal or a scary thing to do - it would have been much scarier pretending to believe in things that made no sense whatsoever to me!

However not every country and culture is the same and there are some places where coming out as an Atheist is a much much bigger deal and it would be churlish of me not to recognise that.

In the US for example it is apparently almost unthinkable that any politician who wants to get elected could come out as an Atheist. This is of course a very sad state of affairs in a country where there is as I understand it supposed to be a separation of church and state.

For those who live in parts of the US which are strongly faith influenced it must be a scary prospect indeed to come out to friends, relatives and neighbours as an Atheist. Knowing that there will be ignorance and assumptions made about you is not a pleasant thing to look forward to.

But above all we must towards our selves be true. The influence of fundamentalist religious believers has grown in this world and they not only assault our society physically with terrorist acts but they also commit acts of intellectual vandalism as they seek to sow doubt in ordinary people about some of the greatest scientific achievements of the human race.

So now is the time for all of us to stand up and say " enough is enough". Stand up and say "I don't believe your mumbo jumbo". Say "I wont be ruled by ancient books and the mumbling of priests and Mullahs". Say "I am an Atheist and I am proud of my absence of belief".

In that spirit this blog will now wear the Atheist red A, which the OUT campaign is trying to get Atheists to use as a symbol. If you look on the sidebar of this blog you will find it. Its going to stay there. Just don't expect me to cram my Atheism down your throat with every post. Because hey brother - my Atheism ain't no big deal for me.