Overwhelmed... 20K+ Likes on FB - Thank You and Welcome!

Over the weekend, Discovering Reason reached 20K likes on Facebook—so I want to welcome those who are new to the page and say thank you to everyone who has participated thus far. I’ve said this before, but I’m so proud of the quality of people Discovering Reason has attracted!

So how did this page start? Well first off, I was raised Christian, went to Church 3 times a week, went to a private Christian High School and even 2 years at a Christian college.

As soon as I realized I didn’t have good reasons for believing in a god—I became very curious about the world, the universe, religion etc. and sought a better understanding of reality. You can read a short blog post about how I became an atheist here.

For the next year, I watched many lectures on varied topics along with countless debates about religion/god. After about a year of learning about evolution, astronomy, critical thinking skills, humanism, etc. I wanted to create a place where I could discuss religion/atheism and other issues. So I started the blog on September 10^th, 2011—I called it Discovering Reason because that is what I felt I had done. Many would say I lost my religion but what I really did was discover reason—and I wanted to do my part to help others do the same. 

As soon as I started the blog, I decided to start a FB page to promote it—I realized the FB page was just as effective as I hoped the blog would be, maybe even more. It’s been a great way to stimulate important discussions. 

Soon after, I started a t-shirt company called Smart Apparel with basically the same mission as DR, but accomplishing it by creating designs that celebrate science and reason. www.smartappareltees.com

I certainly have a lot to learn and always will, and by no means claim to be an expert on anything. I’m happy to admit when I don’t know something, but I’m confident that I’ve discovered the tools that will allow me to come to the most reasonable and/or accurate conclusion possible given the available evidence. I know there will be many who disagree with some of the things I post, and I welcome those who are sincere to challenge these post.

I’d love for the page to be a place where people can come to discuss any issue without the fear of being personally attacked. I know it's unrealistic to hope for a page where everyone is open-minded and willing to change their view or position based on the evidence, but that is my dream for this page!

I look forward to continuing our journey together and helping the world become more reasonable!

Beyond Reason

A couple weeks ago I posted on the Discovering Reason FB page something David Smalley (host of Dogma Debate) wrote on his FB page. I saw someone had left a comment saying,

“What utter garbage. Bet the writer can find no empirical 'proof' for his claims. Hypocrite!”

Since David wasn’t around to defend himself, I responded in his defense, this sparked a somewhat heated but civil discussion, which you can find here.

Toward the end of our back and forth he had taken a look at the DR blog and asked if I’d be willing to let him write something to challenge the readers to ask “positive questions about God” and hopefully start a different type of discussion.

I thought this was a great idea. Although I know some might think, “Why agree to that? We’re already bombarded with Christian content everywhere we look.” This is true, but I think anything that gets people to examine the views of others and discuss them in a civil way is a good thing. It seems many Christians have the view that non-believers don’t believe because they don’t understand. So I’d like to encourage people to read the post below with an open-mind, and after reading it share your thoughts in the comments.

Note: I’ve looked for a Christian blog in the past that would be willing to post something I’ve written on their blog and in exchange I’d post something of theirs in an attempt to encourage people to challenge their views. I haven’t had any luck in this venture, so if someone reading this has a Christian blog or know of a Christian blog that would like to participate in said idea, please contact me!

Atheist and Humanist Community—Help by Sharing Your Story

Last month I was in a bookstore doing some holiday shopping, and of course, I had to make my way over to the religious/philosophy/atheist section to get a gift for myself—I was looking for A Manual for Creating Atheists by Peter Boghossian but sadly they didn’t have it. However, during my search I came across a copy of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins which appeared to have a note tucked between the pages and sticking out just enough to get someone’s attention. I thought, “This will be interesting”, thinking maybe it’s a note from someone religious attempting to “save a soul”. It wasn’t, it was a young adult asking for help. It read:

Please Help,

I’m 18 years old. I just started going to college and I feel exactly lost about who I am. I was raised Southern Baptist at First Baptist Church in San Antonio—but I feel almost entirely certain that I no longer believe in the Gospel. It doesn’t make sense—especially that people who were born in other cultures and were raised muslim or in Africa or wherever and either never heard about Jesus or just were taught by everybody that it was wrong are all going to hell and still because I no longer feel like I believe I am afraid I am going to hell—it’s like I’ve lost all the good parts of my religion and kept only the bad parts—the fear—I don’t know who to talk to—please write if you can help at knockthedooropen@gmail.com.

Please. 

Obviously, I wanted to see if I could help, so I reached out to him and shared that I had a similar upbringing and was also brought up in a Southern Baptist church. However, I never had a fear of going to hell after coming to the realization that god was a myth—but I know it's extremely common for former Christians to have this fear. After a couple of email exchanges, he expressed that just knowing that there are people who have had similar experiences was really helpful.

I asked if he'd be comfortable with me sharing his story in hopes that others who've had a similar experience would be willing to share their story. He agreed and was very appreciative. I think hearing stories about other experiences would be really helpful—and there are a lot of similar experiences! The atheist/Humanist community as many of you know is amazing, and I'd love to show him that there are many people willing to talk to him that have been in the same position who understand.

So if anyone wants to help by simply sharing their story in the comments below—I and I know he would really appreciate it! Thanks in advance!