Introduction

I'll make this short and sweet. My name's Pat. I came out of the closet on the side of nonreligion two years ago, and a great deal of what I've seen in my chosen community since has deeply disappointed and disgusted me. I nearly ran back into the closet in mid '07, and it took some time for me to realize that I could still be a secular person and not subscribe to the horrid behaviors exhibited by so many of my people all around me. For those who feel good about insulting others (a highly immoral condition, IMHO), I suppose I could be labeled a faitheist, an accomodationist who feels that sensible practitioners of both religion and non-religion can somehow establish peace and live together as human beings. Apparently this is unacceptable by the extremists on both sides, and such is unfortunate.

For all I will talk about in this blog, one irrefutable fact remains clear: the so-called New Atheism is an ongoing, disastrous failure. Were I to shoot my pet cat (an unconscionable act that would ultimately guarantee me a prized position with the Philadelphia Eagles, apparently) and then swing his lifeless body about once a day for the rest of my life, I would hit a church. Religion (Christianity in particular here in the U.S.) hasn't gone away in response to the negative pronouncements of the Four Horsemen (Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, and Dennett), and it hasn't gone away as a result of hateful atheist blogs I've so often read in the two years since I came out. It's my contention that neither the insults nor efforts to somehow rid the world of religion are necessary or useful. What I do believe to be useful is 1) positive advocacy for those who are secular and 2) respectful dialogue with those who disagree with us. The end of the War - as I now call this needless bickering between our camps - begins there.

Honestly, I'll be surprised if anyone reads this. If no one does (and no surprise, with the billions of more entertaining blogs out there at present) then it will at least be a place for me to think out loud about all of this madness.

Deep breath...here we go.