Everything Seems Fine

I have not blogged in a month because nothing really interesting has happened in spectrum of religious discussions in my life. I have made a few more videos on you tube. I have been getting a lot of emails of praise from people about my videos. I have even got praise from Christians and other religious people. That has felt good. I am up to 330 subscribers, I hope to get 1000 one day.

My wife has not been to church in quite a while. I have not mentioned it at all. Her excuse every Sunday morning is she is tired. I am hoping she is going to stay away, but I am not going to stop her.

The atheist group I meet with in town is great. The people are very nice and one of them had a birthday party for their son and invited all of the people in the atheist group. So I went and took my wife. I thought it would be a good way for her see the other atheist are normal people. I made it a point to not discuss religion at all. A couple of people started talking about religion and I just walk away and hung by my wife. She was cool with it. She expected the conversations to turn to religion because of the group. It was a good time and my kids had a great time playing with the other kids.

The next week I went with my wife to her church's bowling outing. It was fun. I bowled five strikes in a row, first time ever. It is weird being there with all the other people who know I am atheist but they are all Christians. I wonder if they see me bowling well and wonder "Why is God letting him win?" It is funny to me. I used to pray before I bowled each ball. I am so glad I don't believe in that anymore. They had a drawing and I won a free drink too, must have been a blessing. :-)

Next week we are going to visit my father in law. He is atheist and we love to have discussions about religion and science. It is going to be hard to hold back with my wife around. It is her Dad though, so it should be fine. He knows that she is sensitive. I will blog about what happens when we get back.

Free Speech

My wife and I got into a discussion about free speech. She said there should be a line drawn. I disagree. I think free speech is the ultimate of all freedoms. Other than yelling fire in a crowded movie theatre, or anything else that would endanger others, we should be free to say whatever we want.

She said "So you think it is okay to tell your boss he is an idiot?"

I had trouble conveying the freedom to say something, and using discretion are totally different. I agree we should use discretion when choosing our words, that is the smart thing to do. But no law should be passed that stop us from speaking our minds. She started getting upset and crying, then she said she hated the way I was since I became atheist. She said I was like her Dad, who is an atheist.

I don't feel like I can voice my opinion to my wife without her getting upset.

I think I went too far

I went to a party Saturday night for a friend. It was a celebration for his promotion. I met a guy at the party that was a lawyer for a congressman. I asked him some questions about the patriot act and writ of ha beaus corpus. It turned into a discussion about the war on terror and I mention how religion was a big part. Well a girl at the table starts talking about how the bible is the truth and that evolution is fake and that carbon dating is wrong.

So we discussed all the points. I love to talk about this stuff with people who are willing. It always ends the same way. I give logical reasons and they eventually resort to faith and stop the conversation. This did not happen. The girl had a degree in chemistry so she had a lot of knowledge about carbon dating. I have studied evolution and religions a lot. I have not studied carbon or radioactive dating very much. Keep in mind she believed the world is 6000 years old and Noah's flood story was real.

She got up and walked away after a while. She was done talking about it. She told me I lived a sad life.

I saw her talking to my wife later on. The girl seemed upset. I walked over and apologized. I did not want to hurt her feelings. I forget that this subject is very matter of fact for me, but is very emotional for the religious. So when I am just making a point about evolution, they take it as a personal attack.

I think I went too far. I did not ruin the party but everyone she told is probably going to be upset with me. I am sure she is not going to talk to me at the next party.

One good thing did come out of it, I decided to learn a lot more about radioactive dating. I have a much better understanding of it now and will be well prepared for my next conversation about it.

The truth

Okay right after my last post I figured out what to write.

My wife is having a hard time trusting me. I am not always straight forward with all the details. Last night I went to the pet store. Then afterwards I stopped by Best Buy, then I went to Bennigans and had a beer. When she asked what took me so long I told her about the pet store and Best Buy, but not Bennigans. I thought she would get upset about me going there.

Then she smelled the beer on my breathe a few minutes later and asked me where I got beer. I told her the truth at that point. She says she can't trust me and things like this make it worse. Why do I feel I have to hide things from her? It is like I don't want her to tell me no. I don't want to hear her argue with me about going and having a beer.

I need to be honest with her all the time.

I am the bad guy

I confronted my wife about the statement she made about not caring about my videos. I told her that it hurt my feelings. I also told her that if she made christian videos I would watch them. I may not agree with the message, but I would watch them. I expected it to go well because I was calm and so was she. She blew up.

She said that I am not in the same situation as her. She is the victim her because of my choice. I explained to her that I did not make a choice. I stopped believing because of the lack of evidence. I would gladly believe again if I saw convincing evidence. I can not choose to believe.

I asked her if she wanted me to come to church and play along, knowing that I really don't believe. She did not answer. She is upset with me because she thinks I betrayed her. I know if she had become atheist while I was christian, it would have hurt me too.

Blame it on Atheism

My wife calls me to tell me something she saw on Oprah. She said that African Americans have a higher rate of high blood pressure. Oprah said it was because of the slave ships. The slaves that had higher salt held water better and survived the trip to America. That just did not sound right to me.

I asked a few questions about it. What about the white people on the boats? What about other races like Asians that came over on the boats? Wouldn't the slave masters made sure the slaves got plenty of water to stay alive so they would not lose profit from the trip?

My wife got really upset with me after these questions. She says she can't tell me anything anymore. She says it was the way I said it. I believe I was just asking questions. Of course she thinks it is because I am an atheist.

I have been skeptical every since college. I question any information I receive second hand. I always look for a credible source. My skeptical nature caused me to be atheist, not the opposite.

She seems so eager to believe a lot of things she hears. Especially when it is someone she likes, like Oprah, or Dr. Phil. Sometimes she hears things and calls me and asks me to research it. This is awesome. She understands that there is a lot of myths out there that are accepted as truth when they are false.

I fear that we can not even talk about anything now. She is afraid I won't believe her. I guess next time she tells me something I will just keep my mouth shut. I will research it. Then email her the research. That way there is no arguing. I am going to miss stimulating discussions with her.