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.

The Preacher Called

So I am sitting at work and the phone rings. I see the caller id is a number I have not seen in months. It is the pastor of the church I used to attend and the church my wife still attends.

Up to about 8 months ago I used to have lunch with him once a week. We would talk about religion and evolution and every other subject. It helped me sharpen my debating skills. I rather enjoyed it. I could tell that he was sad after each lunch. He felt a deep sorrow for me and my kids. He thought my actions would send them to hell.

Then he told me I should not talk to my wife about religion. I thought that was stepping over the line. I told him he had no business telling me what I could say to my wife. That was the end of the lunches.

So I am sitting there looking at the caller ID trying to decided whether to answer or not. I pick up the phone. I talk to him in the kindest of voices. He tells me he was just leaving my house a had been speaking to my wife. Oh boy...

I wondered if my wife had told him about being theist. Or if the pastor's wife had told him. Since my wife spoke to her about it.

To my surprise he did not bring up religion at all. He just wanted to check on me and see how I was doing. Maybe he intended to bring up religion but a coworker ask for my assistance so I had to cut the call short. I still fear he will try to disrupt my family under the guise of doing God's will.

My Wife Started it

I am so happy. My wife started a conversation with me about religion. I about passed out. I think it is great that she actually wants to talk about it now.

During our previous conversation she stated her belief that all religions are praying to the same God. I then asked her if she believed Jesus was the son of God. She did not have an answer. She spoke to her preachers wife afterwards and that is when she came back to talk to me.

She said that my becoming an atheist has strengthened her faith. I asked if it was her faith in God or her faith in Religion. She stated it was God.

I think it is a good thing she is starting to question things more and even though she is claiming a stronger faith I am glad it is not in a religion. The difference between theist and religious is a big jump and I am very proud of her.

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.