First post

I've long been a fan of the many excellent atheist blogs out there (Friendly Atheist, Blag Hag, Barefoot Bum, Pharyngula), and though I think they cover the space well, I always feel like I have something more to say.  I recently got into a debate on one of the posts at Hemant's blog with a dogmatic religionist who failed to understand why I consider the Bible to not be an accurate historical source, and while the discussion was doomed to failure, the exercise was interesting because it made me think.  And thinking is something I like.

I'm a 2nd generation atheist.  I was raised without the influence of religion.  A less-kind way of putting it is saying that I was never infected with the mind virus of religion -- any religion.  This has some consequences now for my perspective: first, I don't really understand how a religious mind works.  I don't understand how someone can claim to love and behave in hateful ways; I don't understand how someone can say they follow Jesus and vote for politicians who act what seems to be basically the opposite of how they claim Jesus taught; I don't understand how someone can deny science and history in favor of preserving belief in fairy tales; and so on.  Secondly, I do not have as part of my cultural background the religious references and teachings that most of my neighbors in this country (USA) do.  While I could just dismiss that as saying I'm better off without it, it's more interesting to look into it now.  Which is partly what this blog will be about.

My "morbid curiosity" with religion is not limited to Christianity, but I suspect that'll be what we talk about mostly on this blog.  I have spent a lot of time speaking with Christian friends about Christianity, Mormon friends about Mormonism, and less time looking into Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism or other religions (though I will include them as dictated by whimsy).

Most importantly, this will be a place where I intend to think and learn, and I encourage others to do so as well.  While vigorous debate and disagreement is a natural part of dialogue, I don't want any hate speech, personal attacks or other despicable kinds of behavior here.  Play nice.