Pathfinders Project: A New Global Aid Initative

A new project has been launched by the humanist charity Foundation Beyond Belief to send people on year long service projects to nations around the world. The initiative is called the Pathfinders Project, and Foundation Beyond Belief is using this project to hopefully be the launching pad for a humanist Peace Corps style organization in the future.

My good blogging friend, and blogging inspiration, Godless Poutine, was recently given the opportunity to interview one of the organizers, Conor Robinson.

Here's a few excerpts from the interview:

Blogging Fatigue and Some Writers Worth Reading

I haven't written new posts for the blog as often as I would like to. I haven't gotten around to writing, because I simply haven't had anything to say. Blogging is getting kind of tiring, and old.

 I've haven't had new topics to discuss in depth, and even when I do, I haven't had the time to go into them as deeply as I would like to. I'm kind of a perfectionist in that way, I want a post to be the best writing that I can do, and if I don't feel I can do that, then it kills all the motivation to write.

For instance, I've had a guest post that I need to finish for the blog for the site Homeschoolers Anonymous, it's a great site, they have already re published  a post I wrote several months ago for the blog Reason Being, and the creator of the site said that he thought it would be a great idea for me to write an original guest post for them.

I've been working on that post for several weeks now, and I've got writers block. I think in many ways it's important for former fundamentalists like me to share our stories with the world, but it gets tiring. Rehashing the past, bringing up all those old memories again, and then struggling to find a way to keep the writing fresh, and to keep from repeating the same thing over and over. However, at the same time, that's what people want to hear about the most often, my story, my past. Such is the paradox of being a former fundamentalist blogger.

Oh well, I should quit complaining..... Though I haven't been able to write recently, there's a few items of note in the blogging/commentary world that I want to share with everyone in the meantime.

Turkish sociologist thinks there's a link between atheism and autism, and that's not a good thing to him:

From My Secret Atheist Blog, written by my good blogging friend, Godless Poutine. (Read full story here):

A Turkish sociologist, Fehmi Kaya (pictured at left), sincerely believes that that autism and atheism are one and the same, and that autistic children "lack a section for faith in their brains"

A few quotes from the post by Godless Poutine that I really love in response to this, he has a son with autism, and has personally experienced some of the more bizarre beliefs regarding autism and "cures" for it that have been floating around both in the outside culture, and within the autism community in Canada:

This, naturally, caused a great deal of outrage among autism associations around Turkey. Now, I find it outrageous because there appears to be no credible scientific study to back it up.  And if it is true that people with autism are statistically more likely to be atheists, then what's the problem?  In this sense they likely see the world more clearly than many neurotypical people who's brains seem to fall prey to superstitious mumbo jumbo. 

But I suspect many people in Turkey (and pretty much everywhere outside of Sweden) find it downright threatening.  Because being identified as an atheist there is unlikely to help anyone who already has the sufficiently burdensome challenges of being on the spectrum or caring for someone who is autistic.  It's more than likely going to compound any problems you would already have navigating the healthcare system trying to find plausible treatments.

 If people in a highly religious nation like Turkey start thinking of autistics as atheists, that's just going to make discrimination and misunderstanding more prevalent, since atheists  aren't viewed in a highly positive light in predominantly Muslim nation.

Guest Post at My Secret Atheist Blog

Yesterday the guest post I submitted to one of my great online friends, Montreal blogger Godless Poutine, was posted on his blog. It's a great honor to be a guest poster, he is the blogger who inspired me to start writing.

My post there is about a day in my childhood I would much rather forget. I've been having more of those moments in recent months, because blogging about my past, though it has helped me to move in many ways, has also brought back memories long buried, for better or in this case worse.

My post, now up on his blog, is called Confronting My Past, I think Poutine did a great job of editing the post, it was a hard post to write, believe me.

As always, if you have a topic in mind that you would think would make for a great guest post, read my submission guidelines first, then send me an e-mail at ramblingsofsheldon@gmail.com.

Take the time to stop by the guest post page as well, my archive of past guest post posts published here, as well as guest post I have written for other blogs. There's some great reading there for everyone.

Are There Any Atheists In Barbados?

I always enjoy reading My Secret Atheist Blog, written by Quebec blogger Godless Poutine.

Today, he talks about his apprehension about possibly moving with his wife to Barbados. His late father in law was originally from there, and his wife still has quite a few family members on the island.



He has been there to visit before, and talks about his experiences. He loves the island and it's climate, but one thing concerns him. The nation is heavily Christian, 95 % of the people claim Christianity as their faith, and it is deeply embedded in the culture.

He wonders if he will be fully accepted into the culture there if people find out that he and his wife are atheists Read his post, The State of Atheism in Barbados for more information.

Don't just stop with that post, keep reading through his blog, he's a great blogger, and he is the man that inspired me to start blogging, his help when I started out, including letting me write a guest post series on my life, helped to get my blog off the ground, and heading towards where it is today.

Finding a Lot of Beauty In A Religion I Once Thought Was Evil

OK, maybe I made everyone depressed with my last post, but some things I just have to let out of my system. I'm trying not to be negative all the time, it's part of the reason why I keep begging for guest posts, it helps to add a little balance and fresh content to the blog.

Since I left my former beliefs behind, it's been like experiencing life all over again, there's so much I missed out on. There's many things that I have experienced in the last two years that I never would have been able to had I still locked myself mentally into the confines of my old narrow ways of thinking.

One thing that I have been introduced to since then is the beauty in the religion of Wicca. I know I keep linking to this too often, but in my guest post at My Secret Atheist Blog, I talk about how a Wiccan friend played a role in my de-conversion. That guest post series is practically my autobiography, anything you need to know about my past is there...... Godless Poutine, the author of My Secret Atheist Blog, interestingly enough, along with his wife, Kelly is a former Wiccan.

Once I got over my unease brought on by countless years of drilling into my head that Wicca = Satanism, I started to see just how beautiful of a religion it is, the imagery, the history, the open mindedness and tolerance of it's modern followers. It was kind of refreshing to see how open minded Wiccans are, both the one Wiccan that I do know in person, and those that I have encountered online. All I have encountered have been accepting of people for who they are, very liberal, but they never feel the need to push what they believe on anyone, (though they are happy to explain the faith to those that show an interest). Basically, they have all been everything that modern Christianity is not. This basically sums up the attitude on life that they have:

The "rule of three" is referring to the Wiccan belief that any attitude or action sent out will be returned times three, whether to the positive or negative. Actions that harm others will come back to you three time worse, actions done to help others will come back 3 times to the positive. 

The belief of "no harm done, do what ye will" is something that really appealed to me as someone who believes in personal liberty, and individual rights as a libertarian. I feel that if one's actions does not cause severe harm to others, it is not my place to interfere in someone else's life.

Despite what I find appealing about the faith, I'm too much of a skeptic as an agnostic to ever consider practicing Wicca as a faith, but it's interesting how what I had always been taught was evil is in reality something of beauty.

Why Am I Still Blogging?

I have been blogging for nearly two months now, and I have truly been humbled at the response to the blog. Never would I have imagined that I would be average about 500 readers a week (who knew that many people would want to read my rambling posts?), and as of right now, 3,124 readers total over the life of the blog. I never knew it would take on such a life of it's own. I enjoy interacting with fans of the blog on comments, and on Google +, I've had some great guest posts written for the blog along the way, and even wrote a two part guest series for the blogger that inspired me to start blogging in the first place (Godless Poutine of My Secret Atheist Blog), which was a great honor.

I've exposed some dangerous Christian extremist groups like the IFB movement, and Sovereign Grace Ministries, shared some poetry from a great poetry writer, shared some laughs with a guest post written by Andrew Hall of Laughing In Purgatory, and shocked a few people with the guest post Happy Clappers, the bizarre story of a Google + follower's childhood exposure to fundamentalism. It's been a wild ride.

Despite all the fun, I'm beginning to wonder why I am writing the blog. I'm wondering why I'm spending so much time talking about religion, why it's become such an obsession for me.In some ways, I feel like I'm doing something important, exposing the horrors inflicted on people in the name of religion.

Many people who have never heard of groups like the Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) movement are downright appalled when they hear about the rampant pedophilia, (and sometimes retribution against victims and people who speak out against it, as I talk about in my post on Bob Jones University), the way they isolate themselves from the outside world (and force their young people to do the same), and their extreme beliefs and hatred including homophobia and misogyny. (Side note, see my post I Actually Don't Hate Religion as to why I use the term fundamentalist instead of Christian).

Sometimes, I feel it's necessary, and in a large part, I think my past experiences are driving this, but I have to wonder, what is my point in posting this? What am I hoping to accomplish? Why am I doing this?

I appreciate my readers, but most of them are skeptics and non-religious people, as to be expected from a blog like this. Is there anything that skeptics like us can do about the horrible acts committed by religion? The  people who really should be reading this blog aren't reading it, the fundamentalists that need to be confronted about this, and called out on their claim that you can not be a good person without believing in their religion (or at least in a god). Anyone with a skeptical mind (or has read my Exposing the IFB/Exposing Extremism series), can tell you that those who are part of fundamentalism aren't doing a very good job at being moral with a belief in god.

Many fundamentalists won't listen, though, they would rather try to explain it away, or attack the messenger, but there's a small subsection out there that though they may not respond, it will take effect eventually.

You see, there's people out there just like I was around a little over two years ago, who was teetering on the brink of unbelief, someone who didn't know if I truly believed in it all anymore, I was confused, felt guilty for doubting, and searching for answers

 It was during this time, that my faith was shaky that I started noticing just how awful the morals of people claiming to be hard core, fundamentalist believers in Christianity actually were. The people around me who were not Christians were actually more moral people, and lived out more the love others attitude that Jesus advocated. I talk about this in part 2 of my guest post for My Secret Atheist Blog, it led me to think: "If God truly is real, why isn't that reflected in the lives of the people who are supposed to be following him?" Aren't they supposed to be the moral example to the world?

If only I could reach this kind of audience, I feel like I could do more for this world, but I don't know if I am having this kind of impact at all. For every person who comments about the blog on Google + or directly on the blog, there's 40 or more people who read without commenting, how do I know who I'm reaching, and what kind of impact these posts are having?

I have also been questioning my motives in all of this. Fundamentalists often call former Christians/fundamentalists like  myself "bitter". The condescending tone they use when saying this implies a petty person who can't get over minor slights and annoyances, they almost draw a picture to the effect of a child screaming because mom won't buy them candy.

I think they get this picture from the number of "re-converts", prodigal sons/daughters who come back to fundamentalism. Many of these people claim that they only left out of "rebellion" or :"wanting to sin". This may lead them to think that those who have left, and won't come back are only using the pain of the past as an excuse to leave, so they can lose all sense of self-control. To be fair, some people to lose their sense of self control after leaving Christianity (especially young people), but it's because of an over reaction to the new found freedom they have found from the suffocating, impossible to meet standards they were raised into.

Others nearly have a nervous breakdown when they finally leave, they feel lost, their whole world was wrapped around their faith, what do they do now, especially since they came from an extremely isolating environment, and never got to experience the world before, and the outside culture. This was my experience when I left for college at 18, it was overwhelming, and led to a complete mental and physical breakdown, complete with depression, fatigue and panic attacks. This was 3 years before I even left fundamentalism, but just the exposure to the outside world that I was never allowed to experience was enough to create this reaction.

I have been questioning myself, have my past experiences actually made me "bitter"? Is this why I keep going after fundamentalism with such a fury? Is it nothing more than a personal vendetta, spite  against those who have wronged me? Should I be bitter?

Sometimes I think I'm more angry at myself than I am at people around me. After all, I'm the one who for 21 years, believed in all of it, the entire lot. Talking snakes? Yes, that's true! Noah's Ark? It actually happened! Hate anyone who doesn't look, think, act, like me and the people in my fundie circles (especially gays and people of other religions)? Yes! Try to make everyone live life according to the way I was taught by the church through the force of government? Absolutely!

How could I have been such a fool?

I know I was raised into this system literally from birth, but shouldn't I have seen the contradictions in the Bible, the damage that this belief system causes to the world, and the evil committed in it's name much sooner before I did? What does this say about me that it took so long to finally see it all?

I really don't know, maybe I'm just in a bit of a burnt out state right now......

Part 2 of My Guest Post Has Been Published At My Secret Atheist Blog

Godless Poutine of My Secret Atheist Blog has published the second and final installment of my guest post series on my life from childhood to giving up Christianity two years ago. From Christian Fundamentalist to Closeted Agnostic Blogger (Part 2) goes more into detail of my de-conversion, and how a Wiccan friend played a role in it, and how I got started blogging.

Make sure to check it out, and remember that I also accept guest posts here at Ramblings of Sheldon. Read my submission guidelines before submitting, and check out past guest posts. I would really enjoy receiving more guest posts, the last two I have published were quite a success.

I'm Proud to Announce My First Guest Post At My Secret Atheist Blog

I've already notified the followers of my Google + page about this, but if you don't follow me there, I want you to know that my long awaited guest post is up at My Secret Atheist Blog, due to it's length, it had to be split up into two posts, part 1 has been published, and you can read it by clicking here. He also has a tradition on his blog of creating bio pages for guest bloggers, check that out as well. I find the picture he used for the bio page to be rather funny. "Not this Sheldon Cooper".

Stop by his blog, read his other great posts as well, and tell him thanks for rolling out the welcome mat for me on his blog. Part 2 of my post, which will be a bit longer, is tentatively scheduled to be released next weekend, keep a watch out for my announcement that it has been published.

Happy reading

--Sheldon

To My Readers: I Have Not Forgotten About You! (An Update on the Blog)

Hi, readers, I haven't posted to the blog tonight, which is unusual for a Saturday, I know. I have been writing a guest post for My Secret Atheist Blog, about my past fundamentalist life, and my "de-conversion" out of Christianity, that took up quite a bit of time, as the post started becoming quite long, and rather personal. I just sent it to Godless Poutine literally minutes ago, keep a watch out for the announcement that it has been published, I think you all will enjoy reading it. It gets very detailed into my past life, and what caused the crisis of faith that led to me leaving Christianity once and for all. I am highly honored to do this for Poutine, and it's a great opportunity to introduce myself and this blog to his readers.

I have made an update to the blog, for your convenience, if you are a regular reader, you will be familiar with my posts on the IFB movement, now links to all posts relating to the IFB movement well be saved to a new page, Exposing the IFB. If you are a regular reader, it makes it easier to go back and find past posts, and if you are new readers, it's a great way for you to find them, and read them anytime.

Also, I want to take the time again, to remind everyone that I am open to having guest posts on my blog, read my guidelines before sending. I want to hear from you, you do not have to be an atheist/agnostic to send in a guest post, as I explain in my guidelines, but fundamentalists of any variety need not apply ;)
Guest posts also can be about topics other than religion.

I would love to have guest posts on this blog, it would be a welcome sight around here, especially if you have a more positive personality than I do, I can get quite negative around here.

Godless Poutine's Wife Tells Her Story

If you have been a fan of the blog for any length of time, you have seen me talk about  My Secret Atheist Blog, it's one of my favorite blogs, I always enjoying reading his perspective on atheism, and everyday life on Montreal. Like most Americans, I'm really not all that familiar with Canada, and his blog is rather enlightening on daily life up there. His post for today is a guest post, written by his wife, Kelly, who is also a blogger herself (check out the bio landing page for her blogs).
She writes about her life story, her childhood, becoming a neo-pagan as a teen, marrying a fellow Wiccan, (the author of My Secret Atheist Blog, Godless Poutine), and then the both of them losing their faith. It's a great story, check it out!. Losing My Religion? Or Shit Happens.

Atheists and agnostics making a positive difference in the world (and how you can help).

Atheist blogger Godless Poutine of My Secret Atheist Blog is one of my favorite bloggers, and is also the man who inspired me to start my own blog, he said blogging is "good therapy", and he was sure right.

Godless Poutine is a big supporter of the atheist charity Foundation Beyond Belief, and in recent weeks started encouraging people to contribute to one of Foundation Beyond Belief's main projects, the Kasese Humanist Primary School in Uganda. Due to the fund raising efforts of the followers of his blog, and other people on the internet, they were finally able to build a much needed chicken coop, so that students could have breakfast before classes.

It's great that people have come together to make a difference in the world. Check out the website for Foundation Beyond Belief to see the great projects that they sponsor, and how to donate.

If you see references on My Secret Atheist Blog or Foundation Beyond Belief's website for voting to get the school donations from the credit card company Chase, unfortunately, voting is now closed, it ended at midnight last night.