Twizzle
10th September 2009, 11:27 PM
Hello, my name is Twizzle, and I am an atheist...
*this is where I imagine everyone saying "hello, Twizzle."*
When I was 8, my brother and I were taken out of the public school system and placed in a Baptist private school. The reason for this is because the private system refused to take reasonable steps to prevent my brother from being bullied. They basically blamed it on him so we were shipped out.
Now, my dad is a staunch athiest and my mother a 'spiritual agnostic' (what I beleive to be her way of saying wishy washy christian!), so I was never exposed to religion at home. My dad was horrified that there were no nondenominational private school options here in Perth, so always made it a point to teach my brother and I to challenge authority when it seemed unjust or didn't make sense. Either way, it was always important to ask questions.
So needless to say I was a nightmare for my teachers! Of course I swallowed what they said at first, but as I got older I asked too many questions. What's evolution? How do you know the bible is real? How could all the animals fit on the arc? etc etc etc....even at a young age I knew never to beleive something fantasical without proper proof!
Unfortunately for me, being young and naiive, I was under the illusion that everybody was rational, intellegent human beings. So imagine my suprise when my valid questions were at first dismissed, then mocked, and lastly I was threated with eternal damnation for questioning the word of God. I could not understand why I was not being given proper answers, why I was simply being told just to beleive, and why I had to be threatened. So at the age of 11 I declared myself agnostic.
I became a full blown athiest in highschool. Nothing much had changed in my questioning attitude and the teachers responses, except now I was better equipped. The final straw came when, in a lesson on evolution in my biology class, I was told that God created all animals vegetarian (as there was no death), and that a lion could survive happily and healthy on a vegetarian diet. My response was an amazed 'BULL SHIT!", and after a bit more debating I got detention (ohhhh but it was worth it!). Over the years I received at least 10 detentions, infringement notices, and threat of suspension all because I asked too many questions. The school had several meetings with my folks complaining that I needed to learn boundaries and respect authority. Little did they know I was being rewarded by my dad for this behaviour!
I started to get more of an understanding of atheism (other than just 'relegion is shit') when I started a philosophy course at uni last year. Funnily enough, the first semester was about philosophic proof for the existance of god, or lack thereof. Here was someone saying 'well, God probably doesn't exist, and I will walk you through exactly why...' rather than BELIEVE WHAT I SAY BECAUSE IT'S IN THIS BOOK! YOU'RE GOING TO HELL! Everything fell into place, and finally I was equipped with actual philosophical arguments to back up by beleifs.
So just a couple of months ago I became aware of the athiest movement after doing a bit more of my own research into atheism. I'd always felt a deep sense of resentment bought the way I was treated by religion as a child, and lo and behold, here was a person actually campaigning to stop this! Richard Dawkins opened my eyes to being an out and proud athiest, a gift much better than eternal life :D
And yeah...
long winded, but that's my story in a nutshell. Please excuse any spelling errors, my keyeboard is dodgy and I've had a glass of wine (lethal combo...)
*this is where I imagine everyone saying "hello, Twizzle."*
When I was 8, my brother and I were taken out of the public school system and placed in a Baptist private school. The reason for this is because the private system refused to take reasonable steps to prevent my brother from being bullied. They basically blamed it on him so we were shipped out.
Now, my dad is a staunch athiest and my mother a 'spiritual agnostic' (what I beleive to be her way of saying wishy washy christian!), so I was never exposed to religion at home. My dad was horrified that there were no nondenominational private school options here in Perth, so always made it a point to teach my brother and I to challenge authority when it seemed unjust or didn't make sense. Either way, it was always important to ask questions.
So needless to say I was a nightmare for my teachers! Of course I swallowed what they said at first, but as I got older I asked too many questions. What's evolution? How do you know the bible is real? How could all the animals fit on the arc? etc etc etc....even at a young age I knew never to beleive something fantasical without proper proof!
Unfortunately for me, being young and naiive, I was under the illusion that everybody was rational, intellegent human beings. So imagine my suprise when my valid questions were at first dismissed, then mocked, and lastly I was threated with eternal damnation for questioning the word of God. I could not understand why I was not being given proper answers, why I was simply being told just to beleive, and why I had to be threatened. So at the age of 11 I declared myself agnostic.
I became a full blown athiest in highschool. Nothing much had changed in my questioning attitude and the teachers responses, except now I was better equipped. The final straw came when, in a lesson on evolution in my biology class, I was told that God created all animals vegetarian (as there was no death), and that a lion could survive happily and healthy on a vegetarian diet. My response was an amazed 'BULL SHIT!", and after a bit more debating I got detention (ohhhh but it was worth it!). Over the years I received at least 10 detentions, infringement notices, and threat of suspension all because I asked too many questions. The school had several meetings with my folks complaining that I needed to learn boundaries and respect authority. Little did they know I was being rewarded by my dad for this behaviour!
I started to get more of an understanding of atheism (other than just 'relegion is shit') when I started a philosophy course at uni last year. Funnily enough, the first semester was about philosophic proof for the existance of god, or lack thereof. Here was someone saying 'well, God probably doesn't exist, and I will walk you through exactly why...' rather than BELIEVE WHAT I SAY BECAUSE IT'S IN THIS BOOK! YOU'RE GOING TO HELL! Everything fell into place, and finally I was equipped with actual philosophical arguments to back up by beleifs.
So just a couple of months ago I became aware of the athiest movement after doing a bit more of my own research into atheism. I'd always felt a deep sense of resentment bought the way I was treated by religion as a child, and lo and behold, here was a person actually campaigning to stop this! Richard Dawkins opened my eyes to being an out and proud athiest, a gift much better than eternal life :D
And yeah...
long winded, but that's my story in a nutshell. Please excuse any spelling errors, my keyeboard is dodgy and I've had a glass of wine (lethal combo...)