I never like to open my blog posts with an apology, but you and I both know that it’s called for. I’m sorry. I know I’ve answered these ridiculous questionnaires for atheists before and we’re all pretty settled on the fact that the askers aren’t interested in our answers anyway, but what the hell do you expect me to do when I come across them? I found these questions in a YouTube video and not three seconds into the damned… Read more
Listen, I know sometimes I sound like I was a naive airhead for most of my life and this post isn’t going to help you get past that. Kiddos, I honestly had no idea people had to “come out” as an atheist at all. I was never religious and lived in a super secular part of the world. It just never dawned on me that anyone else was having an experience so drastically different from mine. I guess it wasn’t… Read more
Ahh, Halloween. That blustery, crisp time of year when every housewife lines up at the T-Ho’s drive-thru for a Pumpkin spice muffin and matching latte. The season when every shrub at the end of a driveway suddenly appears to sprout thick, synthetic cobwebs. The pumpkins are popping up all over town, brittle leaves swirl in the wind and costumes are flying off the shelves at every store that sells them. While this year everyone is going to go as Joker, I… Read more
This is probably one of the most common topics I get asked about. Meeting other atheists is a difficult thing to do because even in the most progressive countries, it’s not a topic that comes up organically. In some places, it can be dangerous, and in others, it can be downright lethal to come right out and say that you’re an atheist. We want to connect with people like us, though. That’s not to say atheists don’t appreciate and enjoy… Read more
A while ago on Twitter, I asked people what the worst part of leaving religion was for them. While many were happy to reply that they’d not experienced much hardship, far too many replied with harrowing stories that have sat with me ever since. One person told me, for instance, that their atheism was used against them during divorce proceedings. Others said they lost friends over it. Some people explained that they were fired from their jobs for it. The… Read more
When I was in college – and I really have no idea how I did this – I worked at YVR airport. I had a full academic course load and then went to the airport at night and cleaned planes until morning. I do not recall if sleep really ever happened. I do remember, however, being in such a sleepless stupor that my boss once appeared to me as Hulk Hogan… but that’s a whole other story. I also had the extreme… Read more
In a sea of apologist blog posts claiming that atheism is a religion or that we hate God because we want to sin, it’s a breath of fresh air to find something that’s a little more intellectually generous. This piece took my breath away; I’m not going to lie. It’s called “7 Things To Ask An Atheist”, and I can’t find an author, but I was holding my breath as I worked my way through the questions. At any moment,… Read more
I think it’s the sound of being underwater that I love the most. The noise of the world dulled and cloudy as though far away, the liquid sound of bubbles and the surface meeting air and objects and other swimmers. It’s quiet, peaceful, relaxing. It’s beautiful, too. In the ocean, as the sun’s rays burst into the deep, they illuminate little air bubbles escaping from fins and snorkels and sea life. Like glitter ascending to the heavens. Feeling suspended, near-weightless… Read more
I got this question in an email recently: Here is my situation. I gave up any religious beliefs for almost a decade, during which time I married and had a child. My husband is atheist. I recently went back to Christianity for almost a year and started taking our 4 and a half year old to church with me every week (with his permission, but not enthusiasm) . I sometimes read (past tense) the Bible at home, talked about God… Read more
Are Atheists Mean Spirited?
It’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these videos and it’s more or less because I have a terrible camera with white-balance issues and a broken mic jack, so, I always feel like I oughtta wait until I can fix that before I do another video. But then months go by and I don’t have a new camera still, so I do a video because I love to do them. In any case, if you want to… Read more