Growing up, Waking up, now living without beliefs
As a fully declared atheist, I don’t subscribe to the idea of absolutes. I don’t claim perfect knowledge or final certainty about much of anything. The universe is too large, too strange, and too indifferent for that kind of confidence. Someone might say, “Well, you absolutely know the sun will rise tomorrow.” And yes—practically speaking—that’s... Continue Reading →
When I was a Christian—focused heavily on end-times theology and Christ’s first time on earth—I carried a rosy picture in my head about what happened after Jesus’ death. I imagined a mostly unified group of faithful followers who carried his message forward in relative harmony once the Gospels ended. That illusion didn’t survive a full,... Continue Reading →
As an atheist who’s been married for nearly forty years — and a non-believer for more than twenty-five of them — I find it curious how often people of faith insist that a long marriage is impossible without God. I walked out of church services for the last time roughly thirty years ago and never... Continue Reading →
Sometime after I’d settled into my post-belief life, I had an online exchange with a former college acquaintance from my Worldwide Church of God years. We hadn’t spoken in decades. He’d gone on to a more traditional religious path—exactly which one didn’t matter, and it never came up directly. The conversation was polite. Careful, even.... Continue Reading →
Meeting a Prophet Without Feeling Anything The East Texas humidity pressed against my skin like a damp blanket. Sweat ran down my back, trapped under a too-tight white shirt, my dress shoes chewing at my toes. Tall and skinny is an unforgiving body type when your clothes are chosen from the “close enough” rack. I... Continue Reading →
There are a few events in my life that could easily be filed under miracle stories. They often are—especially when they’re told by someone who loves me. One of them nearly cost me my arm. It could have cost me my life. In college. I went out. Drank to much. Accidentally put my arm through... Continue Reading →
One of the biggest misconceptions about leaving a deeply held belief system is that it happens quickly. People imagine a moment. A realization. A door slammed shut. That wasn’t my experience at all. Believing was easy. Leaving was not. Belief, especially inherited belief, comes pre-installed. You don’t choose it so much as absorb it. It’s... Continue Reading →
When people hear I grew up in the Worldwide Church of God, the first response is usually confusion, followed by curiosity. “I’ve never heard of it.” “Was it like a cult?” “So… what was that like?” The simplest answer is this: it was normal—until it wasn’t. From the inside, life in the WCG felt ordered,... Continue Reading →
If you grew up religious like I did, chances are you already have a picture in your head of what an atheist looks like.It’s not something most people consciously choose. It just sort of forms—through sermons, conversations, cautionary tales, and the occasional loudmouth online who seems eager to confirm every bad assumption. For a long... Continue Reading →
(Spoiler: It’s Boring) If your mental picture of an atheist includes anger, black clothing, constant arguments, or a bookshelf organized alphabetically by anti-religious authors, I’m about to disappoint you. An ordinary atheist looks like… me. And I’m painfully average. I don’t wake up every morning celebrating the absence of God. There’s no ritual. No moment... Continue Reading →