Reply To: So, I am atheist.

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My story: raised Lutheran and never was allowed to miss a Sunday (or Wednesday – Advent/Lent) service until I was in my teens. Went to Lutheran grade school but was lucky enough to go to public h.s. I say lucky enough because by that time all of my childhood doubts in religion had come to a head and I was pretty much sure it was nonsense. Dawkins (or one of those guys called it “sinister nonsense” and I think that sums it up nicely. Told my dad it was all crap when I was in my early 20’s and never regretted it. My atheism wasn’t much of an issue until a few years ago when I was a radio talk show host on a station in central Illinois. I was probably the most well-known unbeliever and was fond of telling my listeners “You show me someone who believes in the bible and I’ll show you someone who will believe almost anything”. I think the faithful went to advertisers and told them they wouldn’t shop at their stores unless the station dumped me. Sounds good anyway. I still don’t have any use for belief that falls outside of rational, just such a waste of time. Whenever I hear someone spouting any religious belief I don’t hesitate to challenge them. I think the more these people are challenged the sooner we can move on. But I do have one fear…and that is that is that we never get a chance to move on.
What if… what if skepticism of all things rational and scientific – kindled and nurtured by organized religion – causes people to doubt the reality of our current predicament, i.e. biosphere degradation, to the extent that we blow past the tipping point and all go extinct.
I think there’s a very good chance that’s already happened. I’d say somewhat better than 50/50 actually.
So that leads me to the final statement. I said it on my radio show once. I doubt many people were listening, but I’ll repeat it here. If aliens ever came to the earth and I had a chance to speak with them, I’d have only once question: “How did you manage to get past religion?”