About the Cobourg Atheist
How I became an Atheist
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- Published on Friday, 17 July 2009 11:31
- Written by John Draper
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I was brought up a Catholic. Starting at about grade 4, I went to schools run by the Marist brothers who believed in strong discipline with liberal use of "the strap". They also had a strong affection for "Mary, the Mother of God" and appeared straight although in retrospect, there were a few gays amongst them. At home, my father was a convert from Methodism and he said it was because the Catholic Church had answers. This implied that the religion had a rational base. In high school, the Marists encouraged debate through retreats where religious topics were discussed. Then I went to University where there was no religious content and plenty of opportunity for debate - but I staunchly defended my faith. I remember long discussions with a couple of Protestants and one friend who took delight in having pork on Fridays so he could upset both Catholics and Jews simultaneously - but not maliciously. At University, I became an Engineer where reason and a rational approach to all problems was taught.
Read more: How I became an Atheist
About the Cobourg Atheist
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- Published on Tuesday, 19 May 2009 18:23
- Written by John Draper
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I run a small web site business in Cobourg although I’m theoretically retired. When I had an employer, I was an Engineering manager of engineers and technicians who designed and built Cell phone sites – but that was 13 years ago and I’m sure all that technical knowledge is now obsolete.
I started by creating the Cobourg Internet site and it has grown so that traffic is now significant. In the meantime, I developed a life outside of Engineering and Computers so my interests (other than computers) are:
- Film and other Arts
- Photography
- History
- Business world and investing
- Political activity
- Science Fiction
- Volunteering
- A social life
See also the Contact Me page.
I'm an Atheist, OK?
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- Published on Tuesday, 19 May 2009 18:15
- Written by John Draper
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The following article could not say it better - I'm an Atheist, not an agnostic.
By Jonathan West - Guardian Newspaper
May 18, 2009
The debate over who should call themselves 'agnostic' is muddled by imprecise and conflicting uses of the word itself
The question: What is agnosticism?
Disagreement over the definition of atheist and agnostic has cluttered up various threads here, scattering confusion in its wake like a muckspreader in autumn.
The cause of the confusion is that atheists and theists have different definitions of the words agnostic and atheist, and adamantly refuse to accept the validity of each other's definitions.
Here is a short form of the definitions from the two separate points of view.
- Theist version: An atheist is certain there is no God, an agnostic is not certain.
- Atheist version: An atheist believes there is no God, an agnostic doesn't know.
The two versions are only subtly different, but a great deal of hot air has been expended on this difference.
Atheists: Time to Get Out of the Closet!
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- Published on Monday, 18 May 2009 16:44
- Written by John Draper
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We live in a free democratic country. We are also recipients of an education that is much better than many countries. That means we were taught how to think rationally and to value reason. So that's why many of us applied that thinking to what we were brought up to believe and rejected religions in general and rejected a belief in god as making no reasonable sense.
Sure it has emotional value - you can go to Church and sing rousing hymns and join in a Church's social life and feel good participating in the Church's "good works". But all these are possible without belonging to a Church. So why do many people remain as closet atheists? If you are like I was, it's because you are afraid of being ostracized by your friends and society in general. It's true that many will do that but you'll feel better for "coming clean". And since I "came out", no-one has cut off their friendship - they all know that in spite of being atheist, I am moral and ethical and just the same good person as when they thought I was doing it all because I was motivated by a Religion. (Perhaps they thought I was scared of Hell or lusting for heaven?)
Right Wing Atheist
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- Published on Monday, 18 May 2009 13:11
- Written by John Draper
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Many people would call me right wing. Certainly those who are way left of centre would and even "centre" Canadian Liberal Party supporters would. And for the last 40 years I have voted Conservative. In Canada, that's about as right wing as you can get.
So how come I'm Atheist? And how come I support women's rights (including the right to decide on abortion), public health, equality of race and other issues that only lefties are supposed to support? Maybe I'm only "partially" right-wing? But I do support minimum government, the right to work (minimum unions), strong law enforcement, melting-pot and no subsidized multi-culturalism and more, so most people see me as right-wing.
But I am not happy with the holier-than-thou attitude of many atheists who assume that only "liberals" are atheists. Not true at all. It may be a tendency but it is certainly not a requirement for atheism. All you need to be atheist is to be rational and logical and use that capability. I use that capability to also decide other things and I do not want to be seen as a member of the "liberal" religion. If you look at this site, you will get the message - and don't put atheists into neat little niches - we are all individuals.
Addendum: But now, although I have been seen as right wing and will no doubt continue to be on fiscal and economic issues, on social issues I now want to have NO label. I would be better described as a "freethinker". I am against the idea of being catagorized and labelled as right or left wing or liberal or conservative on issues such as human rights, free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of thought or for that matter, any kind of freedom.
And if you are living in the U.S., you should know that there are almost no sympathizers of the tea-party in Canada and I'm certainly not one. If I lived in the U.S., I'd probably vote for a Democrat.
John Draper