The First Post

When deciding what to write for my first post, I mulled over many potential topics all day. I could start with a basic explanation of who I am, why I am doing this, and what I hope to get out of this. I could dive right into the heavy stuff, and begin discussing a political issue or dissecting a religion argument. Or I could do something light and fun, to ease my way into the "blog-o-sphere" of sorts. With so many possibilities, I decided it would be best to combine them, so I will try to touch on a variety of subjects for this post.

First and foremost, I think I will elaborate on myself and my goals here in order for me to better achieve them. I am currently a third year college student at a Catholic college in New England. I enjoy video games, any variety of sport (especially basketball), and any form of debate. I started college as a Political Science major before switching to Education and History, planning to become a high school Social Studies teacher. I first became interested in politics around the age of 14, when I was an adventurous youngster wanting to become more involved in the world. I watched the news whenever possible, and I became forming my own values and ideas mainly through discussion with my family and friends. I would often play devil's advocate in a debate just to test the strength of various arguments. As I grew older, I developed a keen interest in religion. I had gone to a Unitarian Universalist Church for the first 6 years of my life, but I was never attached to anything they taught me. I have always been skeptical of any supernatural claims, mainly because I just didn't see any evidence. After I entered college, I really began to think about religion, and after taking a Bible Studies class, examing the history of the Christian Church, and through various readings and discussions, I became an atheist. I continue to talk religion with my friends and family, as it is one of my favorite activities, and I would love for anyone to comment or email me with anything at all about religion, be it an argument for god's existence, or a friendly joke from a fellow atheist.

This last point brings me to my second topic, which was the purpose and goals of this blog. The impetus behind this was really the realization that I spend a good chunk of my day reading or debating things of religious, political, or societal nature. I firmly believe that debate and discussion is one of the best paths to knowledge and understanding the world around us, which is an idea I would like to foster. Secondly, I would love to debate or argue anything at all with anyone reading this. My hunger for knowledge is insatiable, and I really enjoy discussion various points of view, or arguing over any political/religious issue. Hopefully, this activity can always be mutually beneficial, with all parties involved learning something from the other. That being said, I invite anyone and everyone to comment on this blog or even better, send me an email, and we can begin a discussion about whatever you like, preferably the aforementioned topics. I did not become an atheist overnight. It took many hours of argument and debate and contemplation of evidence to arrive at the conclusion that I did. I believe that through argument and discussion, truth can be found. That being said, please feel free to hit me with any evidence for a god that you have, or even evidence that there is no god, as I would be more than happy to begin a friendly discussion with you.

One more thing: The name of my blog, The Secular Thinker, was chosen because I feel that it describes me as best as possible without being too narrow. I use the term "secular" based on its defination, as explained by George Jacob Holyoake who coined the term in the mid 1800's:

"Secularism is that which seeks the development of the physical, moral, and intellectual nature of man to the highest possible point, as the immediate duty of life — which inculcates the practical sufficiency of natural morality apart from Atheism, Theism or the Bible — which selects as its methods of procedure the promotion of human improvement by material means, and proposes these positive agreements as the common bond of union, to all who would regulate life by reason and ennoble it by service"
(Principles of Secularism, 17).

The word "secular" has also become associated with humanism, which is, to put it simply, an emphasis on human ability and capacity rather than on things which are inhuman, i.e. supernatural beings, divine scripture, etc. I am a firm believer that human beings do not need any holy book to be good, compassionate, productive members of society, and I think that religion can do much harm in this sense.

Lastly, it is important to notice that Holyoake talks about a "natural morality apart from Atheism, Theism or the Bible". I believe very firmly that people most certainly do not get their morals from God or the Bible, nor from atheism, which is the non-belief in any theistic claims. The source of morality is a great discussion topic, and I would love to hear what anyone else thinks, as I am still debating my personal beliefs on this. That reminds me, another purpose of this blog is for me to improve my own knowledge and understanding of the world and our existence in it. I don't think that I have all the answers, or I am right about everything. However, I do believe that people can work together to educate one another and to better themselves. As always, please email me with anything you have for me, be it a topic suggestion for a post, a question you have about atheism, politics, the Bible, or even to say hello, I would appreciate anything you guys have for me, and maybe we can have some fun along the way.

I will leave you all with a joke, to dedicate my first post:

Why did the atheist cross the road?
It was claimed that there was a sidewalk on the other side, but he wouldn’t believe it until he had gathered sufficient evidence for its existence.