Frank the Financially Savvy Atheist - The F.S.A.

Been busy with work. More posts to come later.

One thing that I can't stand is when people see Jesus/Mary in the most asinine places. Here is just a small sampling of some recent sightings, decided for your self:

Jesus? or Paul Bunyan?

Mary? or Abstract Art representing the suffering of the Falun Gong?

The Arabic word for Allah? or TMobile Insignia? Hello Moto!

The point I'm trying to make is that we see what we want to see. If we want to see Jesus, we'll see him. Many believers consider the above to be miracles. I have a question, if God/Jesus/Allah wanted to show himself with miracles, why doesn't he cure AIDS? Why doesn't he cause Bush to grow a brain? Why won't he levitate the remote control to my hand when I'm too lazy to get off my ass and walk 3 feet to get it? Why? Because he doesn't exist. Plain and simple. The only thing in common with the images above with anything divine is that it's all in people's heads.

As I've mentioned before in other posts, my wife and I are young parents. Becoming a father and having to deal with reality was really what made me become an atheist. When you're a college student, you are blissfully oblivious and stupidly optimistic about the world. You're also very selfish. It's not your fault though, you're young, invincible, and immortal. You have no worries other than your own and you go to class (or not) and live life as you chose.

I was no different. When I found out that I was going to be a father, I did what most 18 (soon to be 19) year olds would do, I panicked. I neglected my girlfriend (now my wife) in her time of need. I selfishly pushed and pushed her for an abortion or an adoption. I ridiculed her, I ignored her, I acted like it was her fault. It was a difficult time for both of us. I did so many things that I wish I could take back now, but I can't, and I'll just have to live with it.

Looking back, it's not obvious why dealing with the hardship of parenthood made me an atheist. I think that having to deal with the reality and consequences of my actions forced me to think rationally and forced me to admit to myself that I was never really a Christian in the first place. I've always been either an atheist or an agnostic and I was only pretending to be a Christian because that was expected of me from others. My wife was very supportive of my decision to become an atheist and even though we don't see eye-to-eye on some issues, she still loves and respects me and I love and respect her. This is far more than I can say for any so-called Christians out there.

I've yet to tell anyone in my family. My sister knows, and she cried and said she would pray for me. I get emails and calls from her on occasion. Nothing too overtly religious, but more passive. For example, "I'm going to be in such-and-such state, if you want to know why, give me a call/email". Stuff like that. I'm not sure how my parents would react if they knew. I'll let them know in my own time. Until then, I just gotta keep living my life for me, my wife, and my kids.

Over at RA, there is an anti-abortion post that I had to disagree with. I've attached the original post as well as my comment below:

ORGINAL POST
I call a cease-fire in the battle for Julia Sweeney’s soul to lend my enthusiastic support for Project Max -- Dawn Eden’s commendable campaign to publicize Planned Parenthood Golden Gate’s reprehensible pro-abortion animation, A Superhero for Choice. Although PPGG has apparently removed the cartoon from its site, you can view the abomination at any of the links listed here and/or read the full transcript here.
I have argued previously that the slogan “pro-choice is not pro-abortion” and the notion of “abortion neutrality” are largely myths. Since PPGG receives approximately $1.5 million to perform over 3,000 abortions (estimates drawn from the California State Attorney General’s records and PPGG’s Annual report), it is at the very least pro-abortion in the way that a pizzeria is pro-pizza. And PPGG’s cartoon certainly dispels any doubts about the mindset confronting any expectant woman who might walk through its doors.
In the opening seconds of the presentation “Dian” (who soon turns into the superhero “Dianysis”) provides a few examples illustrating how very trivial the organization deems the “choice” to terminate a pregnancy:
Every day you and I are faced with about a million different opportunities to make a choice. Like I choose to eat organic vegetables, or I choose to stop at a red light, or I choose to root for the Giants and not those Bushleaguers from Los Angeles.
(Emphasis supplied). Why PPGG considers compliance with basic traffic safety laws to be optional is mystifying, but it typifies the lawless amorality that follows -- Dianysis’ slaughter of concededly peaceful and non-violent clinic protestors. Yes, I suppose it’s all tongue-in-cheek, and no, I don’t consider it incitement to murder. But the message is clear enough: the abortion decision has no actual moral content and those who believe otherwise are (as portrayed in the cartoon) foolish, grunting ghouls.
The cartoon cannot be dismissed as an mere aberration or accident. It plainly represents the official policy of PPGG, and was funded out of its $20 million budget. The protagonist “Dian” is deliberately modeled after the organization’s president, Dian Harrison. To date, Planned Parenthood’s national organization has not renounced it or even commented on it.
For nearly a year I have volunteered for a Crisis Pregnancy Clinic. It provides medical assistance, shelter, diapers, toys and other supplies for new and expectant mothers. Some of its clients are recruited from in front of abortion clinics by the “ghouls” so ignorantly portrayed in Superhero. But as demonstrated by the baby pictures lining the CPC’s walls, their “victims” join the ranks of the living rather than the dead.

MY COMMENT
One: A Superhero for Choice was about the shittiest idea that Planned Parenthood could have every achieved. Honestly, someone needs to be fired for something as incomprehensibly stupid as that. I also agree that they trivialized the notion of an abortion as "just another choice".
Two: Being a young parent, whether male or female is extremely difficult. Having (and still am) been in that situation where you are faced with a life-altering circumstance, I gotta admit, abortion was looking very attractive. We (my wife and I) chose not to, but it was the most difficult choice of our entire life. Not only raising a child while going to college, but also dealing with the stigma of being a teen parent. The people that are protesting outside of abortion clinics are hardly "peacefule". They are antagonistic and judgemental. I've had to experience it firsthand. They make an already difficuly desicion, that much harder.
That was a long rant, but the long lost point that I was trying to make is that all this talk is great and I commend the effort in what looks like a worthy cause like PPGG, but at the end of the day, it's the expectant mother's decision. She's the one that's going to have to wake up in the middle of the night to deal with a crying child. She's the one that's going to have to deal with the stigma of being a single (oftentimes) teen mother. She's the one that's going to have to sacrifice, not you. It's her choice, and one that she is going to have to live with and not you.

(This is a continuation of the previous post with the same title)

As I went through high school, I had doubts about Christianity. However, growing up in the environment that I did in TX, I went into denial about my (lack of) faith. But these doubts always persisted. I remember this one time two of my friends were arguing about what is the true age of the Earth. One friend was arguing for 6,000 years, because that's what the bible said. My other friend countered simply with, "how can the world be 6,000 years old when we can observe light from the edges of the universe that proves otherwise". That simple, elegant, and logical argument had a profound impact on me. I've always been scientifically minded and her argument made more sense to me than the idiotic, "It's in the bible". Alas, in the end, I just pushed it away into the reserves of my mind, with all the other pieces of doubt that was being accumulated.

After graduating from high school I went to college at the Michigan Institute of Trucking (inside joke) . Freshman year, I really tried to be a better Christian. I went to church (when I woke up) on Sunday and I associated with other Christians. I gotta admit though, I wasn't doing a very good job, but I still cared enough to try. Towards the end of freshman year, I started to attend bible study in the hopes of "finding my way". This was easier to do as it was offered where I live and at a good time. But then I stopped going to that as well. AS you can see, my endeavor to become a better Christian, was not going well by any means.

Before the beginning of my sophomore year and before my 19th birthday, I resolved once again to be a "better" Christian. I planned on attending church every Sunday, participating in bible study every Wednesday, and reading the bible...almost every night. But that all changed with the single most defining moment of my entire life...I found out I was going to be a father.

I've been reading the book Influence: Science and Practice. In the book the author speaks of what he calls "social proof". In a simplistic sense, this is just the bandwagon effect that we are familiar with from advertisers. The concept that since everyone is doing it, you'll want to do it too. That's how it works, in a simplistic sense, and it's more powerful than one would think. The book points out that numerous religions throughout history have predicted the end of the world, Christianity being one of them. Notably the Anabaptist in the 1500s. And of course, none of it actually happened (we're still here after all...or are we), but many of those religions are still around.

The book details a cult in California where the members believed in aliens. These aliens spoke to them via their leader who would receive messages that she would write down in "trances". Three researchers joined the cult to study their behavior. After some time, the cult leader received a message, the world was going to come to an end by a sudden flood a la Noah's ark. However, everyone in the club would be saved by spacemen because they are believers. The spacemen would be coming exactly one week before the end of the world. The researhers noted that in the frenzy to prepare for the arrival of the spacemen (including among other things, not having any metal on your person...because it's perilous in space flight), the cult put out a press release. They garnered a lot of attention from the media and many hopeful converts who wanted to be saved from the impending doom, however, all of these "outsiders" were shunned. Hopeful converts were treated with mild curiosity and the press was threatened with lawsuits if they kept badgering their headquaters. Everyone in the cult were completly committed. Many quit their jobs, stopped going to school, and severed ties with their loved ones. The night before the saviors were going to arrive and the situation was tense. The men had removed the zippers from their pants and were holding their pants up with string. The atmosphere was intense that night. These people had given up everything to be saved from the impending disaster. When the time came and NOTHING happened, one person got up and left. One fucking person. The others were distraught and didn't know what to do. Chaos was rapidly becoming rampant within the group. Suddenly, the leader got a "message" from the "aliens". Because these people had been so faithful, the flood was called off. They had saved the world! Yes, that was it! We had saved the world! The cult members were whipped into a frenzy. They wanted to tell everyone the good news. They contacted the media, any and every way they can. In the oncoming weeks, they spoke to anyone and everyone regarding their beliefs. In a mere matter of hours they went from being secretive to opening their doors to anyone who wanted to listen. The members were faced with two decisions: 1. All their core beliefs were false, and they had given up everything for nothing, 2. They had saved the mother fucking world from destruction. In order to reinforce option 2, they needed to convince as many people as possible, because social proof says, the more people that believe something, the "truer" it becomes. They had to reinforce those beliefs as quickly as possible, otherwise logic might intercede. Unfortunately, it was too late for the cult. They dispanded soon after that debacle.

In the context of social proof, you can see why Christians try to convert as many people as possible. By doing so, they can reinforce the "trueness" of their beliefs. Now, we atheist might be accused of doing the same, but I would argue that most of us don't actively try to convert people. Just a thought. Nite everybody.

Right now I'm up because my second son decided that 5:00 AM is the time for him to get up and play. I love him so much...But right now I'm gonna kill him. On the plus side, he's being relatively good, so I can write a little in my blog. I've decided to talk about my religious background and how I becomes an Atheist.

I was born on an island in the Caribbean sea and lived there till I was about 9. At that time, religion was just another chore for me to do on Sunday, and not much else. Around the time I was 9, I moved to the US, specifically, Texas. Growing up we would go to church sporadically. It helped that the first church we went to was 30 to 45 mins away. We stopped going to that church after some controversy over the pastor using church funds to play golf, or something like that. After that, we didn't really go to church all that often.

Around the time I was 12 or 13, my parents made up there mind that we should be going to church every Sunday. I didn't really care for it, but we found a church closer to where we were and lo and behold we started going every Sunday. It was all pretty boring for me, but at least it was only one service. Then they decided that we should go to Sunday school as well. I really didn't like this at all. For one thing, they collected money during SS, and I never had any money, so I always felt bad (sometimes I had some pennies but that was it). But, I sucked it up and tried not to complain. Even then I didn't believe some of the church's doctrine. Around Halloween (being an immigrant, Halloween was pretty new to me, and I was still excited about the idea of free candy) I remember in SS they started talking about how we shouldn't go gallivanting around dressed as golbins, ghost, witches, and other forms of Satan's minions. Instead of giving power/prestige/whatever to Satan, we should be coming to church! Now, I really didn't like this at all. I wanted my candy damn it! Plus I had some other questions. I asked the deacon or whatever he was, "Well, can't you dress as something else that wasn't a minion of Satan?". No, that's still the devils work. "Even if I dress as like an angel". Yes. I was flummoxed. That didn't make any sense to me at all. Unfortunately, they were saying the same thing to my parents in their Sunday School class, and that year I didn't get my free candy. I was upset about this. But thankfully, it didn't last. After a year or two we started going to another church that was closer to our house and that's where the rest of my family still goes in TX.

When we first went to this new church, my parents really liked it. It reminded them (and me) of churches back on the island. To give some perspective, think of a stereotypical black church that you've seen on TV or in a movie. The kind where the preacher is running around doing backflips and the like. It was entertaining, and for once I didn't fall asleep in church (that didn't last though). Thankfully, this time around, I didn't have to go to SS. Instead, it was a 3-hr long service. I'm not shitting you. Black Baptist churches have long-ass services. Over a period of time, I started to feel out of place in church. For one, like the media, if the church wasn't praying for some guy in jail, they were praising some guy for being in sports (graduates got a cursory ceremony). Being an intellectual (i.e. nerd), I couldn't really fit in with that.

One particular incident stuck out in mind. I was taking honors physics and my teacher went over an email that was circulating. It's one of those emails that claim the oil industry has secret technology that can generate massive amounts of energy from the Earth's magnetic field. He basically showed that us that the magnetic field doesn't generate that much energy and such a device would be ineffective. Literally, that Sunday, our pastor started ranting and raving about how the oil companies were sitting on an invention that could generate energy cheaply and effectively. I was completely flabergased. Here was a man that I had initial respected and thought he was intelligent. That was one particular incident that showed me that this wasn't for me.

I'll post more later, I have to go take care of my son now.

Over at the Mighty Middle, Michael Reynolds does the hilariously blasphemous Jehovah Blog. Check it out, my only criticism is that he doesn't have enough posts.

This is my first post, just trying it out.

Hi, my name is Frank. First, I'd just like to go on record and say that I'm a shitty writer. Why start a blog you ask? Well, I need to work on my weaknesses, right? Plus I was inspired by some other blogs I've been reading for some time now, notably ~I AM~ over at evangelical atheist. I figure I would lend my voice and possibly my time and effort to support the cause. Viva la revolucion they always say.
I must also admit that I'm a closet atheist. I grew up in a family that is very Christian, like homosexuality-is-a-sin and the-bible-is-the-literal-word-of-god kind of Christians. I just don't want to deal with them praying and/or crying to me that I'm going to burn in hell. My wife knows and has been very supportive. She's not really that religious, but she believes that there is something out there. She's more agnostic rather than atheist.
I hope that this blog will be informative, interesting, and insightful. Then again it could just be a bunch of ramblings from a guy pissing in the wind. We'll see.

Update 3/13/2006:
I have changed the title to be welcome in Japanese, I've forgotten to correct it for some time now.