Atheism
Politics
Memes
Mind
Matters
Random
Videos
Interact
Feedback
Links
Forum
Home
What the Bible Says About Abortion
Aborting Babies
Animal Rights
Women and Islam
The Jewish Question
Evils of Music
Kill the Puppy Dogs
Masturbation
Does God Bless America?
Teenage Sex
Heaven is Hell
The Clitoris
The Logic of Christians
Why I am an Atheist
Why We are Atheists
Do You Want to Buy My Soul?
The Power of Faith
Faith, Hope and Belief
The Leap of Faith
Note: Stop praying now. It didn't work.
I have been an atheist for over a third of a century now and an active and evangelical (born again?) atheist for a decade.
I have found that a belief in myths and legends offers me nothing to help me decide what is moral and what is not. Looking at those people who do claim ignorance of morality except via the teachings of long dead charismatic cult figures I see nothing to be jealous of. These people do not strike me as especially moral. I cannot see any evidence that old books are a good source of moral guidance.
The books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy are full of bizarre commandments which make little sense and seem to owe far more to superstitious, magical and even obsessive compulsive thinking than they owe to any sense of morality. How can it possibly offend anybody whose opinions matter if you wear a garment of mixed fibres? Surely it is nothing but ignorant tribal superstition that sees menstruation as something dirty and unholy. How could anybody believe that the creator of the universe believed that menstruating women were unclean? They would have to be pre-scientific ignorant superstitious savages, wouldn't they? The kind of ignorant pre-scientific superstitious savages who would believe that their tribe alone was the focus of the creator of the universe.
It would take a miracle to get me to believe that the creator of the universe would have a pet tribe. That's where you come in. Pray for me. Pray that I lose whatever critical faculties are preventing me from accepting this absurd story as truth. Pray that I become credulous. Pray that I lay down my bullshit detectors. Pray that I cease to regard the Bible as the work of men who had a vested interest in the continuation of a Jewish taliban state ruled by religiously motivated conservative misogynist men. Pray for my conversion to the true religion, and see what good it does.
Why would I want to be a smug religious git? I am already married, I don't need to fit in with the locally prevailing idiocy in order to get laid. I don't live in a society that demands irrational beliefs in order for a person to be regarded as moral, I live in a civilized country. I don't need consolation in regards to death, I am quite comfortable with the idea that death is the permanent end of all subjective experience. I am not scared of being dead. As for dying I fear that the same way most animals do, no more. I value my own life, but not infinitely. There are things which would be worth dying for but I don't expect to buy anything with my death. I don't believe in sacrificial magic. Very few people ever get value out of their death, the vast majority of humanity that has ever died has done so entirely in vain, achieving nothing more than slightly moderating over-population. Whatever makes people think that their death should change anything for the better? How bizarre a concept.
I don't see how being part of somebody else's big plan is of value to me. I don't need anybody else to define a meaning or a purpose for my life. Meanings are for words. Purposes are for tools. I'm nobody's tool. My life is my life, I live for whatever purposes or follies I choose for myself, and if I don't get around to making any that's my lookout. Nobody else has the right to determine what my life is for and nobody else has the right to define a meaning for my death either. I'm open to suggestions but if you have any holy orders you can stick them where the sun doesn't shine.
For years now I have been telling people who tell me that they are praying for me not to do so. If prayer is effective then praying for somebody against their will is no different to drugging them against their will, playing music to them against their will or having sex with them against their will. Unasked for prayers are a form of spiritual rape by proxy. So, Christians, stop praying for atheists who ask you not to. Instead pray for me. Focus all your prayer efforts upon me. Channel the Ju-Ju power of Christ upon me. I'll be giving Muslims a go at another time. This one is for the Christians. Call upon your god to cleanse my heart or whatever other internal organs you feel are affected of whatever it is which stops me from accepting the sacrifice of an innocent immortal to bring the world the peace we have been enjoying all these centuries and the gift of eternal life we weren't seeking.
Pray quietly to yourself as he commanded you or pray noisily by way of a video response to this video.
God knows who I am. Martin John Willett is my name, the name used when I was baptized and the name used when I was confirmed as a member of the Church of England.
Have you ever asked yourself why the phrases God knows and nobody knows so often mean the same thing?
It is ten years ago that I first started planning my atheist website. I began it in August 1999. I have a continuous and provable record of atheism. Unlike most people who claim they used to be an atheist before they converted I can prove I was and I can produce dozens of witnesses to my atheist fervour and to the rigour of my atheist debating. That's more than can be said for Josh McDowell and Lee Strobel. Of course I haven't got quite the profile of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens or even TJ The Amazing Atheist but they're not doing this, I am. If anybody ever doubts the sincerity of my atheism or the long-standing and unswerving nature of it all you have to do is Google me, you will be able to find plenty of evidence that I have been an atheist for a long time.
So what is the plan? Am I seriously wanting to turn into a Christian? No I'm not. But my promise is sincere. If as a result of people praying for me I come to accept the Christian message, or a Christian message, then I promise I will be at least as active for my religion as I have been for my scepticism.
What I am not going to do is actively embrace Christian dogma or try to make myself a Christian, that would be a betrayal of everything I stand for. If I experience a miracle or have a vision then I will act upon it in good faith, if you excuse the phrase.
I think I would make a fearsome Christian because of my history of debating atheism. Dozens of people have told me that they used to believe what I believe and yet they can't provide evidence on request. I can. If I become a convert I will have plenty of evidence to show that I had not just relapsed into a previous stance or lost faith briefly just to make a pursuit of sex, drugs and rock and roll a bit more comfortable. I will be able to show that I understand evolution and the arguments of Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins.
I don't know what arguments I might use against them but I promise you that if I do convert then I will only use debating tactics that I see as entirely honourable, I will not tell pious lies. I have not done so while I have not believed in God so why would I start to lie if God has other plans for me? God knows. Maybe a willingness to lie is an essential part of being a Christian, I wouldn't know. Maybe I will find out. Or maybe not.
I can assure everybody, Christians and atheists alike that this is not some simple stunt. I am sincere. If the prayer works I will join the Dark Side and become a Christian. If it doesn't work then I will draw conclusions from it and make them widely known. That is what I do.
If the only way to become a Christian is to give up self respect and to actively try to believe something against your own will and better judgement then I will never become a Christian and God will have my fate on his conscience, if he has one. But then again he will already be used to the idea as many honourable people, including some of the most able our species has ever produced, have trod that path before me.
Of course if nothing happens I will point it out. How long am I going to give this experiment? God knows.
28 July 2009
Ten weeks should have been more than enough, a lot more than forty days and forty nights. Despite sending emails to everybody who had ever suggested they might be praying for me asking them to pray hard on my behalf nothing happened, apart from me deciding to identify myself as a humanist and I'm sure that had nothing to do with any prayers.