I'm going to TAM 7

Hey Everyone!

Sorry I haven't been posting, but I've been really busy. One of the things I've been busy doing is getting ready for TAM 7.

I will be in Las Vegas in 11 hours!!!

Ray Comfort's Book

I received 2 books in the mail today, "You can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, but You can't Make Him Think," and "The Atheist Bible."

These were given free of charge by Ray Comfort's Living Waters Ministries and the "Evidence" book is autographed. I thank Ray for giving these out, and I will read it thoroughly...and then rip it apart here. :)

Another Accidental Outing

I empathize with Everything Else Atheist and her story of being outed.

Let this be a lesson to closeted atheists everywhere: You can't hide forever. I had elaborate security protocols, and it seemed that EEA did as well, but a conscious or unconscious desire to not live a lie led to the leaking of small details that eventually led to the full outing.

The best advice I can give other atheists going through this process is to let your family know you still love them, remember that they are responsible for their own reactions, and seek support from the atheist community, especially people who have gone through this before.

Post Outing

As some of you may have noticed, I restricted the blog for a time after my outing. This was due to my family finding my blog. They actually read all the posts before it was blocked, so it was ultimately unnecessary. I have reread my posts and have decided to let the blog stand. Most of their objections had nothing to do with what was actually written, but was about what they read into it.

Currently, relationships with my family are strained. I got through Easter with little comment, having had long conversations with various family members the previous day. They are very upset and disapproving, of course. I am sorry that they feel that way, but I do not apologize for being myself. While it was hard to deal with their feelings, I am relieved to not be living a lie anymore. While I was not pleased about the timing or the method by which I was outed, I believe it may have been for the greater good. As I matured, I was drifting away from my family anyway, and I feel this forced my hand to become a truly independent adult.

So for the time being, the blog will be open and posts will continue when I have time to do them. There will not be many posts about family issues because they know about the blog now.

Thanks, loyal readers, for sticking around and supporting me through this!

I've been outed!!!!!

My grandmother fucking googled me and found some pictures of me at the Godless Pub Crawl.

All hell is breaking loose.

Details to follow at some point...

Winter Cruise Outreach Event

"Winter Cruise" is ETSU's name for an annual event where student organizations have informational booths, fundraisers, and general fun. The Atheist and Freethought Club had a booth giving away pamphlets and candy and was quite successful. We had several people show interest in the club, and we had one Christian argue with us (I would have liked to have had more). We got a few strange looks, too, but we had a lot of fun.

Our posters:

Note: We later realized the Treaty of Tripoli quote was inaccurate and changed it.

Our finished booth:

Happy Darwin Day!

Happy Darwin Day, everyone!

I will be celebrating by doing research on Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a nasty little critter that has evolved to be resistant to many antibiotics. (And if anyone says "That's just microevolution," get educated.)

Oh, and I might go to the Darwin Day celebration at the Gray Fossil Museum.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe day, and gets to celebrate science and annoy some creationists in the process!