Tonight I came to a couple of realizations. First, I realized that I have been neglecting this blog for a couple of months now, and for that I apologize. The second thing I realized was, due to recent developments -- ignorance -- the neglect will end as of now. However, that being said, I must warn you that this blog is very likely to take a significant turn. I will still use it for blogging about anything I feel like writing about, yet my focus will be on Atheism.
I have been an Atheist since I was old enough to use rational thought to form my own opinions. I was very young when I determined I was an Atheist. Back then, it was not something I concerned myself with. I knew what I believed (or did not believe) and I left it at that. As the years passed I found myself spending more and more time reading and learning more, not only about Atheism, but about Religion in general. At this point in my life, my Atheism is very important to me. It is my passion to learn more, read more, discuss more, debate more. Sadly, this angers and offends far too many people.
You see, I was being foolish and began to post various status updates, pictures, and links on my Facebook page. I completely forgot that those who have a belief in anything are the easiest to offend. My bad. I forgot that it is completely acceptable to share photos, videos, and articles on Jesus, God, and The Bible. It is perfectly fine to post things on my wall explaining how I should accept God as my savior and pray to him to achieve what I want to achieve. Furthermore, I forgot that it is horribly unacceptable to share anything that goes against those things. It is blasphemous and it is wrong and offensive. I should be ashamed of myself for defacing Facebook with such crap.
That is where this blog comes into the picture. Sure, that entire last paragraph was about as sarcastic as I can be, however, the fact remains that those with a religious belief system become so disgustingly offended at any other opinion that it forces them to block you, remove you, fight you, or message you privately, just to make sure that you know how offensive you are being. Is this a problem? Hell yeah it is. Can I fix it? Not really. I know most would simply say "forget everyone else, its your Facebook page, post what you want." For the most part, I agree. The problem is that these people are family, immediate and extended. If a friend wants to remove me from Facebook because they are offended by my posts, I really couldn't care less. That being said, just because I am an Atheist does not mean I am a bad person with no heart. I love my family, despite having different views and opinions. Therefore, I have made the decision to stop posting Atheist type things directly on my Facebook. Rather, I will post them here and provide a link on Facebook, thus giving each and every person a choice.
I must confess that this does anger and sadden me. It hurts that there are some people, family or otherwise, who reject the opinions and beliefs of an Atheist so much so that they remove you from Facebook or worse. However, this simply proves that I am taking the high road. I am making a conscience choice to respect them enough to stop force feeding my beliefs to them. I can only hope that they will in turn show me the same respect, somehow I doubt it though. Only time will tell.
In closing, I want to welcome you back to BB&B. I can promise that I will be taking on some pretty serious, awesome, and interesting topics in the coming days. I urge you to check back often, if you are a forgetful person, take a look on the right side bar and sign up for e-mail alerts when I make a new entry. Trust me. You won't regret it.
Respectfully yours,
Drea
