My Message:

To those who are doubting:

It's okay to not believe in a god or the bible. It's okay to be honest with yourself. If religious stories sound too far-fetched to believe, then stop saying that you believe them. Stuff like:

And so on and on. Really now... let's be honest. It's all a bunch of crap, isn't it?

It's okay to admit that you think it's all stupid... just plain stupid! It's primitive mythology that has no place in today's modern world. It was made up by people who thought the world was flat, that diseases were caused by devils, that god caused earthquakes and storms, etc. They were wrong about those things, and they were wrong in what they wrote down in the bible.

A Freethinker is a person who forms opinions about religion based on his or her own reason, logic and common sense-- independent of tradition or authority. Freethinkers can include atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, rationalists, skeptics, deists, and anyone who supports the separation of church and state.

No one who demands conformity to a bible, creed, doctrine, or messiah can be a freethinker. To the Freethinker, faith and revelation are invalid and orthodoxy is no guarantee of truth. A Freethinker cannot start out with a statement from authority.

Freethinkers make up their own minds on issues. They can be of any political persuasion, and have widely differing views on a wide range of subjects. Freethinkers do not have "leaders" like religious people do. Freethinkers do not blindly follow the beliefs of anyone. Freethought groups are collections of independently thinking individuals who happen to agree on issues that are important to them. Freethought groups are the opposite of religious cults. Freethinkers do not subscribe to 'collective thinking'.

Freethinkers are proud to be in control of their own thoughts. Freethinkers see no pride in in the blind continuance of ancient superstitions, or self-denegrating prostrations before divine tyrants known only through unverifiable "revelations". Freethought allows you to examine these ideas and come to your own conclusions. Freethought is respectable. Freethought is reasonable. Freethought has a rich history in this country, and especially right here in Missouri. Freethought is something to be proud of.

To those who disbelieve:

This nonsense hangs on because the religiously-minded try to make the rest of us feel ashamed for not believing it-- like there's something wrong with us. They try to intimidate us into silence.

Well, I'm not ashamed to admit what I honestly think. I feel good about the fact that I take responsibility for my own thinking process... and that I actually have a thinking process. I process what I hear and read, and do not refuse to hear opposing views. I am proud that my thoughts are my own, and not dictated to me by a book, a group, or any individual. And I don't mind saying so.

I encourage you to do the same, and to encourage others to as well. Let your opinion be known, and then others who think the same way will feel the freedom to express their thoughts too. We need to break this chain of silence. While it's important to respect other's views, it's important to respect your own. You have as much right to say what you think as anybody else. The only way to make this country more inclusive and tolerant of us is to start speaking up. We are out here. We make up a bigger percentage of the population than anyone wants to admit.

To those who still believe:

It is not my intention to insult you. I do not condemn you. But I do condemn the bible.

I know that Christians can be good people-- honest, generous and merciful. But I think they would have been that way anyway, no matter what they believed. They aren't that way because of the bible. I think the bible is false and immoral, and I think good people have been misled into following it. I think that kind, moral people have been turned into bigoted, fearful, judgmental people, and have turned over their thinking process to a book and a pastor, because they've been bullied to do so since they were small children. Christians think they're not supposed to question the bible or the Church's teachings, and that faith is good and doubt is bad. I encourage you to read what I've written before coming to a conclusion about it. I used to be a Christian. I know where you are at, right now. I was there too. As a human being, I'm on your side.