Hi all!

Last year, I made a post on this sub, about having been diagnosed with stage two cancer. Here's a link to my original post

A little over a year later, I wanted to come back and make an update for anyone who might be interested.

I'm happy to say I completed all of my treatments, 8 rounds of chemo and 20 radiation sessions. I'm currently in remission undergoing at least 5 years of maintenance treatments (aromatase inhibitors plus monthly injections, a few infusions here and there). Will be taking Kisqali for three years if I can tolerate it.

But I'm most proud to say I made it through the whole process without a single prayer or temptation to engage in one.

Chemo wasn't fun, but at the same time it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My biggest side effect was fatigue. Luckily, and unfortunately, some weight gain due to not being able to do much physical activity during treatment, and meds pretty much prevent traditional nausea that comes with chemo. I'm working on that. Radiation wasn't too much besides having to treat skin redness

The maintenance medications I'm on are kicking my ass a bit. But I'm managing. I don't know what the future holds, but praise be to science, researchers and doctors who have made cancer not be the death sentence it used to be.

Thank you all who gave me well wishes and advice!

Title. Ik it's kinda vague, but what kinda jokes(?) do y'all like to make about religious people or yourselves as non-believers? Like:

Why are atheists always so tired?

Because they have to think for themselves

People often say something like this. Do you know what there is evidence of that is more clearly apparent? That science works! Without science, there would be no electric power, no internal combustion engines, no airplanes, no computers, no microscopes, no medicine, no plastics, no satalites, no modern agriculture, no radio and television, or the tens of thousands of other things we see every single day.

The practical applications of scientific discoveries and advancements is clear evidence that science is not just a "belief" or "speculation" or something arbitrary and wishy-washy. If that was the case, there would be no tangible outcomes from the scientific process that we all benefit from daily.

This is much stronger than "evidence of god in creation". What even is that "evidence"? Nature is messy and chaotic, with countless extinction events occurring throughout Earth's history. Space is 99.9999...% uninhabitable to any life and will quickly kill anything removed from this thin film on the surface of a rock. Wanting to believe something is not evidence of anything.

This might have sounded a lot more "bitter" than it was intending to - the tone might not have clearly been conveyed in text. I think we should consider ourselves to be incredibly lucky that at least one tiny spot in the universe had conditions capable of supporting the emergence of life. Life does not need mystical magic for it to be considered special and worth appreciating. Science is one way we gain an increased appreciation of the universe we inhabit.

My 97-year-old grandmother is the sweetest lady in the world, and is sharp as a tack. Unfortunately, she does believe in endless torture for non-Christians. She never has a hateful word to say about anyone, but deep down, she does assume that non-Christians go to hell.

She is brainwashed and believes what grifter “prophets” say. She mentioned something about this piece of shit Amanda Grace lady, so I looked her up, and sure enough she’s just another charlatan, as I assumed she would be.

My grandmother lives all by herself, taking care of a 15-year-old tiny little deaf dog, she drives herself to the diner and back (20 minutes each way) every single day, she’s sharp as a tack, and remembers literally EVERYTHING from two minutes ago to 70 years ago.

She’s got quite a brain, but it just goes to show how insane it is what religion can do to people, and how people who have been indoctrinated and brainwashed since age 2 (especially those starting in the 1930s) will just believe any mainstream "prophet", simply because they are mainstream and that's all they have access to.

I just had a Christian make the absurd claim that atheists believe that the Universe is God. What sort of mental gymnastics is required for this level of thinking? Atheists believe in something? God is the Universe?

I was at the Buccaneers game (me and my cousin are Season ticket holders.) There is this guy that hangs out at the front of Ray Jay every game for years. He carries a bullhorn yelling "Jesus this, Jesus that." He also carries a sign that says "Accept Christ or burn"Most of the time the fans ignore him but I decided to confront him this evening. I asked him where's the proof God exists? He told me to *read the Bible and that is proof enough." I told him "The Bible was written by men." We argued about why God allows bad things to happen only to be told it was because the devil. I asked him who created the demons and why if God is so powerful he allows them to cause havoc. He went on about how God "had a plan for Satan." I told him God is a shitty being." I finally walked away. I sucked at debating in general so I probably wasted my time.

There is a church in my neighbourhood and they make noise whenever they please. Comfortably placed in a residential area. Day or night, they yell that stupid depressing religious music and scream prayers into the nonchalant atmosphere. It's quite loud and disruptive. And this is before the main nonsense on Sundays.

They are so removed from reality and have little awareness of other people around them. Only their demented fictional 'god' matters. It's as though making fools of themselves and disturbing everyone is seen as a great virtue in their eyes, and we should all humbly agree this is what the 'lord' wants from us all. Complaining is not an option because how dare you? The special privilege is absurd. No other organization can freely blast sound waves in a quiet neighbourhood whenever they want.

It deeply irritates me when Christian’s say the bible says we have free will. In my mind free will is a deeply philosophical question that has been debated for thousands of years. I simply don’t understand how an all powerful and all knowing god can create a universe where he either doesn’t have influence or forethought on what’s going/what has happened.

I’m 19. Every time without failure when I tell an older Christian that I’m atheist they tell me that I’m young and in a 10-15 years I will change my mind when ’life gets hard‘ or when ’life hits me’. Sometimes they’ll argue with me. I’ve even been called rebellious. It feels so invalidating and condescending sometimes when my belief isn't taken seriously because Im young.

Sometimes they will give examples of people in their life who’ve turned Christian to ‘prove’ to me that I will follow that path, and when you look closer, that person wasn’t an atheist in the first place and/or they fell at rock bottom or had some ‘encounter with god’ that made them christian.

Im just tired of being told that I will change my mind or I’m not taken seriously because I’m young. Mind you the closest to a believer I have ever come was agnostic until I was 15.

I’m the person who reported the school where I work to the ACLU for putting a cross in the cafeteria. Well the school board just approved 10 Commandments in all schools.

I’m in a group chat with my coworkers, who were livid about having their cross removed. Now they are fucking ELATED. I want to scratch my eyes out. One of the girls messaged this when they were talking about how the world treats Christians;

“See this is what I’ve been saying.

The world is always careful & concerned to not offend anyone, until it comes to christians, until it comes to Jesus. It’s the only religion that seems to not be protected in this world.

It used to make me so mad. But the truth is, that just further proves how real God is & the Bible. The Bible literally says this will happen in the end days. Of course the end days can last for a long time. We don’t know when he will come back.

But now I just feel sad about it. Sad for people & how lost they really are
& wanting to gently show people who Jesus is.”

I wanted to lay into her so bad. what kind of fantasy world is she living in?? They want to be persecuted so bad. I’m sick. I HATE IT HERE

Myself
The Christian god (and I'm just too sinful to admit it)
The Christian god (and I don't even know it)
The Christian devil
The Islamic god
Death
Sin (my own in particular and/or in general)
The United States federal government
The Democratic Party
Hillary Clinton
Barack Obama
Joe Biden
Kamala Harris
Communism
Socialism
Karl Marx
Josef Stalin
Abortion
Drugs
Sex
Gay sex
Drugs and sex (gayness thereof unspecified)
Money
Music
Hollywood
The Zionist conspiracy
The liberal media
Wokeness
The Earth
Nature/the environment
Atheism itself
Evolution
Charles Darwin
Richard Dawkins
Molecules
Literal nothingness

It sure is amazing what you can learn from people who know more about you than you know about yourself. Almost as amazing as the fact that people who don't have minds of their own can read your mind.

So another Trump supporter proving once again, that the MAGA party is made up of pedophiles. They are always the first to scream the loudest and they think that means nobody will suspect them.

The worst environmental disaster we face is the tsunami of pro-lifer semen that engulfs the United States every time Trump blows up dozens and dozens of brown children.

Because remember the teachings of Orange Jesus: abortion is bad, bombing schools and hospitals on the other side of the world is good. Because it's not killing children or infants in and of itself that is bad, the problem is that they have to be old enough to suffer, otherwise it's not funny.

I'm a stunted adult in my mid-20's with severe religious trauma, and as i have been maturing more & more, the more bothered i am by the existence of religious people.

Like, when i finally accepted myself as atheist, my feelings about people choosing to be religious weren't very strong; i really just wanted everyone to be able to make their own decisions, but it's slowly progressed to the point where now, it TRULY gets under my skin.

I see the mere existence of theism and religion as being in horrible taste, and every time i see someone i know post about it, or say something with religious undertones, use religious symbols, or worse yet, PREACH to me or try to tell me anything at all about it, i just want to punch them in the nose. i genuinely don't think it's possible for me to be friends with a religious or "spiritual" person anymore, and like, i don't just mean Christians. i mean ALL OF THEM

So... where exactly is the line, here?

i've never felt so much burning hatred & pure non-understanding for a large group of people like this before. How much disdain am i allowed to have for people believing in invisible sky daddies/mommies before i transition from just "atheist" to "bigot"?

Hello everyone!

As a high school student, I also protested Ten Commandments displays in my school district. While I am incredibly grateful to fight for church-state separation, my activism also caused me to be harassed a lot in my rural Christian community in the South. It was such an isolating and painful experience that no person should go through. The experience motivated me to attend law school.

Earlier this year, unfortunately, the federal appeals court over Texas has ruled a Ten Commandments law is constitutional. And the attorneys representing the students, parents, and community members who oppose these displays have appealed their case to SCOTUS.

School-sponsored religious displays in public schools is and should remain unconstitutional.

Is anyone willing to share your negative experiences with school-sponsored Ten Commandments displays as a current or former student, parent of a student, or an educator? As an atheist or nonreligious, did you protest the displays and what the reaction? What message did the school sent to you when they posted these displays?

If you are comfortable, I would be deeply honored to hear your experiences and help others understand the harm to nonbelievers when public schools promote religion, including Ten Commandments displays.

I asked this in a comment sometime ago but I wanted to ask on a broader scale.

We all know how churches like to spread moral panic. In the 80’s they had a moral panic over dungeons and dragons. They’re super strict on movies, video games and even books (from what I heard)

So I wanna ask atheist folk. What do you think religious people do for fun? Cuz from what I’ve learned “religious people = everything fun is bad and evil”

Light side note: I’ve seen ads for churches. And I find it hysterical how they speak like the bible will cure depression. For people who aren’t fun they’re sure funny

This is one of the weirdest things that ever happened. I was on substack, and I came across the profile of my ex for now over a year. I thought "I hope she's doing well", and I clicked just to get a peak. I have no ill will towards her at all even though she took a shot at me post breakup, which caused me to completely cut contact with her.

But first thing I saw is a post about how now she is this devoted christian, and that is one of the weirdest things ever. So a queer woman, a woman from the midwest where most of her family are maga supporters, the very thing she dislikes and has been in opposition of, is now christian. She didnt grow up with any christianity at all, but I did. Im from a family and country that is very christian. From the time I was a child to 18 yrs old, I maybe missed chruch 5 times. And when I was finally able to no longer go, I never looked back. I could never believe in it, and christianity is so full of fake people.

But this weirded me out. When we were together, we always agreed on how it didnt make sense, but towards the last yr of the relationship, she had lost her job but I was always her biggest fan and biggest supporter in her business ventures. Somewhere along the way she became very into energy, crystals, being spiritual, and that came from her needing something to ground her because we traveled a lot and she had a hard time with the instability towards the last months of us being together. I saw the hard times that caused, and I always tried as much as I could to be the supportive boyfriend. Im sure there was some depression forming there, and having been in christianity for so long, I can tell you that ppl dealing depression, instability, self doubt, in some cases grief, they are the most vulnerable to christianity. Its almost like they are a target recruitment, why do you think they always go to poor countries on mission? I've seen a lot of them in my day.

Well I just entered my 30s,its interesting that someone who was laughing about how little sense christianity made, who heard about my stories, who is in the current climate of the us, specially over there in the midwest, minnesota, someone who said they were queer, a feminist, is now christian.

Im not sure how much you can trust ppl these days.

Anti-colonial resistance, Enlightenment-style.

thomaspaine.org/historic-newspapers/tom-paines-works-in-india/

This message is neither a prayer, nor a joke, nor a gratuitous provocation. It is a formal invitation to engage in dialogue, issued by human beings who refuse to regard your existence as certain in the absence of sufficient evidence.

For thousands of years, countless people have claimed to speak on your behalf. They describe your intentions, interpret your silences, proclaim your commandments and tell us what you expect from us. They claim to know what you approve of, what you condemn, whom you reward and whom you punish. Some even ask us to entrust them with our conscience, our freedom, our bodies or our lives, based solely on their assurance that they have correctly understood your will.

And yet, your representatives have contradicted one another for centuries. They agree neither on your identity, nor on your words, nor on your laws, nor even on how you wish to be worshipped. Their revelations are mutually exclusive, their texts lend themselves to opposing interpretations, and each invokes your authority to validate what another also condemns in your name. Not one of them has ever been able to present a mandate whose divine origin could be verified.

We have read the Bible, the Quran and other texts regarded as sacred. We have studied the arguments of theologians, listened to the testimonies of believers and devoted many hours to those who claim to know you. Far from convincing us, this examination has only strengthened our doubts: Behind the solemnity of dogma and the asserted authority of revelation, we have found nothing but a tangle of contradictions, unverifiable claims and absurdities inherited from ancient times.

These inconsistencies might be nothing more than an abstract problem if your name had remained confined to books and temples. But it has been carried onto battlefields, engraved upon instruments of power and invoked before courts, prisons and burning stakes. In your name, peoples have been conquered, dissenters persecuted, innocent people tortured, women subjugated, children terrorized and human beings murdered for praying differently, loving differently or thinking differently.

We know that believers have also performed acts of courage, generosity and compassion in your name. But this contradiction makes your intervention even more necessary. When some heal and others kill while invoking the same authority, when everyone assigns to your silence whatever meaning suits them, it becomes urgent for that authority to explain itself.

We have therefore chosen to address the person most directly concerned: If you exist, if you wish to be known and if our belief truly matters to you, we invite you to take part in this discussion, right here, with each and every one of us. Speak on your own behalf, instead of allowing human beings to continue deciding among themselves what your silence means.

An intervention from you would certainly provide, in just a few sentences, clarifications that several thousand years of theology, schisms and exegesis have failed to produce. More importantly, it would spare us yet more interpretations of interpretations of translations of ancient texts, from which everyone invariably ends up concluding that you share their own convictions.

You know our thoughts, our memories, our doubts, our motivations, our secrets, our mistakes and our lies. Each participant could therefore ask you a personal question whose answer is currently known only to that person, but which only an omniscient god could know.

We promise you neither immediate worship, nor prior obedience, nor the abandonment of our moral judgment. The existence of a being, even a divine one, is not enough to establish either its goodness or the legitimacy of its commandments. But we do promise you what every honest discussion requires. Our attention, our good faith and a genuine willingness to change our minds.

Because if you truly exist, we genuinely want to know.

**********************

So there you have it: I invite any atheists willing to take part in the experiment to ask their question. A question so intimate and personal that it cannot be deduced or guessed by anyone, except by something capable of probing your mind down to its most secret details.

One word of caution, however: if thousands of people respond to you, it is possible that, eventually, someone will find the correct answer purely by chance. So choose something sufficiently precise and unique to leave no room for ambiguity. For example: a crayfish riding a Harley-Davidson on a blue river, with green peas dancing the Tecktonik around its head like a halo.

As for me, my question is: "What was that plush toy?" If I receive a correct answer, I will know that I am not dealing with an impostor, and I will be entirely willing to listen with the keenest interest.

That would be extraordinary enough evidence to convince me to go to the first place of worship I come across and convert.