A Tale of 2 Closets

A TALE OF TWO CLOSETS by Reid B.

One might say I am "just a poor boy from a poor family," however my life has not been a "Bohemian Rhapsody" in any manner.

I was actually born to a middle-class, blue-collar man and his junior-in-college wife on a cold January day some 50 years ago.

Like every person on this planet, we are born into the religion of our families; some atheists are born into families that lack belief. I was born into a Christian family; although, a family of two denominations of Christianity: Lutheran and Methodist.

I have always been on a journey of both self-discovery and becoming more knowledgeable than I was yesterday. The key to both of those has been honesty and acceptance of facts in evidence.

Honesty and acceptance of facts helped me declare to my mom one late fall day in my junior year of high school that I am gay. And now, those same qualities helped me, finally, realize and declare, on this late winter day some 35 years later, that I am an atheist.

Wow! I just outed myself to you. And guess what? The world did not end, the sky did not fall, nor has any bearded man come by to chastise me or banish me to an eternity of “torment, fire and brimstone” for not believing in his existence.

Why am I an atheist? Another question would be "why did it take me so long to declare it?"

An answer to both questions is the partial purpose of this article. The other purpose of this article is to let other gay atheists in the area know that “you are not alone.”

Atheism, from the Greek word 'atheos,' is defined as the lack of belief, or the rejection of belief, in the existence of any deity. At one point in Greek history, even Socrates was accused of being an atheist (though this accusation was probably more politically-motivated than theologically-motivated). In ancient Roman, early Christians were persecuted as atheists because they worshiped a different god than those officially sanctioned and worshiped by the government.

On this "pale blue dot" (to quote Carl Sagan), aka Earth, at least 5,000 deities, from Allah to YHWH, are worshiped today. And within each faith system, there exists several denominations. If any god existed, there would be no need for any Bibles, Qur'ans, Torahs, etc., as that deity would speak for itself and we all would know, and hear, it.

Throughout the many decades since I was born, I have traveled the gambit of religious experiences: Mormonism, agnosticism, fundamental evangelicalism (thanks to my first partner), Hinduism, and Wicca (they worship a pantheon of gods as well as revere nature). All in all, no god, nor its illegitimate child (think about it), ever physically appeared in my life to help me with anything, nor stop me from doing anything. I did every great thing, good thing, and not-so-good thing ALL by myself.

I have come to realize that I do not need religion in order to be good or moral. In fact, my morality is the only thing keeping me from starting a religion and exploiting your gullibility for profit, just like L. Ron Hubbard or Joseph Smith.

Now I am sure I will hear from some folks telling me that because I am an atheist, I'm therefore (somehow, ipso facto) immoral, filthy, or, perhaps, at best, a hedonist (or even, worse still, a libertine). Before writing those comments and sending them to me, ask yourself if those were not the same (or similar) words thrown at you merely for coming out as gay or lesbian or trans-gender.

Hopefully this article will encourage you to read the Bible from cover to cover, without study guides or any spin to it. Sometime between the talking snake, God kill children in Egypt (Exodus 12:29) or God commands Abraham to kill his own son as proof of Abraham's fealty to God, and when Jesus tells people to hate their mothers and fathers (Luke 14:26), you will become an atheist. [NOTE: OR, you could just say, “...and Jesus telling...”]

For more info, please read books by Bertrand Russell, Robert Ingersoll, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, George Smith, or Dave Steele (among many others), and/or listen to podcasts by former ministers, like Matt Dillahunty, Ryan Bell, or Seth Andrews. I will also answer all questions and comments at A.Gay.Atheist@gmail.com