Hi there: I hope yall like reading!

[Bluewind]

That is so pretty! What exactly is the symbolism referring to?

[Hydra009]

It symbolizes blue wind.

[Bluewind]

It symbolizes blue wind.

lol! I love it. I was actually asking what would be a good symbol for my beliefs so I could paint it on a necklace charm, but who cares because pretty ^_^

Edit: It is now my avatar. Thank you Hydra009 :D

[Hydra009]

Images larger than 150x150 get pretty stretched out.  Here's a resized one:

[Bluewind]

Images larger than 150x150 get pretty stretched out.  Here's a resized one:

Thank you! Thanks MUCH better. I knew it squished a lot, but it still looked okay and I figured I could fix it later so I decided not to say anything. Thanks for the help.

I made one necklace charm like the symbol that's a cross between an A and @ . The other has me torn. I really like the example of the flying spaghetti monster on a necklace I seen over on Etsy by TheCraftyFreethinker. It's cute and doesn't scream atheist, but would be difficult for me to paint with accuracy using the tools I have.

[Solomon Zorn]

I recently went through a period of wearing three pendants at once, of varying lengths. They were: a peace sign; an ankh; and an IDIC symbol, which stands for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (from Star Trek).

I still wear the ankh. People mistake it for a cross. I always correct them, and depending on the situation, I add, "I wouldn't wear a cross."

I never cared for the atheist "@" pendants. It's hard to come up with a symbol of atheism, because it  is not a positive assertion, but rather a rejection of the theist's assertion of God.

[Baruch]

Solomon Zorn ... well the ankh is pagan, but also a cross in the Coptic Church.  Do you have other affinities for Egypt?

[Unbeliever]

Howdy, Bluewind! 

[kilodelta]

Random facts: My favorite band is Coldplay, ....

You are now my enemy.

....Currently out on my entertainment system is a ...Skyrim ... Archer, Doctor Who (I have to buy box sets for it), and Flash to name a few.

Errrr, never mind. You're cool.

My favorite soda is Peach Crush

Dangit. Is it that difficult to like the same things as me without even knowing me? Come on. Peach Crush can't be better than blue Mountain Dew. But, I think your affinity for darkmatter2525 puts you in the close enough classification.

Welcome, BTW.

[Bluewind]

I have a migraine. It must be because *gasp* God is angry with me! I must go hid under a rock and chant words written in a really old book made of magic! O_O

Seriously though, migraines suck and that is why I'm posting replies to yall's posts later than intended.

@Solomon Zorn
You know I'm gonna have to ask right? Which captain did you like most? It's been years since I've watched (antenna tv and online via my phone) so a lot of the info is blurry, but I always liked Picard.

I really think we deserve a symbol which stands for Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists, Freethinkers, and all those unaffiliated with any religion or religious practices (that are not farce of course) just as much as if we were vegetarians/vegans. The rejection of something does not make beliefs any less real, important, or defining than the acceptance of something. It also doesn't give us carte blanche to be dicks about it ;)

Something simple and universal would be nice. The @ is simple and straight forward, but would not work for the groups that start with other letters or in countries where Atheist or Agnostic doesn't start with A. The empty set symbol is simple, thought provoking, rooted in logic, and can be stylized into something very nice, but I'm not sure if it would apply to Agnostics, soft Atheists, and the rest. FSM and IPU are fun, contain no direct link to another religion, and come in many styles, but they are mostly for showing the absurdity of worship instead of representing us (so perhaps our equivalent of the fish?). The Darwin Fish is often mistaken as simply someone who believes in evolution and along with many other religious symbol parodies is a direct link to that religion and it's symbol thus can be seen as directly attacking them.

Perhaps someone will come up with something that better represent who we are instead of who we're not. We believe in now and making it count, a finite life, the absence of a diety in our day to day lives, and so on. Perhaps we could look into ā which (if I understand correctly) is the mathematic symbol for finite and really has no negative meaning I could find on my own during a limited search (unless you count "what" in Samoan). I'm sure there must be a better one out there though just waiting to be discovered.

@Unbeliever
Lol! I'm not from Texas, but I appreciate the enthusiasm :)

Also, AWESOME cartoon. I honestly think there are more Atheists, Agnostics, and such in the closet than out in religious areas.

@kilodelta
Coldplay was my first big concert, so I will always love them. I also have (in no particular order and only what I have on my shelf because my ex kept some including Nirvana) Evanescence, Garbage, Seal, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pink, Adele, The Goo Goo Dolls, The Who, The Beatles, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Heart, Queen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alanis Morissette, Everclear, Eminem, Barenaked Ladies, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, Santana, Angels & Airwaves and various classical music. Odds are, if it's not country and has more depth than a puddle, I'll listen to it. I've heard several good songs on the hard rock station (some I know word for word), but never fell so in love that I wanted a full CD by a particular band.

Ahhhhh! A fellow Skyrim fan (wabbajack, wabbajack). I started out with a high elf, but after several games I found I had the most fun with my Argonian named Bloodlust (lost THAT 400 or 500 hour save when the ex kept all the systems. Dad got me an old model PS3 for my Christmas present). That anoying Talos worshiper in Whiterun did not live long with me around. XD Also, did you ever go to Apocrypha? God that place was CREEPY! O_O

Mountain Dew is the best soda with caffeine, but since I can't have caffeine anymore, I like Peach. Once you try it, orange soda will pale in comparison.

[PopeyesPappy]

@ PopeyesPappy
A pleasure. If I may ask, how open are you where you are? How do people react?

Not particularly. My immediate family knows. I don't discuss religion or politics at work, and if someone asks I just tell them I'm not religious. If someone presses me about it they usually go away mad.

[Mike Cl]

Ahhhhh! A fellow Skyrim fan (wabbajack, wabbajack). I started out with a high elf, but after several games I found I had the most fun with my Argonian named Bloodlust (lost THAT 400 or 500 hour save when the ex kept all the systems. Dad got me an old model PS3 for my Christmas present). That anoying Talos worshiper in Whiterun did not live long with me around. XD Also, did you ever go to Apocrypha? God that place was CREEPY! O_O

Love Skyrim.  I have over 2,000 hrs logged in.  I play mostly as a wood elf archer.  I've tried playing a melee character, but love my bows.  I now run with 50/60 mods at a time.  Most of there are environment enhancements, but a good number allows for tweaking of followers, as well.  I love one mod in particular, Sophia.  She is a fully scripted (close to 2,000 lines), funny, very functional, follower.  Her comments are often relevant to the area or quest I am in.    But I'm currently hooked on FO4.  Both are perfect for my game tastes and styles.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

You really need a shirt with I'm an ATHEIST!
I WILL cast an EVIL spell on you and your naughty parts will shrivel up AND DIE (if they haven't already) so DON'T fuck with me!
You know..just give them something to think about the next time they feel like saving you from erternal heck..
OR
Thanks, but I don't need saving from eternal heck SO STOP YOUR FUCKING CUSSING every time you describe that place..

[Bluewind]

@PopeyesPappy
Thanks for sharing. I wish I was able to just not talk about it. To not react. I like debating and sharing information and logic flaws are the nails on the chalkboard of my brain. I know there will be a day when I blow up or just don't feel like hiding and then that will be it. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared of how people will react when they find out.

Also, my dogs are rescues. Sugar is a 13 year old black and tan minpin born in a puppy mill. She has a lot of health problems but she's a sweetheart. Missy is a 7 year old Rat Terrier who was thrown out of a moving truck into a ditch. She was in a garbage bags filled will other Rat Terrier puppies that were around 4 months old, but she was the only one of them alive. She has OCD and can be a handful at times, but I love her.

My Albino Sand Boa named Lily isn't technically a rescue, but I found her at a newer pet shop being taken care of by an unexperienced owner who had her in a little critter keeper with a little aspen sitting by the register and next to the birds. She had been there for months and very stressed out for obvious reasons. The owner didn't like to handle her because he said she bit. They aren't known for biting and even when they do, their mouths are so tiny that it's a glorified paper cut even as an adult. She was stressed and scared and he had no clue how to handle a snake, so he just yanked her out of her box and handled her far to rough. It was no wonder she bit him regularly! I asked to hold her and he warned me saying he wasn't liable if she bit me. She was tiny for her age (just a few inches longer than my hand and as big around as my finger) and skinny. She struck at him when he yanked her out. I put her in my shirt tail and gently stroked her side. She relaxed between my body heat, the darkness of my shirt, and the gentle stroking motion. As I was talking to him, she fell asleep. When I took her out of my shirt to put her back, she let me handle her without an ounce of aggression. I knew then that I had to save her, so I saved up for her cost (which had been marked down to $110 because he wanted to get rid of her) and supplies needed for her care. I went and visited her when I could. She was quick to crawl out of her aspen and into my hand.

It took me nearly 2 months to save up, but I got her and never went back to that shop. She's grown now and the sweetest thing. She loves being handled even by my little nephews. She likes to nap under my shirt. I'm glad I got her.

@Mike Cl
I've always wanted to play it in PC! The mods are just divine. I don't have a computer which is the only reason I haven't. I forget how many hours total I had in the game, just how many I had for the Argonian. I loved the commentary she got and her water breathing without enchantment. I'm a fairly balanced player who sneaks with muffle while using a bow, goes in close with a mace and shield, uses healing magic and potions I made, master enchanting and smithing, capture souls in my collection of empty gems with a dagger I enchanted just for that purpose, wear good light armor, keep a massive number of lockpicks and leave no lock unpicked, have special apparel enchanted just for all the skills not used for battle (smithing, alchemy, speech, and pickpocket), and buy/sell enough to have a silver tongue. I don't pickpocket though unless I'm forced to and don't normally use two handed weapons or heavy armor unless I'm just leveling them up for skill points. I sincerely enjoy building my home and my favorite one is Windstad Manor. Some skils I use for specific purposes like in alteration I mostly use detect life/dead or mage light, I occasionally summon with Conjunction (mostly Arvak and sometimes merchant or butler), and I use electric destruction magic on some mages.

@AllPurposeAtheist
How about "God is cool with abortion. He once killed almost every fetus on the planet!" and then have a picture of Noah's ark below it XD


Edit: My friend who is also an atheist thought of a really cool symbol idea! We could put an âˆž behind âˆ... to symbolize that we believe humans are not infinite beings who either have an afterlife or reincarnation to look forward to after death. That now is all we have because we do not have infinite time. We are finite.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Sit back and relax, because if anything, I'm long winded ;)

Hello to all! My nickname is J, but Bluewind is fine. My username which I have used for years is a nod to one if my favorite paintings (Starry Night). I'm female and from the southern US, but not just any state. Oh no. I had to be from one of the 7 states who still have constitutions that require belief in God to take office.

Here's an example of the conversations I have had to deal with. A couple months back I got harassed at my vet's office by a complete stranger badgering me to go to church for over an hour while my dog was in emergency surgery. Mind you, I was still deeply in the unbeliever closet at the time, so all she knew was this woman she just met with a badly injured dog doesn't have a church! And of course saving a soul and preaching to people took president over common decency and the target's polite request to stop. Now imagine having to deal with your own personal stalker popping up and badgering you at least twice a year, getting approached by people wanting to talk to you about their faith at least every other month while out shopping (signs stopped them from coming in my yard at all hours), people bugging you to buy crosses and such to help a church when you go in stores (especially during holidays), somebody who wants to pray for you at least once a week, and somebody saying something Christian related to you every time you go to town and you have my town!

I have personally read the entire Bible (although it's been a LONG time), was raised Baptist, and went to church way more in my youth than most because my grandmother (called Mamaw in the south) was a member of a popular gospel group. The irony? I was arguing with the preacher, my Sunday School teacher, and everybody else about logic flaws in Christianity since I was a child! A child mind you who had yet to go to kindergarten (this was before preschool was so popular), had no access to the internet because it wasn't that popular yet (I was a teen before I got online the first time), had very limited access to tv, and had no clue about other religions or Atheism other than the occasional mention of non-believers by a preacher or the training Sunday School teachers tried to drill in us of what to say if someone said something that went against Christianity (like if a teacher talked about the big bang, you continue to ask what caused that until they run out of answers and then say God did). And there I would be, a 4 year old arguing with a pastor - a well respected adult - about how it didn't make sense. At 5. At 6. At 7. I questioned, I argued, and I posed logical queries. I remember one preacher patted me on the head and told me I had to read the bible. I doubt he though someone who had yet to hit puberty would then sit down and read the whole thing cover to cover and come back a month or two later with even MORE questions. Hell, most people who have been Christians their entire lives haven't done it. I was an Agnostic Atheist before I even knew what those words were.

Mamaw was actually religiously tolerant and a very kind and giving woman who built a picnic table in her front yard way back when she was a newlywed so she could feed the hobos and homeless out of her own pocket (she was working full time back then). She was just a good person who laughed at me drilling the poor people at church. She always tried her best to answer my questions, but was never afraid to say she didn't know and would try to find the answers for me. I think she is the reason I am so open minded even now.

Then, when I was a preteen my mother got tired of me embarrassing her. I was taken to a place with a preacher who would "fix" me. I came out a mess and afraid that a bad thought would send me to hell, listening to music other than classical gospel (even by accident) would send me to hell, arguing with my parents would send me to hell (I later found out my dad was a closet atheist btw), questioning God or the Bible in any way would send me to hell, and on and on and on. Even though a lot of the nonsense internal dialog eventually went away, a lot of it stayed. Enough that my mother abused, starved, and neglected me for years while I stayed quiet and obedient. I prayed for death because suicide was a sin, but I didn't tell anyone what was going on - not even my father.

I quit believing in God again in my late teens, but I hid it for over a decade for fear of how people would react and treat me. I knew how everyone was trained to treat us in my very Christian community. Case in point, I came out as bisexual 6 years before I came out as an atheist because of how people act... including my sister. My sister who still doesn't know I'm bi or an atheist.

The straw that broke the camel's back was when the man I had loved and been 100% faithful to for 7 years left me for a 21 year old he had been seeing a while (I was clueless) right before my 30 birthday. Without him, there was nobody left I was truly afraid of judging me, so I quit outright hiding and told my dad. It felt like when I came out as bi, only so much better because I wasn't just hiding and lying about half of myself, but all of myself. I had no idea how much of a weight I had been carrying. It was freeing. I told my ex too when I was still trying to stay friends (which was a mistake).

It took me months to outright call myself an atheist because of the connotations; I simply said I wasn't a Christian. My ex in the meantime texted me how he and his girlfriend were praying for me, snuck over a dozen Christian booklets in with my stuff, and has said some really hurtful stuff that I'm not repeating here. The irony wasn't lost on me, but it is what it is. It's been a year and I still have to fight him to make payments toward my land he's living on (which is the only reason he's not blocked).

I've told my dad (who is a closet atheist) as well as my nephew and 2 friends. Nobody else here knows. If it was up to me, I would have a tshirt made that said
"I'm a good person
I'm an atheist
I have mace"
but I keep the truth close to the vest because of where I am and how people are. I'm not ashamed of who I am by any means and I know it's only a matter of time before I can't hide myself anymore (I mean, we've already established I'm a blabber mouth ;) ). I'm even trying to make my own necklace charm with the atheist symbol that looks like an @ .

As a side note, there are so many type of atheist and agnostic that it confuses me a bit, so I would appreciate some help labeling myself. I don't think I will ever become an anti-theist because I know religion plays an important part in a lot of people's lives and as long as it doesn't influence the government, doesn't effect the schools, isn't allowed to be used as an excuse for bigotry, and isn't shoved down my throat like reverse bulimia, I'm fine with it. I also don't think I will ever be a hard atheist because I believe in science too much to say 100% that no diety exists while a small chance exists, so I believe I would be categorized as a de facto atheist which say 99% (under the spectrum of theistic probability). It's also why I think I'm an Agnostic as I don't believe we can ever know scientifically for sure what exists outside space and time as we currently reside in space and time. Even if there is a creator out there, it has no interaction with us directly (like we were created in a petri dish for a science project or we are a micro universe on somebody's gym sock) and we can never know for certain.

Edit for random note: My favorite atheist YouTube creator is darkmatter2525. My favorite non atheist YouTube creator is MatPat from Game Theory.

tl;dr