Non-believing Preachers, Listen Up!

If you are an Atheist who is currently preaching the Gospel in a church somewhere, or a closet Atheist, then this blog is for you. If you’re a charismatic minister then I’m going to “check your mail” and you will understand me in a way that the majority of the Atheists who read this blog will not. If you are a not religious person, you may find this personal story both tragic and/or moving. Some of you will hate me, but after reading this, most of you will understand exactly where my passion for our movement comes from.

Please understand, whether you like me or not, it doesn’t move me in any way at all. I have never lived my life for the acceptance factor or to win a popularity contest. For me, it has always been “balls to the wall, all in, or nothing at all.” So with that said, here we go!

Most of the “preachers” I encounter are nowhere near as insane as I was when compared to the level of religious dogma I was living in. Christians often tell me I wasn’t sincere, I didn’t really believe the bible, or I’m just pissed off that God didn’t give me what I wanted. However, you will not let yourself get to the level of insanity that I was at if that were true.

I heard God audibly and I became so bold that I would throw people out of wheel chairs. I would lay people down who had back injuries flat on their stomachs and run on their backs believing that I was carried along by the wind of God (Mal 4:2 The Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings). For this was the demonstration of the Holy Ghost and power (1Cor 2:4)! And my language and message were not set forth in persuasive, enticing and plausible words of wisdom, but they were in demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power, proof by the Spirit and power of God that was operating in me and stirring the most holy emotions in the minds of my listeners and thus persuading them.

I believed I could raise the dead back to life and that I was endowed with supernatural power from on high. I was baptized in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4). There was a radical evidence of the call of God on my life. God called me to be a prophet. “Miracles and Wonders” would flow through my life. I would be used by God to raise the dead, so why wait? God would honor my faith, so twice I went to the local morgue to raise the dead. After all, that’s where the dead were. I had never seen a dead man in my life, yet Jesus spoke to me in “red” and said, “go raise the dead, my boy, go raise the dead, (Matt10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, RAISE THE DEAD, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give ). The second time I arrived to raise the dead I had caused a disturbance and was told by the authorities if I ever returned with this nonsense I would be arrested for harassment.

Continue reading his story on the americanatheists website

Permalink - Posted Thursday, 19 January 2012 at 11:40 PM

Dear Richard Dawkins,
I'll make this brief. When I read The God Delusion, all the nagging doubts that had been rattling around in my brain for quite awhile were confirmed. Your words crystallized my thinking. I was finally able to say aloud that I no longer believed in all the religious BS that has perpetrated so much pain and suffering in the world.
Thank you and Happy New Year!
Christine

Permalink - Posted Saturday, 07 January 2012 at 02:33 AM

Professor Dawkins,

My earliest memory of religion is from attending a Southern Baptist church at a young age. Around the age of 12, my family moved, and I began attending a United Methodist church. I continued attending church until around the age of 18, when I went to college. Looking back, I now realize that my young mind was more interested in the social aspect of church than the religious aspect. I was baptized and confirmed, even though I did not truly understand or believe the words and thoughts I mindlessly repeated. I read the entirety of the Bible at least once.

A few years later, my brother came out of the closet. Not only was he gay, which our former church did not accept; he was atheist. There is no possible way I could accept the values of a religion over the love of my own brother. As time progressed, I began to consider myself a theist. I still believed in a higher power -- mostly due to the complexity of our world -- but wholly rejected organized religion.

It was not until earlier this year that I finally read "The God Delusion". It had exactly the kind of information I needed to seal my own identity as an atheist. With the knowledge I gained from your writing, I was confident in coming out of the closet as an atheist to my friends and my conservative Christian family, although I am still afraid of the commonplace prejudice against atheists by mainstream Christians here in the United States. I can now proudly profess that I am a de facto atheist, and that there is no proof of the existence of a higher power. I attribute this knowledge primarily to you and your writing, and I thank you for that. You are a beacon of information in an age of blissful ignorance.

Kevin

Permalink - Posted Saturday, 07 January 2012 at 02:32 AM

Dear Professor Dawkins,

I am writing to thank you for the direct and powerful effect your work, as well as the work of your contemporaries has had on my life and my thought. I was raised a Roman Catholic, and until the age of about 8 or 9 I had no doubt that what I had been told every Sunday was true; why on earth would I question that which was endorsed by my family, my mother and by a whole host of adults in the local Catholic community? It was around this time that I became truly interested in questions of science, in particular astronomy and the universe. The night sky was always a source of wonder for me, and through my fascination with space I began to delve further into science. It was at this point that what I had been told from the Bible (i.e. that God created the universe in six days, that Noah collected two of every creature and that Jesus was born of a virgin) came into conflict with my new studies (the universe is the result of a rapid expansion 13.7bn years ago, a 900 year old man would have been very unlikely to be able to collect two of every species ever and no-one is born of virgins). The conflict between my ideas and my upbringing continued largely unresolved, until one day, I picked up The God Delusion and read it for the first time.

Since then there has been no looking back; I immediately ceased attending church and made it clear to anyone who asked that I had reached a position of atheism. My realisation that God was neither probable nor necessary has only increased my intellectual curiosity, and I have taken to challenging the incursion of religious views into matters with which they should have no concern.

Once again, thankyou for all you have written, spoken and argued. Please continue to do what you do best

A. Nother

Permalink - Posted Saturday, 07 January 2012 at 02:31 AM

Dear Richard

I hope you burn in hell and... no, just kidding, this is not a hate mail.
I´m happy to see that your converts´ corner is getting larger and larger, as it is, in my opinion, a great source to witness the power of reason.
As for my conversion, it is not as dramatic as others i could read about on your website, but for me it is just as important as those.
I´m an average looking person, born in Sweden and raised in Italy (i hope you´ll forgive any errors in my writing). Although my parents aren´t religious, the rest of my family is strictly observant Catholic, and while my father and mother never interfered in my spiritual point of views on life, universe and everything, the remaining religious part of my family was absolutely enthusiastic in indoctrinating me. When i was eight years old i was already a "believer". Well, as much as a child CAN be a believer. But a major event made me seriously religious.
I got sick, Lyme disease, and it got so far that i suffered meningitis. The doctors saved me, but at my return home i discovered that the whole community had been gathering in big prayers for me, and they convinced me that it was God that saved me. I was eleven years old.
The first earthquakes that shocked my faith happened when i was fourteen. I started to read some books, and started to think about God and religion. I was young, but still, logic projected a shadow of concrete nonsense over my religious beliefs. I was scared. I had visions of Satan, and i spent restless nights waiting for the fallen angel to enter my room, laughing at me. Every night i saw how the flames where on their way to my bed, where i was laying wet by my own tears.
So one day, in complete desperation, i talked to God and begged him to hit me with lightnings if i turned my back on him, just before transforming into a cruel atheist beast, that my Catholic relatives had warned me for.
God didn´t kill me.
I never really have been able to shake off all my fears, but i became non-believer.

So, i was never a believer when i read your book. But you are responsible for a minor conversion that is, as i already mentioned, important for me.
Now i´m twenty years old and i can say with honesty and pride that i am an Atheist, a radical one, and not Agnostic, as i used to be.
Being able to argue for my new, Atheist position, with the power of logic, science and common sense, and feeling confident in my opinions, is helping me overcoming my old religious ghosts and nightmares. And i have partially you to thank for that.

I really want to write thousands more pages about the subject religion to you, as it really matters to me, but i hope i managed to condense my story of conversion here, that it is understandable and useful to you.

With great esteem Jacob Romano

p.s. Oh, almost forgot. I don´t want to be a priest anymore. I want to be a physicist. Alternatively an MMA pro fighter ;)

Permalink - Posted Saturday, 07 January 2012 at 02:29 AM

Professor Dawkins

I am writing to thank you for all the work you do on behalf of clear thinking and reason. I was brought up a Christian and attended a C of E primary school where I was taught creationism in detail, the only mention of a scientific understanding of how the world worked was 'Scientists believe in a theory called the big bang but we (i.e. you) believe in this'.

As my education progressed, I took a keen interest in science and religious studies and saw no obvious conflict as long as my religious beliefs gave way to scientific ones whenever the two were in disagreement. My opinion was that science answered the how but religion answered the why and how to be a good person.

The first stumbling block I encountered when I studied another religion, Islam. It was so obviously and blatantly a product of human imagination that I started questioning the logic of my own faith. I continued to be influenced by Christian holy men and established religion though until I came across 'The God Delusion' in a book shop whilst visiting the popular science section.

My biology teacher had mentioned your name a few times so I decided to buy the book not really knowing what it was about. I am embarrassed to admit this but upon reading the part of the book where you state that any reader with any sense of reason will be an atheist by the end of it, I did raise an eyebrow and think that was not likely as I had thought a lot on the subject and was very confident in my beliefs if anything it would be a test of my faith (I shudder when I think about how I could have been so deluded). By the end of it atheist I was though.

Your book changed my life. The change was entirely for the better and I am a much happier person because of it. Being certain that there is nothing after this life isn't crippling as I thought it would be, it is liberating. You only have one chance and it has to count, there is nothing else. Thank you for everything you have done and continue to do to try and free people of the shackles of religious dogmatism.

Yours Respectfully and Gratefully

Danny

Permalink - Posted Saturday, 07 January 2012 at 02:27 AM

Dear Professor Dawkins,

My name is Cian O'Donovan, and I am proud to call myself a humanist and Atheist. I know many people Write to you and many people pour their hearts out to you over their conversion to atheism so I will try to keep this as brief as I can.
2 years ago i was on the verge of taking my own life, I was bullied in school for being a "Geek" and for reading a lot. I went to a catholic school in the South-West of Ireland and was raised in a fairly strict catholic family. At the "Crossroads" in my life as i like to call it, I came by one of your books that my father had on a shelf, I think it was The God Delusion or The Selfish Gene, I'm not entirely sure, at that point in my life I was sad all the time and started to commit self harm, I believed in god, and I would stay awake for hours thinking " If he was real why would he want this for me?" (as a child i was taught that god wanted what was best for everyone), this lead me into a period of contemplation on the physical existence of a higher power, a most troubling transitional period for a child to go through. It was at this period that i started to really read into what you were saying.

You opened my eyes.
I came to believe that most discrimination form the start of the world itself had some, no matter how distant, co-relation with religion, it gave me confidence in my voice for equality and social justice. I moved to a new school where i met like minded people and most immediately felt accepted for who I am. Thankfully, My family have accepted me even though most of them (bar my father) are Christian. I cannot begin to thank you for... pretty much saving my life, my family knows nothing of the self-harming or depression i went through, and i hope they never here of it as it would cause too much shame for me, You have had such a profound impact on my life and so many others. I ask but one thing of anyone reading this, do not condemn others for their search for spiritual enlightenment, they merely blind themselves to the truth by looking for this, so pity them, for they have not reached our conclusion but must be guided to the truth and given not spiritual nonsense, but answers and those answers must be complex and complicated. Such is life.

My name is Cian O'Donovan, and I am 15 years of age.

Regards,
Cian

Permalink - Posted Monday, 26 December 2011 at 11:19 PM

Dear Professor Dawkins,

I'd just like you for not only espousing views based on reason and evidence but also for making people own up to themselves about their views and to become prouder of it. I was brought up in a religious family by parents who do not believe in evolution, I attended a religious school and went to church when I was a child. I became disillusioned with Christianity as a young teenager when I was able to read the bible and found it not only unbelievable but deeply unpleasant. When I was a little older I fought to stop going to church a battle which I eventually won despite my parents and ministers best efforts to turn me onto the more liberal form of Christianity. However, for years after I felt wrong for having no religion, faith or belief in a higher power. Even though almost everybody around me was Christian many were all quite tolerant of other faiths and these other faiths were explained to me at school. What everyone seemed to tell me was that many people believe different things and that's ok but it's important to believe in a higher power. So when I became disillusioned with Christianity I explored other faiths but I dismissed all of them as not being this one magical universal truth, some of them were downright hideous. However, I felt that I must be wrong as this was against what all of my trusted adults were telling me. I became ashamed of my beliefs and when asked what I believed,I just muttered about believing in some greater power but not being religious. Thanks to reading Professor Dawkins books as well as books by the 'Four Horsemen of New Atheism', I have finally come to admit to myself that I do not believe in God or any sort of higher being any more than I believe in Russell's teapot. I have also come to be proud of my rational beliefs and have come out as an atheist to friends and family, which has caused some discomfort but I am confident enough in my beliefs now to defend them.

Thank you sincerely

Lexie Brown

Permalink - Posted Monday, 26 December 2011 at 11:16 PM

Dear Mr. Dawkins,

This is my atheist testimony, I do hope you read it.

Your book the God Delusions states in its preface: "If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down". Well your goal was not quite reached, it took over 4 years in total, however I only read the first 4 chapters before my outrage overcame me, so maybe that is why. However I have to admit that it was your book that initially set me thinking critically about my faith. It made me realize that my faith was not infallible and led me to ask questions I might not have asked. You always complain that people with faith simply won't listen to the evidence. Reading your book caused me to listen to the evidence.

My conversion began when I moved to Manchester to study Theoretical Physics at the University Of Manchester. This was key in my realization that God is imaginary, constantly providing satisfying answers when my religious delusions couldn't. Attending a decent, bible teaching, certainly church did NOT help. The more I learnt about christian theology, the less comfortable I was with the answers. Every question I had was answered, sure, but I always left discontent, leaving science and reason ready to provide, not only a more logically satisfying explanation, but a more thrilling, comforting and magical one. I trust you know the definition of magical I mean. I learnt it from you.

Your debates with John Lennox perplexed me also, as did reading his book. As much as I agreed with him, I constantly found your stance more appealing.

The works of Tim Minchin and SMBC comics (and others) humourously pointed out logical flaws in my faith and Derren Brown (again, and others) enhanced my belief that the world is rational and everything has a rational explanation. These combined works, as well as James Randi and others made me remember that I firmly believe that all other magic (supernatural) phenomena are complete bullshit (homeopathy, pyschics, etc). This is not a stance that the bible takes by the way. On at least one occasion, a character in the bible (Old Testament Saul, if your interested) visits a medium for advice, who then communicates with a dead guy for him. This was a majot turning point for me, when I realized that the bible took seriously things which I completely dismiss as fraudulent.

These days, I am a changed man. I am now working through every audiobook I can find of your works. I hope you read this so you can explain to me the absence of Climbing Mount Improbable as I am anxious to listen to it. Thank you for being so instrumental in my conversion.

Stephen.

Permalink - Posted Monday, 26 December 2011 at 11:13 PM

Dear Richard Dawkins,

I was raised in a Muslim family, I used to memorize one third of Quran by the age of 8, I was deeply believing I remember many times I wept when I listen to the verses. It happen also that I thought with some reason and objectivity. and I could find cracks in the pictures that all people around me, religious people were trying to hide carefully. I started to research with loads of doubts. Then 6 years ago, I was driving my car in Cairo, listening to the Audio version of “The god delusion”, having no idea at that time about you. and then I parked the car and started to listen carefully. that was really the sound of my doubts and that was really my arguments I was afraid to raise.

No I feel I can see the bigger picture, it’s not like being brought into reality from ignorance, it’s just like becoming more free thinker and having more control of my short life on that planet

Thank you

Ahmed

باللغة العربية

عزيزي ريتشارد دوكينز, لقد نشأت في اسرة مسلمة متدينة, حفظت ثلث القرآن وانا في السنة الثامنة من عمري, و كنت مؤمنا بشدة و من اعماقي.. اتذكر العديد من المرات التي بكيت فيها تضرعا و خشية حين كنت اسمع آيات القرآن . و لكن في نفس الوقت كنت افكر بمنطق و بموضوعية. و التقطت عيناي شروخا صغيرة جدا في الصورة الجميلة التي يحاول المحيطين طمسها و خاصة الأقارب و رجال الدين. أيضا يوجد نوع من شغف مراقبية الآخرين في المجتمعات فالكل يراقب مدي تدين الآخر. عبر تلك الشروخ الصغيرة استطعت ان اري المشاكل و اخضعت تلك المشاكل للبحث بأمانة و حياد و علي الفور نمت لدي الشكوك.

اتذكر منذ ستة أعوام مضت كنت اقود سيارتي في شوارع القاهرة وانا استمع لكتاب “وهم الإله” وقتها لم اكن اعرف من هو المؤلف حقا, اذكر وقتها اننا توقفت عن السير فقط لأستمع بتركيز الي الكلمات التي تخرج من سماعة الكاسيت. كانت تلك لحظة مميزة في حياتي كان ما اسمعه هو بالظبط اصوات الشكوك لدي و اصوات المنطق الذي يخالف ما يحاول الجميع اقناعي بانه الحقيقة

الآن اشعر انني اري الصورة الكبيرة فالدين مفهوم تماما في سياق تطور المجتمعات البشرية. حالة التنوير هذه لا اعتبرها كنوع من الخروج من الظلمات الي النور او الابتعاد عن شر مطلق.. وانما هي فقط اتجاه اكثر نحو تفكير حر و ايضا عدم اضاعة للوقت القصير المتاح لدي علي هذا الكوكب في مشاعر بدون معني حقيقي

كل التحية و التقدير و الاحترام أحمد

Permalink - Posted Monday, 26 December 2011 at 11:10 PM

Dear Mr. Dawkins,
My name is Josh Elliott, and I just wanted to say thank you for opening my eyes to the truth behind religion. You are an inspiration to the youth of our generation, and I only hope that more and more people will look at your words with truth. Sincerely,

Josh.

Permalink - Posted Monday, 26 December 2011 at 11:06 PM

Thanks you so much Mr. Dawkins.
I am a 15 year old science fanatic ( an understatement at best) who lives in St. Louis Missouri.
I wanted to sincerely thank you for opening my eyes. I cannot stand religeous hypocrisy, and I couldnt stand people like the WBC, or the jehovas witnesses, or any of the ilk saying that people are going to hell for not worshipping their invisible diety. I wanted to personally thank you for helping me to drop the baggage of the catholic religeon. I want to be a scientist when I grow up sir, i want to be a chemist. I want to do something like Fritz Haber did when he and Bosch made that amazing machine of theirs, and i want to thank you sir for your inspiration,
Joseph

Permalink - Posted Sunday, 11 December 2011 at 09:55 PM

Dear Prof Dawkins,

I am a practising surgeon in the UK who was raised a muslim in south asia but was always sceptical of the inane, fatuous, restrictive teachings of islam. Asking questions about islamic tenets was prohibited. The reply from my religious family would always be on the lines of 'allah knows best' or, in the case of origins of the cosmos and life, 'human thought cannot reach that far, so one should not question such matters'.

I remember the day when, in one of our pre-medical school biology classes in my country of origin, the teacher - in response to a question from a witty classmate of mine about the disparity between Darwin's theory of evolution and what the quran says about the creation of the universe (such enquiries are not normally made in a muslim country) - harshly remarked, "you should remember evolution only for the exam, but you should really believe in what religion says!"

Being a natural questioner myself, I had my own doubts about religion and god but stuck with islam due to first the muslim society I was raised in and then, after coming to the UK, expectations from family and friends here. It was through watching your television documentaries over the past couple of years or so that I gradually started becoming more bold and honest with myself and sliding away from islam. Following your beautifully eloquent and brilliantly thoughtful speeches on the internet over the past few months made me finally realise, and accept, fully the beauty of reality and the fatuousness of religion. I now consider myself a complete atheist and a humanist. Having been a student of science all my life, this to me makes much more sense than being a blind follower of the stupidity of religion. In my view, all religious faiths are preposterous, anachronistic fairy tales but islam is all that plus outright viciousness.

Your amazing ability to explain answers to difficult questions in light of what mankind has discovered so far through honest enquiry and empirical observation, rather than baseless religious beliefs, has made me a true convert. I haven't revealed all this to my family or friends yet as the repercussions, even in a liberal country like the UK, would be unpleasant. I do, however, intend to slowly work on those closest to me!

I applaud your intellect and your efforts and will help RDFRS in any way I can.

Thank you,

Khalid

Permalink - Posted Sunday, 11 December 2011 at 09:46 PM

Dear Mr. Dawkins,

I have just read The God Delusion and I would like to congratulate you for this masterpiece. Why did it take me so long to get around to reading it, you might wonder? Well, I'm not sure I have a good answer other than to say it has taken until now to feel truly ready to free myself from my religious upbringing. Your book has provided an avenue of reason and knowledge that has finally clarified my thinking on what has been a 20 year journey from regular church going christian to what I would term as emancipated humanist.

Even as a young boy, I had wondered why my religion in particular (catholicism) was the true and only path to god. Why were hindus and muslims and protestants wrong? The answers I received from my parents, who are by the way well educated and progressive people in most ways, were so unsatisfactory as to be forgettable. Likewise, the rather well-intentioned priests who asked us to pray for the conversion of the less fortunate non-catholics and the success of foreign missionary works, always left me guessing why other religions existed at all.

So it was, until I took a degree in Geology and learnt of Darwinism, evolution, geologic time and so on. It was the power of education and an inquisitive mind that led me down the road to where I am today. Your book has helped to liberate me intellectually and that feels wonderful. My faith, for want of a better word, is now in humanity and reason alone. I have realised that we do not need the lens of religion to enable our more altruistic tendencies.

I live in the United States now and see that this country, and others that have their politics and laws infected with religion, have a frightening potential for harm, exclusion, fanaticism, ignorance, etc... There is no time for complacency when these beliefs are so entrenched and 'sacred' to so many. I am glad that you have advanced the debate to a place of reason. I know you have had to endure many slings and arrows along the way and I admire your bravery for it.

Fondest regards,

Darragh

Permalink - Posted Sunday, 11 December 2011 at 09:44 PM

Dear Richard
Yes, I am a convert as a result of your book The God Delusion and have never been happier.
I grew up in a loving Baptist home but even from a young age had questions. However, one is quickly taught not to question and I never did (being a good Christian girl). But the inner nagging did not leave me. While at University I rarely attended church but when I started teaching returned to the fold once more. To my parents credit they allowed me to marry a non-Christian. It must have hurt them but they recognized his good character and integrity. I will not bore you with the whole story but over the next 20 years I gradually left the church and my Christian beliefs. Yes, it took that long! First I stopped attending church, then the Bible study group. The GUILT was terrible and it took many years to come to terms with that. But my search was not over. I wanted to get to a place that I, me, myself had got to having worked out for myself what I believed. If I was going to be Christian, I wanted to start over and do it on my terms and not because I had been told to. If I was going to be something else I did not want my husband just telling me I should share his outlook. Many more years of reading all sorts of alternative views, talking to people of various faiths etc and I was nowhere closer to deciding what my world view was. I was getting panicky as I turned 51.
Then I read your book and all the pieces fell into place!! And nothing can stop me now. There are not enough hours in the day to read and learn about the cosmos, evolution, origins, philosophy, biology as well as what the fundamentalists are preaching and teaching (scary!). I feel that if I am going to defend my viewpoint I must know as much as possible about a wide range of disciplines and topics. All this has helped me to be more analytical and to THINK logically. One does not have to be a scientist to think scientifically. It has been the most exciting time of my life and I am loving every minute.
The problem is that my close friends and relatives do not want to engage with me. Since I made my views clear they avoid talking about anything related to religion. This isolation is compounded by living in a small town in Zululand, South Africa. However, I am determined to continue educating myself and will be prepared when they are ready to talk to me.
Once again, many thanks to yourself, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Matt Dillahunty, P.Z. Myers and many others for being “out there” and making one feel part of a very sensible, inquisitive, rational, well-spoken group of individuals. You are all my life-line.
Renee

Permalink - Posted Sunday, 11 December 2011 at 09:41 PM

Dear Professor Dawkins

I was raised in a Christian Baptist family, although my parents were pretty easy-going about it. The rule was that we (my siblings and I) had to attend church until the age of 16, and then we could decide for ourselves if we wanted to continue. I never quite latched on to it, I was too inquisitive as a child and teenager, far too questioning. Noah's Ark? Really? He built a boat that could fit two of every animal? What about penguins? How did he get those? Of course, I was too polite to ask those questions in Sunday School, and I knew the answers would be more of the same unsatisfying stuff. But that's what I was thinking during every sermon. In hindsight, I think that my parent's relatively low-pressure approach meant they probably weren't drinking much of the Kool-Aid, either. Still, certain ideas stuck with me; the idea of a God or spirit, and the idea of an afterlife or some continuation of consciousness.

I'm 31 now, and about four or five years ago, I revisited my childhood love of outer-space by purchasing my first telescope. By immersing myself in the world of astronomy through forums, podcasts, and joining the local astronomy club, I became exposed to a world of scientific thinking, and eventually to skepticism. I didn't even know skepticism was a thing! Well, one thing led to another and soon I had to confront these lingering religious ideas in my head once and for all. I came across your book, The God Delusion, and began listening to the audiobook version at work. A few chapters in, I decided that perhaps I could just be agnostic. So I tried that on for a day, still too timid to take it one step further. To be honest, I never thought that atheism was anything more than just a kind of iconoclasm. It never once occurred to me that there was a sound, logical reason to be an atheist.

The next day, however, I finished your book and a particular passage towards the end hit me like a splash of cold water in the morning - it was the Mark Twain quote you read, about how he didn't fear death because he'd been dead for "billions and billions of years" before he was born. I realized, at that moment, that my entire attachment to God and an afterlife was simply a fear of non-existence. It's a reasonable fear, I think. I've been conscious for quite a few years now, I'm rather fond of it. But not once did I look at it from that perspective. Once I did, it gave me the courage to take the step forward.

I am now an atheist. And I must say, from this perspective it's a wonderful view. Since finishing The God Delusion, I've become fascinated with evolution, biology, and especially cell biology. I'm trying to learn as much as I can now. I feel more connected to the natural world, and have a newfound appreciation for life. At last I have found something that speaks to my inquisitive mind, and gives me satisfying answers! The only drawback is that many people in my country (the United States) seem far more frightening now.

Well, that's my story. I know that I will probably never have the opportunity to meet and thank you in person, so I wanted to do so here. Thank you so much for your the work that you do. You are making a difference.

Sincerely,
Brian

Permalink - Posted Sunday, 11 December 2011 at 09:40 PM

Dear Professor Dawkins,

I cannot express in words the profound influence you have had on myself and many others. I was raised Christian conservative and always believed that the word "atheist" was synonymous with "evil." After taking a few steps back and observing my beliefs from a neutral point of view, I concluded that, actually, the word "faith" is indeed synonymous with "ignorance." After a year or so I finally decided to inform my devout parents of my loss of ignorance. Currently, I'm constantly being told that I'm the lost one, or I'm the one who doesn't know what they're talking about. Needless to say, I've adopted your policy regarding debates with YEC's. I'm unable to successfully argue with people who value faith over evidence (or knowledge). Despite my perpetual frustration, I don't have to hide my beliefs anymore, which is a great weight taken off my shoulders. At first I feared death after I stopped believing in the afterlife. Now, I realize how incredibly lucky I am to have this life and certainly wouldn't insist on having a second. My fear of death was primarily based on dying before I had all the answers. However, I now realize again that science is all about constantly learning and having all the answers would make it incredibly boring. I suppose dying while knowing so little could be classified as almost a beautiful tragedy. I am currently reading all of your books and am absolutely intrigued by your views on evolution. So intrigued, as a matter of fact, that you've inspired me to return to college (after a year off) and become a science major (and yes, I'm leaning toward biology). Thank you so very much for everything that you have done and for opening the eyes of myself and many others to the beauty of science and rationality.

Sincerely,
Ricky

Permalink - Posted Saturday, 08 October 2011 at 05:47 PM

Dear Professor Dawkins,

I have just finished your outstanding book "The God Delusion". I wanted to take a moment to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation for assisting me through a difficult point in my life.

I am a 36 year old American who was brought up in a Roman Catholic household and attended grades K through 8 at a Catholic school. I am a member of the military and have deployed several times in support of the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Roughly 10 years ago I started to lose my faith. Because of my childhood I suffered intense guilt and would not even vocalize my doubts for fear of what people would think of me, but more importantly I felt as though I would lose a piece of my identity. I went so far as to explore many different religions in search of the one that I could believe in. It was quite a struggle and I tried all that I could to regain my lost faith, to no avail.

It was not until after I read your book that I was able to begin to tell my family and friends that I did not believe in a god and finally accepted myself as an Atheist. I cannot tell you the kind of weight I felt was lifted off of my chest. Your book made me realize that I am not wrong for what I believe. That it is o.k. to not have religion in your life. Pieces of the book seemed as though they spoke directly to me especially when you stated that someone can say that they believe and want to believe, but if that belief is not there, than you cannot make it so. (I apologize for the paraphrasing.)

Thank you again sir. I just wanted you to know what a positive impact your writing has made on my life.

Sincerely,

Richard

Permalink - Posted Saturday, 08 October 2011 at 05:46 PM

Dear Richard,

I wanted to say thank you. My conversion to atheism is a very long story, so I will keep it simple. I was raised as a Fundamentalist Christian in a small town in the US. Some may say the organization I was a part of is more of a cult than a legitimate church. Being a female raised in this church, I was restricted in almost every aspect of my life. But that was all I knew, and I never thought there could be any other way. It was against my religion to wear makeup or jewelry, or to cut my hair a certain length. Even more radical was the belief that women were not allowed to pursue a higher education outside of high school. We were told that we would never amount to anything, and that we were at the mercies of our husbands. Having a career was also strictly forbidden. This church even has its own "college," where men and women take separate classes; men of course were encouraged to take leadership classes, math, and history. Women, on the other hand, were encouraged to take sewing and cooking.

Richard, if it weren't for you, I would likely be just a waste of human life to put it bluntly. I am now 20 years old-- still young enough to undo the damage of religious indoctrination. I first stumbled upon some of your videos on YouTube when I was 15, and my life has never been the same. You helped me find the courage to stand up to the church and my family. I now attend a real university and am utilizing all of the wondrous talents nature has given me-- talents that were never meant to be wasted on religious nonsense.

Much Love,
Andria

Permalink - Posted Saturday, 08 October 2011 at 05:43 PM

Dear Mr. Dawkins,

I read The God Delusion last summer and am reading it again at the moment. I was raised as a catholic in good old Ireland and as much as I have lost my faith, belief, trust and so on, I still have it in the back of my head that if there is a god, he will understand the scepticism of anyone living on the planet today. The power of this conditioning is pretty strong.

The book is facinating and has served as my introduction to a life without superstition and religion. There are still contradictions though. My father passed away 2 years ago, the feelings and the sadness are still a bit raw and it is difficult to conceive that he is not out there somewhere.

You state in the book that your previous book did not set out to convert anyone but this one does. Just in case you are keeping count, put me on your list. I am by no means finished my research or contemplation of the matter but I am certainly out of the closet as it were. I do not believe in God, Jesus, or any of the other guys. Although it feels strange to be writing these words, there is a sense of liberation to it, and for that, I thank you.

Yours sincerely

Alan O'Mahoney

Permalink - Posted Saturday, 08 October 2011 at 05:43 PM

I am so happy to found this site.

I did not about God before I was 6 years old.

From this age and 14 I went to see my grandmother living in the moutains. It wasn't by choice, I was forced to do because it was for my "own good". She was a young creationist ideology. She used to beat me because Jesus said so, I am 33 and still wondering why I have done wrong. I was forced to believe in god, it's pretty easy to do this to a child who doesn't really know what happening in the world around. I remember a discussion when it was said that athesists were evil.

one day she grabbed me by the arm violently shouting that she has to know what I am saying in my prayers when I did this she critized everything. She took away all my science books (even those that did not talk about science) saying thay were satanic, I was only allowed to read the bible. I remember I was 9, I was hiding in my cover to read the little prince.

For years I believed in god and felt abandonned because I have never felt his existence or he did not saved me from abuse. It was even the contrary, I was abused for religious reasons, I started to hate god at an early age. I became atheist when I was 30. The year before I studied archaeology and physics at university. Previously I studied evolution and zoology. I read the blind watchmaker and the selfish gene. I started to have doubt about god because nothing from the evidences found on the ground could make the bible true.

It did not take long to understand that god doesn't exist. The bible is just someone who wrote it a long time ago then the fanatics brainwasher did the rest.

All these experience sent me in psychotherapy two times in my life.

Permalink - Posted Saturday, 08 October 2011 at 05:42 PM

Conversion is liberating

HI

I think my story is probably very boringly similar to most converts out there.

I was brought up in the Catholic faith (shock! "poor thing' my adult friends say) - I found it to be a stultifyingly boring experience ... hour-long sessions at church on a Sunday (while dad was out playing tennis) in which the only good positive thing that came out of each session was that it had an an end and we would stop for fresh sausage rolls en route to the tennis club. There were attempts to send us to Sunday School ... but thankfully they didn't last too long - more I think because it interfered with the social aspect of our lives than with actually thinking that it was a boring crock of old stories. My relationship with Catholicism was steeped in a fear of purgatory and eternal damnation, I wasn't actually questioning the validity of the claims. It was just bloody boring.

The boarding school I was sent to in the last years of high school was secular by nature, but it still had a very strong contingent of Afrikaans christians (we by the way are english-speaking South Africans) ... one of whom was my hockey coach. I confess that there was a period that he got me ... I became BORN-AGAIN. I described it as 'the happiest time of my life' - everything was going well. My mum's reaction at the time (over the phone) was lukewarm to say the least ... somehow re-borns are more scary than Catholics? Fortunately that too was short-lived - (one month I think) ... It was hard work. Pray all the time. Praise God all the time. Meet all the time to say "we love God' all the time. I relapsed and went back to my old ways of being a wicked teenager again.

After that it faded into obscurity until I had my first child. And then internal conversations ..."I'm not really a religious person, but ... my child needs to be exposed to some kind of faith' (really!). After my stints with Catholicism and Christianity, I did know that they were not the paths that I wanted to take. My husband in all of this is very typically in the dad-camp - 'up to you babe, as long as there's a Greater Being'. I came across a book called Conversations with God - which was very much a progressive stance on all things Biblical - and I really really liked it. Neal Donalde Walshe's God made a whole lot more sense to me than the dude I'd been previously exposed to - and it became a message that I embraced .... (I did ignore the part where he says that his hand just started moving across the page and the words followed - it was God doing the writing) . There were also elements that I couldn't get to grips with, such as reincarnation, the claim that that our souls CHOOSE the families that they are born into (yeah really, tell that to my domestic worker who lives in a shack in Khayalitsha) - I did try, but eventually, I also started thinking it was ridiculous. We carried on our lives ... without a quest for belief .. just trucking along, but still classifying ourselves as Christians (the schools do ask for this info on application forms)(??!!).

And then ....

The God Delusion ... It was so left field ... I had picked it up at the bookshop, but then put it back because I feared that it may be offensive. Then an friend/associate who'd also read Conversations recommended that I read it.

A LIFE-CHANGING BOOK IF EVER THERE WAS ONE.

This was 3 years ago ... My children believe in God because they are exposed to bible stories once a week - they also know that I don't believe - they don't know why, they haven't asked (they are 8 & 5)... but as yet, I have not been able to explain to them how I got to this point. Partly because my husband cannot & will not accept my atheism (I do tell him as gently as I can that that is religious intolerance at its' best) and to date, I have also felt that I am not fully capable of stringing together my rationale in a short concise anti-inflammatory introductory 'paragraph' .

However, I am now feeling better equipped ... yesterday I listened to a podcast with John Loftus and the guys from Irreligiosophy - I have found my paragraph!

1. Geography will generally dictate which faith we get exposed to as children
   
2. All believers think that it's THEIR religion that is the correct one.
   
3. If we can as an outsider, question the faith of another, and feel justified in laughing and ridiculing their claims, so too, must we look at our own with the same sceptical filter that we apply to others.

With these 3 tenets - surely the next step is to start questioning everything?

I continue trawling the net for podcasts to listen to while I run - slowly slowly my confidence is growing.

Thank you for the conversion. It was swift.

Kim Cape Town South Africa

Permalink - Posted Friday, 07 October 2011 at 03:04 AM

My name is chris, and I came out to my family and friends about a year ago as an atheist. My family have been great, they didnt view it as a big deal and to be honest I dont think they even cared... Which I guess is a good thing. My friends reacted differently. I attend a catholic high school in the bible belt. This is one of the most conservative educational settings in my state. I have not since gone more than a month without somebody telling me that I am going to hell... A statement which I dearly hope is not fully understood when said. I have remained resolute, and I have also stayed strong on my feelings about equal rights for gays, something which earned me a good deal of condemnation as well. I withdrew and became cynical. I wish one day to meet professor Dawkins to thank him personally. He taught me that life is an unfathomably beautiful thing, and that it is worth living. Had I considered on my course as a catholic... Lets just say that I may very well owe professor Dawkins my life, and I wish to express my gratitude in any way I can. To all you who are persecuted, stay strong. You will make it if you understand that it is enough just to be alive, and that everything else is just a bonus.

Permalink - Posted Friday, 07 October 2011 at 03:02 AM

‘The God delusion’ gave me the information i needed to be a confident atheist, i was always highly sceptical of the idea of any god, but the book gave me the confidence i needed, as well as showing me there are many other ‘devoted atheists’ out there.
Ed,
15

Permalink - Posted Friday, 07 October 2011 at 03:01 AM

Dear Prof Dawkins,

I'm not 100% sure why I feel compelled to send this message, but..

I am a convert which is to say I have finally admitted, to myself, that religion is a lie wrapped up in a fairytale masquerading as the 'one true way', which, it clearly isn't.

I'm not sure whether it matters to tell my little story. But anyway...
Buckle your seatbelt....

About two years ago after a lengthy and somewhat imprecise diagnosis I came away from a meeting with my doctor with a certain feeling that everything would not be the same.
I had been diagnosed as having MS and suddenly I had changed from the 'boy who was never ill' to one who consumes 7 pills daily and injects medicine every other day.

I mention this as it sometimes requires events like these to focus ones mind I think.

Some symptoms and plenty side-effects later and I was considering my life. I had just started my phd and had split from my girlfriend. So everything was 'new' and perhaps I was a little unsettled. Port and whiskey to the rescue! But once I had staggered through all this I read The God Delusion. I was a Christian, confirmed no less (at 14!) but I never truly believed. I think I liked the 'face' of Christianity.
I had been one to pick and choose verse and chapter and so was my vicar, but now I resolved to read from start to finish The Old and New Testament.
Wow.
Your book Professor Dawkins was the catalyst but the final nail was driven in to Religion's coffin by doing this simple task.

I will be grateful to you for starting this....well I was going to type journey, but its my life really. I feel as though you have helped lift the fog from my eyes that I now have clarity and focus to my life. I now focus on the here and now and I don't have a lazy eye on the 'afterlife'.

Having watched hours of videos of you, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris on YouTube I have been: impressed by your collective logic; clarity; humour; eruditeness; fair-mindedness and all round awesomeness! The four of you are four men to aspire to. Four men to admire and appreciate for your work.

My phd is concerned with energy in two departments at The University of Sheffield, Mechanical Engineering and Psychology. I enjoy it immensely particularly as I know now, that this is it. That there is no one watching me and tallying all my good deeds and bad ones.
That this moment, this very second, is the only reality and I should savour it. But that the unknown future should also be protected. This, to me, means protecting our environment and educating my future children (I'd better start thinking of my 'future' children by finding their 'future' mum!).
By all of this I mean to say that we have a great many problems that religion persistently fails to solve and we need to start working earnestly to solve them. We should unshackle ourselves from it as it is dead weight.
Religion persistently fails to deliver because it is a myth and quite often a particularly vicious and despicable one. Daily the news brings horrors from around the world of the latest appalling act, enacted in the name of 'Religion'.

I want to thank you for helping me personally in that process. You and messieurs Hitchens, Dennet and Harris have really accelerated and enriched that action.

I don't know if this will ever get to you, and although I do hope you read it its not that important if you don't. Not really.
If this does get to you and you remember it and if you could mention it to any/all of the other three when the news of Religious atrocities seem too much then that would mean very much to me as there is no other way, that I know of, that I can get to say thank you.

I know there are those who do not want you to continue raising the consciousness of people.
I hope that you continue to do so. It has meant a great deal to me. I am convinced that it will for a great many other people too.

A very sincere, thank you,

James Williams

Permalink - Posted Friday, 07 October 2011 at 03:00 AM

A thank you from a biology student

Dear Richard Dawkins,

Religion was never apart of my life in a major way growing up. I was lucky that although my mother was raised in a strong Catholic family, she never forced it on us in any meaningful way even though she still has her own personal faith and it must have caused grief with her family. We didn't go to church and my only memory was her taking me to start Sunday school , but for some reason I got upset while there, so she took me home and I never went back. The other instance I remember is that when I was eight , I told my friend that I had never had my first communion and she told me I was going to hell. This scared and shamed me for several years and I kept it a secret from my friends. It continued that way until one day in my late teens when my brother asked me if I believed in God. At that point my only answer was that I did not really think so but I would like to, so by that point I was a agnostic. It was the beginning of a turning point in my life I will never forget. My brother asked me this question because he had recently watched some of your videos on Youtube, as well as Hitchens, and had read The God Delusion. I then watched some of your documentaries on religion and it got me thinking about the role of religion in world and my life.

But I must say that I kinda let it go for a year or so. I know that some people say it was The God Delusion which have swayed them from religion but it was actually your books on evolution that did this for me. I was not heavily into science growing up, I was more of an art student and started my BSC because I thought it could be more useful than a BA. I read The Ancestors Tale after my brother gave it to me as a gift. I read this before the God Delusion because I was at the time a first year biology undergraduate and this appealed to me more. It was reading this book , and your other books on evolution, that really brought me to atheism and also began my interest in reading science books and writings outside of the classroom. It really opened my eyes that books on science can be easy to read and has lead me to read a wide variety of books on biology, earth science and cosmology. I say this because although my studies at school did impact me , the courses on evolution were not satisfactory in my first two years of study and they did not fully install in me the wonder and fascination that science could hold for me. That started with reading your books and has taken on a life of its own since then.

What prompted me to write this letter now, is that I recently lost my grandfather and it was a different grieving process for me. When my grandmother died in my teens, I still believed in God, mostly, and took comfort in the fact that I would see her again and that she might be watching over me. But now although knowing that I will not see him again has been difficult, I am happy to say that I am fine with it as I feared I would want that false belief back.

So I would like to thank you for not only for the God delusion and speaking on Atheism in your lectures and documentaries, which lead my brother to ask me that first question . More importantly for me personally, I thank you for writing those books on evolution so I could open my eyes to the world of science and the need for evidence and reason . For it was this that truly lead me to be an atheist. I hope someday that I could meet you in person to thank you, but if that never happens this letter will have to suffice.

Thank you,
Meg H

PS, I know that rather long winded and I apologize for that, but there was just so much to say but at the same time still much left unsaid.

Permalink - Posted Friday, 07 October 2011 at 02:55 AM

Hello.

Gerry Maloney

My deconversion from a roman catholic to an atheist was gradual and had many separate threads running through it. First, I started to doubt my religion when I was an altar boy who assisted the priest at services, and culminated when I was a student in university studying for a liberal arts degree and taking biology to relieve the boredom. My atheism grew from then on as I read more about evolution and several books about religion over the years from university until sometime later (I will speculate about ten years). I gradually realized I was an atheist after a few people asked me what my religion was. There were several incidents of what one might call spiritual trauma during my growing years, from a sexual incident with a priest when I was an altar boy, and reactions to my parent’s ultra-catholic home (we prayed every day) to the punitive atmosphere of a catholic grade school and a catholic boarding school where physical discipline was what today would be classed as not just immoral, but illegal.

These “traumatic” happenings may have contributed to my rejection of catholicism, but I really do think my conversion was from a “believer”, to someone who did not let “belief” enter into too many of the serious problems of life. The serious questions of life were considered from a rational, scientific viewpoint with no room for any belief-based explanation. It seemed to be a “bridge too far” to place my trust in something that was not as definable as religious belief is, and even though there were many shortcomings in looking for answers in human rational and scientific methods, it was far better than placing any trust in any belief. Putting trust in a belief system is to me, a crap out, or as the hippies would have said, a cop out. To give up on thinking is like giving up on finding a good mate – you get what you wish for.

My experiences as an altar boy have left indelible scars on my mind – I still wrangle with my mind over the question of how or why was it me he picked on. As a catholic you are led to believe that you are a bad person, full of sin, and when a priest sexually attacks a young boy he really does a job on cementing that feeling in the young boy. I have been told I should forgive him his transgression. But I know I would not. Even if he were here today (he is dead) I would want some revenge. I don’t dwell on what form this revenge would take, but there was a time when I was younger, and I thought of many ways of making him suffer as much as he made me hurt.

I gradually became a non-believer as I matured and saw the discrepancies inherent in all systems of belief. For those who ask what is wrong with religion, I would respond by stating that the more a religion (substitute belief system) asks you to believe, the more it is inversely proportional to the accuracy of the belief system. In other words, the more they ask you to believe, the less truth they have in their system. The human mind may have many weaknesses but it has the capability to deal with ethical considerations much better than any religion. A quick look at history will reveal that. The Inquisition didn’t form outside of religion and many of our natural concepts (like sex) have been debased by religious belief. It’s time to start anew, as some religious fundamentalists would say, but I don’t think they have any clue how to do that, though they claim the only way is through a return to faith-based living. Such trash!

Permalink - Posted Monday, 12 September 2011 at 06:05 PM

Dear Prof. Dawkins

I realise that you are a celebrity by anyone's standards and that a letter from a random person might not be very important. Regardless, I'd very much like to take the time to tell you a little something about myself. For most of my school years I went to a Christian school. In this school they tought a very strong, charismatic kind of Christian philosophy. These are the very infamous ACE schools of which you no doubt have heard of.

Needless to say I was essentially brainwashed into believing a certain set of principles which were based on the beliefs of other people, particularly those who were in charge of administrating the schools systems. I had no sense of self-awareness in the sence that I could figure these things out for myself. I was literally force fed with Christian fairytales and unicorns.

You can't even begin to imagine what an impact you have had on my life. I have become able to question things openly, argue against scientifically impossible claims made in the Bible and think for myself in an educational, investigative and scientific manner. In a sense, the things that I have seen of you on YouTube have set me free. I find it hard to explain it in a way that is not resembling ass-kissing, but the fact of the matter is that you have changed my outlook of life and bieliefs for the rest of my life - for the better.

I believe I am a better man now that I am able to see things your way. My biggest dream now is to know half as much as you, even though it'd be too much for my brain. Thank you dear professor for not giving in to the preconceptions set by a Christian society and speaking out the truth about the fallacy that is Christianity, or any religion for that matter. I believe you are making the world a better place, but I have a suspicion that you already know that.

Your most eager student,
Andrew Steyn (25)
South Africa

Permalink - Posted Monday, 12 September 2011 at 05:58 PM

I owe the four horseman of new atheism and Dr. Dawkins and Carl Sagan especially for the sanity and happiness I now have. This was a post I made on my facebook to come out to my family. for some background I grew up in a young earth creationist, protestant fundamentalist home. I was teaching and preaching in the Church of Christ since age 10 after my baptism. Now I am a zealous anti-theist :)

Part I: Overcoming Fear

Well, if I really think about it I think it was after I reasoned there was no Santa and all the other childhood lore. For a brief second I thought what if its 'all' a lie. Then the fear got the better of me. That deep fear that you get deep inside that you cannot ever think that or you will be punished in hell forever a literal endless torture. Now that kind of mental torture forced on fundamentalist children sickens me. Well for many years I held the faith. Though my physical handicap the death of my father, my mother, my grandparents, my twin sister who died a month old. I thought god had a plan. Three years ago I really started paying attention to physics, cosmology, and evolution. I began to watch videos from all the "four horseman" , the only book I have bought though is the God Delusion. I think an atheist call to arms Dr. Dawkins old TEDtalk was also very influential. I started to see the real harm and separation that it causes. Then my wife got pregnant I was still regularly attending church the fear still held me as a 28 year old man. I was afraid of a celestial abusive father. My wife had a late term miscarriage and my whole world was crushed. See the death the name of god causes throughout the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish world. Millions have died in Africa due to aids largely because of the churches denial of condoms and proper use of the devices. I was slowly overcoming the fear of a celestial dictator. I started to really read the bible in the context of human suffering. The bible justifies a diminished role for women, bigotry of races, homosexuals and slavery. Some of these, mainstream religion has evolved beyond. Its core is still flawed though. There is no place for absolute morality that causes human suffering. As we learn more about suffering and what causes it our moral landscape should shift to end it. Many of you are parents and love your children would you ever doom them to eternal suffering? Well god would, what kind of father is that? We call killers evil. There is no scientific evidence for a creator, only faith (belief without evidence), feeling, and fear. Adam and Eve in the first story where punished for gaining knowledge. Its just a system of control dreamed up by bronze age philosophers and rulers to control a primitive society that had not started to work out its social morality. It was a good start but we have evolved past it. Man made god not the other way around.

Part II: The Good

Shortly after my loss of faith I became distraught. I finally let the last veil fall but with it the meaning of what life is and what its purpose was. I was raised to be a servant to the lord to put myself second. I was taught this physical life did not matter. That we were just a vehicle for an immortal soul that has to prove its worth to a invisible omnipotent creator. I no longer believed this. I now believed in rationality, evidence, and logic. I accepted the evidence for the fact of evolution. I know that we are but a small planet in a vast cosmos of billions of world. My wife and I where emotional wrecks. I was searching for meaning.

On September 15, 2009 it came to me. My daughter Madison was born. I then new my purpose and what I believe to be the purpose of all mankind. To build a better life for our future generations. We should strive to make a better life for our daughters. Holding my child in my arms I knew that I had to make a better life for her than I had for myself. Humanity now holds the paintbrush to paint the portrait of it its future. We must seize the opportunity and act before our sloth or wrath cause our annihilation. This is the only life we have evidence of having. We should not waste it on following ancient rules that cause obvious harm.

I also found true wonder and awe. We share 99% of our DNA with all other life on this planet. It is amazing to me to think that evolution guided by the process of natural selection in which adaptations are passed down cumulatively though replication has produced what it has. You can chose to deny evolution, but it is the single most tested scientific theory and it has withstood every test. There is also no other scientific theory to rival it for the explanation of life and how we observe it. Things that we will be every incapable of observing are inconsequential and do not deserve consideration. On a atomic level we are made of star stuff. The stars are the engines of the cosmos whose supernovas caused carbon and the other stuff of life to be created. To me this is truly wondrous and deserves appreciation. For billions of years you did not exist now that you do, do not waste THIS life.

Mine is not an empty existence. I fell love, I see beauty, and I feel compassion. We as a race have the ability to end suffering. Why should we not? I feel deeper emotion now than ever did before because I have found a real connection. Not one based on fear and obedience, but love, compassion and reality. So I plead that we abandon all division and do good for goodness sake.

Thank you,

Ryan Adams

Permalink - Posted Monday, 12 September 2011 at 05:56 PM

Dear Dr. Dawkins:

I was never one of the fundamentalist Christians that I have come to despise in the United States, but I did attend a Catholic school for my elementary and high school education. I was a believer in God, even though I had many questions that were never fully answered by the people who were supposed to be experts in biblical theology. I always assumed that God would one day show me the answers to these questions that I had. As time passed and I started college, I put religion in the back of my mind and never went to church.

It wasn’t until the Muhammad controversy reappeared in “South Park” last year that I became critical of Islam. While surfing YouTube, in the weeks after the whole controversy began, I started finding videos of you and others such as Christopher Hitchens being as critical of Christianity as I was of Islam. I was initially turned off by these videos, thinking (and I sincerely apologize for this) that you were just one of those “angry atheists” who was just pissed off at the world. Over time, I was more and more curious of the things you had to say and I began listening to the arguments you presented. The more I listened, the more it became apparent that I had no idea about what I believed. After realizing that religion made no sense to my logical brain, I rejected religion earlier this year.

It wasn’t until this May that I fully became an atheist, and since then my life has become so much better. I wear my scarlet A pendant and “We are all Africans” tee shirt with pride. I look into the wonders of nature and of life and I think of the processes that lead to this point in time. I think about how the cosmos came about and how lucky I am to be in this world in this point in time where information flows at the speed of imagination. However I also see the dangers that religion released on the people of this planet. I truly believe that my generation has the ability to do something incredible; world peace is possible if we want it and work for it. With the internet and social media changing how we view the world, there is no more reason to succumb to superstitious fears and ideological intolerances.

Next summer I will get my degree in Geology from the University of Oklahoma, and listening to you thrash the claims of creationists has helped me realize how important my field is to science. I hope to peruse a career in my field that will be fulfilling to me as well as promoting scientific literacy and education to children here in the US and around the world. Your work, as well as the work of other great intellectuals such as Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Christopher Hitchens, has been an inspiration to me to become the best person I can be since this is the only life I know I will have.

Thank you so much Professor Dawkins, you and others like have changed my life forever, please continue to do what you do, I am an example that it does work. Religion poisons the mind. Logic must prevail. I would like to conclude with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Sagan, talking about how the human brain evolved:

“No longer at the mercy of the reptile brain, we can change ourselves. Think of the possibilities…”

Sincerely,

Jacob from Oklahoma

PS: Please come back to OU, I missed your talk in 2009 when you came to Norman. Thanks

Permalink - Posted Monday, 12 September 2011 at 05:50 PM