Candide

facesofatheists:

I’m Donald Iain. This is me and my lovely girlfriend.
I’m from a tiny little island called Eriskay at the edge of nowhere (i.e. Scotland). It’s officially the most Catholic place in Britain, but I grew out of the Church after reading His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.
I believe that because there is so little evidence for God we must, as we do for unicorns, dragons and flying teapots, simply assume he doesn’t exist. I also believe that neuroscience can account for human’s sense of morality as an evolved instinct.
I’m a fluent speaker of Scottish Gaelic and a wannabe bard.
This year I’m off to Oxford University to read Neuroscience. I want to become a working scientist when I graduate, but I also love to write so I want to write good pop science books (and maybe history books) too.
I blog on Neuroscience, moral philosophy, atheism, language and linguistics, evolutionary psychology, evolutionary theory, Gaelic, history, bioanthropology, His Dark Materials, Mortal Engines and steampunk.
I’m happy to answer questions on any of those topics - I always make the effort to provide a nice long answer
Donald, thank you for your submission and all of the awesome work you are doing! Cheers to you and your lady friend.

Faces of Atheism is a project to challenge perceptions. It’s about showing that atheist are people too with loves, hopes and fears - and morals too. In the USA atheists (along with rapists) are the most distrusted people in the country. In Britain we don’t have to do deal with anything like that, but it’s still worth following the link below as there are some really interesting people on the blog. And hey, we have to show solidarity! You can submit a photo of yourself with a few words explaining your atheism at:
http://facesofatheists.tumblr.com/

I’m Donald Iain. This is me and my lovely girlfriend.

I’m from a tiny little island called Eriskay at the edge of nowhere (i.e. Scotland). It’s officially the most Catholic place in Britain, but I grew out of the Church after reading His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.

I believe that because there is so little evidence for God we must, as we do for unicorns, dragons and flying teapots, simply assume he doesn’t exist. I also believe that neuroscience can account for human’s sense of morality as an evolved instinct.

I’m a fluent speaker of Scottish Gaelic and a wannabe bard.

This year I’m off to Oxford University to read Neuroscience. I want to become a working scientist when I graduate, but I also love to write so I want to write good pop science books (and maybe history books) too.

I blog on Neuroscience, moral philosophy, atheism, language and linguistics, evolutionary psychology, evolutionary theory, Gaelic, history, bioanthropology, His Dark Materials, Mortal Engines and steampunk.

I’m happy to answer questions on any of those topics - I always make the effort to provide a nice long answer

Donald, thank you for your submission and all of the awesome work you are doing! Cheers to you and your lady friend.

Faces of Atheism is a project to challenge perceptions. It’s about showing that atheist are people too with loves, hopes and fears - and morals too. In the USA atheists (along with rapists) are the most distrusted people in the country. In Britain we don’t have to do deal with anything like that, but it’s still worth following the link below as there are some really interesting people on the blog. And hey, we have to show solidarity! You can submit a photo of yourself with a few words explaining your atheism at:

http://facesofatheists.tumblr.com/

1 year ago -

7

http://facesofatheists.tumblr.com/

We are tired of the negative stigma attached to atheism. There are countless loving, genuine, compassionate atheists making positive differences in this world. We are tired of people invalidating our existence. We shouldn’t be constantly vilified for a lack of belief in god. We exist, we are human beings, we are godless, and we are full of compassion and love.

1 year ago -

1

marcescence asked: Heym, just came across your blog on the athiesm tag. I haven't read any of your posts yet, but I also think that "His Dark Materials" was a huge factor in my becoming athiest after 15 years of Catholic school. Glad to know that story has opened up other people's minds as well!

It’s a wonderful, beautiful series.

Your question has inspired me to write up how I rejected God.

Yeah, when I was a kid I loved science, especially astronomy, and geology, evolution and dinosaurs. And I remember really struggling to reconcile what I knew about the history of the world with the story of a Biblical creator. I came to the conclusion independently that it must just be metaphor and was happy to say that til age 9ish. Then I read HDM and it opened my eyes to the idea that, wow, there were people that actually criticized the Church. I was coming from a place where everyone is Catholic and goes to church every Sunday - I had never met a Protestant, or a Hindu, or a Muslim, or whatever. I didn’t really know they existed. Anyway HDM sowed the seeds of doubt in my mind and it was a philosophy book called the Philosophy Files that crystalized for me the implausibility of a personal God. I was astounded and excited about this. I thought I’d made an amazing discovery. Age ten I walked into school and during RE proceeded to explain to the teacher that the Bible wasn’t the written word of God, and that the New Testament was cobbled together in the 5th century AD. I told her there wasn’t much evidence for God. And she started crying! I mean actually, crying. She thought I was going to hell.

Then the headteacher came and started shouting at me that I was an arrogant little brat and how dare I think I was right when everyone else in the world believed in God.

My parents didn’t believe me.

Ever since that day I realized God was irrational. I was forced to go to Church still tho.

When I was sixteen I said I was done, and refused to go to mass anymore. My dad said I would go to church as long as I lived under his roof, and that I’d get kicked out if I didn’t. I was banned from everything and ignored. I live in a crazily Catholic community and not going Church is equated with evil. In the end i decided that they were all too childish to change their minds and so, I’m ashamed to say, I caved in and I still grit my teeth to go to mass to keep em happy… I don’t want to fall out with them, as I need to finish my education.

When i turn 18 I’m gonna try again to quit. I’m gonna have a talk with them before my birthday and explain why as an adult I deserve the respect to choose my own views. While I was a kid I ‘respected’ their blind faith, now I ought to get some respect too.

1 year ago -

1

Suppose that every memory, written word, and piece of technology on earth was destroyed all at once, leaving humanity to start completely from scratch. Everything we have come to know about science would eventually be discovered again. Given a few thousand years, people would figure out chemistry, and rediscover all of the same elements we know about now. people would once again understand biology, including its evolutionary origins. People would eventually see the motions of other galaxies in the sky, and work out the details of the big bang. This is the glorious part about science, it can and would all be replicated. I can assure you, however, that your story about a talking snake would be gone forever.

Unknown

1 year ago -

5

Debates are a very bad way at getting at the truth, I much prefer intellectual discussion like this…

1 year ago