Asked
Questions
Q: Who are you?
A: I'm a male atheist, and I reside near Meridian Mississippi. I was born December 27, 1983. My hobbies include anything automotive, paranormal investigation, old movies, debate, and collecting rare music.
Q: What's the story behind your old school? Is it actually a public school?
A: Enterprise High School. It's a small school (around 300 students enrolled) in a tiny town...maybe villiage is a better word...several miles outside of Meridian. And yes, it's a Mississippi public school.
Q: Where do we go when we die?
A: I'd say this is the most frequently asked of my frequently asked questions...and it's very hard to explain. One of the things that confounds religious types the most about atheism is it's complete lack of organization...indeed, the answer to this question might vary a bit from one atheist to another. Some atheists might believe in a sort of afterlife. However, generally atheists are people of no faith, and the vast majority of atheists do not believe in an afterlife. Personally, I think we go in a box six feet under ground. This may sound somewhat disturbing to some people (it did to me at first), but I've gotten quite used to it. If nothing else, it makes me place more value on human life...I believe that this is the only life that we'll get to live. Besides, would you really want to exist anywhere for an eternity?
On a side note, some have asked me before why I'm interested in the paranormal and such if I don't believe people have souls. To them, that's the only explanation for ghosts...I am very open minded about ghosts (I think I saw one once), but I believe that, if it's real, it's a natural phenomena that we don't yet know the explaination to.
Q: Do you really need evidence for God? Only a true fool needs evidence...
A: Nice attempt at sounding wise, isn't it? But think about it this way...if I told you that an invisible cat made of green cheese was sleeping peacefully at your feet as you read this, you wouldn't believe me. Why? There's no evidence...you can't see it, you can't taste it, touch it, smell it, or hear it. You can't use any of your senses to indicate the existence of that cat, so you don't believe it. So why should I believe in a god that I can't experience firsthand?
Q: You just have to have faith that He's there...
A: You just have to have faith that the invisible cat of green cheese is there...
Q: Think about this...doesn't God have to exist for you to make the relation that he doesn't?
A: All I'll say about using this argument is that Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny must all exist...
Q: Wouldn't you rather believe in God and find out He's not there, than not believe in him and find out He is?
A: This argument is widely known as Pascal's Wager. The answer to it is simple enough: What about other gods? The Judeo-Christian god obviously doesn't like people to worship gods other than him, so he'll send those people to Hell. But what about other gods? What if one of the those other gods is real, and he doesn't like people worshipping the Judeo-Christian god, so he sends those people to hell, or whatever his particular place of torture may be? And he doesn't like me not worshipping one at all, so he sends me there too? In short, you take a chance no matter what you believe in.
Q: Have you read the Bible?
A: Twice.
Q: Don't you know that the Bible is the inerrant word of God?
A: It most certainly is not inerrant. Check out my article on this subject.
Q: I'll pray for you.
A: Oh will you? What are you going to say...."Lord, please show skidmark the light."? Even if you were going to do it, why tell me? Perhaps because you're a condescending schmuk...I mean, this is little more than a way of saying "I'm right, you're wrong, you're going to Hell, nyah, nyah!" In other words, it's a sort of Christian comeback, and it's hard to accuse somewhat of that without nearby people gasping because you've attacked them due to their "kind" gesture. Pray for me all you want, but you have absolutely no reason to tell me you're going to do it.
Q: How do your parents feel about all this?
A: My parents have always held no opinion of what I believe. My mother is an agnostic, my father (when asked) says he's a Southern Baptist, but he's not a churchgoer. He's not the type you discuss religion with, anyway. My parents say that my beliefs are mine to have, and I guess I'm pretty lucky in that respect.
Q: When did you become an atheist?
A: About 3 months before my 16th birthday. I spent most of the first part of my life as a Christian, then at about 12 or 13 became a deist. When I was 15, I became an agnostic, then made the trasition to atheism about three months after that. After six months of atheism, I decided to start this site, on March 30, 2000.
Q: What's with your name? That's gross.
A: I've had to explain this one a couple of times. People, my name does not refer to a shit stain in underwear. My name refers to the trail of rubber a car leaves when it skids. Unless you're brain damaged or haven't read any of my site, you've probably noticed I'm an automotive enthusiast. If I wanted to call myself shit stain, I'd be shitstain_84, but I don't so I'm not. And in case you're wondering what the "84" stands for, it's the model year of the Camaro I drove in high school, not the year of my birth (see the top - I was born in '83).
Q: Does this site have some "higher agenda"? Are you trying to spread atheism?
A: Not really. My site is by an atheist and is for other atheists. It's a resource for anyone who has considered that they might be an atheist or maybe they already know they are but are having trouble in an oppresive community like mine. I know that my site will not change anyone's mind, but theists are more than welcome here if they want to find out more about this perspective.
Q: Where in the world do you get your clipart? The "Mentos Jesus" in your Jesus article is a hoot! But some of it seems really out of place. And is that "mefreak" clipart in your Rants section you?
A: I deliberately choose out-of-place clipart for the site, mainly because it's awfully hard to find clipart depicting atheists. :) That's why you see strange things like a picture of Beavis in an article on school prayer. Sometimes, though, if I can find something fitting, I use it. As for where it comes from, I get it mostly from free clipart sites, and most of the ones on this site have been saved to my hard drive for as long as I can remember. Both the "Mentos Jesus" and "mefreak" cliparts were obtained from free internet sources. So needless to say, the "mefreak" isn't me.