Lots of things have kept me from blogging lately. I mentioned all the reasons already, save for one: I haven't really felt like blogging about atheism lately. Now, I've said on a few occasions that Dead-Logic isn't an "atheist blog" per se. I wasn't an atheist (i.e., I didn't use that label) when I started this blog. Long-time readers of mine know that my blog turned into an outlet for me to come to terms with who I am and what I believe. Dead-Logic is the online record of my philosophical journey for the past three and a half years. As such, I have an emotional attachment to this blog.
I thought about shutting it down. After all, if I'm not writing primarily about issues related to atheism/freethought/skepticism, then people won't want to read my work, considering that most of them started following me because I wrote about those very subjects.
But, as I said, I've grown attached to his blog. Even if it turned into a blog about affordable healthy recipes for active adults or a blog addressing how to find jeans that best compliment your butt, it would still be the record of my journey - my exodus from faith and my salvation via freethought and science. It would still be me, living life as a non-believer.
Maybe there's a place for that. Atheists are people who live and have hopes and aspirations and interests like everyone else. I think theists tend to miss that fact - or choose to ignore it. I've heard many Christians for example either imply or state outright that atheists "believe in nothing," as though there were a void in that part of our paradigm where values, principles, ideals, hopes and dreams should be.
The truth - as mind-blowing as it may be to some of those believers - is that I (along with many many others like me) am an atheist *because* I have values, principles, ideals, hopes, and dreams. Would I take such a stand, and risk discrimination and possible rejection by friends and family if the center of my belief system was a big fat void?
I'm not a martyr, or a saint, or a hero, or a sage, or a leader. I'm just a guy. But I'm a fighter. I have wrestled long with what to believe, and I wrestle still. I have battled the demon called depression for years, and I battle still. I have journeyed far and wide to find the proper meaning of my life, and that journey continues.
That's what my blog is. That's what my blog will continue to be.
Next week: my new diet and fitness plan (no, seriously).
