Diary of a Teenage Atheist

*taps microphone* October 4, 2023

check, 1, 2…is this thing on?

hi everyone! it’s been a while.

For any teen atheists who want to be on TV March 14, 2013

Someone contacted me hoping to find young atheists who might be interested in being part of a new series. I’m not particularly interested in having my mug on TV, but I would love to have some great personalities represent atheism on the show, so I offered to repost his email on my blog:

My name is Jack Marash, I am a casting producer for a great new show called Black Sheep. It’s a show about the black sheep of families. We are looking for men and women between the ages of 16 and 24 who are the black sheep of their families. We would love to have a story about some someone who comes from a religious background but now have different beliefs. I was wondering if you might have any readers who have this background, who would be interested in talking to me about the show.

If you’re interested, email JackM@vpetalent.com with a bit about yourself and your story.

It gets better November 1, 2010

A friend linked me to this. I was a sobbing mess within the first minute.

I sometimes wonder why I feel such a strong kinship to the LGBT community, and I think it’s because I’ve been through the same thing that many of them have. So I watched this video and I cried, because, as a (very awesome) friend put it:

they are all smiling and happy and you can tell they fucking FEEL this shit, that every single one of these guys knows what it is like to feel like every day, every second, is a struggle against a rising tide of people who hate you just for existing, and that now they are taking all the strength they’ve gained as happy, out grownups and are SHOOTING it through that song and through the camera to all the kids who need it.

So, to all of the teenage atheists out there who found my blog by having to google “teenage atheist” to figure out what the fuck to do, and to anyone who’s ever been made to feel worthless by their own parents: it gets better. As a now-20-year-old atheist who was shunned by her family, seen by her parents as a walking disappointment, and eventually kicked out and disowned, someone who still has to deal with comments and letters ranging from backhanded to downright hateful from Christians who spam my blog, I can tell you with all my heart that it gets better. It’s not easy, and it might take a long time, but you have to know that it gets better. I’m still in repair, tending the psychological damage incurred by living with a hateful, dysfunctional family like mine, but the day I was free of them was the day my life took a turn for the better. I found people who were more like family to me than my parents ever were, and I got to experience so much kindness from so many friends. Relatives, too: one of the places I lived in after getting kicked out was my (devout Catholic) grandmother’s house, and even knowing I was an atheist, she took me in and cared for me, no questions asked, no conditions. She saw me as a human being, not just a single label, or a parent’s ambition I failed to achieve. I finally got to know real love, real family. Away from the toxic environment of my former home, I was kept afloat by wonderful people who made me feel worthy, capable, beautiful, and loved.

I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you to keep living, but I do hope you also remember to keep smiling. There will probably always be people out there trying to break you down, tell you that you’re wrong or evil or a failure, but don’t ever let anyone make you feel like less of a person. Some people will be utterly wrong about you, but some people will see you for who you really are. Be a good, kind person to the best of your ability, and good things will come to you.

I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. October 27, 2010

UPDATE #1: I got my domain back! Many thanks to Kurtis for the pleasant surprise:

So I stumbled upon your blog, really liked what I saw, read that you had drama with the domain name owner, bought it, and forwarded it here. It should work again in a matter of seconds.

I am an atheist in my mid twenties, and really wish that I would have had a fall back like this when I went through my exit from the christian church. I think that this blog is a very important and had no problem fronting the cost for the domain name to keep traffic coming your way.

UPDATE #2: The (Erstwhile?) Teen Atheist is officially living in America now! East Coast. “I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien…”

Shit’s expensive, I feel shorter and smaller (I was downright Amazonian in my old country), and men are way more straightforward. I got carded for chocolate once. I dated a tall hot blond guy from the Pentagon for, like, a week, until an afternoon in Washington DC with him turned into a live reenactment of He’s Just Not That Into You — men, dude, they’re so unpredictable, maybe it was his time of the month. I can’t get a job until my SSN and green card come in the mail. I hope I do not turn into a hipster. AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!

I am Jane Doe, and I am an atheist August 29, 2008

Holy Prepuce forwarded me this plea by Craig A. James (The Religion Virus), for all internet atheists to “come out” and post their real identities.

My decision was due to a comment from my book agent, who asked, “What are you afraid of?” I had no good answer to that question. There was just a vague, unsupported fear of persecution and harassment from the religious extremist. […] Oppression is a state of mind, and it takes both an oppressor and a cooperative victim for a human to be truly oppressed. Don’t be a victim, be a courageous atheist.

Of all of my readers, dozens know what country I’m located in.

Six know my real name.

Four know what I look like.

Three went to the same high school as me.

I have no intentions of increasing any of those numbers. And I still think I’m a courageous atheist.

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