Sexuality and Religion Series - God, Atheism and Me -- by Sam P

I sit in silence, and think back to before. Before I became a free man. Free from the shackles of religion – having to cope with the stress and self bullying caused by anachronous religious dogma.

I found so much beauty and peace with my escape and its thanks to three things: Science, Reason and Prof. Richard Dawkins.

The reason I was trapped is still a bit unclear, a lot of it is based in fear. Fear of denying God Exists, Fear of the what if, fear of fire and brimstone, fear of disappointing my Christian parents. I would spend some nights in an appalling wretched mental wrestling match between following God and letting go.

There are two main reasons (amongst countless others) why I wanted to let go. One was because I am gay – as you may be aware religion of most kinds and homosexuality don’t mix. I was torn between God and wanting to be myself.

Another reason is because I felt I couldn’t read any other literature which I loved apart from christian books and of course the bible. My main love in life to relax and to learn is to read.
As you can see both these things were crippling to me. But along came a book…

The book being the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I was lent a copy by my Aunty (to whom I am eternally grateful for not just this but for all that she has taught me, such as the importance of learning and reading, the beauty of poetry amongst a lot of other things). I read it, and it gave me a burst of life, what I read freed me. It made me brave enough to take a step back and question.

Richard Dawkins’ site would be of some use if you felt like me.

So I was on my journey to a happy godless existence! Next I had to reinforce my discovery of science. And turned to a few other books by Richard Dawkins (Unweaving the Rainbow and Ancestors Tale were a couple of them) Here I found enjoyment and discovery of the facts of life so to speak. The beauty of certain scientific facts astounded me amongst a lot of others I have sifted through thanks to Wikipedia! I am liberated and this frees me I kept saying to myself in awe.

There isn’t going to be a big summing up of this. All I am going to say is that I want other people to become godless and then as enriched as I have. Leave the shackles in the church and discover what life has to offer!

If you are a young non-theist who wants their voice to be heard, consider submitting an article of your own to Generation Atheist. Visit our submissions page for details.