Hello, internet.

This is my first blog post.

I’ve decided to start a blog to write about my transition from being a Christian to being a Secular Humanist and Atheist. Christianity has been a big part of my life for a long time, and in some ways it still is part of my life. I come from a very liberal brand of Christianity. The church that my family was a part of was not fundamentalist, hateful or sexist. In fact, it took pride in its liberalism and modernity.

Our church had a tradition that before becoming baptized (as an adult) the baptizee would share their faith story. The idea was to speak about how you decided to make a mature commitment to Jesus Christ. It was a way of telling the congregation more about yourself and your faith perspective. It was also a way of publicly declaring your intentions to be a Christian.

This blog is the opposite of that. This is the end of my faith story. And while I’m not sharing it in a church I still want to share it publicly, and with the people that are important to me. Hence this blog. In the next few blog posts I will share the story of how and why I left my faith. I’ll also talk about experiences of being non-religious, and discuss religion, secularism and ethics.

I also have some thoughts on what this blog will not be. This blog will not be a tirade against fundamentalism or the religious right. There are two reasons for this: (1) If you want to read about the evils of evangelical conservatism in America then there are more than enough other people talking about these important issues. And: (2) That’s not my story. I live in Canada. My former church family is not conservative or evangelical. Discussing moderate religion makes for a discussion that is more interesting and more relevant to me and the people that I know.

Since I was a Christian for many years, and participated actively in church life, I assume that many people that know me assume that I’m a Christian. There is no standard procedure for leaving a religion, but I think that it’s important for me to make some effort to communicate this to other people. Being misidentified as something that you’re not is an uncomfortable feeling, and more so when it’s by friends and family. Because I previously actively identified myself as Christian, it’s completely understandable that others still see me that way. So for now I’ll try writing this blog and bringing it to the attention of some people that I know well.

I have already told some people in person that I’ve left Christianity. I would summarize people’s responses as: sad, confused, supportive and indifferent. I care about what other people think of my story and I always like talking about ethics, secularism and religion in society. I invite you to respond to the content of this blog by leaving a comment here, sending me an email or in any other way that you like. And for those who are indifferent (if any of you are still reading this), I recommend checking out XKCD or Sporcle as alternative internet pastimes.

Thanks for reading.

Clark Decker

clarkrdecker@gmail.com