Welcome, one and all, to Daylight Atheism! This will be the official weblog and annex of my other website, Ebon Musings, and will contain discussion threads for the articles posted there as well as original essays and writings.
In this inaugural post, it seems fitting to explain what led to the creation of this site. For the longest time I resisted the temptation to create a weblog, fearing it would demand of me a degree of productivity I did not think myself able to supply. However, there were three factors that ultimately persuaded me to change my mind. The first one was the steady accumulation of subjects that I wanted to comment on, but that were either too topical or too brief to merit a full-length essay on Ebon Musings.
The second factor, more important, has to do with the climate in which we live. Over the past several years, I have observed to my dismay the forces of militant religious fundamentalism gaining in strength, both in my home country, the United States of America, and worldwide. This ominous development, driven by those who are dedicated enemies of all the progress and enlightenment that has been achieved over the past several centuries, threatens the liberty and happiness of all people everywhere. As a result, I have been compelled to grow more involved in political causes to help oppose it, and to defend the human rights that once more need defending. This process of awakening led to my writing the essay “Unapologetic“, but did not stop there. We need as many voices as possible calling attention to the evil of the religious right and shining the light of scrutiny on their true goals. Only by doing so can we hope to stop them, and I hope to play some small part in that.
The final motivating factor is the fact that there are not nearly as many good atheist weblogs as there should be. There are many blogs written by atheists, but relatively few that are about atheism, relatively few that are well-written and address the subject frequently and knowledgeably. Granted, there are some, and I read most of these regularly; but the Internet is a wonderful invention – a truly global and democratic forum for speech where we can support each other, exchange our ideas, disseminate our message and organize for activism – and we atheists need as strong a presence on it as possible, paralleling the need for a strong atheist voice in public discourse generally. Considering our numbers, there are not nearly as many of us speaking out as there should be, and I intend to do what I can to counteract that trend. I neither expect nor desire to become an atheist leader in any sense, but I hope to contribute to a groundswell of freethought which I already see emerging, and perhaps even to reach a few individuals who have begun to question their religious beliefs but have not yet heard a message that would give them the courage to walk away.
Now more than ever, as the power of the religious right waxes and grows, society needs our presence, needs our message. We need to present the strong, clear light of atheism as a positive and desirable alternative to the murky darkness of religious intolerance and superstition. I know that there are many people of conscience who would be our allies if they understood who we truly are and what we want; I know, furthermore, that there are many others who are struggling with doubt, unaware that there are others who feel the same way as they do and that they are not alone. As with Ebon Musings, if I can reach and speak to even one person (a goal I can happily say I have achieved many times over with my other site), I will be well-satisfied.
For the present, I will continue to write new articles for Ebon Musings, and I will update this site as time permits. I will aim for an initial update schedule of at least twice per week, more often as I become accustomed to writing for this weblog, less often as other obligations take me away.