Mississippi Atheists

Mississippi Atheists is Now on Facebook

2010-12-14T07:28:00.001-06:00

Although it has been suggested to me several times, I have held off on creating a Facebook page for Mississippi Atheists for one simple reason: I did not think there were enough people in our state who were "out" about their atheism for such a page to be worthwhile. You see, when someone "likes" a page on Facebook, this action is broadcast to all their Facebook friends. How many Mississippi atheists would be interested in that?

Of course, I finally realized that there was only one way to find out. I figured it was high time we have our own Facebook page, so we now have one. If you are one of the rare sorts of atheists who is "out" about your atheism, feel free to "like" us. And who knows, maybe the simple presence of a Facebook page will help us connect with other atheists in our state.

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Planning to Stick Around

2010-10-09T07:06:00.001-05:00

It wasn't too long ago that I posted some thoughts about the future of this blog and whether there would be one. Since then, the amount of time I've had to post has declined. In fact, I feel like the amount of time I've had to do anything besides work has declined lately! But the thing is, I think it is important that we stick around in one form or another. So I am going to try to do that.

Even if we are minimally active in the frequency with which we post, and even if I need to prune some co-authors who haven't contributed in more than a year, I think it is worth trying to stick around. Contrary to popular belief, there are atheists in Mississippi. We don't have to be particularly active to remind people of that, and I am coming to realize that this alone is worth doing. Besides, it is just a matter of time until others with more time and energy than I have decide to promote atheism in Mississippi.

So I plan to keep this blog going a bit longer. I won't be posting nearly as often as I once did, but that is okay. We will still be here for those who need to be reminded that they are not alone, even in Mississippi.

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Introducing Our Newest Author: PK ATHEIST

2010-08-22T07:53:00.002-05:00

FROM: PKATHEIST

This is my first blog post to Ms Atheists. In my posts, I will identify myself as PK ATHEIST (as in Preacher's Kid Atheist, though the "p" also stands for professor's kid).

I have lived in Mississippi forever (most of my life since childhood) and before I lived here I visited family here all the time.

I am still in the closet. I peek out occasionally. Some friends have probably figured it out, some elsewhere know. I did try to come out to one of the Mississippi ministers in the family but he didn't believe me, thought I was teasing him, playing a bit of "devil's advocate" as my father might have done. I don't really think being out of the closet should be done without considering whether you or not you can still make a living here in this state if you come out. There is an element of that in my being in the closet. I have living relatives who don't really need to know. Knowing will not add anything to their lives. And it is true that I don't want to see their reaction. My husband observed that they'd probably prefer that I was gay to my being an atheist.

My late minister father did know. I always intended to discuss religion with him at greater length when he retired. He didn't make it. He once asked me something about my prayers. I indicated that I didn't believe in it except as a meditation. He thought I didn't need to do it then.

My quote of the day is from "The Twilight of the Idols" regarding Nietzsche. Chapter on "Maxims and Barbs"

What? Is man just one of God's mistakes? Or is God just one of man's? --

--PKATHEIST in South Mississippi

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How to Use Mississippi Atheists

2010-08-09T05:47:00.001-05:00

Most of the comments left in response to my recent post, Time to Reevaluate This Blog, were positive and supported maintaining it. The private emails I received were a bit more mixed. One person recommended killing the blog and said that he did not understand why he was receiving posts via email. Another said he'd find the blog more valuable if it allowed comments.

For those of us immersed in blogging, it is easy to forget that not everyone understands what a blog is and how it works. It sounds like a brief "how-to" guide is needed while we decide what to do with the blog.

Why Am I Receiving Email From Mississippi Atheists?

If you are receiving email from Mississippi Atheists, it is because you signed up for them. You went to the blog, clicked on "subscribe via email," provided your email address, and then responded to the verification email you received about signing up.

How Do I Stop Receiving Email From Mississippi Atheists?

At the bottom of each and every email you have ever received from Mississippi Atheists, you'll see the following:

You are subscribed to email updates from Mississippi Atheists

To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now

The "unsubscribe now" text in your email will be linked to your individual unsubscribe page. Click it to stop receiving email from Mississippi Atheists.

How Do I Leave Comments?

To comment on a post, you have to visit the blog itself and either click on the title of the post on which you'd like to comment or click the "Comments" link right below each post. If you are an email subscriber, just click on the title of the post in your email and it will take you to the right place.

At the bottom of each individual post page, you will see comments left by others and a blank field for you to comment. Mississippi Atheists uses a commenting system called Intense Debate. One of the benefits of this system is that you can either reply to comments left by others or to the post itself.

What If I Want To Write a Post?

If you'd like to join as a regular contributor or simply write a guest post ever now and then, you can learn more here.

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Time to Reevaluate This Blog

2010-08-06T14:13:00.002-05:00

With readership in decline, some co-authors not posting at all in the last year, and me struggling with the cost-benefit ratio of writing posts here vs. allocating my time elsewhere, it is probably time to reevaluate this blog and what we want from it. I'm not quite ready to scrap it, but it may be time to make some changes.

I started Mississippi Atheists with the hope of providing resources and support to atheists in our state. Since I already had another blog that was taking up considerable time, I soon decided that the best way to do this one would be as a team blog. I absolutely loved the idea of having co-authors across Mississippi who could share their experiences so that the blog really would become a voice of atheism across the state.

A little more than a year ago, I wrote about our successes and failures. I pointed out that we had made it easier for people to find information about atheism in Mississippi and that I was very happy with that accomplishment. I also noted that the vision of a blog written by atheists across Mississippi had not really panned out. In the end, I asked the question of whether we should keep trying to recruit co-authors or take the blog in a different direction. I must admit that we've done neither, and it shows.

I do not have any answers yet. I need time to think things through. I invite you to consider this thread open and share any ideas you may have.

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Disclosure Policy

2009-12-30T11:28:00.001-06:00

As you may have heard, the Federal Trade Commission now wants all bloggers provide a disclosure statement, so this is ours.

Mississippi Atheists is a collaborative blog written by a group of individuals. For questions about this blog, please contact vjack (atheistrevolution at gmail.com).

This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. This compensation is used to pay for our custom domain (i.e., http://www.msatheists.org). Any leftover funds are donated to atheist-oriented non-profit groups or organizations.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network (e.g., Google AdSense).

The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

Should this blog ever contain content which might present a conflict of interest, this content will be identified.

This policy is valid from 30 December 2009.

To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

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Don't Believe in God? You're Not Alone...Even in Mississippi

2009-10-09T07:12:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Yes, there really are atheists in Mississippi. In fact, we live all over the state. So why does it often seem like you are the only one? As I'm sure you've realized, being open about one's lack of religious belief is not easy in the U.S., and it seems to be even harder here in Mississippi. Many of us in Mississippi have learned that it is not safe to identify ourselves as atheists to a complete stranger. We may hold back a bit until we think a new person is safe. This does not make us ashamed of who we are; it just means that we are taking sensible precautions to protect ourselves. And yet, this is exactly what can give each of us the sense that we're all alone.

But we are not alone, not even here in Mississippi. There are a handful of active atheist meetup groups throughout our state. Scroll down the left sidebar, and you'll find listings for them. There are events occurring around our state that may be of interest to atheists.

Think of this blog as sort of a hub for anyone looking for information about atheism in Mississippi. We strive to provide information and resources to atheists living here because...well, we want you to know that you are not alone. If you'd like to meet some more Mississippi atheists, you can also check out our group on Atheist Nexus. You can also find us on Twitter.

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Mississippi Atheists on Twitter

2009-07-07T07:42:00.000-05:00

Mississippi Atheists is now on Twitter (@msatheists)! I held off on this mostly because I wasn't sure that it made sense for a team blog to have one Twitter account. However, Twitter is becoming so popular that I realized that we were missing out on a great marketing tool by not getting on board. Besides, I've set it up so that any post written here by any of our authors will automatically be distributed on our Twitter account.

Introducing Mississippi Atheists' Newest Author, Steve Schlicht

2009-02-19T06:07:00.001-06:00

Thanks, vjack, for this great venue and for the opportunity to share my views in the open marketplace of ideas.

As a brief introduction, I am Steve Schlicht (pronounced “Schlikt”). I live, work and play in the City of Biloxi, MS. I’m married to a teacher and have three terrific children. I am also a proactive and vocal atheist involved in community service and a positive voice for educational outreach on issues such as civil liberties, secular government and other socio-political topics most often centering around atheism, humanism, ethics and the importance of an honest critical analysis of religious assertions.

For those who’ve lived a great length of time on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, my grandfather was Norbert E. Tracy (NET), the wire editor for The Daily Herald (now the Sun Herald) and my grandmother was Carmen Tracy, a beloved member of the community of Gulfport for many decades, musician, artist and all around renaissance lady. Together they had seven children who went on to become teachers, soldiers, civil and public servants each with loving families of their own. My mom worked at Keesler Air Force Base and my father was vice president of a major electronics company in California. My parents are now retired and living out west.

Most of my life was spent growing up in Mississippi where I enjoyed many childhood adventures walking the railroad tracks, watching Saturday matinees at the Paramount Theater, collecting Barq's bottles for nickels, reading and learning at the Gulfport Library, running around the friendly oaks of Jones Park and fishing from the harbor docks filled with the majestic sail boats and shrimp boats of the Sound.

I graduated from Long Beach High School (Class of ’82) and then from the University of Southern Mississippi with Honors and Dean’s List awards in the fields of Criminal Justice, Forensic Science and Business Law. I went on to become a police officer and a graduate of the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officer Training Academy (Class 155). I have been a patrol officer in both the City of Gulfport and the City of Biloxi during my 18 year career in law enforcement and am currently a criminal investigator with special training in forensic video analysis, computer forensics and hostage negotiations.

It has been my fervent hope in life that my words and experiences will not only provide better information to the general public who are so often misinformed about atheists and atheism, but will also reach out to those who are skeptical about religion and offer them a bit of basic human commonality and support in meeting the personal challenges of discussing a valid viewpoint that simply runs counter to deeply held cultural and unquestioned religious assertions.

Further, now that I have this first opportunity at msatheists.org, I do encourage even more public educational outreach by atheists of all walks of life especially in Mississippi. In this day and age of high speed internet communications and relatively inexpensive ease of use technological devices, there really is a nearly limitless opportunity to reach a wider audience with a responsible message.

It is, after all, an honest effort to be one to set the record straight about atheists and atheism in general.

In my view, we can do this by providing reasonably articulated corrections countering common mischaracterizations regarding atheists using forums here at msatheists.org, on newly generated and linked personal blogs, in local and national news outlets and by providing whatever financial support we can manage for proactive ad campaigns by groups such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Center For Inquiry, American Atheists, American Humanist Association and the New Orleans Secular Humanist Association among many others.

Simply put, silence implies consent and for far too long our society has been provided only one view of atheists and atheism via the bully pulpit of churches on a weekly basis.

It really is no wonder that so many people have such a low regard for folks who merely have no belief in God(s)ess(es) due to a distinct lack of evidence to support the many and varied claims regarding such purported being(s).

It is also no wonder that some atheists must decline to make the effort to set the record straight or must resort to using ambiguous language to deflect any unfounded criticism of their actual views.

While it is truly understandable that certain business owners and service providers have chosen the necessary path of anonymity, this has inadvertently led to the additional problem of allowing the public statements of religious adherents to monopolize the open airwaves defining atheists incorrectly which then successfully remain unchallenged and, by default, perpetuate.

These good atheists simply must remain silent out of a very real concern that to refute the claims of religious authority would lead to being outcast by friends, family, customers and co-workers.

With this in mind, my view is that atheists are fully justified in joining the growing number of meet up groups, blogs, letter writing campaigns, emails, community action and ad campaigns to find support, information, networking and basic human kindness and care by those who are able to come “out” and who have chosen to engage the common mischaracterizations full on, in responsible civil debate and discussion for the greater good of clarity and understanding.

Yes, I know, we’ve heard it before. This is like herding cats.

That said, I think it will continue to be a wonderful challenge to be a part of the historic cause of confident atheists past and present.

This is a sincere cause that has an ethical purpose for the greater good and that can succeed with the understanding that we are not actually striving to be a "melting pot" of conformity under a banner of “atheism”, but that we are adding ourselves to a brilliant and colorful “mosaic” of unique human personalities experiencing the wonders of life, the universe and everything…together.

Y’all take care, see you soon and keep up your great efforts.

Steve

Mississippi Atheists Welcomes New Author

2009-02-17T06:05:00.000-06:00

Image via Wikipedia

We may not have 1,000 Steves here at Mississippi Atheists, but we do now have one. Steve Schlicht of Biloxi, MS, has joined our team of authors. In addition to being open about his atheism, Steve is very active in the Meetup community. In fact, he has organized the Great Southern Humanist Society since 2006. Welcome, Steve! We're grateful for all you do in the community, and we're happy to have you at Mississippi Atheists.

Trying IntenseDebate Commenting System

2008-08-23T13:40:00.003-05:00

Starting with this post, I've implemented the IntenseDebate commenting system on this blog. If it works correctly, IntenseDebate comments should be enabled on this and all future posts while the Blogger commenting system remains in tact on older posts. I know we do not get tons of comments here, but I really like the idea of threaded comments and thought it would be interesting to see how it works here.

Mississippi Atheists: Past, Present, and Future

2008-07-09T05:34:00.001-05:00

In the life of a blog, it is important to periodically pause and reflect on what has been accomplished, whether the goals one started out with are being met, and to map a course for the future. Since I am only one of a team of authors on Mississippi Atheists, I present my thoughts on this subject and make no attempt to speak for the others.

In the Beginning...

When I started Mississippi Atheists, I had one simple goal in mind. I wanted to make sure that when someone entered search terms in Google that included "Mississippi" and "atheists" or "atheism" that they would find a site informing them of all the various atheistic groups in our state. That is, I wanted to make it easier for people to find information about atheist groups in Mississippi. As an atheist in Mississippi, I know all too well how lonely it can be. I thought that helping others connect with like-minded individuals was a worthy goal.

In the beginning, I did not even think that this would be a blog. I was actually looking into formats like Squidoo and HubPages. However, I soon realized that these formats were less than ideal for providing updates about events around the state. I also started wondering whether it might be interesting to have many voices from around the state represented. Surely atheists in the Jackson area had a somewhat different experience than those in tiny rural areas. Clearly, a blog was needed and a team blog would best fulfill this vision. Mississippi Atheists was born.

Current Status

I am happy to say that the initial goal of turning up in search engine results involving "Mississippi" and "atheists" or "atheism" has been accomplished reasonably well. We may not always be at the top of such search results, but we are there. We continue to get a respectable amount of search engine traffic (as well as traffic from other sources), and I believe that we are making it easier for persons wanting to find information on atheist-related happenings in Mississippi.

On the other hand, my vision of this blog giving voice to atheists across our state has not been particularly successful. I had hoped to have a cadre of bloggers by now, each of whom would be willing to contribute a post every week or two. We have not come close to this. Recruiting team members has been more difficult than I imagined, we do not have particularly good representation across Mississippi, and few of our authors are posting regularly. I am guilty of this last criticism and make no claim otherwise.

A Look Ahead

Do we keep trying to fulfill the portion of the initial goal we have not accomplished yet (i.e., expanding our roster of team bloggers until we have a combination of more regular posting and improved representation of our state), or do we modify this goal and consider moving in a new direction? It has never been my intention to have this blog generate much traffic outside Mississippi. To the degree that it does, great, but if we are not being read by other Mississippi atheists, we are doing something wrong.

Personally, I would like to keep trying to recruit other contributors in Mississippi. I'd also like to put some more effort into spreading the word about this blog as a connection point for atheists in Mississippi. Other ideas?

New Domain for Mississippi Atheists!

2008-05-26T08:14:00.003-05:00

First Atheist Revolution got a custom domain (http://www.atheistrev.com), and now Mississippi Atheists has a new home on the web too (http://www.msatheists.org). Please update your links.

Want to Write for Mississippi Atheists?

2008-03-20T05:35:00.000-05:00

If you are an atheist living in Mississippi who has something to say, we'd like to invite you to submit material to Mississippi Atheists. You see, we'd like this blog to provide readers with the perspectives of atheists across our state. What is it like living as an atheist in Mississippi? What sort of experiences have you had that may be of interest or of use to other atheists in our state? Are you a member of an atheist group that meets regularly that you'd like to tell us about?

To contribute material or story ideas, e-mail me at atheistrevolution AT gmail.com. After a good contribution or two, we'll most likely invite you to join our team of regular authors. We'd like to have every region of the state represented on our team, and our expectations with regard to the frequency of your contributions are quite low. In fact, we'd welcome those who could only write one post every couple weeks. Oh, and you can post under a handle of your choice to protect your anonymity if you wish.

Tags: Mississippi, Mississippi Atheists, atheist, atheism, blog

Introducing Mississippi Atheists

2008-02-29T15:56:00.007-06:00

Living as an atheist in Mississippi can be a lonely experience. Evangelical Christianity is pervasive here, and one can expect to encounter frequent proselytizing, anti-atheist bigotry, and even discrimination based on one's lack of belief in ancient superstition. Many atheist Mississippians conceal their feelings toward religion to prevent social ostracization or avoid punitive consequences.

The purpose of this new blog is to provide resources and support to Mississippi atheists. I am convinced that there are far more of us out there than we realize, and forming connections, even those over the web, can normalize one's experience and reduce feelings of isolation.If you are an atheist living in Mississippi, you are certainly not alone.

Tags: atheism, Mississippi, atheist, Mississippi atheists