My First Communion at St. Paul's Cathedral, Seattle. The little devil in me didn't come out for a few years.

Hello. My name is Steve Merryman.

Here, I am the Merry Atheist. You can figure out how I came up with the name. But it's not only a clever adaptation, it's also an indicator of the tone I'm trying to set with this site.

Just to be clear, philosophically I am a "non-theist" in that I lack belief in a god or gods. At the same time, psychologically I am an "atheist" because my personal answer to the question "does god exist" is "no". It's a subtle difference, but believers like to argue that atheism is a positive belief that no god exists and prefer to argue on that ground alone, but atheism encompasses a much broader spectrum of non-belief than they would like to admit (see "Atheism and Agnosticism" on the online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy site for a fuller discussion).

It just takes a look at the above paragraph to note that I believe people take religion too seriously, mostly when it comes to others' beliefs or lack of beliefs. If you're not secure in your own beliefs, you'll have a fit when faced with those who believe differently.

In my case, I was a believing Catholic for a long time. Until I wasn't.

To those who believe

I used to be one of you, but that ended about twenty years ago when I realized theistic belief didn’t make sense for me. Becoming an unbeliever (atheist, if you prefer) was my personal choice; I don’t expect anyone to do the same simply on my word. If belief works for you, that’s great. It’s your life, live it in the best way you know how.

On this site, I will often present critiques and arguments against beliefs, dogmas, and doctrines you may hold dear. Please don't take it personal. There's a big difference between criticizing beliefs and engaging in personal attacks. I try to avoid the latter and focus on the former.

To those who don't believe

We share this one thing: we don't believe in God. Other than that, we probably differ on a host of issues.

Atheism is a negation of belief on one simple question. So if I tell you I am an atheist, you can infer nothing about what I may positively believe. The absence of belief, by definition, conveys no presence of belief. Any set of beliefs you attribute to me would only be assumptions, thus revealing more about you than me.

So please don't assume we share more than we do.

And to everyone, don't be a dick.

That is all.