In the summer of 2002, my wife and I had become frustrated with the fact that the various organizations we were part of seemed to spend all of their energies peaching to the choir. Our humanist group got together regularly and talked about humanists. Our membership in skeptical organizations brought us magazines every month that debunked bizarre fortune-tellers and speakers-to-the-dead. The breastfeeding group held meetings composed exclusively of breastfeeding mothers. We deeply believed in these organizations, in their purpose and in their message. But, nothing ever seemed to happen. We'd all get together and think what great people we were for being so informed, and wouldn't it be great if there were more of us. Life would be so much (easier/safer/healthier/saner/more rational/more open-minded/etc./...). We needed activism on a grand scale. The organizations needed to do more to expand their membership and get out their messages, and we were going to help where we could, but we wanted to contribute on our own as well. However, there isn't much time or opportunity for new parents to make new friends with differing views and invest enough time in them to introduce new ways of thinking.

What is a computer geek to do? I could toss my opinions, experiences, and writings into the ether and hope someone would be interested enough to read them. So, I started this blog. I could show that atheists like me can be moral, happy, well-adjusted, reasonable, healthy, family-oriented, caring people, just like everyone else. We can also be heart-broken, self-absorbed and angry, just like everyone else. I think it is important that atheists stand up and point themselves out, to enbolden others like us to proudly identify themselves. It is important to show how ordinary we are.

The name "Trip Reports from Imaginary Places" came from an essay I wrote (for my own amusement) about a trip I had taken to an (imaginary) museum that featured examples of plain speaking (it was a small museum). I was trying out the idea of writing a series of satirical essays based on these imaginary trips. It occured to me that many people, especially those who believe in gods, Tarot cards, conservatism, fad diets, and/or Intelligent Design, live every moment of their lives in these imaginary places! I needed to go no further than the mental world of the person next to me to find the most bizzare locations to write about. A blog about the religious, the gullible and the conservative, and how weird their inner worlds are, would truely be trip reports from imaginary places.

I knew what this blog was goign to be against, but hadn't defined what it was for. I am a Humanist, a moral structure based on the idea that humans are responsible for all the good and all the bad that happens when we get involved. I actively reject the idea that morality requires religion. I think morality *requires* the rejection of religion. The marriage of morality and religion is a modern invention. In fact, it is only because religion engulfed morality that religion continues to exist. So, the blog would denigrate religion and praise morality. It would expose ignorance and highlight reason.

Yes, I think that anyone who believes in some personal god is either self-indulgent, weak-minded, confused, or brainwashed. If that was as far as it went, I'd look on in pity, try to help where I could, and worry about what more could be done. That isn't as far as it goes. God-people make the laws in this country, god-people publicly judge me and my family, god-people get together and talk about how evil and dangerous people like me are, god-people think that if I don't have a god, I can't be a moral person. This makes me very angry.

Yes, I think that religions are used to manipulate large groups of people. Often, that manipulation is conscious, and the people who follow those religions are victims. Other times, religions are simply the remnants of ancient manipulations, bizarre amalgams of stories, dictats and traditions that have no relation to the real reasons for their inital use. The people who hold to those religions have willfully closed their eyes, and so, are responsible for the actions, the consequences and the crimes of their religions.

Yes, I think faith is dangerous. I think it is giving up. I think it is the glorification of ignorance. I think it makes the faithful ripe for manipulation by the unscrupulous and the ignorant.

So, the tone of this blog will often be angry, snide, dismissive, irreverant and ugly. If you are religious, expect that I will say things that will make your blood boil. Expect to feel that I misunderstand you, that I hate you, that I am attacking you unfairly. I do not misunderstand you, I don't hate you, I am not being unfair. You have your reasons for holding onto your illusions. You must find them dear to suspend your rationality. Separating you from your illusions will be painful. I will be this way because I feel that my life is significantly, negatively impacted by those who pretend they believe, who must believe, who have been tricked or forced into believing, or those who are too weak to not believe in a god. I feel that the lives of countless others are hurt and sometimes destroyed by religion. I feel it is important to say things like this because they need to be said.

I do not take this tone lightly, or because I like it, or because I need someting to hate. I would blissfully give up on teaching about atheism if it ever became a non-issue. There is so much that interests me more: music, architecture, physics, my friends, my wife, my kid. However, I think I have to stand up for the non- religious view for the future of my family, my country, my culture and, yes, even my species.

No, I don't hate religious people. I do hate religion. There are many examples of thouroughly religious people in my life, some of whom I even consider friends. I do pity them, especially in the cases where they have obviously been taken advantage of when they were weak. I do want to shake them and scream at them and make them wake up. But I know that I can't bring self-assurance and self-reliance where there is no will for it. To persist would just be unpleasant and cruel. I can only hope that by watching my life they will have the courage to trust in themselves and in the love of the flesh-and-blood people around them more than in the cold and ultimately unreal promises of their imaginary friends.

And you thought you were going to get a cute story about my blog... Heh!