Okay, The Time Has Come, I'm Done

[Edited July 6, 2012: Below is my original post where I said I was done arguing with Christians and done wasting so much time here. It wasn't long before I was back, this time arguing mostly with the atheists at Freethought Blogs, which can be read here in reverse chronological order. Now I am done arguing with atheists too, that is, unless there is something egregious that needs to be addressed by me. Again, I'll stick around, comment on occasion, and update people from time to time. I have assembled a good team of bloggers here so enjoy them. Back to your regularly scheduled program.]

I have no more desire to engage Christians. They are deluded, all of them. I have never been more convinced of this than I am now. I have better things to do. I spent 39+ years of my adult life on a delusion. If I add the years of my childhood that's almost my entire life. Yet this is the only life I will ever have. It's time to move on, or at a minimum take a very long hiatus. I just finished what may be my last book, on The Outsider Test for Faith, to be published by Prometheus Books early next year. How many times do I need to kick the dead horse of Christianity? I don't think I need to say anything more. If what I have written isn't good enough then nothing is good enough for some Christians. What I intend to do is turn this blog over to a few qualified people. I'll still be a part of it and I suppose I'll post something from time to time. But I see no reason to waste large chunks of my time on this delusion anymore. [Edit: For further clarification I commented below.]
Thanks for everyone's comments, especially the encouraging ones.

What I said may be harder to do than I think. I've been blogging every day for over six years. I'll be around, just cutting drastically back for a while. It's definitely been a love-hate relationship.

For now Dr. Hector Avalos, articulett, Joe Holman, Jonathan Pearce, Harry McCall, Ed Babinski, "A is for Atheist," sir_russ, and Bart Willruth are team members here and can post at will. I'm looking for others who are qualified. This blog is an important resource so I intend for it to stay up and running and doing the work I'm so wearied from doing right now. In some ways this blog just got better because there will be some new blood with a diverse set of perspectives. Stay tuned, and once again thanks so much.

One thing is sure, and that is I'm not going to spend large chunks of my time here. I'm going to do other more enjoyable things. I'll still post a few things I consider important, do interviews, speaking engagements, debates and respond to emails. But I've turned off my email notifications from DC so if you direct a comment or question to me I probably won't see it.
Cheers. I'll still be around just largely inactive.

2 comments:

B.C. Rudisill said...

You've got to do what you've got to do, John. I'll certainly miss your presence here. But you have done much to inspire me. I am attempting to jump start a freethinking newspaper in my hometown of Atlantic Beach, NC (can anyone say backwards ass, Bible-belt Nazi?). I have always desired to teach and I originally thought I could only do that in a formal university setting. However, you have proved to me that other options and venues are available. Moreover, while I read more academic books than most students I know I am not psychologically capable of classroom performance. I see now that I can lead something on the grassroots level with a bigger and more personal effect. I can give non-believers here, in my own town, the ability to come out of their anti-religious closet, and softly sustain doubts in the zealous religious elite proudly inslaving this town with its philistine doctrine.

If you're a Christian who accepts the NT canon, then you have biblical grounds for seeking knowledge, truth, and understanding opposing arguments for the sake of defending the reason for that hope within you. So start with Scripture itself-test it. Understand the opposition and see if it still transcends the mundane. The more I search for that truth the more I find it wanting.

Lion IRC said...

Best wishes.
Lion (IRC)