TommyK

Thanks for your reply, Demitri! I really appreciate your thoughts. What you wrote makes a lot of sense and I do kind of think this is the way I approach things—by openly expressing skepticism when religious claims are made about things. I usually am not hostile and so they may or may not take my thoughts into consideration. They are used to it from me, but I also think that they just think my point of view is way out there. It does help that I studied a lot of the theology in college within the context of medieval history, so they do take that seriously. Anyway, I'm grateful for your reply. Tommy

Hello, all. I am not particularly good at talking about myself, but I'll share a little bit of my journey to this board. I identified as a libertarian because of the talk radio host Brian Wilson in my early college years. I was a member of the Cal (Berkeley) Libertarians in college. I interned at the Cato Institute when I was in college for a semester. Subscribed to Reason magazine, etc. Then I read For a New Liberty by Murray Rothbard in grad school. While I remember thinking it didn't answer all my questions, it was the closest I had ever come to accepting the possibility of a society without a State. After that I was pretty much on board with market-anarchism. I toyed with voting for a little while after that, especially in the 2008 Republican primary so I could vote for Ron Paul, and then against Prop 8 (anti-gay marriage), and then for Prop 19 (pot legalization). I didn't vote in the 2012 election and will not ever vote again. I've woken up fully. I discovered FDR about six months ago, I think because of an interview Stephan did with ReasonTV. I really appreciate how well-put his arguments are. I think I've been struggling for most of my adult life for a consistent philosophy to apply to my world-view. The way Stephan reasons and is able to bring everything back to non-agression wins every time for me. I have yet to read his books, but I am eager to find the time for UPB from what I've heard about it on the podcasts. I probably would benefit from reading Real-Time Relationships as well. My childhood was as normal (in a good way) as it could have been. My parents are good people, as are my sisters and grandparents. I was raised Catholic (but never really threatened with damnation), and I always had a healthy dose of skepticism. My family seemed to go to church simply because that was what they always had done and known. I finally concluded I was an atheist in college while getting a degree in medieval history. One thing I've been thinking about in the last few weeks is whether or not I should proactively engage my family (who I don't see very often, as they all live six hours away) in discussions of my anarchism and moreso my atheism. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be surprised by my anarchism, but I think my mom especially would be disturbed by me openly telling her of my atheism. I think it would only upset her and why would I want to that? Our relationship is fine and I don't think the religion in my childhood was abusive in any way to me. I'm happy to go on ignoring the subject. I'm excited to join this community and to meet and communicate with like-minded people! (I guess I did have a lot to write after all.) Tommy