Montana Freethinkers

Member Profiles

Born: 1984

I am the son of a protestant father, he is not too dumb though, at
least he believes in evolution. My mother is agnostic however Her viewpoints
were unlike mine for example 'if there is a god why is there so much
suffering' etc. I take a scientific stance on god not a humanist one.

I am a student living in Canada i hope to be a psychologist or a
biologist. When I was 12 I burnt a little cross to prove to myself I didn't
believe in a god, I still remember it.

Only recently have I been a absolute atheist, I never really
believed in a biblical god as the bible seemed more mythology than actual
fact. I instead thought there may be a 'scientific' god one who created the
universe and life but does little to interfere. This means of course he had
no part in either christianity, Judaism or islam. About 5 months ago I came
to the conclusion that there is no god as it creates more questions than
answers and the most obvious one being what created god.

Frank Jeniker

Bio: (from 1999) By Justin Whitaker

Location: Lakeside, MT

Currently belongs to or subscribes to:

ACLU
American Humanists
American Atheists
Skiles "Slant Press" of Anaconda
Free Inquiry
Skeptical Inquirer, etc.

"Only the ACLU and Skiles have chapters or locations in the state of Montana. I tried occasionally to write letters to the editors of Montana and other periodicals but this is highly frustrating. With the current political / cultural climate the outlook for church - state separation looks bleak. I protested to the State Highway Director about the tablet containing a Biblical Psalm south of Polson, was glad to notice last week on our trip to Missoula that it had been removed. Flathead County Courthouse displays a Ten Commandments tablet, to which I objected 20 years ago. If I had a million dollars for legal expenses I would make that a first priority. One other recent concern of mine is the proposal to build a chapel at Montana Tech campus. The Regents' legal counsel considers it to pass constitutional muster, but I would like to challenge that all the way. These are just a few of the local and national violations of church - state separation. We all face an uphill (up mountain) battle!

Hope to hear from you, possibly get together with like-minded individuals soon." - Frank

My Journey towards Atheism

I was raised by two loving parents, who amazingly knew what was right and wrong without divine guidance. My only real exposure to church/organized religion as a child was a very short-lived stint going to a Sunday school. I was quite young, and really don't much remember any of it.

Fortunately, my parents did not choose a path for me, like so many raised in a theist environment. My spiritual path has been one entirely of my own choosing - I chose who to talk to, what questions to ask, what books to read, and thus truly formed my own beliefs. My beliefs, much like scientific theories, are not cast in stone. I continually review both like and contrary opinions, and try to extract what truth I may. For now, I am who I am.

I've had numerous Christian friends who've attempted to help me in my seeking. On several occasions I've seriously asked Christ to enter my life. But nothing happened. I felt no different. My life didn't miraculously change like so many testimonies I've heard.

It's interesting to note that all my born-again Christian friends experienced something supernatural prior to their fully accepting Christ and being born again. There was always something out of the ordinary that prompted them to follow Christ in more than the typical, "Sure, I believe in God," way.

Over a decade ago, on Oprah, I saw Dan Barker from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. While I don't remember what he had to say, I did end up becoming a member. They sent me a free copy of the "Born Again Skeptic's Guide to the Bible." This marked my first exposure to atheist/freethinker resources.

With the advent of the Web, I soon stumbled on to humanist, evolution and skeptic resources. I became a member of CSICOP and subscribed to Skeptical Inquirer and Skeptic magazines. Before I knew it, I had dropped the agnostic label and began calling myself atheist. And the rest is history.

Other Noteworthy Info

Currently, I do contract work as a Java developer. I live in Southern California.

Justin Whitaker

Location: Helena or Missoula, MT

Date of Birth: June 2nd, 1980

(Aug 2005) Bio: I am finishing an MA in Buddhist Studies from the University of Bristol, UK and will spend the next two years in Missoula, MT working on an MA in Philosophy. I plan to do a Ph.D. in either Philosophy with an East-West emphasis or Buddhist Studies with a Philosophy empahsis, which explains all of the MAs. I began calling myself 'a Buddhist' in 2000, as I undertook and enjoyed the meditation practices and began to dive into the philosophy more and more. Since then I have wavered here and there, always unsure about how to label myself and not liking labels to begin with. Today I hold to no particular Buddhist school of thought, although I find the scholasticism of the Geluk (ie Dalai Lama) school most appealing. I think the school's demand for freethought and direct experience rather than dogmatic assertions pairs well with my own philosophy and continue to think of myself as a 'freethinker', a 'humanist', and, if pressed between 'theist' and 'atheist' I am certainly still an 'atheist'.

See my blog at http://justininengland.blogspot.com.

(from 1999) I am currently working on broadening membership of Atheist/Freethinking organizations via the internet. I know there are thousands upon thousands, even millions of non-theists out there still 'in the closet'. The stigma which goes with not being a "God Fearing American!" is not a good one, so people are afraid of exclaiming their own non-theist views.

But as Science shrinks the world of the unknown, God becomes less and less necessary, and perhaps someday mankind will overcome its primordial fear of life and of death.

Together, you and I will be leaders, simply by putting our names online, saying "I am a freethinker", we move this great process another inch in the right direction!

So please Join Us - simply provide your own Bio as you see fit and we'll be in touch, the more the better!

Lori Gilliland

Location: Clancy, MT (also Helena)

Bio: By Justin Whitaker

(from 1999) One of two founding members along with Justin Whitaker, she is responsible for the true start of all of this, showing up in my office one day out of the blue, telling me she had seen me on the www.infidels.org contacts page. Lori is a mother of two, married to a Catholic, but we'll forgive her for that, just kidding, and works in Helena. She has probably visited each and every Atheist/Humanist etc web site on the internet, as her job entails that she sit in front of a computer with ultra high speed internet connection for 12 hours at a time, while only ever giving her 2-3 hours of actual work to do.

She has been a great contributor to our 'mother' site, http://helenaheretics.homepage.com (no longer online) and promises to devote at least some effort to this humble site. She now has her own blog at http://bigskyhumanist.blogspot.com/

Thank you Lori!

Sophie Campbell

RESIDES: Kalispell MT
AGE: 29
OCCUPATION: Waitress, also going back to school soon
MARRIED: No

MY STORY:
I was brought up a Christian fundamentalist, believing all the crap they were teaching. Then I did something very, very bad: I asked a question. "Why can't women be ministers?" I thought, if Deborah could lead the Old Testament Hebrews as a judge and prophet, why couldn't women lead a church. Well, within a year or so I wound up leaving my family's church, and finally ditching religion and starting to read some more interesting stuff. Along with being an atheist, I also think of myself as a feminist (obvious, huh?) and a rational or enlightened hedonist (and I'm a member of the Hedonic Society, which promotes that). Happy to hear from any like-minded folks, esp. ex-Christian and other ex-religion.