Coming out of the closet

I feel like I'm coming out of the closet. I've struggled with whether or not to even go here.

I don't want to alienate anyone and I don't want anyone to feel judged.

Atheism.

It's such a sticky subject. And it's everywhere these days.

It's been a progression for me. I read What Jesus Meant. I read Misquoting Jesus. I read The God Delusion. I'm reading God is not Great.

I'm feeling released, a sense of relief. Permission to acknowledge what I'm increasingly convinced is true.

And yet, I'm aware that many of those close to me are on the other side of the divide. Since none of our relationships are based in the slightest on a shared belief in god, I'm not sure why I'm worried that, if I unequivocally state that I don't believe in god, we'll no longer be able to be friends.

But, I am.

I also resent, slightly, the feeling that while they're allowed, even encouraged, to broadcast their beliefs, I'm not supposed to come clean about mine.

This feeling is probably completely self imposed.

I'm absolutely uninterested in the dynamic expressed in the PostSecret postcard above. Just as I always saw the matter of faith as a personal matter, I also see the matter of atheism as a personal matter. I don't want the responsibility implied in the above image. My journey away from belief was a personal one and I'll not impose it upon anyone.

Why, then, am I writing this? It has been a sea change for me. It's something I'm very tuned into right now. It would feel hypocritical not to be upfront about it.