Hello All

[tstone2077]

Hello everyone,

I am a vegan (2 years and counting) and I am an atheist (for a LONG time). For me, atheism is about accepting reality as it is and veganism is about preventing suffering as much as I can. I understand the health benefits of being vegan, but the ethics of it are FAR more important for me.

I've watched the Vegan Atheist for a while now and I am very impressed with his presentations. I recently found his reply to Matt Dillahunty's vegan views 7 or so years ago. It is surprising to see the lack of objective evaluation of a belief he holds as well as his rationalization of it.

Anyway... HI!

[brimstoneSalad]

Hi tstone, welcome to the forum!
I'm glad you've joined. I hope you like it here.

I'm glad you liked the Matt Dillahunty video. You can read the thread and see how the letter was made here, if you're interested: http://theveganatheist.com/forum/viewto ... f=22&t=579

TVA did a great job animating and illustrating it.

On the last page, I just started an outline for a brief rebuttal. I like these community letters, I think they're a lot better than one-man/woman efforts.

[TheVeganAtheist]

Welcome tstone2077, great to have you here. Tell us your vegan and atheist story (how it happend). How has family and friends responded to you being an atheist and vegan?

[tstone2077]

I was raised catholic and went to a catholic school until I was in 4th grade. After that, I was put into public school. I still went to Church and catechism classes, but it was never a big deal for me. It was more something I had to do. I remember thinking when I was 18 or so, "What would happen if I didn't go to church on Sunday... or didn't get ashes on ash Wednesday?" Turns out... nothing. For a few years I was self-identified as agnostic, but I am comfortable with atheist now. I'd much prefer humanist, since that is defined by what it is as opposed to what it isn't.

As far as my veganism, I have my brother to thank for that. Meat was one of those things that I just did without thinking about it, but AS SOON as i put thought and research into it, I HAD to leave it behind. If morality is defined by suffering of sentient people, I can objectively say that I am more moral because of that decision. Compassion drives me to both veganism and atheism.

I am outed as an atheist at my work. In fact, one of my coworkers literally said "I have never met an atheist before", which was fun. We've had some significant theological discussions.
As for family, there are pros and cons. My brother is both vegan and an atheist, so it is nice to chat about ideas and critique debates and things. My wife is a meat eating catholic. I believe I'm helping her understand how an open mind helps navigate life better, but it's definitely an uphill journey. There have been successes, of course. I have convinced her that the bible is a crappy crappy book, and that indoctrination is unfair to children. She agrees that they can decide for themselves when they are old enough to evaluate effectively.

[garrethdsouza]

a lot better than one-man/woman efforts.

Gender like orientation is not merely binary so its best to not perpetuate the binary stereotype, "person/individual" is a better option.

[tstone2077]

Gender like orientation is not merely binary so its best to not perpetuate the binary stereotype, "person/individual" is a better option.

um... i'll keep that in mind garrethdsouza... thanks.

[brimstoneSalad]

Gender like orientation is not merely binary so its best to not perpetuate the binary stereotype, "person/individual" is a better option.

Garreth; maybe you can make a thread about it?

[garrethdsouza]

Ok