This is how the horses remember me. At the time of this photo, I was a ranch Manager for an outfit of working draft horses on the Big Island of Hawaii. But, the condition of the horses at the time I started the job, in a word, was severe. While being an animal lover, I am fully aware of the respectable contract we have with all life on this planet in regards to suffering in a domestic context. I am not, nor will I ever be the type to use another life. Without a mutual agreement, fundamental respect, that results in better living conditions for each party in the domestic environment, the relationship is no more than abuse. I have 12 Draft horses (2000lbs babies) that want me to pick 'em up and cuddle, yet I worked them every day with carriages.I am an Atheist
The reason I am an atheist, is a simple one on the surface, I was born that way. The reason I continue to be an atheist is just as simple, without the wool pulled over my eyes, I can see superstition, religion, supernatural explanations for what they truly are:
A world view from ignorance clouded by fear.
Most Freethinkers have a stance on the philosophical position of atheism that rejects the common believers depiction of what a humanist, secularist, freethinker, et al. is, on the basis of its religiously framed nomenclature. As if, we are the ones denying a reality created by the latest in a long list of mythical deities, or worse, created by that pious boys club, rightly preparing for us this misbegotten, thoroughly discredited, world view a la explanation extraordinaire, only on the basis of a lack of evidence. When in reality, there is evidence in insurmountable quantities that supports many converging theories from our origins to the purpose of life in its totality, without positing a supernatural explanation or inexplicable supernatural properties.
If one still questions my position I will refer him to how George H. Smith defines atheism in his book "Atheism: The Case Against God":which I think is as acceptably well-researched and succinct as any I've seen.
"....The prefix "a" means "without" so the term "a-theism" literally means "without theism" or without a belief in a god or number of gods. Atheism, therefore, is the absence of a theistic belief. One who does not believe in the existence of a god or the supernatural being is properly designated as an atheist. Atheism is sometimes defined as "the belief that there is no God of any kind" or the claim that a god cannot exist. While these are categories of atheism, they do not exhaust the meaning of atheism—they are somewhat misleading with the respect to the basic nature of atheism. Atheism, in its basic form is not a belief, it's the absence of a belief. An atheist is not primarily a person who believes that a god does not exist; rather, does not believe in the existence of a god."
