Welcome Heidi!

[Barefoot Bree]

Welcome to the Cafe! How did you find us?

[Goodchild]

Welcome! I see you've already plunged into a conversation :)

[Berthold]

Hello! :wave:

Is your screenname derived from this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXm2b605p9Y) :eek: or from this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qMzXyoGG2Y) :D ?

[DMB]

Welcome, Heidi!

[Notta]

Welcome, Heidi! I hope you'll like the place.

[Barefoot Bree]

I still have such a hard time not singing "Hi, Heidi!" Anybody else remember those dolls?

[Richard46]

I still have such a hard time not singing "Hi, Heidi!" Anybody else remember those dolls?

No but an inkwell (the ballpoint had not been invented) and the defenceless plaits of the girl sitting in front of me at school was my first experience of temptation.

Hi Heidi.

[Heidi]

Hey guys and gals! I found this site through google. I think I typed something like "intellectual forum." I'm a college student, currently enrolled at UA. Living in Alabama, it's really hard to find a great place to discuss controversial topics because it's hard to find like-minded people. There are too many crazy right-wingers, Bible-thumpers, and they're all soaked in ethnocentrism. My group of friends aren't like that, and neither is my family, but it is still neat to have a place to discuss with people from all over the world. :)

My screen name is not derived from :eek: or :D. It's just my first name! Although I may or may not be 4:20 friendly.... :evil:

Happy to meet all of you!

[Heidi]

I'd also like to say a few more things, since the majority of you that I've observed so far seem to be atheistic.

I'm still young (the humble age of 21) and it's only been about a year since I stepped out of the box of religious thought (I was Mormon). Therefore, I'm not perfectly decided in whether I want to think of reality in terms of only what I can see, touch, and prove, or whether I want to think of it in terms of what makes me feel happy (whether it be irrational and folly or not). Either way, I believe in religious toleration for all people, because religion (whether it be Christianity, Paganism, Buddhism, Islam, etc.) seems to help some people not completely hate their lives, and we only have one to live. That said, I'll probably stay away from commenting on the religion boards, but that's not to say I won't read to see what others have to say! I'm not decided in that regard, but I like to see a healthy amount of balanced opinions! :)

At the moment, any sort of religious thought has been pushed to the wayside, because I want to take this era of my life to learn everything I can. At some point, I'll take some more time to re-evaluate by filtering spiritual thought through everything I learn and see if it has any place in my life.

All that said, I hope this place can be for me, a place to discuss things other than religion, and I definitely see that there are many options to consider!

[Notta]

Nicely put, Heidi. I felt the same way when I left my faith -- but, in my case, I was 43 years old. It was hard to figure out what fit in the hole left in my life, but I eventually realized that the hole would simply heal. I didn't have to put anything else in there.

[Berthold]

You will find that even the atheists* here are quite a mixed bunch regarding attitude to religion in general and special religions in particular.

*There are theists here, too. What would religious discussion be without them? :)

[lpetrich]

Heidi, your story reminds me a bit of gogreen18's deconversion from Mormonism. She tells it in some videos at gogreen18's Channel - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/gogreen18) She describes the authoritarianism, the sexism, and the odd beliefs of Mormonism.

[davidpbrown]

Welcome Heidi, liking your posts already :wave:

[Silly Sausage]

At the moment, any sort of religious thought has been pushed to the wayside, because I want to take this era of my life to learn everything I can.

Gotta give you the :thumbup: for that.

Hi Heidi, welcome to the Cafe. Thanks for telling us about yourself, and I hope you like it here.

Silly S.