For those stopping by for the first time, welcome!
- The Coffee Shop Atheist
My name is Patrick, and I am the coffee shop atheist. First, a short background. I am an Electrical Engineering Ph.D. Candidate at the University of South Carolina, with a focus on advanced signal processing techniques. I was also an evangelical Christian from December of 2001 until July of 2011. As a Christian, I spent extensive time studying the Bible, as well as other extrabiblical documents to enrich my theological knowledge and wonder about the nature and character of (the Christian) God. I was sincerely reformed in my theology, and trusted the 5 solas. Therefore, I believed in Biblical Innerrancy, an earth that existed with the appearance of age (Young Earth), and that the acceptance of Christ was the only way to gain salvation, and that any that did not accept the message of the gospel would be punished by an ultimately righteous God that was entirely justified by His nature as the Creator to do this. This blog has many entries of my time as a Christian, dating back to 2008. For posterity, I have left these posts available under the Spiritual Growth category.
Through the course of 2009-2011, I had several positive encounters with amazing people that served to break me out of thinking that Christianity was the only possible answer to reality. This combined with several disenfranchising experiences with other believers led me to re-examine the reasons for my faith. After nearly 8 months of questioning, I finally started admitting I was an atheist. Out of the fear of my life falling apart, losing all my friends as well as steady income from various sources, I didn’t tell anyone; I lived as a hypocrite. I ultimately realized that Christianity, along with every other religion in history, is man’s attempt to make sense of the unknown, and upon realizing that we know the real answers behind reality, it no longer makes sense to trust incorrect assumptions. This is detailed in its entirety here. From here, I decided I should share my experience, through blogging and conversation about topics dear to me, and to create the same catalysts for realizing the truth in others as I found in myself.
