Writerguests

If you’d like to be a guestblogger on StOP, send me, Procrustes, an email at Procrustes at stateofprotest dot com

—

Laura – Contributing author, with her own bio page here, because she’s “special”

—

JNTB – Contributing author

—

Philadelphic – Mysterious author of great talent, but severely reduced biography.

—

Mutha – Author and volunteer editor

Mutha is a mother of two, and pays the bills as an analyst for a large hospital system in Houston, Texas. Having lived in Houston since the age of two, she is quite in love with the diverse city. All children are beautiful to Mutha. She enjoys music, stimulating conversation, movies, and smiling.

In her early teenage years she attended confirmation class in the Methodist church. She hoped that maybe the classes would shed some light on the concept of the Trinity, what it really meant. She was disappointed. She thought that perhaps she was just not smart enough to understand this concept. She waited several years, hoping that maybe she would “get it”. She never did.

At the age of sixteen, Mutha’s sister was killed in a car accident. She still misses her sister, who would have been forty this year. She hopes to never experience the pain of losing a child that is still felt by her own parents. This loss strengthened the bond with her parents, with whom she lived throughout college.

While in college, she had an awakening in her Philosophy 1301 class. Her white suburban Protestant thinking changed — she was now open to the possibility of questioning her religious beliefs. And she did question. She threw out the notion that the Christian Trinity was possible. She began reading books about spirituality and the history of God. She felt for a few years that there was “something”, perhaps something supernatural. In 1994, Mutha married her atheist husband at her parents’ Methodist church. Not having a spiritual “home” at the time, the religion of her youth felt comfortable. Comfortable, but not “right”. Her next step was attending a Unitarian Universalist church, a very welcoming sort of folk, and the religious education program included world religions. She thought perhaps she had found a spiritual home. However, as her questioning and search for knowledge continued, her skepticism and search for evidence only had one logical conclusion for her: god is not real.

Contact Mutha at mutha@stateofprotest.net

—

Noumenon – Contributing author

—

Steve-Doug – Contributing author

—

Spider – Contributing author

—

Absinthium – Artiste

Absinthium takes her name from the species name of the wormwood plant (Artemisia absinthium). Thujone, the ingredient that has long been believed to be the hallucinogen in the controversial alcoholic beverage, absinthe, is derived from this plant. Absinthe has been banned in various parts of the world at different times, although it was the elixir that inspired the creative minds of Arthur Rimbaud, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Latrec, and many others. Its prolonged usage has been linked to dementia as well as other maladies, and it fell out of favor largely during the religiously-fueled Temperance movement. Many of these claims have been disproved as time marches on, and absinthe is currently enjoying something of a revival. Her fascination with this drink and its long, rich history is rooted in the fact that it serves as a fine analogy for her own life. While she is often misunderstood and her ideas are frequently shunned by the status quo, it hardly changes or sullies her true nature. Time will, with much effort and perhaps some luck, shape the minds and opinions of society, and a greater demand for the truth will emerge from the fog of mythology and unfounded beliefs. At least, that is her hope, and the aim of much of her efforts.

In addition to being a recovering Christian, (er, “atheist,”) Absinthium is an animal lover and one helluva vegan cook. Absinthium is a lover of science, an avid music fan, and an appreciator of artistic expression in all its forms. She is fascinated by the Victorian era, and often wishes she had a way-back machine. She is an unabashed lover of men, women, any and everyone in between and/or outside. She collects tattoos, buttons, thrift store trinkets, tin lunchboxes, postcards, and collections. She enjoys education for education’s sake. She is fascinated by human behavior, and hopes to one day understand it, too. She currently understands the value of questioning what she is told is FACT™, and relying on her better judgement as opposed to taking someone’s word for it. She has a terrible problem with authority and any party that attempts to curtail her free thinking nature and/or smiley time. She is a fantastic listener, and hears the phrase “wow, I’ve never told anyone that before!” quite often. She feels she has been entrusted with a special gift for bearing the emotional burden of others and showing limitless compassion. Except to the willfully ignorant.

When not making with the clackety-clackety sounds via the keyboard and basking in the life-giving glow of her computer monitor, she can be found at a museum, a concert, somewhere out in the pseudowilderness, at a flea market, or watching documentaries about serial killers on her couch.

Writing in the third person about oneself is weird.

—

FormerFundy - Contributing author

Name: Greg Cope
Age:30
Married; 2 boys ages 5 and 2

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mrgregcope

I am in the USN, and I think every 18 year old should consider joining the military (any branch). If you decide no, so be it. But at least consider it.

I enjoy mathematics and chess among other things.

I was raised in a Fundamental Baptist home, and until very recently I was a definite believer that, among other things, the Earth was about 6k years old, all miracles in the Bible literally occurred, God is omni-max, KJV is the inspired English language Bible(the rest are inspired to, just inspired by SATAN{rimshot}), and many other things that require contortions beyond belief just to even remotely sustain.

I recently realized something profound. I no longer have all the answers. But I definitely have a lot less questions that have no answers. If God gets removed from the picture, everything actually makes more sense. Everything comes into focus, without jumping through hoops.

One of my now favorite Bible verses is this 1st Corinthians 14:33 which reads in part God is not the author of confusion.

If God is not the Author of confusion, then there would be no confusion, since God authors everything. Since there is indeed confusion, there must be no god.

Light switch. Paradigm shift.

I don’t have all or even most of the answers.

I don’t even know most of the questions.

I know, even stronger than you believe, that the Christian God is simply a myth. Other than that, I am still working on it.

—

HAL – Contributing author (I think)

—