My Interview for 'Secular World': Where we are and where we can get to

Happy New Year to you all! At last I am emerging to rejoin the blogging world for 2013. Recent weeks have had me tied down finishing the writing of my doctoral thesis. Still, I managed to have an enjoyable holiday season and a peaceful Christmas Day, notwithstanding the Facebook debate I managed to get involved in.

Reason for the Season

Yes, even with a simple status update of 'Merry Christmas to one and all!' I found myself defending my reasons for celebrating a day which according to one friend was a day specifically meant for the celebration of the birth of OUR saviour Jesus Christ, who I don't believe in. I took the opportunity to remind her and all the rest of my facebook friends that everyone has a right to choose their own reason for the season. Hence the better phrase to use might be ' This is MY reason for the season' rather than 'This is THE reason for the season.' Interestingly, the status got quite a few 'likes' but all except one were people I knew were atheists, none was from a professed Christian. It does appear to me that as free as we may be in this world to have whatever beliefs we want, it's the theist not the non believer that is reluctant to share ideological real estate with the rest of the globe. Well, I suppose when your worldview is 'top down' you find it hard to understand how anybody can throw a party unless his or her Father gives permission.

Anyway it's been three atheist Christmases now and I am gradually finding my groove and it did  feel good, even on Christmas Day, to remind those in my online neighbourhood that non believers are here too. I firmly believe we must educate whenever we can and if that means taking a few minutes away from turkey to talk it's worth it. I later told someone that as an atheist you're always on duty.

Looking back and looking ahead

I sit here at the beginning of 2013 with lots of great things to look back on from 2012 as far as the Caribbean atheists and non believers are concerned. The Freethinking Island podcast and the Caribbean Freethinkers' Society website/blog  are two initiatives that I feel very happy about and honoured to continue to be a part of. There are other groups, forums and initiatives springing up all the time and West Indians who don't buy in to the God claims are speaking up more and more.

I had a great opportunity at the end of the year to talk about all of the things I have seen develop in this regional non believing community since I have been in it and where I would like to see us go. It was a privilege to speak to Han Hills on 'Secular World' (the Atheist Alliance International official podcast) as a representative of the Caribbean atheist community. You can hear that interview at the link below, Episode 008. Have a listen to the full show with Jake and Han, well worth it, lively holiday banter dealing with a variety of topics including 'end of the world,' Christmas and the Atheist Census. My interview comes in after about 51 minutes.  Enjoy!

My interview on Secular World Podcast

Thanks for your continued support and I look forward to sharing much more with you in the year ahead.