The Internet Archive suggests that The Raving Atheist started some time in 2002. By September 2002 the site described itself as “an atheistic examination of the culture of belief: how religious devotion trivializes American law and politics.” The site and its author have had a curious history.
The Raving Atheist (TRA) was influential on me in three ways when I found it in 2004. First, TRA’s essays clarified for me the importance of distinguishing between religious belief and theocracy. TRA wrote (quote): “any person asserting a special individual right or attempting to dictate social policy based about a belief in god must first 1) define the god, 2) prove that the god exists and 3) demonstrate how the right or policy follows from the belief in god.” Religious belief can be foolish, harmful and sad (or clever, helpful and joyous) but it is largely a matter of personal choice. The trouble for all of us starts when religion is enfranchised into law. The Raving Atheist helped me understand theocracy is where my criticism should primarily be addressed, with criticism of religion in general coming behind. I often fail, but I’ve tried to criticize theocracy more harshly than religion or any particular religion.
Second, TRA reminded me that no set of beliefs is a package deal. Just because a person is an atheist does not mean they are necessarily also a capitalist or a communist, although some capitalists and some communists would like to claim otherwise. In this case, the reminder came in the form of TRA being strongly in favor of atheism and strongly against abortion. That’s a combination I’d never seen before, TRA himself said it was rare and which remains a minority view. TRA was banned from anti-abortion Christian sites for being an atheist, and looked at askance for being anti-abortion by atheists. This rare combination of beliefs was helpful to me, whether or not I shared them. Just as the Dalai Lama is not a vegetarian, The Raving Atheist and you and I pick and choose and invent our beliefs from a variety of inspirations. Sometimes they seem to go together, sometimes we find others that share our beliefs and they appear to form a self-consistent ideology. But it is just as likely we’re dressing up our preferences in fine justifications.
Third, for better and for worse The Raving Atheist influenced my writing style. He didn’t just use reasoned criticism to address his concern. He also heaped scorn and mockery on those he opposed. TRA took news stories about theocracy and changed the wording so their absurdity and cruelty was emphasized. I do these things as well. If you like my work in this style, thank TRA. If you don’t, blame me.
The better influences that TRA has given me remain, I hope, as I’ve changed in being an atheist and a writer. TRA has also changed. There were few posts to the blog between 2006 and 2009. Among them was a June 2006 post stating TRA “will never write another bad word about Jesus or Christianity on The Raving Atheist.” TRA also wrote:
“Neither Christ nor Christianity shall ever again be maligned on this site, I have vowed. In contemporary America continuing this blog under such constraints might appear to rival the composition of a thousand-page novel without the letter ‘e.’ Or perhaps without the alphabet, given that Christianity equates Christ with God, and that the denial of His existence could be fairly construed as an insult. The seeming impossibility of the challenge might suggest an abandonment of disbelief. Consequently charges of atheist heresy, of conversion to theism, have now been lodged against me. With such conversions I am well familiar. Often I have questioned whether a committed, well-read atheist has ever come to faith. No one is better able to recognize the symptoms of a religious transformation than I. But my own diagnosis I will not disclose. [...] I can only assure you that I will not be acting indifferently or agnostically. What has led me to this point, whatever this point is, is a firm conviction that I must go beyond words and set an example. I will not say whether what lies behind that conviction is God or not. You will have to content yourselves with the understanding that the truth of His existence, whether founded in fact, logic, or a combination of both could not possibly vary with what my words might command you to believe. But I will not tell you what I believe. And I will not tell you why I will not, and you will never trick it out of me.”
Reading that I wondered if I could write in favor of atheism without criticizing religion. I haven’t done so online, but I do have a book manuscript that attempts to do just that. Perhaps someday it will get that last bit of editing and see print.
On December 22, 2008, TRA wrote: “Three years ago, I promoted and appeared in the atheist documentary The God Who Wasn’t There, dedicated to the proposition that Jesus never existed. TODAY I DEDICATE THIS SITE AND MY LIFE TO THE WORSHIP AND SERVICE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST.” Is this evidence that some beliefs are package deals, that it’s impossible to stay atheist if you’re against abortion? Some say yes. But I’m going to stick with no. Just because you’re a vegetarian or a nature-worshiper or an occultist doesn’t mean you’re also a fascist. Just because you’re an homosexual it doesn’t mean you’re gay. You are what you are by choice and by chance, and political correctness of every stripe be damned. I am still puzzled when friends have a mix of heresies that don’t match my own. But it doesn’t threaten me like it used to.
As of September 2009 a Google search for “Raving Atheist” returns his blog as the first match, with the byline “Atheistic examination of American law and politics.” The site’s own byline is “Dedicated to Jesus Christ, Now and Forever.” The back content is mostly there, and what isn’t there is usually at the Internet Archive. TRA’s site isn’t as funny or inspirational to me as it used to be. But the number of anti-abortion atheists was small, and the number of atheists-turned-Christian is also small. TRA’s site is worth reading at minimum for its rarity.