"I reject your reality, and substitute my own."

The Mythbuster's interpretation of religious feuds.

There has been a lot of controversy over beliefs and spirituality in our country lately. It is understandable. When you grow up with and invest yourself in a belief system, you do feel the need to defend it, and sometimes even promote it. I, too, have a belief system — more a lack of beliefs system. I am, what is known in the "ism" dictionary, as an atheist, which has a meaning that often gets distorted.

To avoid further confusion, let me set it straight: an atheist does not believe in a god, or a higher power of any kind for that matter. We do not bind ourselves by a holy book, nor do we feel the need to worship a spirit high in the sky. Not all of us started this way, but eventually we found our way to secularism.

To give you a brief idea of where I am coming from when discussing faith, I kind of have to start from the beginning. I was born into and raised by a Christian family, I went through the whole process of the Lutheran denomination, which included getting baptized, going through communion, and "officially" getting confirmed. But through it all, something just didn't feel right. Up until third grade, I had been taught to attend church every Sunday simply because it was a family tradition. There was definitely a "don't question it, just roll with it" vibe while we went through the motions, but since I didn't know any better, it only made sense to keep on with it.

It was at age nine when I began to question the faith that had been a normal part of my life up to that point. This was around the same time that I began thinking for myself and forming my own opinions on important topics. At nine-years-old I began wondering who this God really was? I was also curious as to why we were supposed to follow the teachings of a specific holy book without question? Growing frustrated with not having answers to these questions, I developed a faith identity crisis all throughout middle school and into high school.

Finally, after getting pulled through the remainder of confirmation, I had a realization that the whole concept of a higher power that created everything just didn't make sense anymore, and I renounced religion in my life.

So, knowing that, how do you converse with an atheist on the topic of Christianity?

First, don't reference Bible verses. The Bible may hold a lot of meaning to a Christian, but the words no longer carry any relevance to an atheist.

Second, don't bother trying to encourage us to follow your God. Just like you, we've made up our mind on the subject, and are perfectly happy with how we are living. We won't attempt to spread our beliefs to you as long as you don't do the same to us.

Third, don't tell us that we need to do in depth research on every existing faith to make up our mind. To us, each religious belief follows the same general concept, and in our mind, each one is equally pointless. If this is a point you try to make, I could also argue that if you were raised to believe in one faith and no others, that you must dive into the same research before making up your mind.

Fourth, we believe that you do not need religion to develop a strong moral compass. I personally take pride in having a good sense of right and wrong; in almost 21 years of life I have yet to touch a drop of alcohol or a single illegal drug. These are decisions that, despite having a Christian upbringing, I made up my mind about without any Christian influence.

Whatever god you choose to follow, I choose to follow no god, I am godless, and even if you love your religion with a passion, I love my lack of religion with equal passion.