First, I would like to apologize for not writing an article in a while. I've been pretty busy plus I've been having trouble with article ideas. But now I'm here and got another great one!

Hello to all of my friends and family members and to you reading this article. We're living in a very tumultuous time in America regarding President Trump's recent insane executive orders. It's a time where we choose sides on these issues and constantly fight with each other without resolving anything. Besides all of that, I have something important to say to all of you that many of you may not know. I am openly secular. Which means I am an atheist. If you're a close friend or a family member, I'm sure you may be alarmed. I'm sure you're not comfortable with this either. But you shouldn't be uncomfortable at all. I am and always have been the same person since even when I was a Christian. There's nothing to be afraid of at all nor should you ever look down on me because of my lack of belief.

I'm sure you want the whole story of how I became secular. Well to be really honest, I've always been skeptical of religion. I've believed in some type of god for most of my life, but not particularly the Christian god. When I was a senior in high school, I started to become an atheist when I first watched George Carlin and Bill Maher talk about it. They've made a lot of good points about the flaws religion has on our society. They weren't afraid to say what was on their minds and speak the truth. I totally agreed with everything they said, because it was so true. Religion has been a very oppressive entity in the world. They've killed, discriminated and tortured more people than anyone else in history. They teach us to stay silent and believe that god exist when it has been proven over and over again that he clearly doesn't. It brings falsehood and hatred. Why does god let people suffer all over the world? Why would he allow this? I know it's a cliche argument for an atheist but it's so true. I can't be apart of any religion that is responsible for all of these atrocities.

I've been an atheist now since senior year of high school and I've been pretty silent about it until now. I can't hold it in anymore and I have to let myself out. I'm tired of seeing on the news about how all muslims are terrorists and shouldn't be allowed to enter the United States. It's absolutely embarrassing as a great nation. I'm also tired of religion getting involved in our government when the constitution clearly states that there must be separation of church and state! Now I don't want to rant on about the world anymore but I want to talk about my personal view of religion regardless of all the other problems. I want to start with just our normal American society. I should let you all know that I have a brother with autism. I love my brother to death and I would never let anything bad ever happen to him. He doesn't quite get to live the life many of you get to live. He has intellectual disabilities but doesn't make him less of a person. My point is why would god make my brother autistic? Why would he let the many of kids in America have autism? How can you say with a straight face to cancer patients, amputees, victims of war, the blind, the deaf, the tortured, the disfigured and even the heartbroken that god loves you and has a plan for you? I couldn't say it to them. I can't say that an invisible man in invisible heaven loves the unfortunate people so much he lets them live like this. All you can ever say to those people to make them happy is to talk to them and make them feel like they're accepted. Don't single out those who have a disadvantage. You're not perfect either.

It's been really great to finally come out as an atheist. I hope other atheists who are hiding in the shadows are no longer afraid to stand up for themselves. I also hate to be a jerk at times and it's not who I am as a person but there's no other way around saying the truth than to make it sound uncomfortable. If you agree to what I've said in this article, it's totally okay to change your mind and come out. You're not alone. Fun fact, Bill Gates is an atheist. Seth Macfarlane, the creator of Family Guy, is an atheist. Daniel Radcliffe, your favorite childhood wizard, is an atheist. And there's a strong possibility that Abraham Lincoln was an atheist. There's more atheist than you might realize. Again, being an atheist doesn't change who I am. I'm still Matt. I'm still a person. And so are you. I will treat you the way all of us want to be treated, with respect. I hate to say it, but religion has done a lot of bad things in this world. No god will care about your football game or your prom date. You are responsible for your actions, but believe in yourself. This is all we got to live for.