How I became an Atheist: Jonathan Morales

Our club will be posting personal stories of how we each came to repudiate belief in God, so stay posted for more stories!

"Take the risk of thinking for yourself, much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way."- Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011)

How exactly does one become an atheist? What leads to the rejection of belief in God? How does one cope with the idea of leaving behind a tight-knit religious community? These thoughts were never really things that crossed my mind when I was 16 years old; I identified as a Roman Catholic, but merely because of my circumstances. Coming from a community of Mexican-Americans, Catholicism is so deeply ingrained into my culture that being anything but a Catholic is almost akin to being anything but a Christian in the Deep South.

I was born and raised a Catholic, baptized and whatnot, but religion never really played an integral part of my life. My mother, herself a Catholic, never took it upon herself to read me Bible stories or tell me that certain thing were wrong because God said so. I was taught how to pray and other formalities, but as a youngster, I only really did this because I thought mamá knew what was best for me. Was it necessarily enforced on me? Not particularly. My mother never went out of her way to enforce beliefs on me, so religion never became a topic of discussion. We never really did attend church either, with the exception of a few weddings and the occasional quinceañera, but for the most part, we were not a church going family.

So when exactly did I begin to question my faith? During the summer before my junior year, I began to have doubts surrounding my Catholicism. This was in response to the feelings of confusion I felt when I went with a friend of mine and his mother for Ash Wednesday as part of Lent. The feeling of puzzlement while standing in church with an ash cross on my forehead left me with one question: why? Why was this necessary to please God? Following Lent, I began to think long and hard about my faith. The dormant years of my adherence to Catholicism without question were over and in ushered a period of questioning. I’ll probably end up still being a Catholic anyways, I thought to myself throughout this period. I wasn’t particularly afraid of having my beliefs challenged, so I didn’t feel afraid to dive deep into questions that might’ve made others uncomfortable.

Over the summer before my junior year, I trekked through an intellectual landscape to find answers to my questions. This mainly took form in the act of setting aside time to think critically about God. One of the most memorable moments during that summer was when I stumbled upon a debate about the existence of God from a British television show called The Big Questions. After watching the debate, I felt interested, but my mind yearned for more answers. The pragmatism of this new position I had never heard of, atheism, looked appealing to me. I ended up spending a lot of time on YouTube watching multiple debates surrounding the existence of God, but as the summer drew to a close, I didn’t really know if I would embrace atheism over Catholicism.

The fateful day where I finally self-identified as an atheist came on September 24^th 2012 while I was sitting in my Advanced Placement Biology classroom. The textbook lie open in front of me, on a page depicting the Miller-Urey experiment. That moment finally hit the nail on the head for me; the experiment was so compelling that I remember looking up from the page and thinking to myself, Huh, I guess God wasn’t needed for life to begin. From that day on, I repudiated my ties to Catholicism and instead took up the label atheist. I’ve never looked back since then.

So what does life look for me now? Since I no longer believe in God, where do I stand in terms of death and my place in the world? Although I do miss the concept of eternal existence after I die, I’ve taken solace in knowing that my life now is great. Moreover, I feel that this is my only life to live, and consequently, this is the only chance I have at maximizing happiness for myself and for others I love. The world is not senseless and meaningless through the lens of atheism, but rather, it has become even more meaningful given the finitude of my existence as a living being. So is a godless life worth living? Absolutely, and I wouldn’t trade it for any dogmas anytime soon. 

There are atheists in foxholes...

"When one proudly dons a U.S military uniform, there is only one religious symbol: the American flag. There is only one religious scripture: the American Constitution. Finally, there is only one religious faith: American patriotism"- Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (link here)


As most of you may have noticed, today is Veteran's Day (or Remembrance Day for our Canadian friends). For many, it's a day to relax from school and whatnot. For others, it's a day set aside to respect the commitment some men and women made to defend their nation from all threats, foreign and domestic. While some of you reading this may disagree with the recent wars the U.S has embroiled itself in, I feel this escapes the point of today. You are free to disagree with U.S foreign policy and it's implementation (I myself think U.S foreign policy is in need of major change) and it's fine to denounce the wars. For today's post, this won't be the topic; that's a discussion for another time.

What I want to get at today is this notion that there are no atheists in foxholes, that when the bullets start flying and the shells start coming down, those who claimed to be atheists immediately turn to God. I feel this is an insult to the brave individuals who didn't turn to God when they were in the heat of combat. Moreover, it's disrespectful to the brave atheist veterans who willingly risked their lives for their fellow man (or woman), who didn't care if that comrade was religious or not. It's extremely irritating to see that people who are willing to serve their nation, populated mostly by Christians, be harassed and stigmatized for lacking faith. Really? Is this really how we want to treat people who made a commitment to you and me? Is this really how we want to thank individuals who willingly went into harm's way? If it is, you've disregarded the meaning of today and in the process acted like a self-righteous bigot. If someone's lack of faith bothers you so, perhaps it's time to re-evaluate your ideals.

Remember that today isn't just a day off, but is meant to remember that among us are individuals who took an oath to defend the constitution and everything it stands for. So, if it's not too much to ask, thank anyone you may know who was prior military (or is still serving). Beneath that uniform is a person with goals and dreams much like you and me; having met a lot of people in the military (and having a few friends currently serving), they're down to earth and great individuals, regardless of their religions or lack of. To all the veterans of the U.S Armed Forces, past and present: thank you.

Welcome to the official blog of the Berkeley Atheists and Skeptics Society (BASS) at Cal!

Dear Reader,

First and foremost, I want to welcome you to the official blog of UC Berkeley's one and only atheist and skeptic society, or BASS as us members call it.

This blog was started in the hopes of spreading our ideals of rationalism, reason, and honest inquiry, among other things. Here, you'll be able to read posts from club members about topics ranging from societal effects of religion to discussion/criticism of philosophical arguments for the existence of God. It is our hope that these blog posts will help the Berkeley campus, and society in general, understand the ideas of atheists like ourselves, who are generally misunderstood or not heard enough in certain regions of the world.

By the way, just a quick introduction, I'm Jonathan Morales, a freshman hoping to major in history here at the University of California Berkeley. Stay tuned for more updates from our club blog as there's more to come! See you guys soon ;)