Welcome!
I commend you on your forthrightness - many find that difficult to discuss, even on online forums. I assume, since you appear comfortable with it, that you have known for some time? (feel free not to answer that if you prefer)
Thanks.
My background with my orientation is... interesting. I was, of course, feeling my sexual attraction to other boys from the beginning of my adolescent years. I avoided thinking about it though... and I don't think I admitted it to myself until at least freshman or sophomore year in high school.
I'm still in the closet, you could say, in that I don't just tell everyone. If there is somebody that I think that I can trust, though, and the topic strays in that direction, I have no problem telling them.
It actually surprises me to think of my openness with the subject over the internet. The first forum that I participated in, I met a user in the chat room. I opened up to them about my orientation, and in return I got a sermon on how homosexuality is immoral. But, I still have no problem talking about the subject.
Of course. Most intellectual atheists - those who do not claim atheism out of a desire to rebel or out of anger with god - find themselves with the same stance. To claim unilaterally that God does not and cannot exist it easily as illogical as claiming, without evidence, that he definitely does. The other common position is that of non-theism - that all supposed Gods of which one has knowledge do not exist, without making claims about an unspecified theoretical God.
to be sure, I am none of the above.
Yeah. For quite a while, when I was first an atheist, I specifically believed in the non-existence of god. Now it feels silly to even form so specific a belief, because to do so is to still acknowledge the assumption that is god. Now, instead, I will argue against it when somebody argues for the certain existence of god, but that is where it ends.
May I ask if there is a story behind your username?
There is. When I first started playing video games, I wanted to come up with a username involving the word "death". That was taken, so I tried "ddeath". That was taken too, so I went with "ddeatth". About a year ago, I realized how silly that name was, and started looking for something mythological.
I remembered Charon, the man who ferries people across the River Styx to the underworld, in Greek mythology. Since the games I play are primarily shooters, and I intended to be killing my opponents, I chose "The Boatman". Actually, that was taken, so I chose "Th3 B04tm4n", but I figured it wouldn't be chosen here.
"The Boatman" was, of course, taken. This is Xbox Live we're talking about, a lot of players. I figured better to get something good in leet speak than something bad overall.
