SCEPTICAL JAYDON

The following is an excerpt from an exchange that happened in the DMs between myself and a Twitter user (name withheld) who had read my article  HOW I GAVE UP THE FAITH  and attempted to irrationalise some of my reasons. He began with my number 5 in the article, in which I noted the sheer absence (or, at the very best, rarity) of real, clear, indubitable, incontrovertible and verifiable miracles. The messages have been edited for better readability (e.g., spell checks and re-punctuation), but other than that no major changes have been made. (Phrases in square brackets are not in the original conversation, but have been included to contextualise the exchange for readers.) His words are coloured blue. HIM Miracles are real! That you rarely or (as you later uncategorically amended your earlier use of "rarely") never saw them is not a reasonable proof that they don't occur. Also, they don't seem to be a logical basis for your conclusion that the Biblical references ...

Having been a believer in Christianity and the Bible for several years, in July of 2018, after several months of close observation and reflections, I officially took up the position of a sceptic, and, a few weeks later (circa September), I was a full-on apostate. Many have asked me for an account of how and why I gave up belief in Christianity (including the existence of God) and religion altogether. It will take time and space to give a full narration of all events that led up to my apostasy, and memory itself may fail me in providing all the details as accurately as I should. However, I will give a comparatively brief account of what really led to me quitting the faith in this article. (I will, hopefully, do a more concise publication on this someday.) 1. In 2018, I did a personal Bible study on the gifts of the spirit, with a special focus on 1 Corinthians 12-14, to better understand some doctrinal subjects that I was arguing over with some of my Christian colleag...

A few weeks ago, I ran  a poll on Twitter  asking irreligious people (atheists, agnostics, nonbelievers and apostates) in Nigeria a simple question. The poll gathered a decent degree of response, as there were over 550 votes and about 36 replies. Not a large sample set, but an informative one no less. As an atheist/agnostic/nonbeliever/irreligious/apostate Nigerian, would you fill your correct religious status in a national census or would you fill in the religion you grew up in? Reply with your reason(s) for your choice. Pls RT. — Jaydon #FreeMubarakBala (@Jaydon225) October 9, 2019 The poll's outlook was to assess the confidence level to speak freely about their [lack of] faith, and possibly understand why that level is so, among people who dissent from religion in arguably one of the most religious nations in the world. Nigeria is a country in which 95% of people say they pray every day , the highest nation in that study conducted by Pew Research. The resul...

It is a rather banal charge brought up by theists that atheists should not be talking about God if they do not believe that he exists. In a debate between American Christian apologist Frank Turek and the late Christopher Hitchens on the existence of God, this was the first question an audience member brought up against Hitchens after the Q&A session. So it is not surprising to hear this challenge from theists. However, it is something of a brain bug to me when I hear atheists give the same challenge, even though this rarely happens. A friend on Twitter recently shared an Instagram post with me, a set of screenshots from a Facebook post written by one Uwuma Precious, a former Christian who later became agnostic, then an atheist. The fundamental injunction Precious gives in her post is that, since atheists do not believe that God exists, they should not go about bashing religion or God. She gave her reasons for this position, reasons which came across to me as rather familiar ...