I laughed, I cried, I was pissed, and I was content.
Penn Jillette introducing, and then performing with, Carolina Peña was a moving moment.
Maryam Namazie literally brought me to tears with her empowered words.
Ian Harris made me laugh with his story about how easy of a decision it was to not hit his kid.
When the main mic went out and Paul Provenza, Lawrence Krauss, and Penn Jillette told their story about being 'interviewed' by Ray Comfort and crew I may have almost fallen out of my seat from laughter.
The Rep from Hawaii, Tulsi Gabbard, calmed everyone down with her gentle words about 'aloha' and it's meaning.
But, the biggest thing I'm taking away from this experience is that I truly am an atheist and I can NOT be ashamed of that.
For years I have used the 'more polite' terms of secular humanist, agnostic, freethinker, etc. All of them are true, yes, but, as David Silvermen pointed out, all of them are 'cushion words' meant to soften the blow of the vile word 'atheist'.
We need to get over our aversion to this word. We need to stop letting it be a scary word, a curse word, a whispered word.
My main goal with becoming an atheist activist was to change the stereotype that the general populace has about us. We are not all anti-social, angry, black make-up wearing, online jerks that many think we are. (But, let's be honest, there are angry jerks out there...)
Personally, I'm so bubbly it can be annoying at times. I prefer to wear khakis as opposed to jeans. Dresses to pants. I still cry whenever I watch Love Actually. And, I LOVE talking to new people. It's one of the reasons I do so well at the Secular Hub.
And, when I call myself an atheist proudly, I believe it helps take the sting out of the word. I've had little old church ladies proclaim "But you're so nice!" when they learn I'm an atheist. That's the reaction I want. I want someone's perception thrown. I want more and more people to meet and talk with atheists and know that they are good people.
We can't do that when we hide.
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