Get to know an Atheist Blogger - Les Jenkins of Stupid Evil Bastard

This week we interview Les Jenkins of the the blog Stupid Evil Bastard. Once you get past the initial shock when first visiting the site and wondering what you did to upset him...you'll find Les always brings an interesting perspective to the everything he covers, with topics ranging from the market meltdown to Spore DRM issues. My personal favorite part of the blog is that every blog posting has a picture of Les starting right back at you. It's as if he's right there reading you his thoughts!

On to the interview...

Q. Tell us a bit about yourself, where you came from, what you do now, where you're going.

My name is Les Jenkins and I was born in Detroit Michigan and I've lived in Michigan my entire life. I'm just about to turn 41 in just under two weeks. My current job title is the rather generic "Technical Assistant" for a .com company I can't name due to an NDA, but I've spent the past 15 years or so working as a technical support contractor of one sort or another for various automotive companies supporting Windows based PCs in all their different forms. As to where I'm going, I haven't a clue. Ideally I'd like to win the lottery and retire early to a beach in some tropical clime where I can blog while sipping Long Island Iced Teas. Instead I'll be returning to college this fall to get a degree in... something. Haven't really decided yet.

Q. What made you decide to blog about atheism?

The truth is I blog about everything that interests me and my atheism influences a lot of how I view the world so it wasn't so much that I decided to blog about atheism specifically as much as I blog about it because it's part of who I am. I'll write about atheism in one entry, switch to religion in another, and then tell you how much I'm enjoying a particular video game or new gadget I've gotten recently. Stupid Evil Bastard, my blog, is about whatever catches my ADD addled brain long enough to write about. Religion and atheism both tend to catch my attention fairly often.

If we expand the question into "what made you decide to start a blog" then I'd say it was a natural outgrowth for someone who once ran a computer Bulletin Board System in the 1980's when he was a teenager. I've always had an inquisitive mind and a big mouth and when you put the two together with a little technology, well, I'm sure someone would make a lot of money if they could tap into all the hot air I expend shooting my mouth off.

Q. How long have you known that you are an atheist? Tell us about that time in your life, and what led to that point.

I've known I was an atheist since my early twenties. Prior to that I had been a Baptist since the age of 8 or 9 thanks to some neighborhood friends who invited me to start attending their church. My own family wasn't particularly religious and didn't attend church services. At one point in my teens I gave some serious consideration, or as serious as a teenager can manage, to the idea of becoming a Pastor myself. I asked my Pastor about what was involved and he suggested that I start off by simply reading the Bible so that's what I did and that's where the trouble started. Previously I hadn't spent a lot of time reading the Bible so much as following along during church services, but I sat down one day and started reading it from page one and, over the course of several weeks, read it all the way to the end. As I read I kept coming up with questions that I asked my Pastor about. Questions to which he couldn't always offer anything in the way of an answer beyond "God works in mysterious ways" or "you just have to have faith."

Over the course of the next several years I would read the Bible front to back three more times and grow more discouraged each time I did. I also started checking out some of the alternatives starting with the other Christian denominations and moving on to Islam, Buddhism, Wicca and Neo-paganism, and Shintoism among others. I also started studying religious history in general with whatever books I could find on the subject. None of it was done with any real sense of urgency, but out of curiosity and a desire to understand. There weren't any particularly traumatic experiences or life changing events that led me to decide I was an atheist as so many people seem to think, but rather a slow and gradual process of learning.

In the end it wasn't that I decided to become an atheist, but that it was the only thing I could be when I considered that I no longer had the belief or faith that I once held as a child. At first I didn't want to use the term because of a lifetime of being told how evil atheists are and I went with the title of agnostic instead, but I eventually realized that that was being less than honest. The only person I can remember who had a negative reaction when I first told them I was an atheist was my mother. She's best described as a deist and her reaction was, much like my own initial aversion to the word, based more off of the negative connotations attached to the word than any fear for my mortal soul. All things considered it was a smooth transition for me. I was never ostracized by my family for my lack of belief and most of my friends took it in stride as well. It probably helped that it wasn't something that came up very often.

Q. What excites you most about the current state of atheism, what are you optimistic about?

I'm most excited by the visibility of atheists in America these days. In the past there's always been a couple of atheists who were famous (or infamous), but it seems like there's more than ever before. That could just be a faulty perception on my part, but that's the way it seems. Between blogs and best selling books it's hard to overlook us as a group anymore and my hope is that our influence will grow enough to counteract some of the influence of the Far Religious Right. The fact that atheism seems to be on a slow, but sure rise in the younger generations here in America also gives me optimism. I don't think we'll be in the majority anytime soon, if ever, but if we can just level the playing field a bit then I'd be more than happy.

Q. What are your favorite books on atheism?

I really enjoyed /The God Delusion/ by Richard Dawkins, but that's probably a popular choice. /The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever/ by Christopher Hitchens. /2000 Years of Unbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt/ by James A. Haught as this helped to show me that there were some very smart people who also didn't believe. And just about anything on religion published by Thomas Paine.

Q. Who do you most respect in the atheist community? Why?

That's a hard question to answer as I have respect for a number of atheists. Rather than go with any of the big names like Dawkins, PZ Myers, or Hitchens -- all of whom I have a great respect for -- I'm going to say I have the most respect for George Wiman who runs the blog called "Decrepit Old Fool" (http://www.decrepitoldfool.com). George has been reading my own blog for years now and I find that he often manages to get me to consider things I hadn't with the most simple of comments. I'm very much of the blunt and bluster type of blogger and George really isn't and I sometimes wish I could manage that style myself.

Q. How has your blog affected your life?

I think it's been, if you'll pardon the turn of phrase, a blessing. It's given me a venue to say what I really think and get feedback on those thoughts. It's helped me to grow both as a writer and as a person and I'm definitely much improved in both areas since starting it almost seven years ago. The regulars who stop by on a daily basis never cease to amaze me with their insights and their generosity and have helped me through a couple of rough patches over the years. There's a possibility that it may have cost me a job or two if a potential employer happened to Google my name, and I'm fairly sure it has, but it also helped me to land my most current job so I can't really complain. I have made friends with people I've yet to meet in person and I hope it has at least entertained, if not enlightened, a few people along the way.

Q. What advice would you give those that are new to the idea of atheism, that aren't quite sure what they believe, and could use some direction?

Douglas Adams said it best: Don't Panic. Read a few books that argue for both points of view and then just consider how much, if any of it, applies to you and your experiences. I became an atheist not because I was presented with a really good argument from some prominent nonbeliever, but because I took the time to educate myself and then really considered whether any of the things that so many folks claim to experience as a believer had ever occurred to me. I found that while there were plenty of things I attributed to God over the years, I didn't really have a lot of evidence to back that belief up. It was something I believed because I'd been told to believe it. I also couldn't recall ever experiencing being "filled with the holy spirit" or any of the other mystical things people claim to experience. A little education and self-reflection can be a big life changer if you're honest with yourself.

If you find you're still a believer then that's OK. There are plenty of believers out there that are good people worthy of emulation. If you find yourself an atheist then that's OK too. You're not alone in the world and there's more of us coming along all the time.

Q. Tell us why people should read your blog, and anything else you want to want to share with our readers.

I always hate questions where I explain why people should do anything involving me. There's a certain amount of narcissism involved in blogging as it is and one can only compound it by telling people why they should read what you've got to say. I'd like to believe that my blog is both educational and enlightening, but I'd be happy if it's just that I'm just interesting enough to read on occasion. I'm a big geek and I'm halfway decent at putting my thoughts into words. The best I can do is suggest you try it and see if it's to your liking.

Thanks Les!