Why I'm an Atheist... and why I'm a Musician (a teaser)

I was raised in a family in which the two most common topics of "discussion" were religion and music, so, I would assume, after this blog, it will be easy for you to understand why these two topics, in my mind, interweave, and I find them quite easy to consider within the same breath.

A little on my family:

My parents were both avid music appreciators (not quite "musicians", though). They both were deeply religious in a moderate sense (not quite "fanatical", though). My mother thinks the greatest rock album of all time is "Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd. My Father thinks the greatest album is "Quadrophenia" by the Who. My mother is Jewish and attended Yeshivah. My father is Roman Catholic and went to Catholic school. Within my family, the other more religious individual is my uncle... he's a born-again Christian and likes Yes and Cream.

My name is Zach... I'm an Atheist, a Secular Humanist, and my favorite musicians of all time are Stevie Wonder and Miles Davis.

I was raised Jewish. I attended my temple, on average, 3-5 times a week. Religion was a central point of my up-bringing. We had a Christmas tree every winter. Dyed eggs every Easter. I was the president of my junior youth group, starting at the age of eleven, of my temple for two years. My father came home with a dirty head every Ash Wednesday. We ate fish on fridays. We lit Shabbat candles. My mother leaned left politically. We said lots of different prayers. I asked my parents, when I was six, for a saxophone. I was the president of my temple's youth group, starting at the age of thirteen, for four years. There were "Stars of David" everywhere. We all agreed Muslims were evil, and that Israel belongs to the Jews. At the age of seven. my parents bought me a guitar and told me to learn how to play like Clapton. We got a dog on Passover (we didn't eat leavened bread at this time of year) -- we named the dog Matzoh. My father leaned right politically. We watched Pink Floyd synced to the Wizard of Oz. On Rosh Hashanah, we ate apples and honey. Crucifixes were everywhere. When I was fifteen I was looking into rabbinic school. My uncle told me the Jews need to return to Israel, and, if some of us chose to except Jesus, we could go to heaven, with Jesus, too. We thought the Arabs needed to leave the holy land. Jerry Garcia's death meant Ben & Jerry's ice cream and tie-die. I learned to "doven", like the Orthodox. I met my first girlfriend at a Jewish Camp (I wonder what happened to her). I was baptized as a baby... as well as circumcised. We all liked the Clash.

I learned to think for myself.

I went away to college in Boston, and for some reason (I'll get into all of that later I'm sure) I started to evaluate everything I believed, everything I was brought up to think. Religion, music -- everything.

I'm sure in some post in the future, I'll explain my "exact" path to being a non-believer, and I'm sure I'll go on and on about being an Atheistic Musician, but the point of this post... well, I'm not sure what the point of any of this is... and that's okay, for now.

Right now, I work as a salesman in a Wine and Spirits shop. I play bass in a Soul/Funk group. I also play guitar and drums. I'm an Atheist and a Secular Humanist. I never became Clapton. I never became a Rabbi. I am who I am... and who I am is a skeptical, rational, naturalistic, pro-thomas-jefferson, musician.

Thanks for reading... a lot more's to come.