OTCAtheist

Greetings and Salutations! My name is Thomas Bear, aka OTCAtheist. I’m a Nullifidian Humanist and Egalitarian EcoSocialist, Equal Rights Advocate and Ally, co-organizer of the 2019 Atheist Day ATX Assembly at the Texas State Capitol, Atheist Community of Austin member, and self-taught graphic design hobbyist.

I had a Christian upbringing (Methodist) but had doubts and questions at an early age, which always received nonsensical answers such as “god works in mysterious ways” or “who are we to question the lord (or pastor)” followed by “Go run and play now” As a child, playtime was far more important than my questions and was enough to distract me from them, and they became buried. I spent summers at church camp and even had an “encounter with god” in junior high. In my early 20s, I helped with the youth groups at two different spirit-filled (tongue-speaking) nondenominational churches.

Growing up, everyone I knew believed in god. I didn’t know any atheists, didn’t even know the term. It wasn’t until my sophomore year of high school that I met someone who didn’t believe in any gods. We became friends despite this because we shared “black sheep” status within our families. Throughout high school and after, we had numerous conversations about religion and religious beliefs, and many times I’d get more than irritated with his satire and mockery. To my surprise, it eventually made me start thinking, bringing doubts and questions that had been lingering beneath the surface since childhood back to the surface and expanding upon them.

When I brought those questions up to the clergy, I was more than disappointed when I decided to delve deeper to find answers that made sense. Starting with the Bible and Christianity, I progressed to exploring other religions and their histories. This research opened my eyes to how religious ideas have continuously evolved, shaping societies, cultures, and even scientific understanding. It showed me how religious beliefs can provide comfort, purpose, and social order, but also how they can stifle progress, cause division, and lead to conflict. By my mid-to-late 20s, these studies led me to question all religious beliefs and ultimately conclude that gods are likely human creations.

I remained a closet atheist for years, not even knowing the term ‘atheist’ for years, and only knowing my high school friend and one or two others who were faithless. It wasn’t until early 2016 when I joined social media that I discovered there were more nonbelievers than I realized. I still didn’t know other atheists in person until I started volunteering with the Austin Atheists Helping the Homeless Outreach and joined the Atheist Community of Austin in September 2018.

Losing my religion turned out to be the beginning of a new journey, one of self-reflection, deconstructing, and personal growth. I learned about humanism, how to view things from the perspectives of others, I learned to care about issues that don’t directly involve me, to accept and love others, and how to be an ally. I discovered that we determine our purpose and meaning in life through our actions, each choice shaping who we are and the impact we have.

In late 2016 I started creating memes using Microsoft Paint, then graduated to teaching myself Photoshop. After advice and encouragement from friends, I started creating apparel designs and started my ElementX Designs storefront on Spreadshirt.com in 2017. In 2018, after finding limited and repetitive options for atheistic apparel, I created my 2nd storefront, Off The Chain Atheist, to fill that void and offer creative and unique designs for secular minds, geared toward unabashed and outspoken atheists.

In January 2019, I learned of the International Atheist Day initiative started by Armin Navabi, founder of the nonprofit Atheist Republic. After discussing it with ACA officials, I co-organized the first Atheist Day ATX Rally at the Texas State Capitol, securing the reservation for the Capitol South Lawn and eight of the ten speakers. The event was a huge success with 150 or so attending each of the day’s events, bringing people from out of state, and country.

Follow my All of My Everything link for more: https://beacons.ai/otcatheist