On today's episode, I chat with Sincere Kirabo. His blog, Notes From an Apostate, can be found on Patheos. He is a Regional Director for American Atheists, and a Board Member with Black Nonbelievers. ****************************************************Transcribed by Marvin, with a little help from me: Trav:                Welcome to the Bi Any Means podcast, the place where social justice and humanism meet. Hello and welcome to the Bi Any Means podcast, the podcast companion to bianymeans.com. I’m Trav Mamone, and my guest for today is Sincere Kirabo. His blog, Notes from an Apostate can be found on Patheos. He is also a regional director for American Atheists and a board member with Black Nonbelievers.                        Sincere, thanks for joining me today.Sincere:           Nice to have, I mean thank you for having me.Trav:                Sure, sure. First, I want to ask you about your background. According to your bio, you grew up Pentecostal and became born again when you were 18 but you eventually de-converted. What led you to atheism?Sincere:           Basically, it comes down to education, or autodidactic self-education, I guess you could say, like most people who are religious, I was born and raised religious. The Pentecostal faith is especially evangelical, and at least in the black tradition. It’s the faith, the dogma is so engrained, people are so convinced of it like there’s absolutely no questioning it, whatsoever. Virtually, my entire family is religious especially my mother’s side, which is quite large.                        All the confidence and enthusiasm was conditioned into me growing up so that even though I wasn’t what you would call a religious person as a teenager, when I would act out, and be a knucklehead like many teens are, the belief system was still there and I always believed to a certain extent. My faith was what you would call dormant for three years when I was a teenager but then I rededicated myself to the Christian when I was 18. Then at that point, when I rededicated myself I was really a fervent believer.                        I was what you would consider a very developed and very rigid about my religious beliefs for a few years there from between 18 to 20/21 but then I began reading more. My curiosity always gets the best of me and I suppose that’s a good thing. I wanted to know more so I began to research more about church history, the origin of the story, Stolen Bible. I acquainted myself with theological but also more so than that biblical historian content. Doubts crept in only like marginally here and there. I learned more about the formation of Christian beliefs, the Christian belief system.                         What really jolted my faith was actually reading Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code believe it or not necessarily, due to the book having anything earth shattering to say itself but due to the questions it asked, what I felt it was asking, asking in essence. It just hit me, just trying to say to me you believe all these things but have you really asked yourself why? It’s common for us to uncritically accept things where you are told or taught, and to have … to take for granted truth claims, and just assume the that yo