I Think, Therefore I Blog (or something like that)

Hm, well, my attempt to post for seven consecutive days didn't work as well this time around as the last; I had a busy weekend and missed two days in a row. All right; I'll try to post for seven consecutive days starting today, I guess. (And I may post more than once some days, to try and make up for the days I missed, but we'll see.)

Actually, today's been busy too, but this was going to be a brief post anyway. I'll make the post I had intended to make on Saturday--and which I really should have made several weeks ago. This is in response to another "meme" of sorts I was tagged with, and this longer ago than the one that was the subject of the previous post (which means I probably really should have responded to it first; hmm...)

Anyway, last month Akusai of Action Skeptics tagged me with the "Thinking Blogger Award", "because reading posts by someone so recently out of the church (and still kind of in the church) is a new and enlightening experience". (You know, though, to some degree I can't help but suppose that if I were really thinking about things as much as I should have been I'd have left the church a lot sooner than I did.) Actually, it's come as a surprise to me how interested people seem to be in the esoterica of the Mormon church; my post on Mormon missionary methods seemed to interest readers much more than I expected, and I'm frequently asked questions at the CFI about Mormon doctrine and practices. This took me aback a little at first, because after all to me these are all things that I grew up with, and that I guess because of that I'm sufficiently accustomed to that they seem unremarkable; it didn't occur to me that all these things might be so interesting to people who weren't familiar with them--but it's become clear that they are. Accordingly, I've been kind of considering making an irregular series of "Mormonism 101" posts, along the lines of my Mormon missionary methods post, describing different facets of LDS lifestyle and beliefs. (I'm still thinking of doing that, but probably won't get to it till next week.)

Anyway, apparently I'm supposed to tag five more bloggers that "make me think". I actually don't read all that many blogs (and lately my time's been constrained enough I haven't even been keeping up with the ones I do read), so choosing five blogs to "tag" is a little daunting, but...actually, as I've mentioned previously, I think that reading some blogs was a factor (not necessarily the biggest factor, but definitely a factor) in my finally coming to terms with my religious beliefs and realizing how unfounded they were, so in that respect, those blogs certainly did make me think, in a very significant manner. Therefore, I guess I'll "tag" some of the blogs I read at the time that contributed to my "deconversion"...although most of these are "big-name" bloggers that (a) have quite possibly already been "tagged" by someone else (though I've at least avoided duplication of those already tagged by Akusai), and (b) almost certainly will never read this and know they've been "tagged":

1. Pooflingers Anonymous, for finding a way to use fecal matter as a force for truth.
   
2. Pharyngula, for sticking to the truth even in the face of armies of trolls.
   
3. Cosmic Variance, for maintaining the beauty of science free from superstition.
   
4. The Bad Astronomy Blog, for taking the time to show the evidence against bad science.

And--hm--well, that's only four, but those are the only four blogs I can think of offhand that I was reading at the time of my "deconversion" and that haven't already been "tagged" by Akusai. So I'll add as a fifth a new blog that's just been started within the last week, which is by someone who I didn't meet until after my "deconversion" but who--along with others I met at the Center for Inquiry--I think did play some role in helping me to work through the ramifications.

5. The Skeptic Review, for bringing another fresh skeptical voice to the "blogosphere".

(Yeah, there's some overlap between the blogs I "tagged" this time and the ones I "tagged" in the previous post. Like I said, I don't read a lot of blogs...though I know there are a lot of other really good atheist, humanist, and skeptical blogs out there that I ought to find time for. My blogroll has been expanding over time, albeit very slowly, and will probably continue to do so.)