I am Monica Salcedo, known for being a fiercely outspoken atheist, on this site, and on Twitter and Google Plus. I am a humanist, a freethinker, a rationalist, and an egalitarian. I am engaged to Joshua McGee, (@mcgeesorg). I also occasionally write over at gawd.me.
I spend the bulk of my online time on Twitter, and Google Plus. If you want to get in touch with me Twitter is the shortest way. Or you can also email me, if you feel so inclined.
I can humbly say that you will find some good information and rants about my world-views, atheism, religion, spirituality, and related subjects; but I’m also sure that you will get some kicks out of some posts, and some nice articles on astronomy, science and personal experiences.
I conduct this site with respect and kindness. Regardless of your religion, creed, or personal beliefs — or lack thereof — you are welcome!!! All are respected here. I like to interact with people of like mind: people who love life and laughter, have a full and varied set of activities and talents, and who like to write about them. If that’s you, thank you in advance for coming here. I look forward to the journey.
Monicks: Unleashed 
I am an agnostic. I do not claim to be able to ascertain whether god exists or not and I can leave it that. And this is why I dislike both the over zealous theist and atheist, the later being what I regard you as. When Einstein himself could not know, who are you and I to decide what is right and what is wrong. You see the Agnostic man is a man of rationale and logic. You cannot prove that God exists, but you can neither prove that he (intentional lower case h, in case your brain explodes from excitement at the sight of a possible grammatical error, disregard if not applicable – seen a lot of morons, who share the same religious sentiments as you, lose sight of the point of a discussion because of such silly reasons) doesn’t.
I say this because, in essence, you’re pretty alright. Apologies for the tough love. Thanks in advance for being tolerant of my unceremonious ranting.
EDIT: latter* I meant latter god be damned!
I think you may be slightly misunderstanding what the word atheist means. I am an atheist, but I don’t claim to be able to ascertain whether god exists or not either. To make such a claim would be irrational as you stated, since the existence of god or gods is an unfalsifiable existential proposition. What can be falsified are certain illogical beliefs found in religions, and I think that’s all Monica is saying, which is different the claim that gods certainly don’t exist. All atheism means is a lack of belief in gods, rather than what you seem to think it means, which is a belief in a lack of gods. Word order is very important there.
On the other hand, you can go so far as to say that gods don’t seem to exist, and that there is no reason to believe they do. Russel’s teapot analogy illustrates this well. Sure, it is technically impossible to say with absolute certainty that there is no undetectable teapot orbiting the sun, but there’s no evidence to suggest it does, and more than enough reason to argue against those who would have people follow illogical (occasionally downright evil) teapot worshiping doctrines.
“You [can’t] prove that he doesn’t [exist].”
I really wish people would stop saying this nonsensical phrase. I thought the Flying Spaghetti Monster analogy was clear enough to illustrate why it makes no sense, but I’ll reiterate:
You can’t prove that an invisible flying spaghetti monster isn’t god. You can’t prove there’s not a leprechaun in your refrigerator that disappears if you try to look at it. You can’t prove the world isn’t going to explode tomorrow.
Ricky Gervais used another great analogy, something along the lines of “If I were to go around claiming I could fly, and somebody said, ‘prove it,’ I couldn’t respond, ‘no, you prove that I can’t!’ They’d say, ‘no, screw you, prove that you can!”
On a related note, atheists don’t claim they can prove a god doesn’t exist.
Actually, if someone told me they could fly and challenged me to prove they can’t.
Me? I’d push ’em off a tall building.
Just sayin 🙂
It’s simple, I simply don’t believe.
Atheism isn’t necessarily the belief that no gods exist. An atheist is simply someone who lacks a belief in a deity. The contrasting types of atheism are often referred to as strong/positive atheism on one side and weak/negative atheism on the other. According to the the following Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_and_positive_atheism):
Positive atheism is a term popularly used to describe the form of atheism that maintains that “There is at least one god” is a false statement. Negative atheism refers to any other type of non-theism, wherein a person does not believe any deities exist, but does not claim that same statement is false.
The underlined text is the key part. It might seem like semantics or ‘splitting hairs’ but there really is a difference between not having a belief in a deity and believing that no deities exist. A baby is a perfect example; he/she is born as a negative/weak atheist because although he/she is not able to rationally reach the conclusion ‘no gods exist’, they simultaneously are lacking a belief in any deities. Hope this clears things up a little bit.
Cheers,
CerebralCadence
Monica, Monica, Monica where have you been all my life. Stumbled onto your website by accident….how some of the best things in life occur….and find myself in love. I, too, am an atheist after 12 years of Catholic education and a committed critical thinker. I am still a seeker.
Clever, humorous, bold and ambitious, where have you been all my life. I am just beginning to explore your mind through these webpage(s) and should I discover you are also a rational objectivist, a libertarian, and Irish….you can add me to your list of stalkers.
I would sell my mother to the Turks to know a woman like you. Well and truly, my friends and family will know of your journey here, your wisdom and our new relationship.
PS. Do you want coffee with your morning bagel?
I've never utnersdood the atheist blog concept. They spend a lot of time talking about why they don't believe in God. Why? Seems like a lot of effort for nothing. A lot of time refuting nothing. Why not just not believe in stuff and carry on with your life? Why do you have to talk about not believing in stuff? It makes my head hurt to think about it.
Because idiots that believe in supernatural beliefs vote. They impose their Bronze Age belief system into the modern world. They present their non-think into law and society.
If you knew someone that believed in flying pigs that believed that you should kill everyone over 20…would you fight that point of view?
Believers are denying gays rights, impeding science, and killing and torturing in god’s name without a shred of evidence. (Short version)
Yes, we’ll fight idiotic magical beliefs, as long as they effect us.
Take out a lot of the “nots” in your question, ask it to the theist, and perhaps you see the answer:
Why is there a Christian/Muslim/Relious Blog? [quote] They spend a lot of time talking about why they don’t believe in God. Why? Seems like a lot of effort for nothing. A lot of time refuting asserting nothing. Why not just not believe in stuff and carry on with your life? Why do you have to talk about not believing in stuff? [/quote]
Americans have a more negative view of atheists than of Muslims, Mormons, members of the GLBT community, interracially married couples, and, well, crackheads. http://www.slate.com/articles/life/ft/2012/02/atheism_in_america_why_won_t_the_u_s_accept_its_atheists_.single.html#pagebreak_anchor_4
If “knowledge is power,” seeing what atheists believe and that they’re “among us” is important. So is finding a community to be reassured, to learn, and to get along together.
The continuousness gathering of knowledge, leads to the addiction of enlightenment…
And I love it.
“Science” disproving the bible is waste of time…Especially if you do not believe in a god, and I found it only angers the one who do. So I don’t see the benefit of that endeavor. Knowledge is the answer and the key to end bigotry to a growing population of people who live positive lives, not believing in an afterlife heaven or hell and finally the awl inspiring, fear in god…Don’t really Dig the word “GOD” on my money…just a thought
Hi Monica……….wow, I thought I was reading my thoughts reading your blog etc…….congratulations my dear, it has taken me 68 years, a catholic education, 37 years teaching sick children in hospital and 10 years retirement to arrive at this wonderful era of the internet and Twitter etc. where knowledge and communication, education and empathy, reallness and joy, are all so available!!!!! The nuns taught us to think but were not prepared for where those thoughts led us…..how they must have comprimised their own intelligences to acquiesce saddens me now but then I realise that no-one knew any different then or was made aware of the radical thinking that was there if you knew where to look. (What you don’t know you don’t know and you don’t even know that you don’t know it!)
It gladdens my heart to read what you have been writing and Twittering……if you don’t mind I would like to retweet what you are saying (as much as I find) as this knowledge and understanding deserves as big a readership as possible…….thank you so much…..warm wishes to you……..Sue
Everyone loves Monicks! 😀
I love you, would you marry me?
Hi Monica — I found you on twitter and have been intrigued by your posts and comments. Would you be open to dialoguing about the possibility of the existence of the supernatural?
Doubt it. Supernatural…what part of that do you misunderstand?
This comment concerns a post from last year. The page is”http://monicks.net/2010/04/05/an-open-letter-to-religious-people/#comments”. I bookmarked it because I liked that one a lot. But when I try to go back there the page is all there but the actual post is simply missing. This is using all 3 major browsers, Opera, Firefox, Chrome. I see where someone else had the same troubles but you seemed to have no problem seeing. May I suggest you try from a public pc or try clearing history and using a wifi hotspot with your laptop please? The post really truly is not there to be seen and I was hoping to reread it again. Thanks
In the name of religion and God how many killings and atrocities has been done to man women and children, I am a three generation atheist and proud of it I believe in science and so far i have not seen any proof of anything I see that under the cover of religion most religious people do bad things rape women children and control the mind of other people and their money basically religioin is an instrument through which people’s minds are poluted. I want to keep open mind and try to understand how things were created and learn to improved quality of our life.
Mankind claims to be the greatest of creations. Yet if you compare man with animals he is at a disadvantage. He does not have the strength of animals, nor does he have fur to protect him. But man has intelligence and can think and speak. This makes him think that he is the best of creation, (if that ever took place). The biggest drawback of humankind is insecurity. In the days when humans emerged he was afraid of nature. Storms for example frightened him. Therefore it became a god. All through the evolution of man there has been many insecurities and therefore as many gods. This insecurity is terrible. Man kills in the name of religion, wages war and commits atrocities. Yet he never opens his eyes because security never comes. Therefore man should overcome his insecurity and do away with religion for a more peaceful world.