When I finally began to allow myself to listen to that ‘still small voice’ of doubt, it opened a crack in the foundation of my belief system. It has often been said that one doesn’t reason out of a position one didn’t reason into—I couldn't disagree more. When my doubts led me to question the faith of my fathers, it was reason and logic that I grew to rely upon. That led me to discover books by authors who had rejected their faith, as well as chat rooms filled with skeptics, in those early days of the web. And it was here that the arguments that had been forming in my own mind were strengthened and deepened by others who had preceded me in their journey of de-conversion. I had become a nullifidian.

The term argument has not always been associated with heated exchanges. In my experience, we need more rational, classical arguments about all of our beliefs and preconceptions. There is a shortage of critical thinking and reasoning skills in this country, and while religion holds no monopoly here, it is a good place to start! Religious beliefs are often too deeply planted to be uprooted by a single argument or debate, but small seeds of doubt must nevertheless be sown in order to create that necessary cognitive dissonance that can one day sprout into seedlings of sanity, and eventually replace the invasive plant of faith.