I am Judith Hayes, The Happy Heretic. This monthly column was born in November 1996. It continued until the summer of 2005, when I decided to take a much needed sabbatical. Before writing my Internet columns, I wrote scores of my outspoken articles for numerous secular humanist magazines and newspapers. I’ve also written two books: In God We Trust: But Which One? (published by FFRF, 1996) and The Happy Heretic (published by Prometheus Books, 2000).
I was raised as a strictly fundamentalist Missouri Synod Lutheran. My grandfather and great-grandfather were Lutheran ministers, my father was a Lutheran pipe organist, and my youth was filled, literally, with religion. My life was Lutheran. As a young teen, though, I began to question some of my church’s teachings. My subsequent search for knowledge led me to atheism. During that uncomfortable period between believing and not believing, I was a “closet” atheist, and I do wish there had been connecting doors between all of those atheist-containing closets. We could have been playing cards or something while we all waited to find the courage to come out.
I have a new perspective on many things for several reasons, but mainly because of a lengthy illness. Serious illness can make you feel humbled or it can just make you feel like hell. I felt both but through it all one thing never changed one whit: my perspective on all things religious. My disdain is, if anything, more vehement.
I currently live in California with my husband. We live in the Central Valley’s gold country. There’s still gold in these here hills. My favorite composer is Mozart, although I fell in love with Elvis Presley when I was twelve and still listen to him. And, finally, hoping that at least some of you can find it in your hearts to forgive me for such a character flaw, I like anchovies on my pizza.