FAQ

These are actual questions that I keep getting asked.  Some have been re-worded to represent the most common and concise form.  This page will be updated as needed.

Whose voice is that yelling "Damn! Damn! Damn!" on your home page?
Florida Evans.  (If you don't know who that is you're too damn young to see the humor in it.  Just click here and get off my case about it.)

What the fuck is your problem?
You, for starters.

Is Andy your real name?
Yes.

Where/why are you hiding?  I want to beat the shit out of you.
No one is hiding.  I'm just not stupid enough to post my real name, home address, and phone number on a website that draws death threats.  But all that notwithstanding, I'm well-known in the online atheist community, and everyone knows who I am and where I live.  If you're ever in Los Angeles and would like to meet for a cup of coffee and discuss your road to recovery, or perhaps you'd just like to try to beat the living shit out of me, just send me an email and I'll be happy to meet up with you in a public place of my choosing.  And if you're DUMB enough to take a swipe at someone who (a) is a 3-time cancer survivor, (b) fears neither eternal damnation nor divine retribution, and (c) is a complete stranger to you, then you truly deserve what you get.  Extrapolate a little.  [evil grin]

How old are you?
Old enough to buy booze and too young to collect social security.

Where do you live?
I'm originally from Long Island (New York), but I also lived in Boston and went to college in Providence, Rhode Island.  I currently live in Los Angeles, California, which has been my home for the past 19 years.

Is that really your picture on the site?
Handsome, aren't I?

Did you really have cancer?
Yes.  I'm a three-time survivor, in fact.  I've been in remission for nearly 12 years since receiving a bone marrow transplant in December of 1996.

What do you do for a living?
I'm a corporate guy in the enterprise software consulting biz.  My brother and I have a 501(c)(3) non-profit humanitarian organization that we work in our spare time.  I also dabble in creative writing and am currently involved in a low-budget movie project with a friend.

Why are you so angry?
I'm really not.  That's just the way it appears, but probably because it's easier for you to see me that way.  As for the "angry" (if you want to call it that) tone of the site, it's just my shtick to make a point, offend those who have offended, and entertain those who haven't.  Do I ever get angry?  From time to time, yes.  Just like everyone else.

[Why] Do you hate Christians?
I don't hate Christians.  Never have.  I hate some of the things they believe, but I don't hate the individuals.  But mostly, I hate profound human stupidity and anyone who shoves unsolicited religious rhetoric in my face -- especially after I've told them that I'm not interested.

[Why] Do you hate God/Jesus?
I don't hate god or Jesus because neither one exists.  But even as imaginary beings or concepts, I don't hate them.  I do, however, hate the horrific things that people do (and have done) in their name.  My guess is that you do, too.

Did you ever believe in god?
No.  But when I was a kid I went through the motions because, well, that's what kids do.  I went to Hebrew school and had a Bar Mitzvah, but I never embraced the concept of god.  I officially declared myself an atheist around the age of 14.  Up until that point I didn't waste much of my time discussing religion or my disbelief in a supreme being.

How come you don't believe in anything?
This question has already been answered on the Atheism 101 page.  Click here to read it.

If you don't believe in god, then what happens to you when you die?
Same as you: absolutely nothing.

Do you have kids?  Are you raising your kids to be atheist?
I don't have any kids (I can't, actually), but if I did/could I would raised them without religion, teach them my views on religion (just as a Christian would), and encourage them to decide for themselves and follow their own path when they're old enough to understand these higher concepts.

Why do you say you're Jewish if you claim to be an atheist?
I never really said that I was Jewish.  All I said was that I was raised in a Jewish family.  But when it comes to religious beliefs, I reject all notions of god, and that makes me an atheist.  Period.  And not only do I not believe in a god, I say that no god or gods exist -- not now, not ever.  As for "being" Jewish, well, that's a bit tricky.  My mother is Jewish (so is my dad), and that makes me Jewish by birth -- whether I like It or not.  It's not like I can undo it.  I also love and embrace the Jewish culture, but that doesn't make me a theist either.  (If I loved and embraced the Chinese culture, would that make me Chinese?)  Have you ever heard the expression "a nation of Jews?"  Well, that's because Judaism is much like a nationality, even though it's also religion.

What religion are your parents?
Mom and dad are both Jewish by birth.  Dad immigrated from Poland when he was just four years old and was raised as an orthodox Jew.  Mom's from New York and was raised in a conservative Jewish home.  My father is now, and has been since his young adulthood, an atheist.  My mother believes in god (with slow-growing tendencies toward doubt) and in evolution, and she never discusses spirituality or the specifics of her beliefs.  She's more of a secular Jew than anything else.

Why don't you go fuck yourself?
Can't.  My pecker's too short.