About this site
Most atheist content exists to flatter the audience. This site is different. We prioritize historical accuracy over comforting narratives, applying the same rigorous skepticism to atheist myths as we do to religious ones. Truth matters more than tribalism.
This site is a project in skeptical atheism grounded in historical accuracy, empirical evidence, and methodological rigor. It is not a collection of rhetorical shortcuts designed to make readers feel clever or ideologically secure.
The focus here is specific: biblical history, early Christianity, and modern religious claims, examined using the same standards of evidence applied to any other historical or scientific question. That means historical method rather than theology, neuroscience rather than metaphysics, and evidence rather than ideological comfort.
What This Site Covers
The Hatchetman Atheist examines religion as a historical and psychological phenomenon, not as something to be defended or dismissed reflexively. Core areas of focus include:
- biblical history and Christian origins
- the historical Jesus and early Christian movements
- resurrection narratives and comparative mythology
- evangelicalism and modern Christianity
- neuroscience and the psychology of religious experience, including near-death experiences
- historical and scientific methods for evaluating extraordinary claims
- debunks of Christian claims (miracles, inerrancy of the Bible, etc.)
These topics are treated as interconnected problems. Historical claims shape belief. Experiences shape interpretation. Method determines what conclusions survive scrutiny.
This site includes a neuroscience-based examination of near-death experiences, focused on what is actually happening in the brain during reported NDEs.
Method and Guiding Principle
The goal of this site is not to win arguments against religion, but to understand the past as it actually was. That requires applying consistent standards of evidence, even when the conclusions are uncomfortable or unfashionable within atheist circles.
As a result, some material on this site challenges popular atheist narratives. You will find posts that push back against exaggerated claims of wholesale Christian plagiarism, critique weak debunking arguments, or defend the mainstream scholarly position that Jesus of Nazareth probably existed as a historical figure. These positions are not concessions to faith. They are conclusions reached through critical historical reasoning rather than ideological preference.
Skepticism, if it is to mean anything, cannot be selectively applied. It must be directed not only at religious claims, but also at the stories skeptics tell themselves, especially those that reinforce group identity or intellectual superiority.
The guiding principle of this site is simple: truth matters more than comfort. History is fragmented, incomplete, and often resistant to clean narratives. Treating it honestly requires patience, humility, and a willingness to accept provisional conclusions rather than emotionally satisfying ones.
This site approaches religion the way an archaeologist approaches a dig site: not as scripture to be revered, nor as rubble to be mocked, but as layered human material to be examined carefully. Accuracy is defended even when it is inconvenient, because defending accuracy is not the same thing as defending belief.