I am an atheist who was born with Cerebral Palsy. I revealed to my mother a couple years ago that I am an atheist. We often discuss the topic of religion together. This summer, when the subject came up she explained to me that she thought I was an atheist because I was bitter about god not healing me. I had to explain that no, I am not an atheist because I am bitter, rather I am an atheist because that's where the evidence takes me. I consider the very fact that I am alive today a testament to human progress and scientific advancement. Not to mention the three surgeries I have had to allow me the use of my legs and correct deformities.

I have noticed from the reactions of my mother and others around me that most religious people cannot wrap their heads around the idea of anyone esp. someone with a disability not believing in a deity. When I was a child attending church with my grandparents the church members would always talk about what an inspiration I was to them and they always said I had some extra special purpose as opposed to the rest of them. This mentality always made me feel extremely uncomfortable.

I feel it is no better than the idea some other less educated religious people have that disability is some kind of curse from god for past sins. I'm curious to get the thoughts of others on this topic.