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Atheism

Atheism

All topics related to atheism, agnosticism and secularism welcome.

1234 members
Posted byStlouisisjustlikeGothamin/atheism-Nov 23, 2016 at 9:24 AM

Were you once religious but now are not?

Share your journey to Atheism!

Comments10
  • dictionaryJaneNov 23, 2016 at 5:35 PM

    My father intended to make me religious but it never quite worked. Both my parents were raised Catholic but were both far from being part of the Church by time I came along. My mother had been a "devout" agnostic for at least ten years by that time and my father had moved on to experimenting with Protestantism as his mother had become a Christian Scientist in the 1980s.

    He did his best to raise me Southern Baptist for a few years until he and the rest of the congregation had a disagreement about integrated worship (and African Americans in general, this was in South Carolina so it was a pretty hateful congregation).

    At that point Dad decided that the thing to do was try different denominations each year for Easter and float between a few different nondenominationals (or as I like to call it, Baptist Lite) for most of the time. I found this pretty confusing as he also had me reading the Bhagavad Gita and each Christmas we went to midnight mass at the Cathedral downtown.

    Even though we were regular church goers I never really believed any of it. I appreciated some of the moral teachings, turn the other cheek, good will towards men, charity, etc. but that's all it was. It never felt alive, no matter how much people preached of the "Living God."

    At the same time, though, I do find the songs and words comforting. I love a well-sung hymn more than most modern twenty-somethings ever do, but then I feel the same comfort in Hindu Vedic scripture or Hebrew prayer. It's a detached comfort, though, one that says "This is pleasant," rather than, "This is an important part of my life."

    • NerfNov 24, 2016 at 8:36 AM

      It's a detached comfort, though, one that says "This is pleasant," rather than, "This is an important part of my life."

      Very well said. I might use this in the future when remembering things I enjoyed in church. Thanks for sharing!

  • BiagiusNov 23, 2016 at 12:41 PM

    I was a child, I attended the Catholic church enough. My mother and my grandmother encouraged me in this. At the same time, my father taught me to think with my mind. Strange result, I think I can recognize what is good in the religions, without falling into the trap of the rites. I feel really very well.

    • StlouisisjustlikeGothamNov 23, 2016 at 4:09 PM

      I'm glad you feel well with your current position!

      I grew up Catholic in an Italian family as well. Actually Sicilian. From Palermo and Licata.

      But I know what you mean about family members really trying to encourage the religious upbringing.

      I didn't have anyone to really encourage me to think for myself on the issue so I had to kind of find the courage myself to do that.

      I started really questioning things when I was old enough to receive the "sacraments".

      Confession was what really got me thinking. I had been praying to god to forgive me for everyday things I did wrong up until then so why is it now that I had to start going to confession? Was praying not working? If not then what was the point of praying? What happens if I don't say the full "10 Hail Mary's" I was prescribed? What if I just said 9? Would it still work? Why am I even saying Hail Marys? Shouldn't I be saying "our fathers" since I'm asking god for forgiveness and not Mary? I had a lot of questions but I just went with it. I was only in second grade.

      Then as the years went on, I questioned more stuff like why isn't everyone Catholic? People in the Middle East were brought up Muslim like I was brought up Christian, they didn't have a choice and I wasn't presented with any other options, so what if I have it wrong just like I think they have it wrong? If it's just "faith" then don't muslims have "faith" too? If it's just a feeling that lets you know you're right then don't muslims have that same feeling about being Muslim? Otherwise they wouldn't be. Right?

      Then I just decided that I wasn't Christian anymore after reading more into other religions and finding out how similar Christianity was to other religions. Like how in egyptian mythology there was a god called Horus that was born of a virgin, died and was resurrected 3 days later, preformed miracles, and was called "the light" "the way". And then I found out that Christmas and Easter were originally pagan Solstice holidays that were made into Christian holidays to make it easier for pagans to convert, same with "patron saints" they're kinda like demi-gods..

      Then I started looking into buhddism and taoism which both had really nice ideas, but I already had the same ideas on my own. I kinda just realized I needed to put all of that aside and just be myself and focus on people, stuff that exists, things I can do to make a difference in people's lives, and science which explains real life things and has evidence to back it up.

      • BiagiusNov 23, 2016 at 4:30 PM

        Yes, thoughts and no rites

  • WritergirlDec 01, 2016 at 7:46 PM

    I was/am being raised as a Mormon, which is a pretty weird religion. Until I was about 15, I accepted everything I was told. In fact, I wrote poetry and made art about God; I was really enthusiastic. Then, a dozen or so different factors led me towards Atheism: learning about paradoxes, meeting Atheists, noticing contradictions in Mormon scripture, and a ton more. Now, a year after I started calling myself Atheist, my mom is starting to have doubts, too. If she joins our ranks, I'll never have to go to church again. Fingers crossed!

    • StlouisisjustlikeGothamDec 01, 2016 at 7:59 PM

      How very brave of you! Questioning your faith is really an internal battle as well as an external battle. I know it can be tough letting others know you are atheist especially when the rest of your family is religious. I wish the best for you guys! Thank you for sharing! Please keep us up to date with your experiences!

  • OrcDocDec 12, 2016 at 11:05 AM

    I don't know why, but I was extremely skeptical as a small child. I thought God, Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy were all scams to get kids to behave. But I never told my parents this. I was scared of not getting presents. In 2nd grade, I told my teacher I thought the dinosaurs created humans.

    My parents are strict Catholics and I've always been very conformist. My first communion was a happy occasion, and I thought maybe God was that happy feeling I got in church and with family. As I grew up, I thought of religion as a shared fiction/history to help people got along together and I was a regular churchgoer.

    As time went on, I realized that people truly believed in this stuff. The pedophile priests scandal shook my faith in the Catholic church as a force for good in the world. I very gradually stopped going to church. I still consider it a link to my family and ancestors but I'm not raising my 5-year-old in it. He barely knows religion exists.

    I'm dreading the day when my parents (on the opposite coast) realize their grandson is not being raised Catholic.

  • ShawnTheHumanistDec 14, 2016 at 12:29 PM

    I never did. I assumed it was true at times. I asked 'what if we fly through the cloud God is in' when I was 7. But when it came to realizing this was a belief, I realized I didn't believe it.

  • VaporWareNov 26, 2016 at 11:17 AM

    I was fortunate enough to be raised in a theologically open environment. My family participated in a local Episcopal church, but both parents made it very clear that, though they Believed, they understood that mortal interpretation of the infinite was fractured and finite.

    So I grew up with the belief that there /was/ a truth out there, rather than the belief that I or anyone else knew for certain what it was. I had no scripture to be an infallible idol surrogate, as many of the theists in my life seemed to regard their various holy texts.

    I suppose you could say I was, for much of my life, an agnostic theist: it seemed obvious that there must be something out there in that department. The quiet, desperate hope that, in the words of Hunter S. Thompson, someone...or at least some force...was tending the light at the end of the tunnel.

    In many ways, I would still /like/ to believe in such a thing. It's an appealing and comforting thesis that can be re-framed in an almost endless number of ways, the idea that someone is out there. Someone, something, bigger than all the pain of the world we've found ourselves in. Some token grasp on infinity to stave off the chill of our mortality.

    In time, I grew antipathetic to prayer and magical thinking. Study of the various religions of the world, ongoing though it be, gradually bade my tenuous faith give way to something else.

    It grew very apparent that a thousand hands clasped in prayer accomplished not even the least fraction of the effort of one hand reaching out and working. I discovered that despite my limitations and all my flaws, I and anyone I could care to name, theist or not, could and did accomplish more with one hand tied behind our backs than any congregation could with all their pomp and circumstance and hoping very hard for someone, or some force, to bring them respite from their ills.

    I don't think I could tell you precisely when I stopped believing. Certainly, I remain open to the possibility that something might turn up. But I now first believe that we should apportion our faith to the evidence, and the evidence for gods is sorely lacking, resting as it does on the assertions and art of legions of desperate people throughout history who were only looking for a respite they didn't know how to provide themselves.

Atheism

Atheism

All topics related to atheism, agnosticism and secularism welcome.

1234 members
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