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Like Humanoid, I was raised by Christian parents, attended church until I was 16 (my father said I didn’t have to go anymore, so I didn’t) and was even baptized at 12. I never felt any connection to God. I did it because that’s the way I was raised. I can’t imagine that my father would have let me not be baptized. But it’s too late to ask him that particular question. When I was in my early 20s (college age) I did talk to my father, an educated man, about a number of issues -- creation, the resurrection of Jesus, the validity of the Bible, miracles -- and again, nothing. It just didn’t make sense. He quoted the Bible and I would quote Shakespeare. Then, in my 30s, two statements were made to me: first, my then mother-in-law said to me, “how can you look at the mountains and nature and not believe in God?” And I thought, whaaaaattt???? The second was my uncle telling me my father was superstitious because he was a devout Christian, which offended me. When I got home, I asked myself if I was offended because he was deriding my father (and his brother) or was I offended because he was calling Christianity a superstition? It hurt to hear my uncle talk about my father that way, but I knew I agreed with him about religions being superstitions. So, any questions or indecisions I might have had up to that point ended right then and there and I got on with my life. It’s 15 years later (give or take) and the main reasons I talk about it now are because of the narrowing separation of church and state, attempts to use religion to override my rights protected by the constitution, or when a neighbor or stranger asks me if I know Jesus as my personal lord and savior. I call myself an atheist, but like I’ve said before, I’m probably 1% agnostic. It’s a label thing and many people need labels to understand something. That's my story.
Before I sit back and read and enjoy. Just want to mention the "share your athiest testimomy" thread started way back by hop on pop..It was a very good learning thread until...well..you know
Thanks, blue. I found Hop on pop's thread and started reading. I think it instantly started out on the wrong foot. Hopefully we can keep it civil here.
I will go back to finish HOP's thread later.
Thanks again everyone for staying OT and remaining respectful.
I was never a believer but as a young teen I did attend church because my Mother was religious and I had friends who went to church. At about age 18 I mentioned on another post that one day I just started reading the Bible at the beginning after I'd stopped going to church and hadn't thought about religion much. I was just curious. Anyway, when I started reading about people living to be over 900 years old and the rib being taken from Adam and magically being turned into a full grown woman, etc. I can distinctly remember thinking that this was ridiculous. Over a period of several months I came to the realization that I just didn't believe any of it and I wondered how anyone could really accept these stories.
Also I was always interested in scientific things and particularly became interested in paleontology. I took classes in geology at college and became very interested in evolution. The interest in science and the scientific method eventually lead to an understanding of the philosophy of humanism which has been a life long interest. So, to state it very simply, I became an atheist because that's where science, evidence, and rational thought led me.
I never was a very devout Christian, but I was raised in and out of a few Free-Will Baptist churches by my mother, who continues to go to one to this day. She believes (she says) but as far as I know, she hasn't been baptized. My father never went to church (for service) as far back as I can remember, and I never really talked to him about religion but I suspect he's at least agnostic.
I never was "saved" or baptized in the faith, but for a period of a couple years, due to pressures from friends (hey- I was teen ) and from inside the church itself, I began to grow quite worried that I would proceed to hell upon death, as I was definitely gay and not saved, and evidently not saveable.
I did the sensible thing and walked away, instead of turning to an emotionally and psychologically-damaging ex-gay program like Exodus. Now I'm a happy (gay!) and balanced gay.
I guess at that point in my life I was a deist, or maybe just agnostic. These days I call myself atheist, but that's really a simplification of my beliefs. I'm mostly agnostic when it comes to "is there a higher order of beings?" but mostly antitheist when it comes to "should religion exist on Earth?" -- because I feel that though there are many good things that come from organized religion (and more specifically spirituality en masse), the good at large outweighs the bad when it comes to persecution of peoples (women in fundamental Islam, gays and women in fundamental Christianity).
It was more this sense of social injustice that led me from religion, but as I grew into my new faiths I began reading a little on the history of Christian thought and researched El, the Elohim, the Canaanite Pantheon, etc. and concluded that a belief in Christian doctrine as it stands today is necessarily in error. That coupled with the fact that there are many other religions the world over, none having any less validation (for me) than Christianity, further proved to me that Christian/Yahweh-based thought simply couldn't be true, or any truer beyond the fact that it is Deistic.
So I suppose I am a mix of deism, agnosticism, and antitheism. I usually just say atheist, as most people in the real world don't know what an agnostic is, it seems, let alone an antitheist or deist!!!
Myself, I don't believe a 2000-3000 year old book about Hebrew folklore is the word of God. Nor do I believe Jesus was anything more than a human philosopher. Why is it that this all knowing God's great works were done in a small geographical area. Didn't he know about China, South America or any of the other people on the planet? I find it a shame that so many people devote their lives to a myth.
Where is God? He never rescues the two year old being brutally raped and murdered but the parents always find comfort through him. That's a pretty lame God if you ask me. The miracles of Jesus are pretty weak too when compared to modern science and medicine. Personally I just don't buy into the selfish idea that an omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient being would be so insecure as to demand the worship of human beings who comprise such an insignificant part of the universe.
I'm 46 and was raised Catholic. I lost all faith (not a bad thing for me) when I began to look logically at religion. I briefly was a deist but now I'm an atheist.
Last edited by markas214; 06-22-2007 at 11:23 PM..
I think Ian said it admirably! No one 'becomes atheist' as we are all born as such. Some 'become' religious later in life and then revert back to atheism. I was raised in a religion free home but my parents did send me to 'Sunday School', mainly I think, to get me away from them (I was a disruptive rebel even then). I did enjoy Sunday School, not for the religious aspect but for the bag of sweets they used to give out and the occasional trips out into the country.
I am eternally grateful to my brother, who planted the seeds of dis-belief in me when I was very young. We haven't seen each other for over 20 years but I have much to thank him for because it was him who told me to "question everything and don't let the 'system' dupe you into believing what it want's you to believe" (he also turned me into a revolutionary socialist ) His words started the ball rolling and I began to question why this god who was so kind, compationate and forgiving, allowed people to suffer. I couldn't understand why, if he was so powerful, he couldn't just end all the suffering.
Over the past 15 years I have done a lot of voluntary work in places like Dafur and Somalia and believe me, if you wan't proof of the non-existence of a kind, loving, compassionate god, go there and see it for yourselves. We all see it on TV but nothing..NOTHING, can prepare you for what you see in such places. I'm not ashamed to say that I have cried bucketfuls of tears at the things I've seen and each of those sights have strengthened my disbelief in gods. Some of those sights still keep me awake at nights and send me into bouts of deep depression.
I can't understand why people believe in gods without question, without looking around at the world and asking "WHY".
Dawkins says "Take away faith from religion and what is the evidence that would convince you of it's truth". I say there is nothing to convince anyone of it's "truth". I don't have a single nice thing to say about religion. It's divisive, primitive, dangerous, it takes advantage of the weak and then has the cheek to expect immunity from criticism for no other reason than it's someone’s "belief". What reason do people have to believe in Christianity over any religious belief system? Other than due to an accident of the geographical and genetic distribution of differing belief systems? If the Christians on this board were born in the Middle East, amongst a Muslim family, for example, and given the same educational opportunities (including learning about Christianity) do they really believe that they would have still chosen to become a Christian, because there exists some significant evidence that it is the 'correct' religion?
Christianity has always been, at its root, an intolerant religion. When Christianity gained political prominence and power in the fourth century they immediately persecuted the pagans with political and mob action. The "heretics", of course, were not spared by the loving followers of Jesus.
I often get annoyed by the irrational and sloppy thinking that leads to god-belief. IMO, god-belief is a symptom of sloppy thinking, which is the truly offensive crime. Holding a belief with a conviction or certainty not justified by the evidence is irrational. One can't believe in gods without first having faith, without first jumping to conclusions and ignoring evidence, without taking mental shortcuts and abandoning reason. The one quality that really sets humans apart from animals is our ability to reason, and it saddens me greatly to see that ability abused.
That's me off my soap-box but I'll leave you with the words of Thomas Jefferson:
"Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."
I am Pagan but deeply spiritual. I believe deity finds His/Her own. Most believe that Paganism is non-spiritual, we are heathens, atheists and the like. It isn't so.
I am Witch, Pagan and like many non-Pagans, I pray. I do not believe in the devil so there is no 'Satanic worship' or any of those related horrors.
I just wanted to clarify the atheist/Pagan relationship. I have never feared deity, only those who use their God to justify their own will.
I was raised Catholic. At the ripe old age of six, I remember being taught that some of my friends and other family members (who were of different faiths) would NOT be admitted into heaven when they died, but because I was catholic, I would be...This didn't "jive" with everything else I was being told about a loving god, and struck me as being unfair as well as "exclusive."
In high school I discovered existentialism...Began reading Camus, Sartre, Kierkegaard and Heidegger. (At the same time that I was reading Tillich, de Jardin, etc.) Existentialism won out.
In college I decided to get two B.A. degrees, one being in Comparitive Religion/Philosophy. This provided a huge learning experience for me, as it addressed for me the very real question of "How do we really know whether or not there is a god, and if there is one, who is to say who or what he is???"
Experience played a tremendous role in my life: I went to Buddhist temples, practiced what was taught there, and experienced it. (The same with Hinduism, Taoism, etc.) I realized that one's experience in terms of religious belief and experience of god was so utterly dependant upon where they were raised, and what they were taught as a result. I learned that there were no "absolutes" and that any given individual's "truth" was purely relative/subjective. That being said, I also came to realized that "truth" for a Christian was as valid as "truth" for a Zen Buddhist or "truth" for a Jew or "truth" for a Muslim. The closest I could ever come to thinking that there was a diety was to believe that there are millions of fingers metaphorically pointing at SOMETHING, but unable to do more than point...That no one could say with absolute certainty that they KNEW, as knowing is so relative.
I have very dear friends who are religious, as well as friends who practice different faiths. Having been exposed to people of other cultures and faiths, along with having spent time IN THOSE other cultures, I certainly do not have the last say on who or what is right...There is absolutely no question in my mind that something exists in the hearts of mankind, (since the beginning of time...) that strives, searches, and attempts to find something outside oneself. Perhaps it stems from mankind's discomfort with his own mortality and imperfection; I don't know...Along the way I came to realize that "sacred" has any number of different meanings. We all internalize our environments and project what we have internalized outwards...That, in turn, defines/is our "reality." --But it is relative...
I do not believe in a god. I do believe, however, in the capacities of the human mind, and the expansiveness of the human heart. I would hope that others would honor and respect my disbelief/atheism with as much honor and respect as I have for their faith/belief. I know thus far, in my life, this has worked. And I am both happy and grateful for that...
Again, this is a question for the atheists. I would highly appreciate it if the Christians in the forum could refrain from trying to use this thread as a place to convert the atheist. Absolutely no Bible quotes! I just want to get to know the atheists on the forum a little better and hopefully learn an appreciation for their beliefs.
Thank you in advance.
With respect,
Weather...
To all the atheists that have taken the time to respond, thank you. Also, if you will indulge me a little further, I wondered about your family life. As a Christian, my circle seems to revolve around other Christians (or at least that's what I think) My husband and I worship in the same church and we will raise our children in the same faith. I will never condemn my children if they should consider other truths. I wondered about your significant other and if you have children. How do you deal with that. Also, does your circle of friends seem to be atheist or does that not even come into play.
My friends run the gammit from....Extremely religious Christians, to Jews, to a few Buddhists here and there, to atheists/agnostics, to members of the clergy. I have extended family members who are Christian as well as Jewish as well as atheist. And for what it's worth, my son is one of the most altruistic, genuine, and decent kids I know....(But who said I'm another biased mom?)
Take gentle care, and in the meantime, I am glad that you have raised the questions that you have!!
Peace across the miles...
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) and from inside the church itself, I began to grow quite worried that I would proceed to hell upon death, as I was definitely gay and not saved, and evidently not saveable.
I began reading a little on the history of Christian thought and researched El, the Elohim, the Canaanite Pantheon, etc. and concluded that a belief in Christian doctrine as it stands today is necessarily in error. That coupled with the fact that there are many other religions the world over, none having any less validation (for me) than Christianity, further proved to me that Christian/Yahweh-based thought simply couldn't be true, or any truer beyond the fact that it is Deistic.
