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Hello,
I was interested in finding out more about personal stories of everyone who is now an atheist and how your realization developed!
to clarify, i'd like to hear about the pivoting point, the single most important event that led to you becoming an atheist and how that made you feel immediately after this conversion!
I don't know the exact moment I actually consciously analysed my lack of faith as I never had any faith of any kind even as a small child. I guess when I went to Catholic school and realised that I was the only one not praying. I realised many were praying even though they did not believe but I guess I was the only one who actually refused to pray to something I did not believe in and that it set me apart from the others. Which led me to think more about not believing. I was about 6 I guess.
I was always brought up surrounded by Religions , my Father always tried to make me as aware of other people's philoshophies and faiths as was humanly possible. He wanted me to make my own mind up ( he is an Atheist but everyone else in my family belongs to a different religious group though they are all very tolerant of other faiths) . I went to Catholic schools because they had the best academic and discipline records.
Atheism is just natural to me. Like the air I breathe.
It never made sense to me and I was always told to be honest with myself as well as others so I never had to pretend . I am grateful to have been granted the respect as a child to simply make my own mind up based on the data available to me, logic and reason rather than parental control.
My Father afforded me the respect to think I could use my own mind rather than be pressurised by his influence into faith/atheism. I wish all parents regardless of their philosophies would do that.
I know as a life-long Atheist I would always teach my children about all Religions and Philosophies and encourage them to question and challenge all , including my own Atheism. I would want a child who is an independent thinker not someone who mimics what others do. If they decided to become Catholic or Shinto etc... then it is their decision and they have followed the dictates of their own conscience using their own power of reasoning and intellect. It has nothing to do with me.
I would be proud of a child who was strong enough to stand on his/her own two feet and challenge me as long as they did it logically. That shows intelligence and intellectual integrity.
Children are not there to ape their parents or be miniature replicas of them.
Nothing but Atheism has ever made the blindest bit of sense to me . Not when I was 3 , not now. And I have read widely on religions, and thought about it a great deal. It just does not gel in any way shape of form...
My family was not too religious to begin with, so I did not think much about these things anyway. My change to atheism was gradual. The seeds were planted during my teenage years when there was a death in the family but many were crying "Oh god"!! It sounded quite ironic and was a key pivot point for me. Critical discussions about religion simply accelerated my transformation.
You don't realize you're an atheist....you realize and become religious.
It's not like people are born believing in a religion. It's something personal for yourself. Of course a vast majority of religious people choose their religion just because that's what their parents are....who got it through their parents, etc.
My parents both went to church when they were younger, but then at age 18 or so they both (obviously independantly) decided to stop going. It just wasn't something that meshed with their personal lives. They aren't ANTI religion per-say, but it didn't hold a place in their lives.
I went to church with my grandparents when I was younger, but I was never sold on any of it. I didn't feel like beliving an entire lifestyle of rules and ideals just because some book told me to. I learned mine from family and my personal development.
I went to church with my grandparents because it made them happy, and I owed them that for everything they've done in my life. I went to bible school and always said I believed in God, because it was obviously the way a child is suppose to think.
Around the age of 10 or 12 though I realized that regardless of going to bible school and church (only once a month or so) and saying I believed in God, in my head I knew I really didn't.
I'm not anti-religion, although I am much more skeptical of it than I was when I would younger, just because I've lived long enough to see how many issues it creates all over the world, wars, the almost forcing of people to believe a strict set of ideals. I agree with religion as a personal destiny and choice.....but not to just live your life to a set of rules because someone told you to. Where's the destiny in that?
The only things that really make me mad are issues like gay marriage. I can understand not holding services in your church if that's your desire - it is your church. But otherwise, who the hell are you to tell others how they're allowed to live and who they're allowed to love? It hurts no one, and has NO affect on your personal life. Live and let live. Religions have beliefs and rules - but those are for the followers who choose to believe and take them into their lives. It's not some rule that ALL people MUST follow regardless. That's not what religion is suppose to be.
I was born and raised an atheist and acknowledged it early on. It was only recently in the last three years that I converted away from atheism to Catholicism.
I was a practicing Christian until my late teens, and then just sort of walked away due to boredom with the incantations, warnings and stupid Christian youth music (smarmy to the point of... well, you know). Even after leaving the regular, formalized Sunday come-to-Jesus meetings, I still said (proudly?) that I was a believer, and got married, the first time, under the auspices of the High English Church.
Shows how God took care of that marriage, huh? (My second marriage, quite secular, is now in it's 26th year...)
Then, I attended engineering school and someone was discussing the weight of water if the Red Sea had been parted. This became part of our logical review of all the various allegories, as if they were true. A couple of guys in the class were staunch dogmatic Christians. You can imagine the discussions that arose in that arena! Relentless logic versus blindered faith-based mandatory beliefs.
Then, later, I followed on with a few degrees in the life sciences, and that sealed the cake (is that a phrase? what sort of cake needs "sealing"?), and I then worked as a large-mammal biologist (vegan polar bears on the Ark? I know, I know...) out in the true wilderness areas of this planet, and observed firsthand the wonders that Evolution had wrought, all neatly fitting together.
About 20 years later I started putting my now consolidated conclusions and observations into sites like this, into some of my educational presentations where appropriate, and in some of my written rebuttals to the local letter-writers in my small town who promise grim rewards for those of us who, say, sip of a bit of Bourbon, or who do not bow our heads and mumble The Lord's Prayer at the local high school football games. (thankfully, do I notice about 60% of the highschoolers do not even close their eyes.).
By now, I feel I've heard most all the possible versions and arguments for Christianity, God and Genesis. It's now fun to visit upon them, but seeing the typical responses here on C-D, aside from it's entertainment value (even those of the more rational, reasonable, logical & polite arguers: thx, bluepacific!) only solidifies my atheism.
Last edited by rifleman; 05-11-2009 at 10:29 AM..
Reason: typoz
Well the first thing It did to me was make me hate R.E.
The exam was a joke. Whenever a question about morality came up, you were not meant to form your own opinions on it and expand on it. Oh no, you just had to remember all the apologetics and one line answers to the deepest questions imaginable that we see every day in C-D and cram them all in at once:
Quote:
Why is the evil in this world?
-Some say It's a test from god to make us better people.
-It's man's fault somehow
Is abortion right or wrong?
-Some people say it's right, others say it's wrong(drawn out to fit 2 pages)
At that point I really started to have internal disagreements with what the bible taught. The moral lessons were just so inconsistent and I became disillusioned with christianity altogether. I looked around for different religions including Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism and then settled for agnosticism.
Later I went to college to study maths, physics, chemistry and biology. I learned the scientific method, found both Zen and Nietzsche and then eventually decided that atheism is the term that best describes my philosophical views.
It's been quite a few years now and most of my family has come to accept me for who I am. Up to this point the only two people who annoy me about religious matter are my grandma and my brother.
My younger brother doesn't know any better but my grandma has become a walking stereotype ever since she moved to America.
The Bible clearly states that not everyone will go to heaven. Therefore, in effect, atheism is in fact an extension of prophecy (God's word). Why that doesn't scare the religion into an atheist is something i'll never understand.
Nevertheless, continue to go your own way. Nowhere does it say that it will result in everlasting enjoyment, though.
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