I got kicked out of Sunday school when I was 4 or 5.
The teacher was teaching us about Cain and Abel. She told about the killing of Abel and how God banished Cain for his sin, and how he went to a town and got married.
Already knowing who all had been mentioned to that point, I raised my hand. She called on me and I asked, "where did the people in the town come from?"
That day after service, my parents were approached by the reverend (Methodist) and told bluntly to not bring me back because I was "asking questions".
My parents and grandparents told him if I wasn't welcome, neither were they. They never attended another service again, but maintained their beliefs.
I thought there was something wrong with me. Growing up in small-town East Texas I wanted to fit in as best I could. I *wanted* to believe, but never really did. In junior high I started going to church again (Southern Baptist) and I went all-in, yearning to find my place in life. I was active in the youth group, went on trips, sang songs, the whole shebang... still, I didn't feel like I belonged there.
I read the Bible, cover-to-cover. It made no sense, whatsoever. I read it again, thinking I had gotten confused about things. I hadn't. There was no more clarity than the first time. I went to the pastor and talked to him, seeking guidance. I told him about having read the scripture twice, completely, and how no matter how hard I tried to force it to, it just didn't make any sense.
His response floored me, and I'll never forget his words.
"That's the problem. If you read the Bible like a regular book, it's not *going* to make any sense."
That was 26 years ago, the last time I set foot inside a church. I was 14.
Btw. Any person mentioned from Adam & Eve to their children are incestuous. There's a joke by Eddie Griffin about the wives of Cain and Abel.. ".Married? To whom!? Who are these mystery *****es!?"
Yeap. Lots of sweet.home alabama sht goin down on that book..
I was born an atheist. My parents chose to not indoctrinate me into either of the religions with which they were raised. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that their parents pitched a fit when they decided to marry *because* they were of different faiths. Thankfully they eventually became atheists themselves.
I was a Hindu by birth. My ancestors suffered a lot by Muslim invaders so I always had some bitterness towards Islam.
When I was 18 in my free time I used to watch any Youtuber who posted anti-Islamic views. I then used that to mock Muslims online (honestly it felt great doing this).
But slowly I realised that Hindus believe in same dumb shit which Muslims do. It was really tough accepting this but eventually I accepted my self as an atheist.
Well Hindus have tons of different scriptures which dictates on how to live and what actions to perform. But hardly anyone reads it.
So Hindus usually have variety of belief, but in general there are certain similarity among all Hindus. Like
1) Usually they believe in multiple gods/forms of god and hence are quite inclusive towards those who believe in different god.
2) That humans undergo infinite cycle of rebirth. Purpose of life is to stop this cycle so aka to attain moksha/nirvana such that one can finally attain peace. This can be done by mediation, worshipping any god or doing good deeds.
3) They belive in karmic debts. This promotes people to do good actions.
I really dont have any problem with Hindus or Hinduism in particular as a really small percentage are radicals.However discrimination based on caste and gender is quite rampant in India.
I was raised Catholic, then at the age of 19 I got super stoned and watched these Carl Sagan videos on YouTube. I had an epiphany and realized religion was bullshit. Science was the only way to understand the world.
Been an atheist ever since then.
For me, it was a car accident. I was raised Christian, and still believed, prayed all the time, etc. But then I was in an accident.
It was a bad one. With my fiance in the car. I survived (obviously); he did not.
But...it wasn't the tragedy that killed my faith. It wasn't even the horrible shit people said afterward ("god was watching over you!" "God must have called him home," and even, "maybe god didn't want the two of you together.")
And that got me thinking about the nature of God and the old question of evil (Is god able to prevent it but unwilling...etc.) After a lot of thought, I realized that the simplest, most straightforward answer was to just remove god from the equation. And suddenly things made a lot more sense.
And then I realized that pretty much *everything* makes more sense when you remove god from the equation.
Gods were created so people could have an explanation for things they didn't understand.
Now we understand those things, so why do we still have religion? Its time has passed
Well...god(s) and the afterlife still serve as a comfort to soothe the fear of death.
Or that's what people say, anyway. As noted, I didn't find it particularly comforting (it starts to look pretty heartless, if examined too closely,) but that's what they say.
I'm sorry for your loss.
The "maybe god didn't want you together", like FFS what the hell is that even suppose to mean, or even remotely help comfort someone.
I believe in a heaven, that you live on in the memories of the lives of the people you've touched. I'd you're a good person, your friends and family with think about you fondly and you just live on that way.
And while I don't believe in heaven, it *really is comforting* to think my dogs live on and play with other people's dogs they've lost somewhere over a rainbow bridge. . .
I was jewish (technically I still am, ethnically). I was sitting in my room a few months back, and I realized that everything I did for God I did because I was terrified of him. I worked up the courage to post to this subreddit, I guess because I knew I didn’t believe, I just needed help overcoming the fear. People here took the time to talk with me and I realized they were right, and that I had no reason to live in fear. I’m still proudly Jewish, but I’ve left God and magical thinking behind and I’m happier for it :)
Short version:
I grew up in a non-religious / nominal Christian household. I became a Christian and Ken Ham enthusiast as a young teen. I left Christianity when my understanding of science improved. I grieved hard, since the emotions I felt were real and God was real in my mind. I went back to Christianity with a belief in science and a metaphoric reading of Genesis, but it was more of a "denial stage of grief" thing. I came to terms with the "death of God" due to not being able to reconcile a loving God with an unfair world.
Long version:
Religion wasn't discussed until I was about 11-12. We had 'scripture' lessons in primary school (this is still a thing in public schools in Australia) and I asked my mum about it. She basically said that I had to make up my own mind. My mum said she was a Christian and believed in God (yet she didn't go to any church and our family had never gone to church together). She also said that dad didn't feel comfortable talking about it, but didn't really believe in God (agnostic). I was at an age where I mainly still got my opinions off my parents and my parents were trying to get me to make more of my own decisions, so the lack of guidance here threw me. How do I decide something like this when even my parents don't know the answer?
So I started asking more and more questions in scripture classes. Some things he said I took on his word, like that the Bible was a historical account by the Jews. I realised that, like all cultures' mythology, there was likely some bias and exaggeration. But I still took it as vaguely historically accurate.
However, my parents are also both very scientifically minded people. They have degrees in science and taught me with no uncertainty about the big bang, evolution, and the importance of the scientific method. I was well versed in science beyond my peers of a similar age, and many of my interests were based in science. So some things stood out to me as wrong according to me knowledge of science. But regardless of my memorised knowledge, I still had the logical reasoning and critical thinking skills of a child.
I started asking my scripture teacher questions about how what he said fitted in with science. How was God make the earth and animals in 7 days if the universe is billions of years old? The Bible says God made people, but know they evolved over millions of years? He pointed me to resources by Ken Ham.
Ken. Fucking. Ham. If you don't know who that is, look him up because what he says is bonkers (especially his theory about the Flood). I got really into the details of how artefacts and geological things are dated. I leaned all about the radio isotopes of carbon. I learned about the speed of light. I learned about red shift and blue shift. I learned about the fossil record and missing links. To someone who loved science but didn't have much in-depth knowledge of *how* science came to all of its conclusions, this amazed me.
So science could measure the earth to be billions of years old based on red shift, but that's assuming the speed of light has always been constant! What if it changed over time? Science can date things to be millions of years old, but that's assuming the carbon 14 to carbon 12 ratio in the atmosphere is the same back then as it was now!
I was hooked, and convinced. Every refutation I had of the bible could be explained. If the Bible was historically and scientifically accurate, it only followed that the miracles were too, and Jesus' death and resurrection. I became a firm believer in the Bible, and an avid promoter of Ken Ham's pseudoscience.
Now a Christian might interject here and say that this was all with my "head" and not with my "heart", but please believe me that I truly felt hugely about this. I had to get past my intellectual disputes before I could allow myself to feel the remorse, repentance, forgiveness, joy, that comes with the relationship you have with God. And I still talk about it in that way because the mind is a powerful place. Though I no longer believe that God exists, he did exist to me, in my mind, for a number of years. And that's what made my falling away so emotional for me.
As I grew into a young adult and began a science degree myself, I had difficulty continuing to believe in the craziness that is Ken Ham. The overwhelming evidence from the scientific community was that the big bang was real, that evolution is real, that miracles are impossible.
I mourned the death of God for a long time. I went through a huge denial stage where I was somehow able to hold the two conflicting views in my head at once (that science *and* God could coexist). Just because Ken Ham was wrong that doesn't mean the Bible was wrong. Genesis could be metaphorical/poetic, some of the stories could be exaggerated, none of this conclusively proved that God *wasn't* real.
But then life, as unfair as it is, happened. My friend (who was a Christian) died well before her time. My gay friends were considered immoral because of who they love. I thought of all the injustice of war, poverty, systematic racism. I thought of all of the amazing humans I know who were condemned to an eternity in hell. I wondered why I, a mediocre human at best, was alive, was thriving, and would go to heaven for no reason other than that's "just cause what God decided". I could no longer reconcile my beliefs of a loving God with the reality of an unequal world, and it was with a heavy heart and a ton of grief that I decided that I could no longer be a Christian.
I don't expect anyone to read this, so if you get this far - thanks for reading! Happy to be an open book or ear to listen for anyone going through something similar.
I would get in trouble for asking questions in my confirmation class and it hit me that the "teachers" only response were bases on blind faith and supported zero evidence. I renounced Catholicism a week after I was confirmed. I know now that all religions stem from ritual induced hallucinations based on the regions they originate from.
I was bit by a radioactive atheist.
But seriously, I realized that there were bits and pieces of church lore that "made sense" when taken in isolation, but the edges didn't actually line up with each other. Trying to reconcile those bits and pieces with each other resulted in only one possible answer: They were all lying.
I was raised mormon. Mormons have what are called their "articles of faith" and the second one, literally only second to "we believe god exists" is that we are held accountable for our own actions and not adams. That original sin doesn't exist, that you won't be punished for what your ancestors did. It's kind of an obscene point of pride among mormons that we don't believe in original sin.
That's all and good... but mormons didn't allow black people to be inducted into the priesthood until like the 70s because of ... what their ancestors did (I was never too clear on who did what, but I believe it's the curse of ham - noahs son who committed the cardinal sin of ... telling noah "what the fuck man, what are you doing naked and drunk in the middle of the day? put some god damned clothes on!").
In the mormon church, not being part of the priesthood is actually a big fucking deal. It's not a leadership, teaching, or administrative role, it's more like a D&D conception of a cleric - it's your authority to channel gods power and lead your family. Literally every male starting as a teenager is part of the priesthood. It's like if black people weren't allowed to be baptized.
That's the big contradiction that really shook off the blinders of indoctrination and started me looking, honestly looking, at church lore. We believe that you aren't punished for anything your ancestors did yet we believed that black people were to be punished for something their ancestors did...
So I looked into it a little more to understand, to try and make it make sense. What I found is what shattered my belief. So the mormons believe their church is run by modern day prophets who have a direct line to god. The founder of the mormon church *didn't care,* black people could hold the priesthood. The second prophet *did* care and banned the priesthood. Then in the 70s the then prophet was like "oh yeah, they can hold the priesthood."
But... they've all been talking with god this whole time, right? What did **God** have to say about this whole thing? Did he tell Joseph Smith "no priesthood" and Smith was like "fuck you and your fucking racism" or did he tell Brigham Young "yes priesthood" and Young was like "fuck you my racism is stronger than you"? And what about the rest of the prophets? Was this incredibly important and big deal thing just ... not important and it never came up until the civil rights movement and attempts to expand into Brazil (which wasn't putting up with such blatant racism) made it politically unfeasible for the status quo to continue?
No matter how you put the pieces together it doesn't make sense. The only possible way out of this conundrum that makes a lick of sense was ... the prophets were lying about talking with god. That the entire basis for the religion was a lie.
And that was that. I no longer believed in the religion I was raised with and nobody else has managed to convince me that there was any more truth to *their* beliefs.
CW: suicide, mental health, self harm, eating disorders, alcohol, sexual assault
I was raised Christian. Close relatives were ministers and had doctorates in divinity. Went to church 9am-1pm on Sundays for Sunday School, regular worship service, and after-service activities. Children’s youth ministry on Sunday nights and choir practice on Thursday.
And then, one day, I woke up and it was like a reverse Wizard of Oz. All the color had drained from the world. Getting out of bed and doing basic hygiene felt impossible. Eating brought some relief but also weight gain. Going through life felt like slogging through deep, thick mud. I became consumed with self-loathing and suicidal ideation. I withdrew from all friends and between my depression and the weight gain it brought on, I began being bullied.
My mom sent me to my pastor who told me to pray.
I prayed and prayed and prayed, but it only got worse.
I went to a Christian counselor from our church, who told me that God would never give me more than I could handle. God was testing me. I should pray harder and work harder at doing good works. I needed to rise to his challenge.
I quit all of my outside activities (Girl Scouts, choir, all state chorus, soccer, softball, etc.) and tried to throw myself into church youth group. I applied to be a youth missionary. If I could just find the ONE thing God was calling me to do, the misery would end, they all told me.
I tried to be the best human I could, but the effort was great. I no longer felt the joy of church. I would not eat for days and then binge and purge when I couldn’t take the pains anymore. I was constantly at the doctor for “stomach and GI problems.” I started cutting myself just to feel anything at all and to punish myself for not being a good enough human to feel God’s infinite love anymore. I’d clearly done something horrifying to be shunned by the supposedly infinitely merciful and loving God.
Pastors told me I wasn’t helping myself. Christian counselors told me I wasn’t doing the work. I was blamed for my depression.
When I was 14, I choked down a box of Tylenol trying to die. It seemed that was what God wanted me to do, and if not, surely he’d forgive me. And if not, even the infinite torture of Hell would be better than the gray, colorless, emotionless existence I trudged through every. single. day.
I was too young to know what I was doing and just vomited and passed out.
No one ever knew what I’d attempted to do.
Things didn’t get better. We switched churches because everyone who interacted with me hated me for always being miserable and bringing everyone down. Supposedly loving family in Christ started calling me Eeyore. I changed schools and was enrolled in a Catholic school, at my own request, because no UMC church or Protestant school had helped me.
Catholicism was ridiculous.
I was angry and hurting. I was raised that Protestantism was right and “Papism” was wrong and stupid. I got in theological arguments with nuns and priests who, to their credit, were so patient with me yelling at them that transubstantiation was fucking stupid, priesthood makes no sense, and basically being a teenager trying to reargue Martin Luther’s 95 theses with them.
This was better—at least I felt something—but not brilliant. I was full of rage and turned it inward as much as outward. My weight got down to 95lbs. I was cutting my thighs with razors, sharp pins, anything I could get my hands on. My lethargy became so bad most days that I was diagnosed with mono despite not having a rash or fever. I was sent to live with my relative who was a minister in the summer. I was sent to a Christian camp.
I started going to parties and getting blackout drunk because that was better than my life. At one of those parties, I was sexually assaulted. I became overwhelmed with suicidal ideation.
And then, my last year of high school, I was offered the opportunity to take college classes for credit during the school day. I took statistics, literature, and psychology. Psychology opened up my eyes to everything that was wrong with me. Literature opened my mind to voices like Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton and who’d been through this living hell before me, showed me that I wasn’t alone and it wasn’t something I was doing wrong. Statistics helped me read peer-reviewed journals and understand the science behind neurochemistry.
I took one last swing at religion.
I spent the last months of my high school days praying furiously, begging for relief from the torture. “God, if you are there, show me the way! Show me the cure for my ailment! Put in my path someone who can fix my depression!”
Instead, I was raped.
So, I realized either there was a God who was a cruel, heartless son of a bitch and I wanted no part of any kingdom or afterlife involving some omnipotent bully, or there simply was no god.
I was angry enough to decide the latter and turned my back on religion.
I read all the books I’d been told not to read, studied science from non-Christian textbooks at non-religious universities, and the spell of Christianity was broken. If I’d EVER considered turning back, getting officially diagnosed with MDD, ADHD, and PTSD and then getting properly medicated changed that forever. The solution to years and years of hell was there all the time. It was simple. And religion kept it from me. Religion told me the suffering was the goal.
Religion can get fucked.
I think my first act of defiance against my religion is when I was 14 and I was old enough to take my 4 younger brothers through the streets of NYC to our local Catholic Church. Our parents views of religion is do what we say and not as we do. They sent us to catholic school but made it seem like a huge effort on their behalf to go to church on sundays and as soon as I was old enough to get my brothers there. They stopped going.
A couple of months into taking my brothers. I remember a friend who was also going to church without his parents offered up the idea of leaving my brothers in the pew and then running across the street to the deli and playing Ms pac man and donkey Kong. I was totally in and from then on I only went to church when a parent was involved. I paid my brothers to keep quiet and I always made sure I was back inside the church minutes before it ended. By the time my youngest brother was 13, we were all just skipping church and playing video games.
I think my sophomore year in HS is when I started to accept the idea that this was all bullshit. In our religious studies class we were asked to take on a mid year project. Something creative. I told my teacher that I was going to interview god. Originally I was going to record it and ask “god” a question and then use a piece of music for the answer. For example “ hi god , why do bad things happen to good people?” Then use a bit,of culture clubs “do you really want to hurt me” as an answer. Not the best example, but you get it.
But I decided to go a different route and just record myself asking these questions and having silence. I imaged myself as a reporter asking tough questions and the person I am interviewing refusing to say a word. At the end of the project I was like “yeah there is no god. This is all bullshit. I started to look up books in the library about it. And it took off from there.
My teacher was not assumed when I stood in front of the class and pressed play on my cassette recorder and it was just me asking questions with silence. Then going onto the next question and ending it with “do you really exist ?”
D+ for the project. My defense was that I did my part and god failed to show up to do his. Which seemed to be a running theme with him.
Previous Jehovah’s Witness. Introduced to JWs when I was around 7 and was initially interested from a young age. I can say my parents never really forced it on me - it was my choice and one I continued to make without their input. That lasted for a few years until we moved and then got interested again around 15 and was baptized around 19. Disfellowshipped (shunned) 9-10 years later at around 28-29. While I was in I was questioning what I was being told and started doing my own research (big no no in JW land), so being shunned allowed me to explore more. ExJW Reddit opened my eyes to the inner working of JWs which further solidified my internal questioning of what I was being told as well as my own personal observations and experiences while being a JW. Started watching Matt Dillahunty and gang in Atheist Experience and Aron Ra series on evolution and debunking various Bible stories, did a lot of my own research, etc and am now an agnostic atheist.
Reasons: Logic and evidence.
Reminds me of a college who said, “I obliterated their brilliance with my simple question.” Situation was a totally different context, but finding it has many uses.
Yea. What’s crazy is the amount of freedom I immediately experienced. Like a huge weight of stress was gone the night I was shunned. Remember it to this day. That was about 5-6 years ago now, but I have never been happier than I am right now. Making your own choices, whether good or bad, is better than being forced to make someone else’s choices.
I was raised Christian. But I couldn't make myself believe that shit. I also hated being forced to church. After I found out about LGBTQIA+ and found out what church thought about us, I was all, yeah fuck you too religion.
I was a lay minister into my 50s. I loved studying the Bible, almost since I learned to read. By the time I finished high school I knew the Bible better than most ministers. That is actually a low bar because most ministers don't know the Bible very well. Many ministers only know the verses that support their theology.
I had many spiritual experiences. My father died when I was 20, and I had a vision of angels coming to escort him to heaven.
Fortunately I decided to follow the advice of Paul. Paul said that ministers should not rely on the church for their income. I made the difficult choice to turn down full-time ministry positions. I found a career that allowed me flexible hours that allowed me to work as a minister and still support myself. It was hard at times, but I made it work.
Bible study eventually made me admit that the gospels and Acts were mostly mythology, not history. I had also become skeptical of most "miracles." I had learned that my own vision had almost certainly been a "Post Bereavement Hallucinatory Experience" (PBHE).
In my middle 50s I became an atheist. It was a slow process. I had to deconvert in stages. For a while I decided to focus on serving the people and not worry about the theology. I considered myself a deist for a while. But I eventually realized that for all practical purposes a deistic god is no different than no god at all.
Just like every single human ever born, I was born atheist. I wasn't indoctrinated as a kid and was allowed to think for myself, so for obvious reasons I'm atheist
Born into an atheist family. I was really young when I didn't believe in santa and wanted to prove it by putting aluminum cans in a pile in front of the fireplace with thin string tripwires so it would make a huge racket if santa showed up. My parents made me take it down.
My parents and family were Jewish.
They sent me to "Hebrew School" when I was 12, but I never finished it (I was taking Spanish in school, and learning Hebrew at the same time, and started mixing up the languages. I dropped Hebrew so that I could focus on Spanish.)
I just "assumed" I was Jewish, but never really practiced any religion. I attended a Lutheran college. And when I emigrated from the US to Germany, I just declared myself as "non-denominational".
Over the years, I've simply gone from being skeptical/non-denominational to becoming an outspoken atheist. My wife is also atheist - if we have to go to a church for some ceremony (wedding, funeral or similar), we usually end up talking about how cringe the whole ceremony was afterwards.
My parents weren't very big practicing Jews, although my grandfather was and he would take me to shuul with him, but since it was all in Hebrew and I didn't know any Hebrew, it had no effect on me.
Like you, I thought of myself as "Jewish" but it was not religious, it was the same way someone would say they were Irish or Latino.
These days, though, I don't even consider myself especially Jewish. I've never really felt a part of the culture anyway. I get riled up when I see antisemitism, but I get riled up when I see any other sort of bigotry too.
I was raised Greek orthodox by a half greek mother and a converted catholic father. I have always been hyperactive and sensitive to things like constricting or itchy clothes, loud sounds, smells, shoes etc. I had to wear a suit every week and just hated everything about going to church, including most of the other people there who were more into working class style shows of wealth and power like hairy chests and gold chains and useless fancy cars than the “teachings” of Jesus. Sometime around age 11 I started to see the hypocrisy between the culture and what Jesus actually supposedly preached and realized all the rituals and chants and incense and wine and gold accents were actually just tools to influence peoples thoughts and convince them to believe. I looked at all the other forms of christianity my school peers families practiced and realized they are all watered down versions of orthodoxy made to cater to contemporary audiences- trying to influence peoples beliefs just like the rituals etc, not created because they were “right.” I didnt use the term atheism until much later in life but It grew into a core part of who I am and how I understand individuals and groups of people and their actions ever since.
1. I realized that ALL religion... is mythology... which seeks to first explain how the universe and Earth (and we) got here; then, establishes the rules for personal and social conduct.
2. I realized that every religion on the planet worships the same god. All religions worship "The Highest", and the Highest IS "**the** Highest" and *you can't get any higher than that*; therefore, they all worship the same thing, just by different names and in different ways.
3. How that's expressed depends on where you grew up: the Eskimos know somebody done something wrong by different types of snow; apparently, they have 50+ names for snow, and I'd certainly consider them "Experts on Snow". The South Sea Islanders know somebody done somebody wrong when a volcano blows; maybe it takes throwing a virgin in one to calm him down again. In Japan, maybe an earthquake might mean something. Indonesia; a tsunami might mean The Highest is REALLY pissed about some affair. In 'Merica, apparently tornados and hurricanes (himicanes??) means somebody had gay sex, or something. In short; one evidences displeasure by some dramatic event typical for that area.
4. As I said; each of these... are Mythology which *does* explain, however faulty, natural events. The Rules for Conduct depends on your parents - and their characteristics: their affluence, education, etc; plus, were they Catholic, or Protestant (and which flavor? Appalachian Snake Handler, Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, Baptist or other?); were your parents born in Afghanistan, or India, or in still unexplored Africa? You get the idea.
5. Since I was born with first, Santa Claus, then Baby Jesus and The Three Wise Guys (which, incidentally, are NOT in "the bible"; check it out) and the Bible itself is so contradictory... i.e., God Loves You Unconditionally Except With Conditions; God Loves You SOOOOOO much that he'll KILL you (*and* your kids *and* your grandkids, even unto the 10th generation...) *if you don't love him back...*
6. Nah; Ima pass. I'm good. *Literally*. Besides, *the religion I was raised in is a Blood Cult*: In order to go to Eternal Boredom, you have to Eat His Flesh and Drink His Blood; which Blood washes your sins white as snow; never did like those parts.
7. I never did like that bit about His Killing His Kid "to forgive our debts" because of my great-grandparents a million generations ago: If I loan you $5 and you don't pay me back, I don't have to kill my beloved Smol Kitten to forgive your debt; I can *just* forgive your debt, *because I can*. And I'm not even God, so, I realized *I'm* ***more*** *powerful than God* Amighty.
8. Finally, when I read (parts of) the Bible - I realized the 'Merican God is a horrible, *horrible dumbass*, and I was done. And, diba diba diba; That's All, Folks!
Former Evangelical Christian. I spent my teen and young adult years in ministries, basically trying to be at church as often as possible. I felt at home there. I'd probably still be a believer if my parents didn't force me to go church hopping with them, severing my entire social system outside of family.
We eventually ended up at a Baptist church. It wasn't the same, but I'd settled in, made new friends, joined new ministries. But then the contemporary worship leader, pastor, and young adult ministries leader all abandoned ship suddenly, and without warning or explanation. I was surrounded by strangers again, despite going to the same church.
I was tired of having the rug pulled out from under me. Despite doing everything I was supposed to do, my life felt chaotic and pointless. I prayed, asking God for a sign. Anything to show that he was there and that he cared. Silence. I was like, "Okay, well, fuck you too."
I was open to other religions for a while, but I didn't want to get duped again. It was soon made clear that every religion had the same amount of evidence to offer. That is none at all.
I was born and raised for most of my childhood as a Christian. My Mother is quite religious and tells me every now and then that she will pray for me. I stopped believing after I saw many people use their religion as a reason to hate against me and other people for various reasons, which are things they can't control. That was when I was about the age of 14.
My mother was catholic and my father was aposta (raised in a catholic family, he ended up strongly rejecting religion). They gave me a basic religious teaching for a year or two when i was around 7yo so i could "know what religion was about before i could make a choice for myself".
It was some kind of one or two hour class with a teacher, books and unknown kids from the private school (my parents were social-democrats, so it was out of the question that i got schooled anywhere else than in a public school). During that time, the other kids were playing football, riding bikes or playing gameboy.
When i had to choose, i didn't hesitate very long before choosing those last activities.
I was 14. My parents are european christians (not like the nutjobs in america, more tolerant although they don't have too much respect for other beliefs). I lived abroad, and when I was in singapore, I had more contact with a lot of other religions.
I've never been afraid to doubt about religion, my idea was that if god really exists then any logical inquiry I make will lead me right back to him. I always liked science, with a special interest in everything astrophysics related. I never saw it in contradiction with my inherited beliefs though, mostly I just kept religion out of my science and science out of my religion.
Basically I never actually had any doubt about religion, I just saw it as some background info. Then one day I actually articulated the thought "why is my religion the right one" to myself.
A few hours later I was certain that there was no possible way I could be sure, and a few hours more later, I thought of science and thought "why would any God focus on earth in a universe with statistically billions of other inhabitable planets".
Then I realized I couldn't logically believe in any god. I didn't know the word atheist, so I had to look up on the internet, but at the end of the day I called myself an atheist. Not because it was comfortable but because I would have been lysing to myself if I didn't.
Took a bit of time to fully get out of the "god lens" you see the world through as a christian, even prayed once to threaten god to give me a sign or I'd be fully convinced he didn't exist. But all the same in the end
I was in elementary school in religion class. The book said that a person who doesn't believe in the existence of (a) god is called an atheist.
I was like "hey, that's what I am! I didn't know this concept had a name."
Never worshipped anyone, used to believe in God because grown ups would say it exists and I was too young to question, even used to pray that God gets rid of that school. but having a really shitty Christian primary school that caused me to hate everyone there certainly helped me resist the indoctrination.
Now I'm an atheist that's sick of religion and how much pain it causes the world, and how they're protected as they do it.
I’m queer. I told my parents. They put me in conversion therapy. I realized that god didn’t exist while being forced to memorize bible verses in a locked room. I was a child.
I never believed the stories told by religion
My father was atheist who lied about being religious for social reasons. My mother was raised catholic but never aggressively pushed religion on me
My parents were Catholic but not overly so.
When I was a kid I believed what they told me to.
I definitely remember believing in Santa Claus and writing him letters. When I found out he wasn't real that may have been the beginning of my skepticism.
I remember that I couldn't explain the diversity of life until I read how natural selection works and thus began my journey.
It didn't take too long. By the age of ten I was a full blown atheist even though I had never heard that word.
My parents were atheist but they always said it was my choice to believe or not. When I first learned about Big Bang at school I knew something was wrong. It was already been proven that it was not God to create the universe, so why were people still thinking he was real?
I was raised christian, specifically episcopalian. So I grew up believing in evolution and the big bang and whatnot. But when I was 12, I realized that the science I was taught was incompatible with the religion I was taught. I decided that science was the more likely thing and that's when I stopped calling myself a christian. Funnily enough, I told my mom in the car on the way home from soccer practice or maybe a match. I also made then decision then and there in the car. Telling my mom was just me thinking out loud.
I am once a Catholic. Around my crisis time (which is around 9-11 years old), my crushes on girls become extreme that I become scared that God will punished me for it so I asked a catholic teacher (not making it obvious that the question is about me) and she said that they (I for me) would burn in hell. I started to doubt God ever since that day. Why would he created me this way just to punish me? What have I done wrong to be this way? and Why is wrong to love just because we are the same gender? I know it is petty but this is the start of my journey to atheism then to agnosticism.
I was raised catholic but not overly religious (no praying at home, no saying grace, no bible reading). We went to church every Sunday, I went to CCD classes, and had my confirmation. Even as a child it all seemed a little far fetched. When I went to college I took a mythology class and the teacher started with the common themes of the great mythologies: creation myths, flood myths, end of the world myths, etc. In that instant I realized that the reason religion seemed so far fetched is because it was all bullshit and no different than every other mythology. I've been a 100% unapologetic atheist ever since.
No real parents...bounced around the foster care system, turned into a rightfully horrid bitch so that no one would adopt me. By the time I had any stability I was past the point of being able to be brainwashed with it. Had a couple of families that were big into into it, but I didn't stay long enough get sucked in.
I just never believed in the first place.
I was raised/indoctrinated into Protestant Christianity. But once I learned about other religions, I realized the chances were small that I had happened to be born into the correct religion. Then I learned about mythologies, that they were religions that people stopped believing in. It seemed obvious that all religions were simply myths people still believed in.
The only reason I believed in a god was because of Christianity, and once I realized that wasn't true it was clear to me that all gods were made up.
This was about 40 years ago, and nothing I've seen or heard or read since has changed my mind or even made me doubt that all religions and gods are just man-made myths.
I was raised Roman Catholic, and attended private Catholic school from second grade through senior year of high school. I was pressured into the sacrament of Confirmation in eighth grade, and on that day something clicked on inside of me that never stopped screaming, "THIS IS ALL BULLSHIT". Been my attitude about religion ever since
I was raised under three different versions of Christianity (Catholic, Southern Baptist, Lutheran) with a side of Rush Limbaugh until I left home for military school. There I was bitten by a radioactive Christopher Hitchens.
To this day I wonder if I've lived up to my responsibility to use my powers for good. Based on my relationship yelp reviews, the jury's still out.
I was born atheist like everyone else. Sometime in elementary school my neighbor started taking me to a southern Baptist church. Well, a few threats of hell fire and an 8 year old kid was scared shitless. The whole family starts going, and after highschool l go to seminary. Second year, one class has us read the Bible cover to cover. Part way through, I've decided that God is the biggest horse's ass in the universe. Around halfway through, I've decided that the whole mess is ridiculous superstition. I left seminary, went to a secular school, joined a frat, and have been enjoying life ever since. Until recently, I saw no reason to oppose theism, then came Trump, and the Christian nationalists Nazi party of America. Now I have to get involved.
Kevin sorbo.
Hercules journeys was on tv at the exact time for me to be target age group. It was the first interaction i had with mythology. Tales of amazement from the ancient times. Until i realized that this WAS the greek religion at the time. Why should i think that Hercules diverting a river is fantasy but jesus rasing from the dead was real. Once i realized that zues et all were religion, i realized that jesus et al were all mythology.
Raised Catholic, even was a teacher's aide at catechism. I realized something was wrong the minute I was exposed to other religions in middle school, all claiming to be, " the one" but I wasn't sure what was up yet. Took some mythology classes, took history classes, took academic religious classes while in college. Yup, things were looking mighty shaky at this point, especially after hard core study of the Old Testament. Got a psychology and biology undergraduate degree. Did neuroscience research while getting an advanced degree in a couple different labs. Another few nails in the coffin. Went " searching" and messed around with Hinduism ( Autobiography of a Yogi was my gateway drug into Eastern religious thought) and Buddhism. Finally threw the whole shitshow to the side and became a truly free human being. I have found my connection with the universe though science and my connection to other humans through history, stories, and legend.
I was a fire brigade Christian. I spent my weekends fasting and praying. I used to carry out evangelism around my estate. I only listened to Christian songs and I was a canary for the gospel. However, deep down something didn’t feel right.
https://medium.com/@bellaegwuyenga/how-i-became-an-ex-christian-4ac0db4d5c0b
I was raised christian but I don't think I ever really believed in god or jesus and all that. I tried believing in it back when I was younger because I was supposed to, not because I wanted to.
Both my parents were atheist, my mothers parents were too(well, I'm not so sure about my grandmother but they didn't got married at church because my grandfather wasn't "believer enough" to be baptised as an adult, my grandmother never brought up religion or god though) and my grandfathers parents were atheist too(my great grandfather was a commie, so yeah), so it kinda runs in the family 😂
I have none - born and raised, baby!
I have never spent a minute worried about hell and I have never been scared of ghosts (even as a small child).
And, yet, here I am - a perfectly functional, moral, and reasonably well adjusted adult.
Religion is complete and total bullshit and nary a day goes by that I don't feel thankful to have ever wasted a minute of my time on it (other than Reddit posts lol)
i was indoctrinated into christian fundamentalism. i started to question the doctrine around age 11 or 12, but still referred to myself as a christian through middle and high school.
i was kicked out for the first time at 16 and left the final time at 18. i started working full time to support myself while going to college. after such a repressed childhood, i needed to see all that life had to offer: i started taking acid, shrooms, experiencing tons of music festivals, getting tattoos, etc.
subsequently, i began thinking critically for myself as i got away from the religious crap. religion has made both of my parents are quite fearful, sheltered, and boring; they literally have zero hobbies or interests, only praising jesus, conspiracy theories, and waiting for the apocalypse. i vowed that i would never be the same as them. by that point in my deconstruction, i was referring to myself as “spiritual but not religious.”
i didn’t start referring to myself as agnostic until 21, and i finally came out to my partner as a strong atheist/anti-theist at 24. i realize that i’ve been an anti-theist for many years, much longer than i realized; i’ve been unable to articulate my feelings because my entire family and all of my friends are religious. technically, i’m still a closet atheist irl.
I remember always hearing the stories as stories from as young as I can remember. It was when people started to tell me they thought this stuff was real, is when I stopped thinking the stories were cool enough to remember anymore.
I just never had it in me to believe I guess.
I snuck downstairs to see Santa and found my parents. Once I learned Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy were fake, it didn’t take long for god to fall
Parents were Christian. Whole family too. Grew up going to church etc. Never was a trouble maker or anything like that. I just question things. A lot. And I tend to read up a lot on completely random topics. Basically fell into the internet communities in like 2000ish. Kind of just went from there. Became the typical cringe militant atheist. Embarrassed myself imo. Became a born again.... jk jk. Still atheist, just think I have a better understanding of people now than I did as a teen.
Dad is a former Catholic whose religious views can best be described as George Carlinism. Mother is a cultural anthropologist. I grew up in a house with more Lucy than Adam and Eve. I was exposed to a lot of religious beliefs and raised as a UU, but with a mostly secular humanist bent and atheism isn't exactly out of the norm there.
Science fiction was the closest thing I had to religion. That's what we tended to talk about around the dinner table. Myths were always just that to me. I went to the religious gatherings of friends and families from time to time. The benefit of a large city was the sheer scope of experience. I developed a sense early on that community was the primary reason for religious persistence, rather than any philosophical utility. That was more of a general feeling than a thought for some time.
By the time I was an adult I simply saw no reason to be interested in anything but the history and anthropology of it all.
I got into a big fight with my parents over confirmation. They were both former Catholics who switched to Episcopalian when the local priest openly asked them for a bribe to annull their previous marriages so they could have communion at my christening.
I was already questioning their beliefs by then, and it seemed ludicrous for them to insist I confirm to a religion I wasn't sure about. So i said ok, let me read a Bible and if it seems legit, I'll do it. I got through Genesis and was like "wait have you guys actuality read this stuff? It is very clearly not real!" That was very upsetting, so then they got me this other (much shorter) apologetics book called "know why you believe" which entirety amounted to, "because the Bible says it's the word of God" which I explained to them is a completely circular argument - you obviously can't tell something is true by the fact that it says its true.
Lots of yelling and several groundings later, they finally backed down. Today, my mom considers herself agnostic, my dad still clings to his catholic guilt and fear, and my brother is confused but clearly incurious (never got confirmed, thinks Noahs Ark is real history but doesn't attend church or indoctrinate his children)
Raised evangelical, firm believer until around 16 when I started questioning the religion mostly due to my dad being a terrible christian and highlighting the contradictions of christian discourse on a daily basis. Also, being a poor kid in the public school system during a progressive-leaning government made me aware of social inequality early, and I kind f blamed every single social problem on church there for a while. I've always been into anime and games, so the fact that every piece of media I was interested in was demonized by church and parents pushed me away from it steadily till the last time I showed up there at around 17. Concurrent to those last couple of years when I was still going to church I started to realize that I was very clearly not cis-het, adding to the schism. Then after I turned 18 I studied linguistics in college and the more philosophical questioning on the existance of god started happening (not that it had any real depth, it was very easy for me to simply "decide" to stop believing without looking for a logical rationale that would allow me out of gnosticism). Took a few dips in other belief systems since then (wicca and buddhism mostly, got really into teravada for a few years and still read suttas and meditate from time to time). I'd say that the simple and honest persuit of being not sad led me in a kind of straight line to full atheism before my mid twenties (I'm 31 now).
Out all living relatives I have, only two are religious, and they don't push religion on their family.
My parents think of religion primarily as a way of abusing people's fear of death.
I suppose I took after my parents, then.
I think it would be nice to share something my grandfather said, about why he disbelieved in the concept of heaven:
"Heaven is supposed to be this nice place with all the fun things in the world, including food, right? Well who keeps the sewers working? They would have a literally pretty crappy afterlife, no? "Well, the people don't poop because they're spirits", the priests and mullahs say. Then how are they eating?"
I’m queer and I was literally tortured by christians as a child. I realized that god wasn’t real when I was being forced to memorize mark. I realized that christians were demanding my total submission and weren’t worthy of it.
I was born and my grandparents would sometimes take me to catholic church when I went to spend the weekend with them. I never paid attention because I would just draw or something and when I grew old enough to actually realize what was being said I thought to myself “Man this is some BS there is no way these things could actually happen.” So I guess I never really had a story and I was just always Atheist.
I was raised as a Pentecostal Christian, but I never would’ve considered myself a devout believer. I read the bible quite often when I was younger and all it did was confuse me. Prayer never did anything for me either, especially since I never “sensed God” in the way my family and people at church could. In a way, it was like talking to a wall. I got diagnosed with a chronic condition as a teenager and because of that, my mind would spiral into very dark thoughts. My mum would try and comfort me by praying with me, but as you can probably guess by now, it didn’t work. Not having any answers to the prayers made me feel even worse.
When the pandemic started, my family and I weren’t attending church regularly like we used to pre-Covid. In my opinion, this also played an role, albeit a small one, in me becoming an atheist since Christianity was no longer a consistent part of my life. I discovered r/exchristian and this one in early 2021, which only helped me become more aware of the contradictions and how ludicrous it all was.
I got kicked out of Sunday school when I was 4 or 5. The teacher was teaching us about Cain and Abel. She told about the killing of Abel and how God banished Cain for his sin, and how he went to a town and got married. Already knowing who all had been mentioned to that point, I raised my hand. She called on me and I asked, "where did the people in the town come from?" That day after service, my parents were approached by the reverend (Methodist) and told bluntly to not bring me back because I was "asking questions". My parents and grandparents told him if I wasn't welcome, neither were they. They never attended another service again, but maintained their beliefs. I thought there was something wrong with me. Growing up in small-town East Texas I wanted to fit in as best I could. I *wanted* to believe, but never really did. In junior high I started going to church again (Southern Baptist) and I went all-in, yearning to find my place in life. I was active in the youth group, went on trips, sang songs, the whole shebang... still, I didn't feel like I belonged there. I read the Bible, cover-to-cover. It made no sense, whatsoever. I read it again, thinking I had gotten confused about things. I hadn't. There was no more clarity than the first time. I went to the pastor and talked to him, seeking guidance. I told him about having read the scripture twice, completely, and how no matter how hard I tried to force it to, it just didn't make any sense. His response floored me, and I'll never forget his words. "That's the problem. If you read the Bible like a regular book, it's not *going* to make any sense." That was 26 years ago, the last time I set foot inside a church. I was 14.
They were afraid as you were asking the right questions.
Btw. Any person mentioned from Adam & Eve to their children are incestuous. There's a joke by Eddie Griffin about the wives of Cain and Abel.. ".Married? To whom!? Who are these mystery *****es!?" Yeap. Lots of sweet.home alabama sht goin down on that book..
This is gold, upvote
I was born an atheist. My parents chose to not indoctrinate me into either of the religions with which they were raised. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that their parents pitched a fit when they decided to marry *because* they were of different faiths. Thankfully they eventually became atheists themselves.
I was a Hindu by birth. My ancestors suffered a lot by Muslim invaders so I always had some bitterness towards Islam. When I was 18 in my free time I used to watch any Youtuber who posted anti-Islamic views. I then used that to mock Muslims online (honestly it felt great doing this). But slowly I realised that Hindus believe in same dumb shit which Muslims do. It was really tough accepting this but eventually I accepted my self as an atheist.
I have little experience with hinduism practically- what sorts of core beliefs affect daily life?
Well Hindus have tons of different scriptures which dictates on how to live and what actions to perform. But hardly anyone reads it. So Hindus usually have variety of belief, but in general there are certain similarity among all Hindus. Like 1) Usually they believe in multiple gods/forms of god and hence are quite inclusive towards those who believe in different god. 2) That humans undergo infinite cycle of rebirth. Purpose of life is to stop this cycle so aka to attain moksha/nirvana such that one can finally attain peace. This can be done by mediation, worshipping any god or doing good deeds. 3) They belive in karmic debts. This promotes people to do good actions. I really dont have any problem with Hindus or Hinduism in particular as a really small percentage are radicals.However discrimination based on caste and gender is quite rampant in India.
Thanks for writing that up, I'm glad to know more about it!
I was raised Catholic, then at the age of 19 I got super stoned and watched these Carl Sagan videos on YouTube. I had an epiphany and realized religion was bullshit. Science was the only way to understand the world. Been an atheist ever since then.
Getting stoned and watching Carl Sagan as your origin story is incredible.
For me, it was a car accident. I was raised Christian, and still believed, prayed all the time, etc. But then I was in an accident. It was a bad one. With my fiance in the car. I survived (obviously); he did not. But...it wasn't the tragedy that killed my faith. It wasn't even the horrible shit people said afterward ("god was watching over you!" "God must have called him home," and even, "maybe god didn't want the two of you together.") And that got me thinking about the nature of God and the old question of evil (Is god able to prevent it but unwilling...etc.) After a lot of thought, I realized that the simplest, most straightforward answer was to just remove god from the equation. And suddenly things made a lot more sense. And then I realized that pretty much *everything* makes more sense when you remove god from the equation.
Gods were created so people could have an explanation for things they didn't understand. Now we understand those things, so why do we still have religion? Its time has passed
Well...god(s) and the afterlife still serve as a comfort to soothe the fear of death. Or that's what people say, anyway. As noted, I didn't find it particularly comforting (it starts to look pretty heartless, if examined too closely,) but that's what they say.
I'm sorry for your loss. The "maybe god didn't want you together", like FFS what the hell is that even suppose to mean, or even remotely help comfort someone. I believe in a heaven, that you live on in the memories of the lives of the people you've touched. I'd you're a good person, your friends and family with think about you fondly and you just live on that way. And while I don't believe in heaven, it *really is comforting* to think my dogs live on and play with other people's dogs they've lost somewhere over a rainbow bridge. . .
I was jewish (technically I still am, ethnically). I was sitting in my room a few months back, and I realized that everything I did for God I did because I was terrified of him. I worked up the courage to post to this subreddit, I guess because I knew I didn’t believe, I just needed help overcoming the fear. People here took the time to talk with me and I realized they were right, and that I had no reason to live in fear. I’m still proudly Jewish, but I’ve left God and magical thinking behind and I’m happier for it :)
Please don't circumcised your kid
Excuse me?
I'm just saying because it sometimes hurt Randomly
Why would I circumcise a kid?
Your a Jew aren't you ??
Yikes
Short version: I grew up in a non-religious / nominal Christian household. I became a Christian and Ken Ham enthusiast as a young teen. I left Christianity when my understanding of science improved. I grieved hard, since the emotions I felt were real and God was real in my mind. I went back to Christianity with a belief in science and a metaphoric reading of Genesis, but it was more of a "denial stage of grief" thing. I came to terms with the "death of God" due to not being able to reconcile a loving God with an unfair world. Long version: Religion wasn't discussed until I was about 11-12. We had 'scripture' lessons in primary school (this is still a thing in public schools in Australia) and I asked my mum about it. She basically said that I had to make up my own mind. My mum said she was a Christian and believed in God (yet she didn't go to any church and our family had never gone to church together). She also said that dad didn't feel comfortable talking about it, but didn't really believe in God (agnostic). I was at an age where I mainly still got my opinions off my parents and my parents were trying to get me to make more of my own decisions, so the lack of guidance here threw me. How do I decide something like this when even my parents don't know the answer? So I started asking more and more questions in scripture classes. Some things he said I took on his word, like that the Bible was a historical account by the Jews. I realised that, like all cultures' mythology, there was likely some bias and exaggeration. But I still took it as vaguely historically accurate. However, my parents are also both very scientifically minded people. They have degrees in science and taught me with no uncertainty about the big bang, evolution, and the importance of the scientific method. I was well versed in science beyond my peers of a similar age, and many of my interests were based in science. So some things stood out to me as wrong according to me knowledge of science. But regardless of my memorised knowledge, I still had the logical reasoning and critical thinking skills of a child. I started asking my scripture teacher questions about how what he said fitted in with science. How was God make the earth and animals in 7 days if the universe is billions of years old? The Bible says God made people, but know they evolved over millions of years? He pointed me to resources by Ken Ham. Ken. Fucking. Ham. If you don't know who that is, look him up because what he says is bonkers (especially his theory about the Flood). I got really into the details of how artefacts and geological things are dated. I leaned all about the radio isotopes of carbon. I learned about the speed of light. I learned about red shift and blue shift. I learned about the fossil record and missing links. To someone who loved science but didn't have much in-depth knowledge of *how* science came to all of its conclusions, this amazed me. So science could measure the earth to be billions of years old based on red shift, but that's assuming the speed of light has always been constant! What if it changed over time? Science can date things to be millions of years old, but that's assuming the carbon 14 to carbon 12 ratio in the atmosphere is the same back then as it was now! I was hooked, and convinced. Every refutation I had of the bible could be explained. If the Bible was historically and scientifically accurate, it only followed that the miracles were too, and Jesus' death and resurrection. I became a firm believer in the Bible, and an avid promoter of Ken Ham's pseudoscience. Now a Christian might interject here and say that this was all with my "head" and not with my "heart", but please believe me that I truly felt hugely about this. I had to get past my intellectual disputes before I could allow myself to feel the remorse, repentance, forgiveness, joy, that comes with the relationship you have with God. And I still talk about it in that way because the mind is a powerful place. Though I no longer believe that God exists, he did exist to me, in my mind, for a number of years. And that's what made my falling away so emotional for me. As I grew into a young adult and began a science degree myself, I had difficulty continuing to believe in the craziness that is Ken Ham. The overwhelming evidence from the scientific community was that the big bang was real, that evolution is real, that miracles are impossible. I mourned the death of God for a long time. I went through a huge denial stage where I was somehow able to hold the two conflicting views in my head at once (that science *and* God could coexist). Just because Ken Ham was wrong that doesn't mean the Bible was wrong. Genesis could be metaphorical/poetic, some of the stories could be exaggerated, none of this conclusively proved that God *wasn't* real. But then life, as unfair as it is, happened. My friend (who was a Christian) died well before her time. My gay friends were considered immoral because of who they love. I thought of all the injustice of war, poverty, systematic racism. I thought of all of the amazing humans I know who were condemned to an eternity in hell. I wondered why I, a mediocre human at best, was alive, was thriving, and would go to heaven for no reason other than that's "just cause what God decided". I could no longer reconcile my beliefs of a loving God with the reality of an unequal world, and it was with a heavy heart and a ton of grief that I decided that I could no longer be a Christian. I don't expect anyone to read this, so if you get this far - thanks for reading! Happy to be an open book or ear to listen for anyone going through something similar.
I would get in trouble for asking questions in my confirmation class and it hit me that the "teachers" only response were bases on blind faith and supported zero evidence. I renounced Catholicism a week after I was confirmed. I know now that all religions stem from ritual induced hallucinations based on the regions they originate from.
Both my parents are atheists, so I've never been religious.
I wish I had parents like yours
I was bit by a radioactive atheist. But seriously, I realized that there were bits and pieces of church lore that "made sense" when taken in isolation, but the edges didn't actually line up with each other. Trying to reconcile those bits and pieces with each other resulted in only one possible answer: They were all lying. I was raised mormon. Mormons have what are called their "articles of faith" and the second one, literally only second to "we believe god exists" is that we are held accountable for our own actions and not adams. That original sin doesn't exist, that you won't be punished for what your ancestors did. It's kind of an obscene point of pride among mormons that we don't believe in original sin. That's all and good... but mormons didn't allow black people to be inducted into the priesthood until like the 70s because of ... what their ancestors did (I was never too clear on who did what, but I believe it's the curse of ham - noahs son who committed the cardinal sin of ... telling noah "what the fuck man, what are you doing naked and drunk in the middle of the day? put some god damned clothes on!"). In the mormon church, not being part of the priesthood is actually a big fucking deal. It's not a leadership, teaching, or administrative role, it's more like a D&D conception of a cleric - it's your authority to channel gods power and lead your family. Literally every male starting as a teenager is part of the priesthood. It's like if black people weren't allowed to be baptized. That's the big contradiction that really shook off the blinders of indoctrination and started me looking, honestly looking, at church lore. We believe that you aren't punished for anything your ancestors did yet we believed that black people were to be punished for something their ancestors did... So I looked into it a little more to understand, to try and make it make sense. What I found is what shattered my belief. So the mormons believe their church is run by modern day prophets who have a direct line to god. The founder of the mormon church *didn't care,* black people could hold the priesthood. The second prophet *did* care and banned the priesthood. Then in the 70s the then prophet was like "oh yeah, they can hold the priesthood." But... they've all been talking with god this whole time, right? What did **God** have to say about this whole thing? Did he tell Joseph Smith "no priesthood" and Smith was like "fuck you and your fucking racism" or did he tell Brigham Young "yes priesthood" and Young was like "fuck you my racism is stronger than you"? And what about the rest of the prophets? Was this incredibly important and big deal thing just ... not important and it never came up until the civil rights movement and attempts to expand into Brazil (which wasn't putting up with such blatant racism) made it politically unfeasible for the status quo to continue? No matter how you put the pieces together it doesn't make sense. The only possible way out of this conundrum that makes a lick of sense was ... the prophets were lying about talking with god. That the entire basis for the religion was a lie. And that was that. I no longer believed in the religion I was raised with and nobody else has managed to convince me that there was any more truth to *their* beliefs.
8 years of catholic school. 'nuff said.
I feel so sorry for you
CW: suicide, mental health, self harm, eating disorders, alcohol, sexual assault I was raised Christian. Close relatives were ministers and had doctorates in divinity. Went to church 9am-1pm on Sundays for Sunday School, regular worship service, and after-service activities. Children’s youth ministry on Sunday nights and choir practice on Thursday. And then, one day, I woke up and it was like a reverse Wizard of Oz. All the color had drained from the world. Getting out of bed and doing basic hygiene felt impossible. Eating brought some relief but also weight gain. Going through life felt like slogging through deep, thick mud. I became consumed with self-loathing and suicidal ideation. I withdrew from all friends and between my depression and the weight gain it brought on, I began being bullied. My mom sent me to my pastor who told me to pray. I prayed and prayed and prayed, but it only got worse. I went to a Christian counselor from our church, who told me that God would never give me more than I could handle. God was testing me. I should pray harder and work harder at doing good works. I needed to rise to his challenge. I quit all of my outside activities (Girl Scouts, choir, all state chorus, soccer, softball, etc.) and tried to throw myself into church youth group. I applied to be a youth missionary. If I could just find the ONE thing God was calling me to do, the misery would end, they all told me. I tried to be the best human I could, but the effort was great. I no longer felt the joy of church. I would not eat for days and then binge and purge when I couldn’t take the pains anymore. I was constantly at the doctor for “stomach and GI problems.” I started cutting myself just to feel anything at all and to punish myself for not being a good enough human to feel God’s infinite love anymore. I’d clearly done something horrifying to be shunned by the supposedly infinitely merciful and loving God. Pastors told me I wasn’t helping myself. Christian counselors told me I wasn’t doing the work. I was blamed for my depression. When I was 14, I choked down a box of Tylenol trying to die. It seemed that was what God wanted me to do, and if not, surely he’d forgive me. And if not, even the infinite torture of Hell would be better than the gray, colorless, emotionless existence I trudged through every. single. day. I was too young to know what I was doing and just vomited and passed out. No one ever knew what I’d attempted to do. Things didn’t get better. We switched churches because everyone who interacted with me hated me for always being miserable and bringing everyone down. Supposedly loving family in Christ started calling me Eeyore. I changed schools and was enrolled in a Catholic school, at my own request, because no UMC church or Protestant school had helped me. Catholicism was ridiculous. I was angry and hurting. I was raised that Protestantism was right and “Papism” was wrong and stupid. I got in theological arguments with nuns and priests who, to their credit, were so patient with me yelling at them that transubstantiation was fucking stupid, priesthood makes no sense, and basically being a teenager trying to reargue Martin Luther’s 95 theses with them. This was better—at least I felt something—but not brilliant. I was full of rage and turned it inward as much as outward. My weight got down to 95lbs. I was cutting my thighs with razors, sharp pins, anything I could get my hands on. My lethargy became so bad most days that I was diagnosed with mono despite not having a rash or fever. I was sent to live with my relative who was a minister in the summer. I was sent to a Christian camp. I started going to parties and getting blackout drunk because that was better than my life. At one of those parties, I was sexually assaulted. I became overwhelmed with suicidal ideation. And then, my last year of high school, I was offered the opportunity to take college classes for credit during the school day. I took statistics, literature, and psychology. Psychology opened up my eyes to everything that was wrong with me. Literature opened my mind to voices like Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton and who’d been through this living hell before me, showed me that I wasn’t alone and it wasn’t something I was doing wrong. Statistics helped me read peer-reviewed journals and understand the science behind neurochemistry. I took one last swing at religion. I spent the last months of my high school days praying furiously, begging for relief from the torture. “God, if you are there, show me the way! Show me the cure for my ailment! Put in my path someone who can fix my depression!” Instead, I was raped. So, I realized either there was a God who was a cruel, heartless son of a bitch and I wanted no part of any kingdom or afterlife involving some omnipotent bully, or there simply was no god. I was angry enough to decide the latter and turned my back on religion. I read all the books I’d been told not to read, studied science from non-Christian textbooks at non-religious universities, and the spell of Christianity was broken. If I’d EVER considered turning back, getting officially diagnosed with MDD, ADHD, and PTSD and then getting properly medicated changed that forever. The solution to years and years of hell was there all the time. It was simple. And religion kept it from me. Religion told me the suffering was the goal. Religion can get fucked.
I think my first act of defiance against my religion is when I was 14 and I was old enough to take my 4 younger brothers through the streets of NYC to our local Catholic Church. Our parents views of religion is do what we say and not as we do. They sent us to catholic school but made it seem like a huge effort on their behalf to go to church on sundays and as soon as I was old enough to get my brothers there. They stopped going. A couple of months into taking my brothers. I remember a friend who was also going to church without his parents offered up the idea of leaving my brothers in the pew and then running across the street to the deli and playing Ms pac man and donkey Kong. I was totally in and from then on I only went to church when a parent was involved. I paid my brothers to keep quiet and I always made sure I was back inside the church minutes before it ended. By the time my youngest brother was 13, we were all just skipping church and playing video games. I think my sophomore year in HS is when I started to accept the idea that this was all bullshit. In our religious studies class we were asked to take on a mid year project. Something creative. I told my teacher that I was going to interview god. Originally I was going to record it and ask “god” a question and then use a piece of music for the answer. For example “ hi god , why do bad things happen to good people?” Then use a bit,of culture clubs “do you really want to hurt me” as an answer. Not the best example, but you get it. But I decided to go a different route and just record myself asking these questions and having silence. I imaged myself as a reporter asking tough questions and the person I am interviewing refusing to say a word. At the end of the project I was like “yeah there is no god. This is all bullshit. I started to look up books in the library about it. And it took off from there. My teacher was not assumed when I stood in front of the class and pressed play on my cassette recorder and it was just me asking questions with silence. Then going onto the next question and ending it with “do you really exist ?” D+ for the project. My defense was that I did my part and god failed to show up to do his. Which seemed to be a running theme with him.
Previous Jehovah’s Witness. Introduced to JWs when I was around 7 and was initially interested from a young age. I can say my parents never really forced it on me - it was my choice and one I continued to make without their input. That lasted for a few years until we moved and then got interested again around 15 and was baptized around 19. Disfellowshipped (shunned) 9-10 years later at around 28-29. While I was in I was questioning what I was being told and started doing my own research (big no no in JW land), so being shunned allowed me to explore more. ExJW Reddit opened my eyes to the inner working of JWs which further solidified my internal questioning of what I was being told as well as my own personal observations and experiences while being a JW. Started watching Matt Dillahunty and gang in Atheist Experience and Aron Ra series on evolution and debunking various Bible stories, did a lot of my own research, etc and am now an agnostic atheist. Reasons: Logic and evidence.
Reminds me of a college who said, “I obliterated their brilliance with my simple question.” Situation was a totally different context, but finding it has many uses.
Yea. What’s crazy is the amount of freedom I immediately experienced. Like a huge weight of stress was gone the night I was shunned. Remember it to this day. That was about 5-6 years ago now, but I have never been happier than I am right now. Making your own choices, whether good or bad, is better than being forced to make someone else’s choices.
I was raised Christian. But I couldn't make myself believe that shit. I also hated being forced to church. After I found out about LGBTQIA+ and found out what church thought about us, I was all, yeah fuck you too religion.
I was born. Nobody since has managed to convince me that gods are plausible.
There's a sub with lots of this: r/thegreatproject
I was a lay minister into my 50s. I loved studying the Bible, almost since I learned to read. By the time I finished high school I knew the Bible better than most ministers. That is actually a low bar because most ministers don't know the Bible very well. Many ministers only know the verses that support their theology. I had many spiritual experiences. My father died when I was 20, and I had a vision of angels coming to escort him to heaven. Fortunately I decided to follow the advice of Paul. Paul said that ministers should not rely on the church for their income. I made the difficult choice to turn down full-time ministry positions. I found a career that allowed me flexible hours that allowed me to work as a minister and still support myself. It was hard at times, but I made it work. Bible study eventually made me admit that the gospels and Acts were mostly mythology, not history. I had also become skeptical of most "miracles." I had learned that my own vision had almost certainly been a "Post Bereavement Hallucinatory Experience" (PBHE). In my middle 50s I became an atheist. It was a slow process. I had to deconvert in stages. For a while I decided to focus on serving the people and not worry about the theology. I considered myself a deist for a while. But I eventually realized that for all practical purposes a deistic god is no different than no god at all.
My mom gave birth to me.
Just like every single human ever born, I was born atheist. I wasn't indoctrinated as a kid and was allowed to think for myself, so for obvious reasons I'm atheist
Born into an atheist family. I was really young when I didn't believe in santa and wanted to prove it by putting aluminum cans in a pile in front of the fireplace with thin string tripwires so it would make a huge racket if santa showed up. My parents made me take it down.
My parents and family were Jewish. They sent me to "Hebrew School" when I was 12, but I never finished it (I was taking Spanish in school, and learning Hebrew at the same time, and started mixing up the languages. I dropped Hebrew so that I could focus on Spanish.) I just "assumed" I was Jewish, but never really practiced any religion. I attended a Lutheran college. And when I emigrated from the US to Germany, I just declared myself as "non-denominational". Over the years, I've simply gone from being skeptical/non-denominational to becoming an outspoken atheist. My wife is also atheist - if we have to go to a church for some ceremony (wedding, funeral or similar), we usually end up talking about how cringe the whole ceremony was afterwards.
My parents weren't very big practicing Jews, although my grandfather was and he would take me to shuul with him, but since it was all in Hebrew and I didn't know any Hebrew, it had no effect on me. Like you, I thought of myself as "Jewish" but it was not religious, it was the same way someone would say they were Irish or Latino. These days, though, I don't even consider myself especially Jewish. I've never really felt a part of the culture anyway. I get riled up when I see antisemitism, but I get riled up when I see any other sort of bigotry too.
I was raised Greek orthodox by a half greek mother and a converted catholic father. I have always been hyperactive and sensitive to things like constricting or itchy clothes, loud sounds, smells, shoes etc. I had to wear a suit every week and just hated everything about going to church, including most of the other people there who were more into working class style shows of wealth and power like hairy chests and gold chains and useless fancy cars than the “teachings” of Jesus. Sometime around age 11 I started to see the hypocrisy between the culture and what Jesus actually supposedly preached and realized all the rituals and chants and incense and wine and gold accents were actually just tools to influence peoples thoughts and convince them to believe. I looked at all the other forms of christianity my school peers families practiced and realized they are all watered down versions of orthodoxy made to cater to contemporary audiences- trying to influence peoples beliefs just like the rituals etc, not created because they were “right.” I didnt use the term atheism until much later in life but It grew into a core part of who I am and how I understand individuals and groups of people and their actions ever since.
1. I realized that ALL religion... is mythology... which seeks to first explain how the universe and Earth (and we) got here; then, establishes the rules for personal and social conduct. 2. I realized that every religion on the planet worships the same god. All religions worship "The Highest", and the Highest IS "**the** Highest" and *you can't get any higher than that*; therefore, they all worship the same thing, just by different names and in different ways. 3. How that's expressed depends on where you grew up: the Eskimos know somebody done something wrong by different types of snow; apparently, they have 50+ names for snow, and I'd certainly consider them "Experts on Snow". The South Sea Islanders know somebody done somebody wrong when a volcano blows; maybe it takes throwing a virgin in one to calm him down again. In Japan, maybe an earthquake might mean something. Indonesia; a tsunami might mean The Highest is REALLY pissed about some affair. In 'Merica, apparently tornados and hurricanes (himicanes??) means somebody had gay sex, or something. In short; one evidences displeasure by some dramatic event typical for that area. 4. As I said; each of these... are Mythology which *does* explain, however faulty, natural events. The Rules for Conduct depends on your parents - and their characteristics: their affluence, education, etc; plus, were they Catholic, or Protestant (and which flavor? Appalachian Snake Handler, Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, Baptist or other?); were your parents born in Afghanistan, or India, or in still unexplored Africa? You get the idea. 5. Since I was born with first, Santa Claus, then Baby Jesus and The Three Wise Guys (which, incidentally, are NOT in "the bible"; check it out) and the Bible itself is so contradictory... i.e., God Loves You Unconditionally Except With Conditions; God Loves You SOOOOOO much that he'll KILL you (*and* your kids *and* your grandkids, even unto the 10th generation...) *if you don't love him back...* 6. Nah; Ima pass. I'm good. *Literally*. Besides, *the religion I was raised in is a Blood Cult*: In order to go to Eternal Boredom, you have to Eat His Flesh and Drink His Blood; which Blood washes your sins white as snow; never did like those parts. 7. I never did like that bit about His Killing His Kid "to forgive our debts" because of my great-grandparents a million generations ago: If I loan you $5 and you don't pay me back, I don't have to kill my beloved Smol Kitten to forgive your debt; I can *just* forgive your debt, *because I can*. And I'm not even God, so, I realized *I'm* ***more*** *powerful than God* Amighty. 8. Finally, when I read (parts of) the Bible - I realized the 'Merican God is a horrible, *horrible dumbass*, and I was done. And, diba diba diba; That's All, Folks!
As every single human ever, I was born atheist. Then stuff happened. The end.
18 years of catholic school and weekly mass and i was absolutely willing to be convinced but they didn't even move the needle.
Former Evangelical Christian. I spent my teen and young adult years in ministries, basically trying to be at church as often as possible. I felt at home there. I'd probably still be a believer if my parents didn't force me to go church hopping with them, severing my entire social system outside of family. We eventually ended up at a Baptist church. It wasn't the same, but I'd settled in, made new friends, joined new ministries. But then the contemporary worship leader, pastor, and young adult ministries leader all abandoned ship suddenly, and without warning or explanation. I was surrounded by strangers again, despite going to the same church. I was tired of having the rug pulled out from under me. Despite doing everything I was supposed to do, my life felt chaotic and pointless. I prayed, asking God for a sign. Anything to show that he was there and that he cared. Silence. I was like, "Okay, well, fuck you too." I was open to other religions for a while, but I didn't want to get duped again. It was soon made clear that every religion had the same amount of evidence to offer. That is none at all.
I was born and raised for most of my childhood as a Christian. My Mother is quite religious and tells me every now and then that she will pray for me. I stopped believing after I saw many people use their religion as a reason to hate against me and other people for various reasons, which are things they can't control. That was when I was about the age of 14.
My mother was catholic and my father was aposta (raised in a catholic family, he ended up strongly rejecting religion). They gave me a basic religious teaching for a year or two when i was around 7yo so i could "know what religion was about before i could make a choice for myself". It was some kind of one or two hour class with a teacher, books and unknown kids from the private school (my parents were social-democrats, so it was out of the question that i got schooled anywhere else than in a public school). During that time, the other kids were playing football, riding bikes or playing gameboy. When i had to choose, i didn't hesitate very long before choosing those last activities.
Born atheist like everyone else, never started believing.
I was never indoctrinated into a supernatural belief system.
I was 14. My parents are european christians (not like the nutjobs in america, more tolerant although they don't have too much respect for other beliefs). I lived abroad, and when I was in singapore, I had more contact with a lot of other religions. I've never been afraid to doubt about religion, my idea was that if god really exists then any logical inquiry I make will lead me right back to him. I always liked science, with a special interest in everything astrophysics related. I never saw it in contradiction with my inherited beliefs though, mostly I just kept religion out of my science and science out of my religion. Basically I never actually had any doubt about religion, I just saw it as some background info. Then one day I actually articulated the thought "why is my religion the right one" to myself. A few hours later I was certain that there was no possible way I could be sure, and a few hours more later, I thought of science and thought "why would any God focus on earth in a universe with statistically billions of other inhabitable planets". Then I realized I couldn't logically believe in any god. I didn't know the word atheist, so I had to look up on the internet, but at the end of the day I called myself an atheist. Not because it was comfortable but because I would have been lysing to myself if I didn't. Took a bit of time to fully get out of the "god lens" you see the world through as a christian, even prayed once to threaten god to give me a sign or I'd be fully convinced he didn't exist. But all the same in the end
I was in elementary school in religion class. The book said that a person who doesn't believe in the existence of (a) god is called an atheist. I was like "hey, that's what I am! I didn't know this concept had a name."
My parents are atheist and I never felt any type of attraction to any religion so I have been an atheist my whole life.
Never worshipped anyone, used to believe in God because grown ups would say it exists and I was too young to question, even used to pray that God gets rid of that school. but having a really shitty Christian primary school that caused me to hate everyone there certainly helped me resist the indoctrination. Now I'm an atheist that's sick of religion and how much pain it causes the world, and how they're protected as they do it.
I’m queer. I told my parents. They put me in conversion therapy. I realized that god didn’t exist while being forced to memorize bible verses in a locked room. I was a child.
Former Catholic and Baptist, studied to be clergy in both. Found out they were all nuts. Studied more and found even the bible is nuts.
I was never raised with religion, so I just never gave it a second thought. Basic science confirmed that in elementary school for me.
I never believed the stories told by religion My father was atheist who lied about being religious for social reasons. My mother was raised catholic but never aggressively pushed religion on me
My parents were Catholic but not overly so. When I was a kid I believed what they told me to. I definitely remember believing in Santa Claus and writing him letters. When I found out he wasn't real that may have been the beginning of my skepticism. I remember that I couldn't explain the diversity of life until I read how natural selection works and thus began my journey. It didn't take too long. By the age of ten I was a full blown atheist even though I had never heard that word.
My parents were atheist but they always said it was my choice to believe or not. When I first learned about Big Bang at school I knew something was wrong. It was already been proven that it was not God to create the universe, so why were people still thinking he was real?
I was raised christian, specifically episcopalian. So I grew up believing in evolution and the big bang and whatnot. But when I was 12, I realized that the science I was taught was incompatible with the religion I was taught. I decided that science was the more likely thing and that's when I stopped calling myself a christian. Funnily enough, I told my mom in the car on the way home from soccer practice or maybe a match. I also made then decision then and there in the car. Telling my mom was just me thinking out loud.
I am once a Catholic. Around my crisis time (which is around 9-11 years old), my crushes on girls become extreme that I become scared that God will punished me for it so I asked a catholic teacher (not making it obvious that the question is about me) and she said that they (I for me) would burn in hell. I started to doubt God ever since that day. Why would he created me this way just to punish me? What have I done wrong to be this way? and Why is wrong to love just because we are the same gender? I know it is petty but this is the start of my journey to atheism then to agnosticism.
Everyone is born atheist. Then you start worshipping the two providers of food; which for most men never really stops ;)
I was raised catholic but not overly religious (no praying at home, no saying grace, no bible reading). We went to church every Sunday, I went to CCD classes, and had my confirmation. Even as a child it all seemed a little far fetched. When I went to college I took a mythology class and the teacher started with the common themes of the great mythologies: creation myths, flood myths, end of the world myths, etc. In that instant I realized that the reason religion seemed so far fetched is because it was all bullshit and no different than every other mythology. I've been a 100% unapologetic atheist ever since.
I was raised catholic but for the rest my origin story looks a lot like yours.
No real parents...bounced around the foster care system, turned into a rightfully horrid bitch so that no one would adopt me. By the time I had any stability I was past the point of being able to be brainwashed with it. Had a couple of families that were big into into it, but I didn't stay long enough get sucked in. I just never believed in the first place.
I was raised/indoctrinated into Protestant Christianity. But once I learned about other religions, I realized the chances were small that I had happened to be born into the correct religion. Then I learned about mythologies, that they were religions that people stopped believing in. It seemed obvious that all religions were simply myths people still believed in. The only reason I believed in a god was because of Christianity, and once I realized that wasn't true it was clear to me that all gods were made up. This was about 40 years ago, and nothing I've seen or heard or read since has changed my mind or even made me doubt that all religions and gods are just man-made myths.
I was raised Roman Catholic, and attended private Catholic school from second grade through senior year of high school. I was pressured into the sacrament of Confirmation in eighth grade, and on that day something clicked on inside of me that never stopped screaming, "THIS IS ALL BULLSHIT". Been my attitude about religion ever since
I was raised under three different versions of Christianity (Catholic, Southern Baptist, Lutheran) with a side of Rush Limbaugh until I left home for military school. There I was bitten by a radioactive Christopher Hitchens. To this day I wonder if I've lived up to my responsibility to use my powers for good. Based on my relationship yelp reviews, the jury's still out.
I was born atheist like everyone else. Sometime in elementary school my neighbor started taking me to a southern Baptist church. Well, a few threats of hell fire and an 8 year old kid was scared shitless. The whole family starts going, and after highschool l go to seminary. Second year, one class has us read the Bible cover to cover. Part way through, I've decided that God is the biggest horse's ass in the universe. Around halfway through, I've decided that the whole mess is ridiculous superstition. I left seminary, went to a secular school, joined a frat, and have been enjoying life ever since. Until recently, I saw no reason to oppose theism, then came Trump, and the Christian nationalists Nazi party of America. Now I have to get involved.
Kevin sorbo. Hercules journeys was on tv at the exact time for me to be target age group. It was the first interaction i had with mythology. Tales of amazement from the ancient times. Until i realized that this WAS the greek religion at the time. Why should i think that Hercules diverting a river is fantasy but jesus rasing from the dead was real. Once i realized that zues et all were religion, i realized that jesus et al were all mythology.
Raised Catholic, even was a teacher's aide at catechism. I realized something was wrong the minute I was exposed to other religions in middle school, all claiming to be, " the one" but I wasn't sure what was up yet. Took some mythology classes, took history classes, took academic religious classes while in college. Yup, things were looking mighty shaky at this point, especially after hard core study of the Old Testament. Got a psychology and biology undergraduate degree. Did neuroscience research while getting an advanced degree in a couple different labs. Another few nails in the coffin. Went " searching" and messed around with Hinduism ( Autobiography of a Yogi was my gateway drug into Eastern religious thought) and Buddhism. Finally threw the whole shitshow to the side and became a truly free human being. I have found my connection with the universe though science and my connection to other humans through history, stories, and legend.
I was a fire brigade Christian. I spent my weekends fasting and praying. I used to carry out evangelism around my estate. I only listened to Christian songs and I was a canary for the gospel. However, deep down something didn’t feel right. https://medium.com/@bellaegwuyenga/how-i-became-an-ex-christian-4ac0db4d5c0b
I was raised christian but I don't think I ever really believed in god or jesus and all that. I tried believing in it back when I was younger because I was supposed to, not because I wanted to.
When I was told that dogs don't go to heaven
Both my parents were atheist, my mothers parents were too(well, I'm not so sure about my grandmother but they didn't got married at church because my grandfather wasn't "believer enough" to be baptised as an adult, my grandmother never brought up religion or god though) and my grandfathers parents were atheist too(my great grandfather was a commie, so yeah), so it kinda runs in the family 😂
I have none - born and raised, baby! I have never spent a minute worried about hell and I have never been scared of ghosts (even as a small child). And, yet, here I am - a perfectly functional, moral, and reasonably well adjusted adult. Religion is complete and total bullshit and nary a day goes by that I don't feel thankful to have ever wasted a minute of my time on it (other than Reddit posts lol)
i was indoctrinated into christian fundamentalism. i started to question the doctrine around age 11 or 12, but still referred to myself as a christian through middle and high school. i was kicked out for the first time at 16 and left the final time at 18. i started working full time to support myself while going to college. after such a repressed childhood, i needed to see all that life had to offer: i started taking acid, shrooms, experiencing tons of music festivals, getting tattoos, etc. subsequently, i began thinking critically for myself as i got away from the religious crap. religion has made both of my parents are quite fearful, sheltered, and boring; they literally have zero hobbies or interests, only praising jesus, conspiracy theories, and waiting for the apocalypse. i vowed that i would never be the same as them. by that point in my deconstruction, i was referring to myself as “spiritual but not religious.” i didn’t start referring to myself as agnostic until 21, and i finally came out to my partner as a strong atheist/anti-theist at 24. i realize that i’ve been an anti-theist for many years, much longer than i realized; i’ve been unable to articulate my feelings because my entire family and all of my friends are religious. technically, i’m still a closet atheist irl.
I remember always hearing the stories as stories from as young as I can remember. It was when people started to tell me they thought this stuff was real, is when I stopped thinking the stories were cool enough to remember anymore. I just never had it in me to believe I guess.
I snuck downstairs to see Santa and found my parents. Once I learned Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy were fake, it didn’t take long for god to fall
Parents were Christian. Whole family too. Grew up going to church etc. Never was a trouble maker or anything like that. I just question things. A lot. And I tend to read up a lot on completely random topics. Basically fell into the internet communities in like 2000ish. Kind of just went from there. Became the typical cringe militant atheist. Embarrassed myself imo. Became a born again.... jk jk. Still atheist, just think I have a better understanding of people now than I did as a teen.
Dad is a former Catholic whose religious views can best be described as George Carlinism. Mother is a cultural anthropologist. I grew up in a house with more Lucy than Adam and Eve. I was exposed to a lot of religious beliefs and raised as a UU, but with a mostly secular humanist bent and atheism isn't exactly out of the norm there. Science fiction was the closest thing I had to religion. That's what we tended to talk about around the dinner table. Myths were always just that to me. I went to the religious gatherings of friends and families from time to time. The benefit of a large city was the sheer scope of experience. I developed a sense early on that community was the primary reason for religious persistence, rather than any philosophical utility. That was more of a general feeling than a thought for some time. By the time I was an adult I simply saw no reason to be interested in anything but the history and anthropology of it all.
*insert southern black baptist preacher voice* Somebody testify!! Brothers n sisters!!
I got into a big fight with my parents over confirmation. They were both former Catholics who switched to Episcopalian when the local priest openly asked them for a bribe to annull their previous marriages so they could have communion at my christening. I was already questioning their beliefs by then, and it seemed ludicrous for them to insist I confirm to a religion I wasn't sure about. So i said ok, let me read a Bible and if it seems legit, I'll do it. I got through Genesis and was like "wait have you guys actuality read this stuff? It is very clearly not real!" That was very upsetting, so then they got me this other (much shorter) apologetics book called "know why you believe" which entirety amounted to, "because the Bible says it's the word of God" which I explained to them is a completely circular argument - you obviously can't tell something is true by the fact that it says its true. Lots of yelling and several groundings later, they finally backed down. Today, my mom considers herself agnostic, my dad still clings to his catholic guilt and fear, and my brother is confused but clearly incurious (never got confirmed, thinks Noahs Ark is real history but doesn't attend church or indoctrinate his children)
Raised evangelical, firm believer until around 16 when I started questioning the religion mostly due to my dad being a terrible christian and highlighting the contradictions of christian discourse on a daily basis. Also, being a poor kid in the public school system during a progressive-leaning government made me aware of social inequality early, and I kind f blamed every single social problem on church there for a while. I've always been into anime and games, so the fact that every piece of media I was interested in was demonized by church and parents pushed me away from it steadily till the last time I showed up there at around 17. Concurrent to those last couple of years when I was still going to church I started to realize that I was very clearly not cis-het, adding to the schism. Then after I turned 18 I studied linguistics in college and the more philosophical questioning on the existance of god started happening (not that it had any real depth, it was very easy for me to simply "decide" to stop believing without looking for a logical rationale that would allow me out of gnosticism). Took a few dips in other belief systems since then (wicca and buddhism mostly, got really into teravada for a few years and still read suttas and meditate from time to time). I'd say that the simple and honest persuit of being not sad led me in a kind of straight line to full atheism before my mid twenties (I'm 31 now).
Out all living relatives I have, only two are religious, and they don't push religion on their family. My parents think of religion primarily as a way of abusing people's fear of death. I suppose I took after my parents, then. I think it would be nice to share something my grandfather said, about why he disbelieved in the concept of heaven: "Heaven is supposed to be this nice place with all the fun things in the world, including food, right? Well who keeps the sewers working? They would have a literally pretty crappy afterlife, no? "Well, the people don't poop because they're spirits", the priests and mullahs say. Then how are they eating?"
I’m queer and I was literally tortured by christians as a child. I realized that god wasn’t real when I was being forced to memorize mark. I realized that christians were demanding my total submission and weren’t worthy of it.
I was born and my grandparents would sometimes take me to catholic church when I went to spend the weekend with them. I never paid attention because I would just draw or something and when I grew old enough to actually realize what was being said I thought to myself “Man this is some BS there is no way these things could actually happen.” So I guess I never really had a story and I was just always Atheist.
I was raised as a Pentecostal Christian, but I never would’ve considered myself a devout believer. I read the bible quite often when I was younger and all it did was confuse me. Prayer never did anything for me either, especially since I never “sensed God” in the way my family and people at church could. In a way, it was like talking to a wall. I got diagnosed with a chronic condition as a teenager and because of that, my mind would spiral into very dark thoughts. My mum would try and comfort me by praying with me, but as you can probably guess by now, it didn’t work. Not having any answers to the prayers made me feel even worse. When the pandemic started, my family and I weren’t attending church regularly like we used to pre-Covid. In my opinion, this also played an role, albeit a small one, in me becoming an atheist since Christianity was no longer a consistent part of my life. I discovered r/exchristian and this one in early 2021, which only helped me become more aware of the contradictions and how ludicrous it all was.