Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Galen on September 6, 2009 at 3:29am

I never had to deal with that, thank God (lol). My parents, despite identifying as Baptist (and insisting that I was one too) both hated church and saw it as a horrible judgmental place to be avoided. Thankfully, my family was never really religious at all, except in name. I was the most religious person in my family, honestly.

Permalink Reply by Matt McCarty on September 14, 2009 at 1:21pm

I was borin in Baltimore, went to Catholic church and school there, no big deal. At the age of 10 I moved to south Georgia, Tattnall County to be exact, we then went to a Baptist church due to the lack of English Catholic churches. I never really was apart of the church, but I went and hung out with kids my age and went to service Around the age of 15 I started to hate that place, and at the age of 18 I knew I was an Atheist.

Permalink Reply by Latoshia Vargas-Ruiz on September 29, 2011 at 6:19pm

I was raises as a Jehovah's Witness(Scary, right?) It was kind of small I guess. I kinda wished there had been snake handlers, I probably would of walked away a hell of a lot sooner. xD  I never really believed any of it, the only reason I kept going was because of my friends and family that I didn't want to lose, and because I was scared for my 'soul', I tried so hard to fit in and really have faith, and the more I tried, the less faith I had. I truly think that being Atheist is kind of like being gay, you can't just will it away.

I stopped going at age fifteen and realized that I was an Atheist around 20.

Permalink Reply by Stephen Morris on October 28, 2011 at 2:17pm

My parents identify themselves as "Charismatic Protestants", although the closest denominations we found ourselves in were baptist. I was pretty anti-social as a kid, though, and never really interacted with the youth groups I found myself in.

Eventually though, we split off from going to church and had our own sunday meetings where my grandmother would teach. When she passed away, our fmaily resorted to watching tediously long videos (Like John Haggie's end times series, or Kent Hovind's Creation "science" lectures) and performing our own bible studies. The end of the world hysteria that resulted from our bible studies was probably one of the biggest factors in my abandoning religion altogether.

Permalink Reply by Eric Vassy on December 5, 2012 at 10:54pm

Raised strict Southern Baptist. Once I was old enough I ALWAYS felt like something wasn't right about all of it. I got more and more skeptical as I went through school, college, grad school and on. The last straw was a stretch where I completely dedicated myself to Biblical study, mission trips, the whole deal. THOSE things were what finally made me give up and on the idea of a supernatural 'force' or being that was in charge and created our existence. No I am an atheist. 

Permalink Reply by Dale Headley on December 6, 2012 at 2:49pm

I didn’t grow up in a church.  But, in my early adulthood I attended a Baptist church regularly for 5 years.  Actually, I was an atheist at the time, and only attended in order to be eligible for their adult football and basketball teams; and to scope out the girls.  

The point is, I had enough experience with what church is all about to understand the hypocrisy and sanctimonious mentality of the average churchgoer.

The last day I ever attended a church service was in 1963.  A traveling evangelist/revivalist came and, though he wasn’t literally a snake handler, he might as well have been.  That was the final straw.  You can only get me into a church these days for a wedding or a funeral.