We all come from different backgrounds & have different reasons for identifying ourselves as atheist or agnostic.
Whatever your story is, we'd like to hear it. Please share & encourage others who are considering "coming out"!
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Hello! I am an ex-seminarian, ex-christian, ex-prayer monkey, ex-jesus devotee, and ex-all the rest of it. I was raised by Christian parents in a Christian family and now, thanks in large part to the internet brain, I have escaped. All the truly well meaning religious dogma of my past thirty years on this orb has snapped. I have to say I am both amazed and a little saddened about how easy it seems to have been to let go of all that religious baggage. There was no trauma, no being shaken to my soul, no existential panic, just freedom and relief. I'm sure everyone here knows what I'm talking about. Please honk if you love not knowing and doubt!!
I am writing about the 12 months I spent in the holyland and would appreciate any feedback.
Many thanks
Bob
The religion I left was Pentecost. My dad was actually the preacher of the church. As a child, I always tried to live as I was told. The life changer came when I was 14. I was sexually assaulted by a man in my parents church. When members of the congregation found out, I was told that it was my fault, that I was going to hell for this. I was a sheltered child-- had not even experienced my first real kiss-- yet I was the one being punished. In that moment, I realized that even if there was a God, if these people were his "disciples", I wanted nothing to do with any of them.
Since that time, I have opened my mind to the fact that there is another way of life. I do not have to be ruled an invisible man in the sky, or by people who blindly follow this invisible man.
I am 22 now, and that sheltered, ignorant little girl is gone. I have learned to think for myself, and I have found an inner strength I would not have found had I continued to follow blindly.
Thank you, thinkatheist people for giving me a place to come and feel welcomed for what I believe, rather than shunned for it.
I use to belive that there was god and place for all people after death.
I use to lead my life in what I thought was what "God" want me to do. Then some personal things happen to me then I realize if there was a "God" what was his point.
Then I lead my life in the way I want it and before I know it, my life became a lot better and I became a better person for it.
My deconversion is a bit epic. I was a Christian before I became an atheist, from the very start. My mum is more of the believer than my dad and that has always been the case, even though she accepts the fact I am an atheist she very well wants me to be the opposite, my father however doesn’t care which of the two I am provided I am not an extreme atheist or Christian. His opinion is the religious world should never take credence over the real world.
The first time I came to know God doesn’t act out is the idea given to us that give God 10% and you get more, I came to the conclusion as a kid if I do this cycle long enough I would be rich easy! Didn’t take me long after that (about 8 times in a row) to get the idea the system is you give to the church and get nothing back. From then on the money I was given to give to the church went to my pocket. LOL
Later in my younger brother’s death when I was about 14 came to me as a blow not deserving, I kinda accepted the idea I/we have a body guard called God and it looked he let one slip by him. I asked my mom why he had to die and she answered ‘it was time’ and ‘God wanted to be reunited with him’ but it was far from satisfactory. I found from that moment on death is cruel and God’s part in it was even more cruel like the man with the gun. My world concept based on what I understood was a protector lead me to conclude God as a protector was a poorly held.
The only reason that came to me as to why I was not experiencing the power of the awesome being was I wasn’t too good of a believer so I believed more and more till I became a fanatic, I was so taken by the whole thing I thought everyone in our church was good and good-looking and would go to heaven with that oneness feeling. It went as far as is the style of the church to marry people who go to the same church as us, I would prefer to interact with people who go to the same church as me. I even wanted to apply to be tutored to be a pastor, the whole thing thankfully sizzled out, I had more pressing problems when hormones came about.
I had asthma as a child and my dad not as educated on how it works even to date, back then maybe because inhalers were not a commonly heard term (possibly inhalers didn’t exist back then) meant when I got an attack the only remedy was ventolin syrup, it was slow acting medicine and I had to wait for my father to get home then take me to hospital. To me asthma was like my personal Guantanamo bay with mock drowning. I felt as if every breath I took never fully reached my lungs so I had to struggle to send it in and it made me spiteful and when I learnt God was supposed to have assembled my DNA that made me hate him even more.
My mother once told me once in between an attack when I felt like the world is coming to an end ‘don’t worry, God will heal you’, I vividly remember thinking 'you must be joking! He’s taking his time Eh? and why wait for a fire to start when he can cure me?’ I didn’t buy it one bit. I came to rely on a sure way of making life better and it was not praying but science, the science of medicine. Some time on I was taken to our pastor who so diligently told me he cured my asthma thanks to God, I gave him the benefit of doubt but an attack later on is more than enough proof to show nothing truly happened.
When I went to high school I was a free thinker and thats when I first learnt about atheism, by then I didn’t pray that often, knew inertly they were quite inefficient as Christians said some faith some decision on god’s part and some work i need to do as ‘god helps those who help themselves’ meant praying was harder than doing it yourself. I went on and of call it agnostic where I wasn’t 100% sure God didn’t exist i kept asking what if I am wrong, I talked more and more if’s and the probability God existed diminished to negligible so and from then on I never prayed again or participate and agree on church stuff.
I am an atheist to the core, frankly even if I am to consider minutely a God exists I have to consider ALL gods and that shows the irrelevancy in it so I conclude ‘evidence should lead to conclusion’ not ‘conclusion to evidence’ so if God exists his evidence should point to that and if he’s seriously hiding leads to the question how we even know he exists and why hide when people already know? The believers know don’t they? I am not going to entertain a jargon of logic or words as reason to believe more like a reason to debunk.
However I am a closet atheist, my atheism is very confidential based on these facts:
1. I live in Kenya and not only is atheism unheard of, it’s also common for Kenyan’s to alienate, beat up and kill people they don’t like as; gays, hookers, suspected witches and thieves.
2. I am putting my money more on by family members exile based on the fact;
2.1. I was called ‘Antichrist’ by friends, alienated and the shock factor is very real on a 10 out of 10 thinking I am crazy.
2.2. I by accident and chain reaction that followed had my family know I am an atheist and the only person who was understanding is my father and we don’t get along. My mother, big brother and big sister all went berserk when they learnt it and to date my big bro has an ego trip to try and make a person not supported by God (me) through his sabotage feel the pain of no God help.
I have however had some success, I have made plenty see lack of reason in church ways and they might with time morph into atheist. There are 2 success cases of which both agree and have shown to take into consideration logic of atheism however they’re still religious. The most probable however is my two younger brothers who I entail with the stupidity of the church and religion as soon as I digress into it and so far even though originality or opinion is lacking so I’d call them more like brothers of an atheist than atheists they might take into atheism at least however they don’t feel God is that scary dude who kills or a loving guy.
I am an ex-everything. - Tried them all. I do not vehemently say "There is no God!". All I say is "Prove it".
I consider myself fortunate to be in a place where I can be an atheist. In places where religion runs the government, a person cannot be of any other religion or say he does not believe in God, or Allah.
If you are in such a place, try to inform you friends (secretly of course) the befits of freedom, in places where the government is separate from religion. When you are numerous enough, rise, free yourself from the shackles of religious oppression, and breath the free air of democracy. But not before. If the religious government and its minions find out that you no longer believe, you will be put to death.
If you are not brave enough to be a hero, but cannot stand the stench of oppressive religion any longer, come on over. Here, you can be an atheist, unless you do not want to - without fear of being put to death.
Started by Lucid. Last reply by Lucid Sep 8, 2015. 3 Replies 2 Likes
Started by Emily Savannah. Last reply by _Robert_ Feb 25, 2015. 1 Reply 0 Likes
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