Atheists, were/are your parents religious?

Question

If they were, how did you come about being an atheist? Because whether we want to admit it or not, most of us are what we were raised up to be (catholic, baptist, muslim...)

The reason why I'm asking is I'm just curious. Thanks for the answers!

Answer 1

My mother is Catholic and my father is Jewish. I was raised Catholic (though we did also celebrate Hanukkah). We weren't overly religious, but I did go to church pretty much every week, plus catechism once a week. When I was about 11 or 12, I just started wondering about whether what I was learning was really true (not just Catholic practices, but the basic theological issues of God's existence and the divinity of Christ). I started reading a lot of books and doing a lot of thinking. By the time I was 13 I considered myself an agnostic atheist (meaning I'm not sure, but I have no belief in the meantime), and I am the same today at 24.

Answer 2

I absolutely agree that most people just take the religion they were raised in. This bothers me a bit, because it's such an important facet of one's life and needs to be given some thought. My father wasn't religious, but he and my mother, who was more religious, agreed to raise me and my two sisters as Catholics. I had to go to religious instruction once a week after school, made my first communion and confirmation, and we were sent to church almost every Sunday.
I guess I was in my late teens when I started thinking about things, and questioning, and the more I thought and read, the more I just wasn't buying the God thing. My father is an agnostic, but I didn't know that when I was a kid: he didn't want to influence us.
My youngest sister became a Buddhist; the middle one stayed Catholic and does go to church occasionally. Our home wasn't especially religious, but I'd say we were raised in a faith.
I think you're asking a good question, and while I have chosen not to believe in a god, I very much respect people who question and try to understand different points of view. Then, if they choose to remain in their faith, at least it is done out of conscious choice rather than heredity or habit.
And, hey, cornmuffin, most atheists do NOT leave their faith to rebel against their parents. What an insulting point of view.

Answer 3

I was raised a strict roman catholic. I began to understand that there was no god at my first communion.
I had to wait till I was 16 until I realized it for a certainty.
I told my parents at that time and my dad took it better than my mom. I thought it would be the other way around.
It's because we were raised in this cult that so many Atheists understand how and why it makes no sense whatsoever.

Answer 4

Yes... and ultimately, that's what drove me out of the church. I took the 10 commandments very literally. The first one says Thou shalt have no other God before me. Another said to never bear false witness. Another said to never lie. With no proff other than the words of others, there is no way that I could possibly do all three unless god made some effort to reveal himself to me. To this day, I have not seen anything to convince me that a god exist... much less the god of the torra/bible/koran.

I'd have to say the minute that I asked myself, If god spoke to so many people and performed all these miracles thousands of years ago, then why did he stop today? Is it at all possible that these primative people saw a natural, but rare phenomenon and attributted it to god because they didn't understand thier world? Why was it that no one besides the apostles ever saw Jesus raised from the dead? And when they did, one of them (Thomas)didn't even believe it until he touched his wounds with his own hands... If I am honest with myself, do I really believe that this happened or is it at all possible that these guys were hi on something or lying? If I don't have faith in thier writings, does that mean that I don't have faith in god?

If god is so good, then why do people suffer? Why do unjust things happen? Is he unwilling, unaware or incapable to help stop injustice? Is it at all possible that god does not speak to people and that people just pretend to know the nature and will of god?

Answer 5

I think that a lot of Christians, without realizing it, breed a lot of atheists. They get carried away with all the petty rules of what is right and wrong (i.e. how one should dress, whether or not it is okay to consume alcohol resposibly providing that drunkenness does not result, whether or not it is okay to purchase a lottery ticket) and end up passing judgement left and right. A lot also get carried away with all of that "burning hell" stuff. That is, the whole "get saved or you're going to Hell" or "Do this and you'll go to Hell."

A lot of them just get tired of getting up early every Sunday just to sit in a pew and listen to some self-righteous, misguided preacher browbeat them about how they are on a highway to Hell, even though they are doing the best they can to live well and treat others the way they would want to be treated.

Answer 6

My mother was. I was raised to be a Roman Catholic Christian, but I found no logical basis for belief in deities, thus I have always been an Atheist.

Answer 7

I was raised catholic and was baptized and was married in a catholic church! the reason I got married in the church was only because I wanted a church wedding. I didn't pray or anything during the ceremony, I was just fulfilling a childhood dream. My parents know I don't believe and they dint have a problem with it, as long as I don't preach to them about my beliefs and they don't preach to me about theirs.

Answer 8

My mom's family was superficially Christian and my dad Catholic. I went to Catholic religion classes through 8th grade. That probably played a big role in why I never liked religion.

Most of all, none of it ever made any sense to me. I guess I never grasped the idea that I was supposed to "believe". When I looked around me, I didn't see any of what they said God was. I stopped pretending completely when my brother died. It no longer seemed important to me for people to think I cared about their God character.

Answer 9

I'm not an atheist. I am pagan, but I was raised by christian parents and went to church several times per week for 17 years, until I came to my senses.

Answer 10

Yes, I went to catholic school for 8 years and that is probably why I am an atheist...