If you were religious, and are not anymore?

Question

Or if you've swiched religious, what made you change?

Answer 1

I fell out of favor with Christians because of Christians. I never saw Jesus as telling any one there were going to hell for not believing this or doing that. I love Jesus, I hate the old testament and Christianity. Crimes more terrible than the Holocaust have been committed in the name of Jesus.

Answer 2

I became a Philosophic Taoist (Tao Chiai) because:

1) I can't believe that a loving God created Hell.

2) If there WAS Hell, why would it depend on religions OPINION or Solving a riddle a certain way, rather than BEING A GOOD PERSON?

3) I don't believe that TRUSTING God is not the same as understanding him. NO ONE (in my belief) can understand God. Yet I begin each day examining my trust in the deity.

4) Christian tradition - in most denominations - comes from a cannon. That's a book that put sections of it up to majority vote by HUMAN BEINGS, albeit, they were church officials.

5) I accepted an eclectic belief. This means that one religion being right doesn't automatically make another wrong. I don't have to say that Christians, or anyone else, is wrong.

6) Faith is a belief, not a competition. (see #5)

Answer 3

Ok, here's the scene....
Not baptized at birth (mom told grandma NO), raised Catholic (never "confirmed" or whatever...just attended every dang Sunday), attended LDS with relatives for awhile, ended up getting baptized in Baptist church at 17, drifted for awhile, attended Unity with relatives and then one day I started really questioning everything that I had been forcefed. I kinda freaked because the guilt over abandoning my grandmother's church (Catholic) was painful. But then no lightning struck the first day, and still none the 2nd and here I am 3 years later-scorch-free! I will admit the first Christmas after I decided to be Militant-Agnostic (I don't know and YOU don't either) was difficult....I mean WHAT am I celebrating??? I decided that Christmas, for me, is a time to reflect on the good things that have come my way, the health and well-being of my family, remembering those who are no longer with me and reveling in reviving all of my family's favorite recipes. Yes, there's commercialism involved, to an extent, BUT I teach my children about ways of giving back to other people.

ALSO-I could not, in good conscience, be a part of a religion that condemned other people for not believing their way.

Answer 4

After learning about Greek, Roman, Navajo, Yanomamo, and Norse mythology, I learned about the five major religions (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Shintoism) as well as a number of other lesser religions such as Zoroastrianism, Mithraism, and paganism. When looked at as a whole, it seems to me that one can be about as believable and unlikely as the next. There are fairy tale monsters in Greek myth (like harpies, griffons, or cerebus), but so too in the religions of the god of Abraham (Many different classes of people-ish creatures with wings, demons, and Satan, who is often depcted to be Pan). Each has it's own fairytale-ish version of creation based on some ancient text or story written long before we had the benefits of microscopes, telescopes, biological classifications of life, the periodic table, any kind of grasp on chemistry and how it worked, quantum physics, or geography. Basically, the books were written in a time when people were very ignorant of the world around them. The text within these sacred books are meaningless to science because the scientific method will not allow any one book, just as it would not allow any one scientific study to the the be-all and end-all of the search for truth. Things must be tested over and over in order to be througth of as a viable theory.

So in telling the story about this universe and us and all the stuff around us and how it got here and what purpose we have in this big beautiful mess, science it the only logical route.

It just seems to me that the best way to know God is to study what he has created, learn about it, and try to see what it tells us about God.

Answer 5

Looked into what the beliefs were based on. This included reading the Bible and much of the Quran. I looked into the tenets of various faiths and looked into the nature of belief, itself. I found the reasons why people believe what is not true and the symptoms of that type of belief. I also talked with many people about what their beliefs are.

I have now been an atheist for over 20 years.

Answer 6

research and finding the truth that the bible is fake! So many contradictions and once you do just a little digging and use your brain, you really have not reason to follow after something you KNOW to be phony. it's hard to leave because of the brainwashing that goes on in christianity, but freedom is way better! :)

Answer 7

Reading religious texts.

Answer 8

Sadly enough, people made me change. I though I knew my Christianity, then I realized that I didn't, that no one seemed to really know. I'm trying the Bible only thing right now, no organized religion.

Answer 9

I finally read the Bible. That opened the door of doubt enough to let in competing arguments. It didn't take long after that.

Answer 10

Depends on your definition of religious. I was raised catholic and I'm not practicing. But I believe in God. I just believe that the catholic church of the 21st century is corrupt and nothing but money-hoarders looking for stupid people to hand them more money.