Atheists, how and when did you liberate yourself from religious dogma?

Answer 1

I was in my soph year in bible college in Hermeneutics class - translating the koine greek of I John. Small "holes" in english became massive gaping holes in greek! (The opposite of what I "knew" would be true!)

Two more years of doubt...and a year of "if I don't think about anything and believe really hard I can hold onto my faith." Eventually, primarily due to conversations over the internets, I discovered I was an atheist!

Answer 2

Delusions of grandeur can last for so long. We are just another species soon to be extinct on this 4 billion year old planet. If the planets life was stretched over 24 hours we would only occupy about 2 seconds.Soon we will join the other 99.9% of the species that tried and failed to survive.I don't know how we will go but there are many ways. We could get hit by an asteroid or nuke ourselves.A big chunk of the sun could get blown out in space and hit us.

Answer 3

Athiest: One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods.

Why do so many answers here talk about "religion."

Religion is a moralistic (or, depending on religion, anti-moralitic) way of living.

You're saying you don't beleive in philosphy of any kind. You're saying you have no fixed or official moral code.

Little of this talks about diety.

Buddism, for example, is a quasi-religion without a diety.

I've had Buddists tell me they ARE atheists and I can see that.

They have a belief system but no God.

People here are, by and large, saying they have no belief system!

To drive at 35 in a 35 zone implies you are acceding to the religious belief system of your community that it is morally and legally wrong to drive faster in those areas and some diety called a Judge will fine you big $$$ if you violate that moral code.

Like it or not, society and laws are a quasi-religion and judges are quasi-dieties and if you don't bow down and pray to them (and that is a legal term, the DEFENDENT PRAYS the court will find favor with them) God i'll getch and lock you away in a cage, which is a living hell if it's a state penitentary and there are a lot of basically nice Atheists who got caught with a joint in Utah and ended up doing 2 to 10 for less than a gram.

This lends credibility to my thesis that the ultimate Atheist is a criminal, one who steals, robs, rapes, pillages, kills without giving it a bit of thought for nothing matters to them at all.

Answer 4

I never let religious dogma take over me in the first place. Even as a child I had a hard time believing god is real and didn't take religious teachings seriously. As I got older and gained a better understanding of things and more knowledge my disbelief got stronger.

Answer 5

I wouldn't class myself as athiest per say, but I would say I don't subscribe to any organised religion, which for this question I think is about the same. I had so many people trying to force religion down my throat, and I have heard some things that totally contradict each other about most, if not all, of the major religions. Mostly, I think, it was just a case of if there was a god in the way most religions described it, he would be one pretty sick and twisted guy for much of the stuff that's happened to us, including the conflicts over religion.

Answer 6

Delusions of grandeur can very final for subsequently long. we are basically yet yet another species at once to be extinct in this 4 billion 3 hundred and sixty 5 days previous planet. If the planets life grow to be stretched over 24 hours we'd incredibly occupy approximately 2 seconds.at once we are waiting to connect the a number of ninety 9.9% of the species that tried and did no longer proceed to exist.i do no longer know how we are waiting to circulate yet there are a sort of techniques. we ought to get hit by skill of skill of an asteroid or nuke ourselves.a great chew of the daylight hours ought to get blown out in section and hit us.

Answer 7

I read the work of the enlightenment philosophes like Voltaire and Diderot when I was at university and they were scathing in their condemnation of institutionalised religion, dogma and clericalism. From then on I never looked back. Atheists should read Voltaire-no one gives sounder more lucid arguments as to why religion is utter crap.

Answer 8

By the time I was 8, it had become obvious that the biblical tales could not be reconciled with scientific evidence. Since the evidence is obviously true, the bible obviously isn't. Much more recently, I have proved that religious beliefs are useless because they can predict nothing.

Answer 9

To be honest, I grew up surrounded by the indoctrination (a christian school for 9 years), and frankly, I never once felt any of the warm and fuzzy things they said I was supposed to. None of the stories made sense to me, and they had no way to answer legitimate questions, or prove anything they put forth.

Like every other human, I was born without faith. I was fortunate enough to learn young to depend on my mind and my logic to answer these questions...too bad the answers for faith always came up wanting.

Answer 10

I began questioning religion the day I found out there were others who did. I was still a kid, and before, I thought I may be alone, so was very hesiatant to express my views. Lets say that it didnt take long to realise that Atheism was the only logical choice.