For Athiests???

Question

do you remember the moment you lost your faith?

because for me it was more of allot of moments when i just felt that i was being ignored by the higher power which eventually lead to my Athiestism.

how did it happen with you???

i was just trying to make a statement :)

bobert195: i know i should report him but he changed his name and picture back.

he did ask a very bad question under my name which did make me mad, i guess i could :)

Answer 1

If you're an atheist, you know that no "higher power" exists to do the ignoring.

And yes, I recall.

Answer 2

I never "lost my faith" per say, no offense but to me that seems like kind of an immature approach to things, "Oh, if he isn't showing he loves me, then he must not really exist to love me, I'll change my mind." I just sort of always questioned the doctrine whenever it was fed to me. Often when teaching you about religion (I went to a catholic school, though it works for sunday schools and such too) people will go to explain about how we "can't understand" somethingm and while the concepts they were discribing seemed perfectly understandable, they just seemed flawed and like cop-outs, as if they were trying to mend something together that didn't really fit.

I later had a period in which I actually became a bit theistic, ignoring the doctrine I was taught because the world seemed to me to have a bit of depth to it, due in large part to the law of accelerating returns, but I now attribute this to confusing the paterns through which the universe developed and the concept of God, which I can't put much stock in.

So in short, it was a gruadual process for me, I never felt ignored, just felt that nothing should be exempt from question.

PS: Please submit a few abuse reports for the guy who cloned your name, it's kind of annoying and that is what that little flag is for.

Answer 3

I was around 15 or 16. The big thing was that I realized just how many religions there are in the world. I had always known that, but I never really thought about it much. How can one religion possibly be right and the other 9,999 be wrong? More importantly, how can the god of that sole correct religion allow those millions of other people to venture down a wrong path that would lead them to hell? As I looked into it more and more, I didn't find any reason that stood out and convinced me how ONE religion had it right and the rest had it wrong. It made a lot more sense to me that they're ALL wrong. I've had that opinion ever since.

Answer 4

For me, it wasn't an overnight revalation. I just found myself taking less and less interest in deity belief, to the point where I simply no longer felt the need for it.

One big hint was when I found myself practicing religious ceremonies out of guitly feelings of obligation, rather than an honest desire to do them. As it turned out, religion had previously provided me with certain things: identity as a minority, self-satisfactory answers, a hobby, a good feeling from being "devotional" to something, a way to get my kicks for organized ceremony, etc. Eventually though as I got into my early 20s and started seeing more of the world and experiencing more, I found myself getting those fulfillments through other means.

These days the existence or non-existence of "God" is something that just never really enters my mind. Just as well, because personally, I must say that if I were a deity I'd have MUCH more respect for the people who went about their business instead of bugging me for more stuff!

Answer 5

i used to be a Muslim. i decided to become deeply religious and study my faith deeply so i can find its essence and find God. well this made me doubt my faith more than the happily ignorant believers around me so i decided to quit studying religion and take a break from the headache. i pretended to be an atheist but deep inside i still believed that Islam was the truth only because of all the " unquestionable truths and evidence" in the Quran which i was lead to believe. i finally found a great site made by ex-Muslims where each of these proofs were completely shattered and exposed and i finally became freed from the chains of Islam and religion as a whole. and that was about a month ago, so yeah.

Answer 6

College psychology. That was when I realized that religion and gods are just another emotional evolution of our species to keep us herded up like sheep. Once I became aware of that, I automatically started to question everything I was ever told and am now convinced that people are unintentionally led, from birth, through life by thier parent's beliefs and morals and that these are taught to us by our family. What they believe, we tend to believe. I also beleive that religion is probably totally necessary for a vast majority of the population, because this part of the population needs to be led through life. i beleive that religion is a bunch of bunk, but at the same time, without it humanity would cave in on itself.

Answer 7

Believing that there is a higher power, that is simply ignoring you, would mean you aren't an atheist. An atheist knows there is no god, not that god is ignoring them. Anyway, no, I can't recall any specific moment or moments that taught me that god doesn't exist, I don't think I ever really believed he did, so I never "lost" a belief.

Answer 8

There wasn't a moment. I questioned the validity of religion from a young age. Finally I just came to the realization that none of it was true. This was after a great deal of reading, researching, thinking, and reflection.

Answer 9

i don't remember having the faith... but i didn't fight going to sunday school with relatives sometimes, even though i felt very odd there. but i think i was 12 or 13 when i was over it. i was reading "the future of an illusion" (freud) in grade school.

i had had much exposure to various cultures, and i saw that lots of religions seemed to have the same idea, only different because of culture/location... so it didn't make sense that people were telling me i was going to go to "hell" (which never scared me), because i hadn't accepted jesus as my savior at age 6. great tactics some of them have in recruiting followers!
all that led me to be active about seeking the truth.

Answer 10

It was last year sometime.

I was christian... What really did it for me, i had been reading up on scientology just because i was interested (i didn't want to join) and i thought HEY this is so far fetched.

And then i thought about it...... and i believe christianity is just as far fetched!! It's just i was taught it as a child, i believed it and never questioned it.

I used to pray every night and thank God for things etc.... but i never really had my heart into it.

Even when i was christian i loved nature and believed in mother earth and in natural forces, energy in all living things etc etc..... so i guess i was always destined to believe what i do now!! i just finally questioned what had been forced on me my whole life, and i am SO glad i did!! :) its a great feeling believing what i want 2

Answer 11

I clearly remember the day at age 11 I challenged God's existence. The challenge was invalid but freed my mind to question and think and changed the course of my life.