Question for Agnostics and Atheists?

Question

What religion did your parents raise you? How and when did you know the truth. I'm a minority in my society and look for smart answers for these preaching maniacs around me.

Hey Carl, more details will be nice..

Yuri I'm so jealous imagine all my childhood wasted for the rubbish I have to go through!

Yuri: Christian Friends and family.

Answer 1

I was raised a fundy (baptist). Went to Baptist Bible College when I began to doubt.

As I went thru a normal University, I just stopped thinking about the bible and willed myself to have faith. I thought if I didn't question or study it, that would be how I could hold onto it. That didn't work either. I lost it all together when I was about 24?

I grew up in Wyoming, which is a pretty conservative place. It can be lonely when you're the only atheist you know. You'll be surprised how many people are though. It's just something that others don't talk about much.

Answer 2

i'm korean, adopted by white american parents, raised in a all white neighborhood, raised presbyterian, heavy christian upbringing. started to question around 17, wrote off religion until 24.
began to read other religous, spiritual materials, found that the buddhist materials best answered questions I had, matched my beliefs, very logical, based on the individual system.
I believe that most people have the same religous beliefs as their parents, if you grow enough to question and keep an open mind then it is a matter of finding that system of beliefs (for or against a higher power) that help you the most. Often we get the practices of the religions mixed up with the underlying messages, don't get caught up in the differences in practice, look at the messages of the different belief systems, and find the one that resonates with you. Its about finding the ways for you to practice your beliefs that you are comfortable with.
With an open mind you may find that what resonates with you changes. I went from blindly religous to atheist, to agnostic, to buddhist.
as for the preaching maniacs, live and let live, tell them that this is a time in your life for research. Conscious faith in whatever belief is better that blind faith in only one. Because you are born in America you happen to have the only correct answer? what if you were born in india where most likely you would be hindu?

i believe one needs to do the best one can, be the best human one can be and i feel comfortable answering to any "higher being" should i be called to
good luck in your search/journey

Answer 3

I was born and raised a Catholic. Had a very strong faith growing up as a child, started questioning when I was in my teens, eventually accepted the truth. Sorry, I don't know if I have any smart answers for the preaching maniacs...sometimes I'll just ask something like, "If you were born into a family of Muslims, or Jews, and were taught their religion, would you be preaching THAT to me?"

Answer 4

I was raised in the Salvation Army which is a part of Christianity somehow. As I grew older I began to see more and more flaws in the Christian religion and lost my faith. Then when I was around 11, my soul was touched by something clearly non-Christian. (I'm not really an atheist, sorry, but I do answer question like one since they are what I am most like, oddly enough.) If you want to retaliate against the Christians around you just read the Bible. There are so many contradictions in there you'll have fuel for a life time.

Answer 5

I was raised a Mormon, I have also been Catholic and Pentacostal. I learned the truth after joining the Mormon church again as an adult. This happened simultaneously while I read the Bible from cover to cover. Finishing that made me realize that most people use scripture out of context. I have also read other books that show what the symbolism of the new testament really was and it makes 100% sense to me. Jesus existed, but he was not the son of god.

Answer 6

What is "truth" (small "t") and how is it related to the Truth (big "T") as in absolute Truth?

Each of us has a representation and interpretation of the Big "T," but nobody knows for sure what the big "T" acually is.

Science has a Theory of Everything. So does Theology. So far, it is a draw because neither of the two has definitively proven their theory.

Tell that to the preaching maniacs.

Answer 7

My father was and is now even more, a fundamentalist kind of Catholic. But I lived with my crazy-depressed mother, who hated god if he DID exist!
But now see, god is the same magic as Santa.
And when I was three and a half years old, I knew it took me a long time to trick=or-treat in my apartment building.
So I knew that there was no way a guy and reindeer could fly, but even if he could, he would NEVER have time to get to all of the houses in my neighborhood, let alone get to all of the houses from my home to Grandma's.
They're all liars, these adults...
I'm 29, and I still don't believe much of anything mystical, period!

Answer 8

I was raised Protestant, and began to realize the whole "God" thing was rather questionable at about the age of 11. I spoke to Ministers, and then Priests, Rabbis, and other religious teachers and read a good many religious texts and philosophy books before reaching true Agnosticism.

Answer 9

Raised catholic. I quit going the day I turned 18 (or the first Sunday thereafter). I decided I'd rather live in sin and accept the fact that I'd burn in hell than follow those rules.

Religion became less and less a part of my life over the years, and atheistic thoughts occurred to me but I really didn't think about it much.

Then I guess one day it just clicked. Nope, no god.

Answer 10

My parents were nominally Christian, although not fanatic about it. When I was eight years old, it became apparent that the biblical tales could not be reconciled with science, and since science is obviously right (it works!), the bible had to go. Further scrutiny of the matter over more decades than I care to admit has unearthed no evidence of any sort of god.