atheists/ is it true?

Question

i read in answers that very few atheists were raised as such that most were actually raised in a religion and then made the deciesion as an adult. this is a serious question/want serious answers and please state the denomination you were raised in if true.

awesome answers guys. i do wish that those who state christian had been more desriptive like a particular denomination or if their families just claimed christianity as a whole.

Answer 1

I'm the son, grandson, nephew & cousin of Methodist ministers.

In college, I majored in religion (& also vocal performance) & then spent a year in seminary. But I left when I realized that, as a gay man, the United Methodist Church would never ordain me. But that was a long time ago, & I now work as a psychotherapist & consider myself an atheistic-agnostic student of Buddhism.

Answer 2

Yes, that is true. And I really wish more proselytizing Christians would realize that, before making the stupid assumption that I just haven't tried their religion, or haven't researched it myself.

Most people (at least here in the US), regardless of where they stand today on religion, were specifically raised under their parents' religion. So it's statisically inevitable that you'll find a number of atheists that were initially raised under a specific religion, just as you can find a lot of Jehovah's Witnesses who were intially raised as something other than Jehovah's Witnesses.

Why do you ask for "denomination" and not "religion and denomination"? You don't assume that Christianity (with its many denominations), is the only religion out there, do you?

Since you ask, I was raised Catholic, and forced against my will to go through several of their sacrements. I'm sure some schmucks here will say "Oh, well that explains it." But it explains nothing. There is no religion that's going to "best" keep somebody from becoming an atheist.

By the way, have you already read up on the subject of "run-on sentences" and punctuation?

Answer 3

Given that the christians quite often quote a figure of 80% as the number of americans that are christian, it's awfully hard *not* to be raised in a religious setting in this country. I guess my two kids will be the exception -- they're being raised to value reason, logic, evidence, and to question everything...not having their heads filled with superstitious nonsense for which there is no evidence.

Me personally -- I was raised a mormon. Even went on a mormon mission. I had serious doubts about the contradictions, lack of evidence for things stated as fact, etc. before doing that...but "peer pressure" and the desire to remain beloved by the community I was in were strong forces, and I fought my doubts.

I was eventually able to overcome the intense peer (and family) pressure, research my doubts and find the evidence that threw off the ignorance and dogma of religion. I won't put my kids through the same tribulations I went through :)

Peace.

Answer 4

I was actually raised in a mixed family with different religions, they did not try to inflict their beliefs on to me, they wanted me to read and learn about different faiths, my father was Bengali and my mother is English. He was a Muslim (he passed away some years ago) and my mother is a catholic. I read the Koran and the bible (old and new testaments). I came to the conclusion during a religious lesson at school, how much I did not believe in any of these things. I discussed this with my family, they respected my decision to be an Atheist/agnostic.human, and I respect their decision to believe in what they want to believe in. I am not actually a hater of religion, i just believe that 'man' has ruined the moral codes and ethics that are based in these religions to a their own needs and wishes. (this has been going on for centuries) - religion has been used for power, greed, control, wars, torture, intolerance, land, wealth and cruelty for far too long. I decided that i wanted no part of that. What i do have is an empathy for Buddhism. But i do not believe in deities, gods, messiahs, preachers, prophets or televangelists!

Answer 5

I was raised a catholic. Did the whole sunday school, first holy communion, & confirmation etc. My mother tried to send me to catholic school in high school but I protested. I told her if she did, then I wouldn't go to school. I graduated from a public school with As & Bs. I tried going to church again when I was in the military and I tried a baptist church. I decided I didn't like organized religion and continued trying to believe even though all along I never really bought into it. I finally let it all go 5 years ago. The truth makes more sense to be then the false belief in a deity.

Answer 6

Raised Catholic, still go to church, just don't believe in the supernatural part. There seems to be something about contemplating parenthood that causes otherwise unattached people to seek out social support networks and authoritative moral backgrounds. Church fills the bill very nicely, and suddenly people find themselves in front of a bowl of water, holding a wet kid. God also makes a better answer for all those "why" questions than "just because", so busy parents are tempted to fall back on a ready-made, time-tested ethical system. Later on, the kids may compare "Wait till your father gets home," with "Wait till Jesus comes back," and make connections.

Answer 7

I am not an Atheist but I was raised Methodist. As an adult I chose to change to Baptist and am currently non Christian and lean toward New Thought. I attended church until my 30's, was a member, baptized and saved.

Answer 8

I'm not a strict atheist. I consider myself more agnostic but find myself nodding my head at atheists, if you know what I mean.

My dad never ever bothered with religion. He was raised as a protestant but never went to church himself or read Bibles or prayed or wore a cross. My mom is Anglican but doesn't go to church or pray. So I've always had the freedom to choose whichever religion I wanted. Nothing was forced on me.
So as I was a curious boy I sat down with an encyclopaedia to read about religions (it's objective). Then after reading it, I decided that religion was usually filled with lots of blood spilling and lies and totally illogical stories. I often saw similarities between political parties and religions, which did really not appeal to me. So I left it alone and have never ever found a place in my life where I thought, "man I wish I found God, Allah, etc."

Answer 9

I was raised as a Methodist. My parents took me to church almost every Sunday. But after I became old enough to start thinking for myself, I realized what a bad religion Christianity is.

Answer 10

Yes. I was a Missouri Synod Lutheran. I was baptized and confirmed and studied the Bible pretty seriously. I've spoken from the pulpit a number of times, and even as a young adult attended adult education courses on the tenets of the Lutheran Church.

However, eventually it became clear that the whole "god" thing was just wishful thinking and denial.