Atheists........?

Question

How long did it take you to reach the conclusion that atheism was the right choice for you? Given that the World is inundated with propaganda that is pro religion and often we are taught/indoctrinated with R.E. in school, by parents and society in general etc. It is a decision that is often not made lightly, how much research into the bible and soul searching did you do?

I was raised a Catholic, I even went to Catholic schools. I so wanted to believe in a good god that was on my side. So it took me years and years to reach the point where I stopped calling myself an agnostic and embraced being a very happy atheist

Answer 1

Okay Mia, it's a long story but I'll be as succinct as I can.
I was brought up in a very fundamentalist sect (Jehovah's Witnesses). As I grew up, my faith waned for two different but contemporaneous reasons. As I grew older and my secular education advanced, and I became aware of the scientific truths about the universe we live in, I realised just how much at odds with reality their theology was. But at the same time, my own sense of justice and morality was appalled by what I read in the bible (That may be their one big tactical error - they do encourage people to actually read the book!)
As I became more acquainted with the actual contents of the bible, I realised what an nasty, misogynistic, violent and above all stupid entity I was being asked to worship.

I left the faith as soon as I could find the courage to confront my family, which was very, very traumatic!

Answer 2

Back when I was an Atheist it took a couple of years. I was 14, and had been obsessively studying world history for about a year. (As a kid, I had a near genius IQ by some tests, so I did a lot of independent study or I'd have gone mad with boredom.)

I looked at the history of the world, the archaeological record, the comparative religions on the Middle East and thought "What a load of crap this religion thing is." At 14 I sounded a lot like Christopher Hitchens. And since his book is selling millions of dollars worth of product, I'm kicking myself for not writing it all down.

I kept with it until I skipped the main stream thinking on religion and came in the side door as it were. But I still see the point of Atheism to a great extent. Main stream religion IS a load of crap. It's just wrong to lump everyone in with the Pope, Osama Bin Ladin and the late unlamented Jerry Falwell.

Answer 3

when i was a kid i believed in father christmas - fairies - monsters and god. i went to a church school and as a young woman searched for answers in the bible - the koran etc but once you know the truth it really does set you free ( sorry to sound a bit biblical) there really is no god there never was and there never will be. all those terrible things that have happened in the past and are still happening , the wars the persecutions have been commited by people who justify there behaviour by saying it is gods will - any level headed normal human being would know that this is rubbish.

a religious zealot may want to believe that he must kill the infidel but surely if there was a god he would do it himself with his so called infinate powers. he could stop wars dispose of evil people feed the hungry - isn't that what gods are supposed to do if people really need some faith they should try putting some in their fellow man because they've got more chance of getting a result out of the tooth fairy.

sooner or later normal healthy minded people grow up and get on with their lives .

if everyone put their effort and minds into self improvement who knows we might move a little faster up the evolutionary ladder - who knows what the human race might achieve in the future if we can just get rid of the god rubbish-

i have seen people die in terrible ways - some called to god - trust me he wasn't there - they still died - some badly - people should depend on themselves and their fellow man not an imaginary being

once the world gets rid of organized religion it will advance to the stars.

Answer 4

The world is also inundated with anti-gay propaganda, and once I came out of the closet as a gay man, I realized how inordinately inaccurate that information was.

It also led me to doubt the religion that I was taught as a child. I majored in religion in college and attended a Methodist seminary for a year, at least partially in an effort to find a place for me in the church.

Eventually I discovered the common elements in almost all religions: They believe that they hold the corner on the truth, and they believe that they have received a revelation on that truth from God (often through the religion's founder).

But none of these "revelations" produced anything other than confusion and a panacea for the pain of life. You had to trust that God would reward you after death, or that God's justice would win in the end, or that the pain was a way of purifying yourself before meeting God. If any of these were the case, then why would it be that animals also suffered in similar ways?

So eventually it made no sense that any of this was true, and that if there were a God, he was probably no more than a first cause and he had no impact on the day-to-day running of the universe, which simply follows natural laws.

(And oddly enough, this conclusion also helped explain that homosexuality was just another one of those natural events.)

- {♂♂} - {♂♀} - {♀♀} -

Answer 5

The thought that came to me when I was around thirteen years old was this: "Jesus must have been very kind hearted. He knew there was no life after death, but told people there was because he saw they were afraid of dying". There was no logic or soul searching to reach this conclusion, it was quite simply there one day.

But I don't believe Atheism is a choice, more a state of mind.
And I don't believe Atheism is "the right way" or "the true way" , it is the way my mind works, that's all.

Answer 6

I used to believe in God until I was aboy 19/20 and through educating myself about evolution came to the conclusion that god was a myth.
I have a good knowledge of the bible through reading and church attendance as well as what I was taught in school.
It is wrong to indoctrinate young minds at school that there is a God when there is absolotely NO PROOF that "he" exists.
The theory of evolution has a lot more evidence than the bible.

Answer 7

It's weird. As a child I had religious education, and I more or less went along with it. But I never really believed it. I come from a nonreligious home, we studied the bible and other religions but never as truth or anything like that. Pagan religions (Germanic and Greek) always had a much stronger attraction for me than Christianity, and in high school I was also influenced by Buddhism. Yes I've studied the Bible, and I've found it to be highly politicized work, not a holy book at all. Samuel is a good example, the sole purpose of that book is to legitimize David's rule. And the different perspectives in the New Testament, it's just crazy to interpret that as one message. If I had been raised in a muslim environment I might have believed that, but christianity is so easy to deconstruct, it gives you the tools to deconstruct other religions afterwards.

Answer 8

I was brought up by parents who didn't care one way or another about religion, went to a c of e school and yawned my way through the sermons on our occasional church trips. I did find the blood guts and gore sections of the Old Testament fun in R.E., but as soon as someone mentioned Jesus I'd nod off, though infinitely fascinating to the bible bashing crowd, I found the New Testament a colossal bore.
Thought there might be other more interesting religions out there I might look into when I was older, but never got round to it.
So wasn't really a struggle for me, always been neutral at best.

Answer 9

After years of illness and then losing my one and only child I came to the conclusion that there was no god and if there was then he/she/it was having a bloody good laugh at my expense. I'd been taught that he/she/it would look after us, his/her/its children. Like hell he/she/it has. I've had nothing but misery, pain and heartache. I am an atheist and tell everyone who starts to talk to me about religion. That usually shuts them up or they tell me I'm wicked for such thoughts. Yeh ME. It's just a load of fairy stories made up by people who were probably hallucinating by taking drugs knowingly or otherwise and being given money , on the telling of these fables,by people who could probably least afford it, much like the church does today come to think of it, to maintain their selfish lifestyle. Most people who I know who profess to being a christian wouldn't give a blind man a light. At least I never let anyone leave my home without a meal and a drink and a kind word. I think this makes me more of a "Christian" than anyone who goes to church all day Sunday but only help those in their own little christian circle. I am proud to call myself an atheist and would never turn my back on another deserving human being without asking for money in a collection box then being told God will help/bless you. You only get things in this life if you help yourself. If there was another almighty being then surely by now he would have intercepted all the wickedness in this world and dealt with the perputators and banished them to wherever,help people get rid of terrible diseases and suffering that goes on all over the world.rid the world of famine, war and terrorism. But has that happened - NO and it never will because MAN has caused most of this misery and only man has the power to put a stop to all human misery but the human race is hell bent on destroying this world we live in. Some people live in cloud cuckoo land and instead of trying to do something tangible they get out a bible or whatever and stick their heads in it and quote passages a you and think that this is going to solve the world's problems a bit like ostrichs who stick their heads in the sand.

Answer 10

I didn't choose atheism. It's not like I choose nonbelief. The god concept is logically impossible and I can no more claim that it is than I can claim 2+2=79.

I DID go to R.E. school, that's right. And yes, my parents were and still are Catholic. Basically a boy I had a crush on in highschool started asking me tough theological questions (I was always a sucker for the deep thinkers) and it got me seriously pondering my faith.