The religion reporter for the Los Angeles Times lost his faith after eight years of covering religion in all its forms...and decided he needed a new beat. I found him extremely courageous.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-lostfaith21jul21,1,6552887,full.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage
I know I had to walk away from a lot when I left Christianity for Paganism...there's still a huge rift in my family...but I didn't have to think about my livelihood or public reputation.
What about others here? What did you sacrifice when you lost your faith in Christianity?
2007-07-23 06:16:58 · 26 answers · asked by GreenEyedLilo 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I lost nothing. I gained new perspective and still have Christian friends along with a wide variety of new ones. For awhile I didn't have the sense of community that I have now but even that has been returned to me many times over.
2007-07-23 06:23:27 · answer #1 · answered by Keltasia 6 · 5⤊ 1⤋
My mothers step father was a pastor, and sexually abused her for many years of her childhood. He was never officially "caught" and never turned into the police- because of the statute of limitations. My mother didn't even deal with the abuse until her 20's when she confronted him. But the evil guy is still preaching on the web- he is in his 70's now. Lives in Dallas. I don't even know what there is to be done about it- he still has a website that preaches the gospel. We have nothing to do with him- or my grandmother who has stayed "faithful" to this monster. I have never had faith in any religion or ministry because of this.
2007-07-23 07:57:10 · answer #2 · answered by quirky 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I consider myself fortunate. I was not indoctrinated into either path. I started seeking with no pre-conceptions and was able to pick the pagan path without fighting against ideas that were pounded into my head from childhood. It was a lonely path, and a path that many members of my family disagreed with. But unlearning and unbelieving is far more difficult. I admire you all and send you Bright Blessings!!
2007-07-23 09:51:35 · answer #3 · answered by kronekrafts 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What a great article. Too many people are afraid or unwilling to publish such substantial, thought-provoking "downer" pieces. The dearth of such reality-based articles gives the impression that such opinions don't exist. This guy is brave and honest in being able to put it all out there like that.
2007-07-23 06:48:11 · answer #4 · answered by Peter D 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Although I was catholic, I lost nothing at all when I walked away from religion.
I gained a better understanding of all the logical fallacies that religion has.
2007-07-24 04:36:25 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Fortunately, when that happened to me I was Young enough (9 years old) that I had many years to recover, and make new, REAL friends. Artists, writers, poets, actors, musicians, free thinkers of all kind, the best of our society! I'm 64 now, I lived all over the world, and I have the best possible life!
Thank God I'm an atheist!
2007-07-23 06:28:56 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I prefer to think of all that i gained rather than what i lost by my apostasy. But since you're asking for the latter...
I lost the frustration of dealing with the self-satisfied hypocrites at church. I also lost my relationships with a couple of people whose friendship i valued, but if they find it more rewarding to believe in a very particular god than to have anything to do with me, then that's their choice and it wouldn't be appropriate for me to try to change their mind. Love, afterall, "does not insist on its own way".
I lost the almost daily agony of contemplating an allegedly omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and *benevolent* deity that allows priests supposedly dedicated to his service to assault
the people He allegedly cares for, especially children.
I know more than one Christian who has told me that i've lost "salvation", but i doubt that. And if i prove to be wrong, at least i'll be damned for *honest* reasons.
2007-07-23 08:15:21 · answer #7 · answered by euclid 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Not much. I lost my hypocrisy. I lost the collection plate. I lost the insane logic games that I had to play in order to reconcile the facts with the dogma.
2007-07-23 06:28:35 · answer #8 · answered by UpChuck 3 · 5⤊ 0⤋
I lost nothing in fact and I have gained everything by seeing Jesus as a Pagan God. Once my eyes were opened Jesus lead me to the Goddess Sophia his spirtual Partner (In My eyes) Jesus and Sophia are the Lord and the Lady and I am now complete.
2007-07-23 06:26:29 · answer #9 · answered by ? 1 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Believing in Christianity gave me a lot of hope, it gave me a sense of strength and purpose.
It took me years to find that same hope, strength, and purpose again.
There are days I honestly wish I could go back. But, that's simply not possible.
2007-07-23 06:20:46 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋