Ex-believers, what made you quit your religion/cult?
-
This post did not contain any content.
I learned about Gandhi when I was 12, and thought it was dumb that he would be in hell just because he wasn't Christian. Absolutely could not square that rule with the idea that "God is love". Figured it was all a bunch of bullshit.
-
This post did not contain any content.
I asked the forbidden question too much. "Why?"
-
This post did not contain any content.
I was a child who had been SA'd by an adult man. The adults around me told me to pray for forgiveness. I was 12.
Years later, I went to get a visitor's pass to visit a friend at my old Christian school. They aggressively denied me entrance.
-
I was a child who had been SA'd by an adult man. The adults around me told me to pray for forgiveness. I was 12.
Years later, I went to get a visitor's pass to visit a friend at my old Christian school. They aggressively denied me entrance.
What does mean "being SA’d"?
-
I read the Bible. I started asking questions about things in the Bible that didn't match science, I loved science (still do), but nobody wanted to answer my questions, they'd just get mad, so I started seeking information elsewhere and came across atheist or ex-religious sources who answered the questions I had. Those sources also helped me realise the damage that had been done to me mentally, which I'm still working on overcoming.
I admit I haven't read the entire Bible. I'm not a particularly pious Christian, and I certainly don't mean to try to convince anyone towards or against religion. That said:
I also love science. I'm an engineer, not a conspiracy theorist. I know the dinosours existed, I know evolution happened, I know the Big Bang was a thing. However, that doesn't mean Jesus wasn't a man who lived approximately 2000 years ago. It doesn't mean he wasn't a great teacher. It doesn't mean there aren't lessons to learn in any of the Bible's stories.
Because that's what they are: stories. They're not 100% perfect recounts of events that happened. Heck, they're most of the time not even 1% perfect recounts of events that happened. But some of them still have some wisdom worth sharing, just the same. At least, I think so.
-
What does mean "being SA’d"?
SA = sexual assault
-
What does mean "being SA’d"?
The most vile thing that can be done especially to a 12 year old kid. If hell doesn't exist we should build one specially for such scum of humanity.
-
This post did not contain any content.
I dunno, it just made no sense. If people find out you're an atheist, they don't argue with facts, they argue with morals.
I'm sorry you need to believe in something with zero evidence to be a good person/find beauty in the world/be at peace with yourself/whatever, but I can just do those things anyway. I don't need to convince myself of certain facts for it.
-
This post did not contain any content.
I was raised Catholic but rejected it pretty much immediately when I reached the age of reason (~13 or so).
So all I have to do is listen to and obey everything my parents, teachers, and religious leaders tell me and I'll go to heaven, but, if I had been born into a Muslim family in one of the countries we were bombing, doing that would get me sent to Hell and I need to reject everything I was taught, get on a plane, randomly walk into the right church, and believe everything they tell me. Oh, and if I was like some random Chinese farmer a thousand years before planes were invented, I guess I'm just fucked. Yeah somehow I don't believe that an all-good perfectly-just god would have every soul play fucking roulette to determine what their chances in life will be of getting into heaven.
It wasn't until much later that I learned about the history of this contradiction, which goes back to a 400's debate between Augustine and Pelagius regarding original sin. Pelagius argued that it was theoretically possible, but incredibly difficult, to live a life free of sin and therefore not need Jesus' forgiveness. He was also critical of the way Christians were integrating with the Roman empire, with all the same practices but now the social climbers called themselves Christian to win the emperor's favor while otherwise doing all the same shit they would otherwise. Augustine rejected this, arguing that the Father would not sacrifice the Son unless it was strictly necessary, furthermore, Pelagius' arguments would undermine the authority of the church (this was stated explicitly). Augustine invented the concept of original sin as something passed down through generations (despite this making zero sense), cited a mistranslated passage from scripture to support it, and used that to explain how even someone who lived a perfectly innocent life deserved to go to hell. This included, of course, fetuses. It was the Church's position for a very long time that if you have an abortion, or even a miscarriage, then your baby's soul is burning in hell.
What's particularly funny to me about this is that, after Pelagius was denounced as a heretic for saying people needed to actually live virtuously instead of just relying on Jesus to forgive them, he became so reviled that people were often accused of "semi-Pelagianism." All through the Reformation, everyone was accusing each other of being "semi-Pelagians" and trying to position themselves as the true inheritors of the Augustinian tradition. It wasn't until relatively recently that anyone started saying, "Hey, maybe the Augustinian position is actually kinda fucked up."
-
This post did not contain any content.
As a kid religion seemed like make believe, still I followed it and thought of myself as Catholics into early adult hood. Eventually I just started referring to myself as an atheist.
-
This post did not contain any content.
At some point I realised that this almighty being that loves everyone either is not actually almighty or just a massive cunt, considering it allows unnecessary unprovoked evil like children dying a long painful death from a disease that this being also happened to create.
-
This post did not contain any content.
At about the age of 8 I could tell that Catholicism was evil. So that was it for me. Lots of specific things but just evil overall.
-
This post did not contain any content.
I never really was into spirituality much and then over time I noticed Buddhism kept bumping into me and kept explaining things in more and more straightforward ways over the years so eventually I caved in and looked into it more closely and decided to practice Tibetan Buddhism because it felt more closely related to my own personal experiences and interests...it can be tricky to understand at first until you understand how all the symbolism works and then a whole world of information was opened up to me and I feel better than ever.
Those early Tibetan Buddhists really got a lot of things right from the start and still today I see science research come out suggesting the same things they figured out long ago.
-
This post did not contain any content.
When I was 10 my dad committed suicide and my grandparents told me we'd never be able to see him in heaven. Pretty much broke my little brain for awhile trying to understand how a just and loving God could separate a young boy from his father for eternity.
Never could, and now I'm a proud atheist disappointment to my grandparents.
-
As a kid religion seemed like make believe, still I followed it and thought of myself as Catholics into early adult hood. Eventually I just started referring to myself as an atheist.
This is me with mormonism. I never truly believed. The Bible and the bom were just stories to me. I tried, I really, really wanted to believe in it, to feel that "holy spirit" everyone was talking about, but I simply wasn't convinced. Everyone around me claimed to believe though, people that I trusted, so I thought that maybe I could fake it till I make it and it would eventually just "click". It never happened, and by my mid-teens I finally reached the point where I didn't even want to believe anymore. So, yeah, I'm also atheist now.
-
The meanest people I have ever known were church people. My dad left us when I was young, my mom was left a single parent. Seeking refuge in the church, we started attending regularly. In that time I felt things from others, ranging from genuine kindness all the way to pity. However, as things progressed and my mother became more involved with the church, the more people started to talk. From casual mentions, to annoyance that she would show up, to talking behind her back.
Was she super pleasant to be around? No, I think she can be awkward and has a hard time making friends - and those people picked up on that and ran with it. It wasn't so long until she was excluded from certain events, that there were more "special" bible studies that she would her invite would be "forgotten". She wanted so much to be included, but she didn't fit their paradigm of.. I don't even know what.
Oh they preach of acceptance and forgiveness, of not judging, but they are some of the most hurtful people out there. I don't know what I believe personally, but I'll avoid going into a church for as long as I can.
Your story is all too common, and I saw a lot of this growing up. I was there as a child overhearing the comments about people. Seeing and hearing my parents and church and school leaders talking shit behind backs, amd being judgy as hell towards anyone and everyone.
Yes, God forbid you seem like a burden or "different" in any way. Their "acceptance" of you will come with a lot of caveats.
I'm glad for your sake and your life you are aware and see it for what it is. You're better off.
-
I admit I haven't read the entire Bible. I'm not a particularly pious Christian, and I certainly don't mean to try to convince anyone towards or against religion. That said:
I also love science. I'm an engineer, not a conspiracy theorist. I know the dinosours existed, I know evolution happened, I know the Big Bang was a thing. However, that doesn't mean Jesus wasn't a man who lived approximately 2000 years ago. It doesn't mean he wasn't a great teacher. It doesn't mean there aren't lessons to learn in any of the Bible's stories.
Because that's what they are: stories. They're not 100% perfect recounts of events that happened. Heck, they're most of the time not even 1% perfect recounts of events that happened. But some of them still have some wisdom worth sharing, just the same. At least, I think so.
Someone read those books thoroughly and decided they are not worth the cost of staying in a damaging situation.
You have not read them and yet you to want to defend stories you don’t think are true, but might have some little pearls of conventional wisdom? And just gloss right over that the religious trauma caused them serious harm they are still recovering from?
Just pointing out that your luke warm defense of your favorite children’s stories in this context comes across as extremely tone deaf.
-
This post did not contain any content.
I was always kinda skeptical but the event that triggered my way out was when I asked my mom how can God expect people, who were raised with other religions, to believe in him instead when they simply have no idea. She said they know about God and it’s their own fault for not believing in him. And that for me was not logical because I knew from my own experience that I only believed in God because that’s all I knew.
But it took a while for me to completely stop believing in any deity or whatever supernatural power because I kept looking for reasons why we exist. Now I don’t care for that. Sure the Big Bang is mysterious and we might never solve it but there is no sense in making things up either. Everything else can be explained by science so let’s just go with that.
If the Christian God wants me to believe in him, he should stop being so vague and contradicting. Turn the moon into cheese. Pluck a mountain out of the ground and float it in the sky. Whatever, he is almighty, he should do almighty things.
-
This post did not contain any content.
I worked as a researcher and started applying the scientific method to the bible and faith, and it fell apart. before i tried to "disable" critical thinking on many issues in the bible and push those issues away.
Also, I realized that my faith kept me from accepting responsibility for my actions and kept me externalizing responsibility to god and/or the devil and other people. -
This post did not contain any content.
I was a nerd, so I tried really really hard to prove logically that my religion was the correct one... and failed.
