how or why you have no religion ?

fedorsgnp

I searched but didn't find a topic like this before so here goes

my mother I think is a typical irish woman she made us go to church up until secondary school and then due to my fathers influence eased up
he does not believe in god which probably had an influence but he never tried to push it down our throats , probably due to my mothers asking -which I would have ignored if it were me
so from about fifteen until about twenty I didnt care or think about religion much , sure it was just there and it was all we knew ,so I said I didn't believe in god but I think it was really just to be cool/different
then about twenty odd ,due to friends influences started to believe in god, I had no religion I was just a spiritual fella (and really it was just that I was rebelling against the catholic church as that was the only religion I was versed in)
now I wasn't a big god freak -more like a hippy god liker
then about two years ago I moved out of Ireland started seeing the bigger picture ,started really educating myself on all religions readings - pros and cons (pun not intended)
I basically came to the conclusion that they were all manmade and they were all bull**** but so was the belief in the magic man in the sky

2Scoops

I reached a similar conclusion, as I'm sure most here did, but at an earlier age and without experiencing the 'spiritual' God-lite phase.

Oh, and welcome to Boards.ie:D

Dave!

My family aren't particularly religious... We used to go to mass every Sunday, but it was more for keeping up with the Joneses, and for my mam to have a gossip afterwards. I never liked mass cos it was boring (I never gave it any deep thought as to whether I believed it or not), and from about 14 I kept saying I wasn't going, but was coerced into going. When I was getting close to 16, it was just accepted that I wasn't into it and no fuss was made. We'd still all celebrate Christmas, Easter, etc., and we still do! But as an excuse to get the family together and drink, eat, etc. -- nothing religious about it.

Anyways, when I was about 15 or 16 I started getting kinda profound and philosophical in my thinking I was getting frustrated with not understanding where everything came from... "Okay, so the universe was created by the big bang... but where did the initial gas and crap come from? It had to come from somewhere! Okay so god made it... but where did god come from?"

I was hung up on the idea that at some point something had to have come from nothing. But eventually when I gave it more thought I started to realise that we didn't always have the level of scientific understanding that we have today. Einstein only explained relativity in the 20th century, Newton only explained motion in the 17th century....... yet humans have been on the planet for thousands of years. So I started to appreciate that the question of "why are we here? how did we get here?" is the biggest question possible really -- for a scientist or a lay man. It is asking quite alot for humans to be able to explain every single thing ever when science has only started to formalise in the last few hundred years.

Anyways, that was the catalyst, and I was an atheist from about 15 or 16. When I gave it a bit more thought I could see the pattern in human evolution and anthropology that lead humans to project divine qualities onto nearly everything they don't understand. You only need to look at all of the gods of Greek mythology to see that. But it's replicated in cultures all over the world and has always been. I realised that by worshipping something as elaborate as the Judeo-Christian god would be falling into the usual human mindset of worshipping the unexplained.

I also started reading a bit more into evolution, and that certainly sealed it for me. It gives you perspective and makes you realise that we are just another animal on this planet, and when we die, just like the rest of them, we're finished.

coffee_cake

I have a religion, I'm buddhist.

But when I didn't have one... I stopped being a christian at 12 when I just didn't buy into it anymore. Remained religion-less for maybe 5-6 years or so. Wasn't influenced by anyone else, my mother isn't christian (I was brought up that way at my gparents' insistence, I think) but I've never really talked to her about religious matters anyway.

Tar.Aldarion

No you don't, buddhism is not a realigion. :-)
I don't have one because I have no reason to have one.
No evidence for. Much like leprechauns.

Dades

Welcome fedorsgnp.
Slightly similar thread here in case you're interested.

Or just continue here... we're easy.

coffee_cake

The Atheist wrote:

Or just continue here... we're easy.

Speak for yourself :0

Hivemind187

I was raised a catholic like the vast majority of the people in Ireland. My mother is cathiolic, my grand parents on both sides, all my aunts and the majority of my uncles. I moved arouond a lot and was exposed to lots of different schools and lots of different teachers, all of whom were catholic. As such I remained catholic up until the age of reason (about 12 years old) when I realised that there was a lot of stuff that just didnt make sense to me.

I read the bible and noticed that most of the stories were contracdictory even in the telling of the new testament (different versions of the Jesus story). I started to read Douglas Adams and watched a few documentaries. I started listening to rock music (as you do) and began to question why I was being told this stuff.

Right through secondary I read and experimented with relgions, mysticism, metaphysics. Eventually I got a copy of the bible of Satan which was a real eye opener. Whiel I dont actually officially belong to the CoS, and I dont believe half of LaVey's claims, I found it hard to argue with the philosophy he was putting forward.

Eventually I realised that I didnt really need anything other than my own wits, opinions, thought and personal guidelines to live in the world and cast off the yoke of religion and dogma entirely. Reading a lot of Dawkins and Paine lately.

I'm a very happy neo-radical-ultra-liberetarian-atheist. I'm thinking of adding "aggressive secularist" to that as well.

Dades

bluewolf wrote:

Speak for yourself :0

Okay, except for bluewolf who's tough as old boots.

raido9

The leaps of faith associated with religions are too nonsensical for me to buy into.

Simple as that!

Sangre

I don't know anyone who said they didn't believe in God to 'rebel'. I don't know anyone who went through this phase but its often how young atheists are described.

aidan24326

fedorsgnp wrote:

how or why you have no religion?

Because religions (at least the mainstream ones I'm more familiar with and which account for the majority of humanity) are ultimately not interested in truth, only in blindly adhering to a set of arcane beliefs completely regardless of any evidence for or against. Why would I want to be a member of an organisation, 99% of whose dogma can be overwhelmingly refuted? I turned away from my own birth religion (catholic) because of the above reasons, but even if the above was not the case, I'd renounce them anyway as the sinister, malevolent and downright hypocritical organisation that they are. He who follows an organised religion has handed over his power of free thought to someone else.