What was your religious circumstance, when you embraced Atheism?

JimiTime

Ok, just curious. Were any of you independantly Christian when you embraced atheism. By that I mean, lets say you were raised Catholic, but you then saw its errors and found Christs message elsewhere. Afterwhich, you found that it was all nonsense and you concluded God does not exist.

I don't know if I've been clear enough here, so ask away if it seems like a ramble.
Cheers,
Jimi.

seamus

I was raised Catholic, mostly by school as my parents' interest in the church waned as I approached my teens. I was never a fervent follower, but like most others I had always taken it as a given that God existed and gave a ****. I had come to the conclusion quite early that Jesus probably existed at one point, but he didn't occupy any specific place in heaven, i.e. he was just a messenger.
My interest in the whole thing died in my teen years, I just went through the motions in school masses and the like.

Thinking back on it, I think in my mind I always knew that it was all crap (I can remember declaring at 16 that I wouldn't get my kids baptised), but the damn indoctrination made it tough to admit it to myself. When you're told from 4 years of age that God exists and the bible is the factual truth, it can be very difficult to question that as an adult.

Bizarrely, it was watching Stargate and the way that spirtuality was dealt with in the show that made me realise that this TV show's fictional take on the universe was equally likely and valid as any of the major religions, and it's all just a pile of made up bull.

JimiTime

Thanks seamus.

Mena

Was raised with no belief system at all really. Parents sent me to one or the other Sunday school at one stage so I could see what it was all about and make up my own mind. Didn't take very long at all.

Have since become more of an Anti-theist in my later years however.

kelly1

Mena wrote: »

Have since become more of an Anti-theist in my later years however.

Why anti-theist Mena if you don't believe in God? Presumably you feel that religion is harmful?

Dades

kelly1 wrote: »

Why anti-theist Mena if you don't believe in God? Presumably you feel that religion is harmful?

Noel, unless you've recently embraced atheism (imagine!) I'm going to request we not pursue this here. Lets keep a thread on topic for once. TIA, Mena.

Mena

Dades wrote: »

Noel, unless you've recently embraced atheism (imagine!) I'm going to request we not pursue this here. Lets keep a thread on topic for once. TIA, Mena.

Was going to say the same thing, perhaps best left for another thread.

Soul Winner

kelly1 wrote: »

Why anti-theist Mena if you don't believe in God? Presumably you feel that religion is harmful?

I think it means that he's against theists not God per se. If you don't believe that God exists then how can you be against Him? But you can be against those who believe that He (God) does exist which is a different thing. I would be very much against people who believe in God myself if I didn’t believe that God existed. Most of them would do your head in.

biko

JimiTime wrote: »

Ok, just curious. Were any of you independantly Christian when you embraced atheism. By that I mean, lets say you were raised Catholic, but you then saw its errors and found Christs message elsewhere. Afterwhich, you found that it was all nonsense and you concluded God does not exist.

I don't know if I've been clear enough here, so ask away if it seems like a ramble.
Cheers,
Jimi.

You're a believer aren't you? My sister is a believer too and we've had some heated discussions

I didn't "embrace" anything. Atheism just make more sense than anything else.

I was raised by intellectuals who never really believed in god. I did go to church a few times and attended Sunday school but instinctively felt it was wrong.

CerebralCortex

I was agnostic the only thing keeping me there was hardwired fear of an existence without god. But when I started to declare myself as atheist I suddenly realised my life wasn't any worse without a belief in god, actually I'd say life has improved somewhat

JimiTime

biko wrote: »

You're a believer aren't you?

Indeed i am.

My sister is a believer too and we've had some heated discussions

my sister and brother in law are filthy heathens Atheists:) too. Some doozies we've had too. Its good to have serious challenges to ones notions I think.

I didn't "embrace" anything. Atheism just make more sense than anything else.

Ok, but u know what I mean. Accept Atheism etc. Its just semantics.

Thanks for answering. Thanks to everyone else too who have taken the time.

JimiTime

kelly1 wrote: »

Why anti-theist Mena if you don't believe in God? Presumably you feel that religion is harmful?

Good question Noel, but as Dades said, its likely to bring this thread way off track. If you want to start another thread for it, I'd say it'd be interesting. though be prepared to be appalled:)

Galvasean

For my experience check out the 'turning point' thread.

edit: 'Defining moment'.
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055363599

JimiTime

Galvasean wrote: »

For my experience check out the 'turning point' thread.

edit: 'Defining moment'.
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055363599

I'm not really looking for the turning point though. I'm asking what your religious circumstance was, and specifically, were any of you independantly Christian/Muslim etc when you concluded that there was no God.

Dave!

I was baptised, communed (?), and confirmed by the folks for the sake of tradition/ceremony/family/society/culture/normality. I was brought to church until I was about 15 or 16, when I started making a fuss about going and insisted I wouldn't anymore. The parents never mentioned religion to me any other time that I'm aware actually We just had the usual ceremonies, holidays, and celebrations!
The only other contact I had with religion was in school, where we did the usual thing of learning Christian songs and prayers, and so on.

So I was nominally Catholic, but my parents didn't really push the religious stuff beyond the norm really

rainbow kirby

I became an atheist when I was still a child (agnostic at 9, atheist at 12), so my experience was limited really to primary school religion classes and my mum dragging me to mass every Sunday. Either way - that plus what I chose to learn independently as a voracious bookworm of a child was enough to leave me convinced that religion and faith in an invisible man in the sky was a load of crap.

DenMan

When I grew up both of my parents were Catholics, especially my Mother who is a devout Catholic. I grew up questioning a lot of things instead of blindly following them. I would consider myself Agnostic. I have had many great conversations with Christians, Taoists, Buddhists, Hindus, Native American tribes, Atheists from all around the world, and I have come to respect all of their beliefs. I do not consider myself a sheep and will not blindly follow any religion. There is good in all of them, and I have come to respect that. Of all the beliefs I have come into contact with it, it is the Native American tribes I have the most respect for. They respect everybody else's beliefs and do not force/coerce their own beliefs on others. That is the greatest gift of all, the understanding to allow and respect a person's individuality while not forcing them to become part of a larger group if they do not want to.

Zillah

JimiTime wrote: »

I'm not really looking for the turning point though. I'm asking what your religious circumstance was, and specifically, were any of you independantly Christian/Muslim etc when you concluded that there was no God.

Why such a specific question?

I was, like the vast majority of my generation, raised half heartidly as a Catholic. I was never really a believer, as soon as I was old enough to actually understand the issues I realised how ridiculous they were. The moment of realisation was quite empowering. To finally say out loud "Wait, they're...wrong! Say it again. Wrong! Awesome."

What kind of believer are you Jimi?

JimiTime

Zillah wrote: »

Why such a specific question?

Curiosity. Just seeing if there is anyone who actually had faith rather than tradition, or schooling before they became atheist.

What kind of believer are you Jimi?

I would say a non-denominational, cautious of religion, type believer.

iUseVi

Hey Jimi, interesting question.

I have wondered about this myself. Although it being a "Catholic country" I kind of anticipated the result a little.

It appears I am the only lurker around here who was a former full blown Fundy. Was born into an Evangelical family, my brain-washing was a severe case indeed. Somehow I got out the other end of the tunnel though....

JimiTime

iUseVi wrote: »

Hey Jimi, interesting question.

I have wondered about this myself. Although it being a "Catholic country" I kind of anticipated the result a little.

It appears I am the only lurker around here who was a former full blown Fundy. Was born into an Evangelical family, my brain-washing was a severe case indeed. Somehow I got out the other end of the tunnel though....

Would that count as the traditions of your family though?

iUseVi

JimiTime wrote: »

Would that count as the traditions of your family though?

Well yeah I suppose so. I couldn't have come up with all those crazy novel ideas by myself.

But there are very few people who have their own self-styled religions, and they generally seem to be a few peanuts short of a packet, IMO.
If you call yourself a member of one of the "big three", I would have thought that tradition or schooling would have come into the equation at some point.

5uspect

Like Zillah has pointed out I was a typical Irish kid half heartedly brought up with religion "cos thats wots proper". Looking back I never really had more faith in God than a child does in Santa.

Nightwish

Coming from a mixed religion background, I turned to atheisim when I was about 12. On Sundays I had to got to Mass with my mother and then go to protestant service with my dad. Talk about confusing a child! I went to a catholic school and in the end religion just bored me. I didnt find that vital aspect in either catholicism or protestantism to make me latch onto either.

DenMan

Jeepers that must have been a hell of a lot to take onboard Nightwish. I went to Catholic mass but to go from one denomination to another must have been instrumental in turning you away. What about the conflicting separations between the both of them? Ever get into discussions with your parents regarding beliefs? Ever win any? At least you went to both churches with your parents and at the time probably hated it, but at least you did do it.

Galvasean

JimiTime wrote: »

I'm not really looking for the turning point though. I'm asking what your religious circumstance was, and specifically, were any of you independantly Christian/Muslim etc when you concluded that there was no God.

Well I do explain all that in the thread.

Zillah wrote: »

I was, like the vast majority of my generation, raised half heartidly as a Catholic. I was never really a believer,

Yeah, me too.

edanto

My wrinklies had a similar mixed background, my Dad's agnostic and Mum's catholic but the family had a Mass routine and no worries agreeing to disagree about stuff like that. It's just a personal thing.

For me, I remember being young at mass - not sure what age, but about as tall as a church pew and looking up at all the adults faces as the priest was waffling on and thinking to myself

'how can they all really believe in this stuff?!'

From there, I carried an atheist flag around for a while until I got a bit older and then came across the meme that convinced me.

No matter who is at the front of a religious movement, no matter what costume they're wearing, day they celebrate or animal that they don't eat - there is just no way at all that they can honestly know for sure that what they're preaching is right. It's just what they feel. No one can know. So neither can I.

EDIT - I kinda take from religion the common moralities - things like do unto others etc. No reason to ignore the good while thinking that there probably isn't an "invisible man in the sky" ( ;> kirby)

MrPudding

JimiTime wrote: »

Curiosity. Just seeing if there is anyone who actually had faith rather than tradition, or schooling before they became atheist.

No, not in the sense you guys have, only the habit that was instilled by church, school and family. I never had one of those moments where god spoke to me or anything like that.

MrP

jtsuited

I stopped believing in a God, after I read about evolution as a kid. since then, I have yet to be even slightly persuaded about the existence of any mystical beings.

I was in a Catholic school, with Catholic parents (technically speaking). In fact my grandfather trained to be a priest, and was probably the most anti-religious person I've ever met.

tbh, I'm pretty sure most of the 'Catholics' in my family are fairly straight down the line agnostics or atheists. Well apart from some of the 'country cousins'. They love a bit of Jesus they do.

CerebralCortex

CerebralCortex wrote: »

I was agnostic the only thing keeping me there was hardwired fear of an existence without god. But when I started to declare myself as atheist I suddenly realised my life wasn't any worse without a belief in god, actually I'd say life has improved somewhat

I was thinking about it I don't anyone can embrace atheism like for example embracing islam or christianity. I think atheism just describes a state of being where you are unassuming about the nature of the universe or you existence you just live your life the best way you know how.

ChocolateSauce

I was offically an atheist before I became an atheist. As I was never baptised et al in any faith, I legally/morally/offically/unoffically etc was without religion. It was funny though, even though I believed in god I didn't consider myself a Christian, or anything.

kelly1

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

It was funny though, even though I believed in god I didn't consider myself a Christian, or anything.

Out of curiosity CS, why did you believe in God?

ChocolateSauce

kelly1 wrote: »

Out of curiosity CS, why did you believe in God?

Please don't misunderstand, I also believed in Santa and the Tooth Fairy at the time. I believed in them because my mother lied to me to make the world a slightly more magical place for a small child. It is literally true when I say I lost my belief in Santa and god at the same moment. In that sense it was a very non-theistic faith, and that is why I wasn't a Christian. I was, however, aware that I was surrounded by Christians.

kelly1

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

Please don't misunderstand, I also believed in Santa and the Tooth Fairy at the time. I believed in them because my mother lied to me to make the world a slightly more magical place for a small child. It is literally true when I say I lost my belief in Santa and god at the same moment. In that sense it was a very non-theistic faith, and that is why I wasn't a Christian. I was, however, aware that I was surrounded by Christians.

OK, I see. You're not the first person who said they lost faith in God after finding out about Santa!

CerebralCortex

kelly1 wrote: »

OK, I see. You're not the first person who said they lost faith in God after finding out about Santa!

Do you make a distinction between belief and faith?

ChocolateSauce

kelly1 wrote: »

OK, I see. You're not the first person who said they lost faith in God after finding out about Santa!

I know. I feel a lot less special since I discovered I wasn't alone.

Weidii

I was brought up in a fairly agnostic environment, my parents never really talked about nor expressed their views on religion. I was sent to a catholic primary school, which managed to scare me into being devoutly religious for most of my childhood (prayers every morning and night, etc)

I remember when I went to be confirmed I just had a bit of a revelation in my head that it was all a load of BS. I didn't answer the question things they call out (do you renounce the devil, and all that business) as I had decided for sure that it was all a farce.

I'm glad I came to that realisation as I'm now studying zoology and palaentology, which would be a bit of a struggle if I was close minded towards the idea of evolution.

Tim Robbins

i was a devout Roman Catholic up until aboout 12. Then one day in secondary school, the Priest came in and wrote down all these other religions on the blackboard. I asked him how can they all be correct if they are all different. He couldn't give a good answer so my faith in a particular religion was pretty much shattered. I thought they were all mumbo jumbo, even if there was some sort of God. I was agnostic. The only time I wavered was when my Uncle died at about 14 and I thought I felt something special at his funneral and when another Priest came to our school who I got very well with. He had similar interests and was absolutely hillarious.

I occasionally prayed to Saint Anthony up until my 20's when I couldn't find something, even though I didn't believe in Religion / God etc. I went from agnostic to atheist after reading Mr. Russell. Especially that Flying Teapot argument. I became an Orthodox Atheist after reading a very wide range of material from Philosophy to Science to Christian Apologetics such as C.S. Lewis. I am convinced there is something in the human condition which just needs to believe and will find all sorts of reasons to rationalise the irrational, and that's just it.

You're conciousness is isolated and be a lonely, stressful place. Believing in a God which can enter that and know everything you're thinking, feeling and cares about you seems to alleviate some of the problems the isolated part of our conciousness causes.

kelly1

CerebralCortex wrote: »

Do you make a distinction between belief and faith?

Good question. I think faith is more than belief. Faith is a gift from God, whereas belief is only intellectual. I think faith also involves trust which belief doesn't necessarily carry. Hard to describe really!

Tim Robbins wrote: »

i was a devout Roman Catholic up until aboout 12. Then one day in secondary school, the Priest came in and wrote down all these other religions on the blackboard. I asked him how can they all be correct if they are all different. He couldn't give a good answer so my faith in a particular religion was pretty much shattered.

Logic alone would tell you that they can't all be right but of course that doesn't mean none is true.

Tim Robbins wrote: »

I occasionally prayed to Saint Anthony up until my 20's when I couldn't find something, even though I didn't believe in Religion / God etc. I went from agnostic to atheist after reading Mr. Russell. Especially that Flying Teapot argument. I became an Orthodox Atheist after reading a very wide range of material from Philosophy to Science to Christian Apologetics such as C.S. Lewis.

Maybe you didn't and don't have the theological knowledge to refute their clever arguments? What do you think?

Tim Robbins wrote: »

I am convinced there is something in the human condition which just needs to believe and will find all sorts of reasons to rationalise the irrational, and that's just it.

Or it could be that belief in God is inbuilt and has to be supressed to get to the point where you no longer believe in God.

CerebralCortex

kelly1 wrote: »

Or it could be that belief in God is inbuilt and has to be supressed to get to the point where you no longer believe in God.

I'll think you'll find thats just what he said. Or when you say "built in" you mean put their by the god of catholicism? Do you believe every single person on earth is a roman catholic in waiting?

kelly1

CerebralCortex wrote: »

I'll think you'll find thats just what he said. Or when you say "built in" you mean put their by the god of catholicism? Do you believe every single person on earth is a roman catholic in waiting?

What I meant was that belief in God or a Supreme Being is programmed into us by God. I said nothing about Catholicism and there is only one God.

CerebralCortex

kelly1 wrote: »

...I said nothing about Catholicism and there is only one God.

Thats why I asked. So is everyone in your opinion a catholic in waiting? For example a muslim imam has responded to this inbuilt belief by the "one god" quite zealously but by misfortune of geography is doing it the wrong way or even for the wrong god?

kelly1

CerebralCortex wrote: »

Thats why I asked. So is everyone in your opinion a catholic in waiting? For example a muslim imam has responded to this inbuilt belief by the "one god" quite zealously but by misfortune of geography is doing it the wrong way or even for the wrong god?

I'm not sure what you mean about catholics in waiting...

The Muslim is responding to the inherent tendency to seek God but not in the way that God wants. Of course there are millions of Muslims who sincerely seek the will of God but they have been misled. But their hearts are in the right place.

Mena

kelly1 wrote: »

I'm not sure what you mean about catholics in waiting...

The Muslim is responding to the inherent tendency to seek God but not in the way that God wants. Of course there are millions of Muslims who sincerely seek the will of God but they have been misled. But their hearts are in the right place.

How do you know this? Is it not just a little arrogant to think your version is correct and their version is wrong?

You do know they feel the same way about your religion.

Zillah

kelly1 wrote: »

What I meant was that belief in God or a Supreme Being is programmed into us by God.

Wait, what? What happened all that freewill silliness?

Zombrex

kelly1 wrote: »

I'm not sure what you mean about catholics in waiting...

The Muslim is responding to the inherent tendency to seek God but not in the way that God wants. Of course there are millions of Muslims who sincerely seek the will of God but they have been misled. But their hearts are in the right place.

Isn't it just as likely that they are in fact correct and it is you that has been mislead?

CursedSkeptic

I never embraced atheism. It seems ridiculous that one would decide that they don't believe in god and religion and then start identifying themselves as and atheist and "embracing" it. It makes a lot more sense to me at least to eliminate any religious element from ones life, once one has decided that it is not meaningful. I realise that I am posting on an atheist forum, and that the ironing is indeed delicious, but ara sure fukit

Goduznt Xzst

CursedSkeptic wrote: »

I never embraced atheism. It seems ridiculous that one would decide that they don't believe in god and religion and then start identifying themselves as and atheist and "embracing" it. It makes a lot more sense to me at least to eliminate any religious element from ones life, once one has decided that it is not meaningful. I realise that I am posting on an atheist forum, and that the ironing is indeed delicious, but ara sure fukit

Isn't the part I have highlighted there the very definition of Atheism. Once you stop believing in Gods you are an Atheist.

definition:

Atheist: Someone who denies the existence of god

Dades

I'd imagine CursedSkeptic was referring to the 'embracing' atheism aspect, rather than merely identifying yourself as one.

I wouldn't say posting here qualifies as "embracing" though.

gramlab

Parents never bothered much ewith it. Took us to mass when we were young, but I think that was more out of some obligation they felt.

Can't pinpoint exactly when, but I have to say that the way religion was taught and preached in RC churches and schools definitely affected my early thinking about religion/God as a whole (negatively).

I dont think I embraced any athiest/agnostic beliefs to begin with as I was too young to know what they meant. I just started to question everything really.

Tim Robbins

kelly1 wrote: »

Logic alone would tell you that they can't all be right but of course that doesn't mean none is true.

Logic would also say, look for some evidence without emotional, political and cultural bias. Sadly no religion has any.

Maybe you didn't and don't have the theological knowledge to refute their clever arguments? What do you think?

I have never heard any refutation. Maybe you don't differentiate between logic and sophistry / confabulation.

Or it could be that belief in God is inbuilt and has to be supressed to get to the point where you no longer believe in God.

I wouldn't say "supressed". I'd say, upon rational examination you can no longer believe in God. It doesn't matter what's in - built. What matters is what's true.