How religious were you before departing

liamw

I guess this is targeted at those who were brought up in a religious environment and are now atheist.

The most religious I can remember being was praying at night after a nightmare or when scared, something which did comfort me when I was very young (about 8 -10 years old). Now that I think about it though, what actually scared me was the thought of ghosts in the room, the shadow off the curtain in the wind etc. Perhaps if I wasn't indoctrinated to believe all this other supernatural stuff, I might not have been scared at all!

I reckon once I hit 11 or 12 I really stopped being religious. It just seemed like a load of nonsense to me. I'm 25 now, but it was really only after I read the God Delusion a couple of years ago that I realised there were many others just like me, which was quite a relief to be honest becuase I was getting increasingly frustrated at how many people would go to mass and believe in this nonsense without questioning it.


Anyone care to share the extent of their religious beliefs?

krudler

After i was forced to do my confirmation, havent been to mass aside from funerals/weddings/christenings since,went as a kid as didnt have a choice but once i hit about 12-13 or whatever age it is you make your confirmation, cant really remember tbh i had no time for it after that, my religion teachers at school used to hate me as i asked tons of questions they couldnt give logical answers to

Helix

krudler wrote: »

After i was forced to do my confirmation, havent been to mass aside from funerals/weddings/christenings since,went as a kid as didnt have a choice but once i hit about 12-13 or whatever age it is you make your confirmation, cant really remember tbh i had no time for it after that, my religion teachers at school used to hate me as i asked tons of questions they couldnt give logical answers to

aye same

rainbow kirby

Was never particularly religious, used to always whine about having to go to mass, and I remember telling my mum when I was 10 that I'd rather have more maths problems to do than sit through religion class...

I stopped going to mass when my mum stopped forcing me to go, that was after my confirmation when I was 11.

pacman.podge

i always had questions to that no1 could answer.... worried my ma quite a bit... she even got my aunt who is a nun to talk to me :eek: i stoped going to mass when i was 12 or 13.. well by stoped i mean going every sunday. i would go for funerals or what not.. mayb xmas just to keep the mother happy. im 18 now and that aunt still trys to .... whats the word?.... believe more i suppose!!

Nevyn

Euchristic minister in the parish, and for the secondary school ( in a different parish so registered there) and for the local scout troop ( which was another parish again).
So on the register as a Euchristic minster for 3 parishes and on the parish team for confirmation.

Daftendirekt

When I was 11 or 12 I went through a phase of sincere Catholic belief. Then a lot of it just stopped making sense to me, and I went down the whole 'it's only symbolic route', which inevitably led me to reject Catholicism and accept a vaguer form of Christianity for a while.

After that, came a barrage of new-agey beliefs about God being the Universe, along with some other trippy ideas to go with it. I was pretty big into that kind of thing for a while, but eventually started to question myself on why I believed what I did and that was pretty much the end of that. The fog lifted, and here I am today!

Slugs

While I wasn't 100% convinced, I was practicing more then most people my age in my younger teens. Woke up at age 16, and have been a recovering catholic ever since.

Turtwig

Looking back now, it seems like a total embarassment. I sidelined people for their ,shall we say, unreligious demeanours. I personally spoke to God (even said F U to Him and then cried for ages afterwards begging for forgiveness).

Ahh.. it is good to be free.:)

Ridley

Malty_T wrote: »

Looking back now, it seems like a total embarassment. I sidelined people for their ,shall we say, unreligious demeanours. I personally spoke to God (even said F U to Him and then cried for ages afterwards begging for forgiveness).

Ahh.. it is good to be free.:)

...What happened in between?

Turtwig

Ridley wrote: »

...What happened in between?

Spell of Agnostic...sort of refound faithly recurrence...Wishywashy deism/Agnosticism (almost fell for Intelligent Design:mad:)...agnosticism...agnosticism/atheist...proud skeptic and materialist.

What, I think, brought the first doubts was the erroneously belief that animals supposedly did not have souls.
(That and a passion for science)
It was slow but I got there and boy! does it feel good.:)

Sam Vimes

Malty_T wrote: »

Looking back now, it seems like a total embarassment. I sidelined people for their ,shall we say, unreligious demeanours. I personally spoke to God (even said F U to Him and then cried for ages afterwards begging for forgiveness).

Ahh.. it is good to be free.:)

Ah bless

Dades

I was an alter boy in junior school, part of a prayer group in senior school* - even went to Medjugorje.

That said, despite all the external influences, I don't think I was ever really much of a believer.

* Went to an all-boys school - prayer group was mixed.

pH

Dades wrote: »

I was an alter boy in junior school, part of a prayer group in senior school* - even went to Medjugorje.

I know this may be a difficult question given recent revelations about the church, but how exactly were you altered?

Dades

pH wrote: »

I know this may be a difficult question given recent revelations about the church, but how exactly were you altered?

They made me wear a white dress once a week... :cries:

Joking aside, I was an altar boy for the Franciscans who were the nicest bunch of Holy Folk you could meet. Served all the custard creams you could eat after mass, too.

Ickle Magoo

Zero, I can remember being completely befuddled by the "logic" behind religion from as soon my parents attempted to explain it. When I was five or six they said I had to attend Sunday school until I could form an argument as to why I shouldn't be there - I think just to have another source to quiz! If I remember correctly, it took about a month.

seamus

When I was very young, my family would have been relatively religious - though probably no more so than a lot of Irish families in the late 80'/early 90's. So that was Mass every Sunday, prayers before bed and I can remember having a Childrens' Bible which my Mum attempted to set up as a regular "thing" that we read from it at least once a week. That didn't last long.
I remember one lent my Dad decided that a lenten "thing" would be to go to mass every morning at 7am. I went with him. Lasted about two weeks.

My Mum has always been quite into spirituality/religiousness and my paternal Grandmother was staunchly Catholic - she had two children and claimed that she (and my grandfather) kneeled by the bed and prayed for forgiveness whenever they decided to try for a baby. And I'd well believe it. So there was always a religious "consciousness" in our house.

But when I hit my teens, my paternal grandmother died and my mother went college and studied philosophy/theology, and very very quickly the regular mass-goings and any religious "consciousness" was lost in the house.
My Mum, attending college primarily with clergy & nuns saw the hypocrasy and corruption first-hand in the catholic church (think orgies and affairs between clergy, nuns & lay people). My Dad realised that he only attended out of guilt from his mother, re-examined his whole catholic faith and came to the (eventual) realisation that it was all a big pile of bull.
By the time I was 18, I'd only been attending mass because the school made me, and as soon as I was old enough to spend Christmas Eve in the pub, I never attended mass again.

So from a family of 6 fairly well ingrained Catholics, we're now a family of 4 atheists (including my Dad) and two agnostics.

liamw

seamus wrote: »

My Mum, attending college primarily with clergy & nuns saw the hypocrasy and corruption first-hand in the catholic church (think orgies and affairs between clergy, nuns & lay people).

I don't mean any offense to you Seamas but this example really highlights how nonsensical religious belief is for the majority of so-called Christians.

The fact that someone would actually leave their so-called beliefs (beliefs about actual historical events) behind due to some corruption in the church just demonstrates how much people really believe in this stuff.

And when I hear stories about people leaving Catholicism and shifting to another religion becuase of the recent scandal, it baffles the mind...

seamus

liamw wrote: »

I don't mean any offense to you Seamas but this example really highlights how nonsensical religious belief is for the majority of so-called Christians.

The fact that someone would actually leave their so-called beliefs (beliefs about actual historical events) behind due to some corruption in the church just demonstrates how much people really believe in this stuff.

And when I hear stories about people leaving Catholicism and shifting to another religion becuase of the recent scandal, it baffles the mind...

Well to be fair it was more than that. The subjects she was studying would quite naturally bring up the usual concepts of "what if" and so forth. She found that the catholic/christian clergy never even bothered to try and counter these things, instead they were "alternate" beliefs, and catholicism was right, regardless.

Like most people, the catholic church had been something of a polished, infallible institution in her mind, and when she saw what it actually was, the entire importance of following doctrine and canon became meaningless - if the institution itself didn't care, why should people? It was pretty much a stepping stone for her (like for most people) into researching it for herself.

Although she would say now that the new testament still has a "good message" and she would regard Jesus with some respect because he was a good deal ahead of his time in terms of humanism, she doesn't buy the whole abrahamic God concept or consider herself "Christian" by any long shot. She's probably more Deist now than theist.

While yes it would be ridiculous to pin your entire faith on an institution's regard, you have to consider that the Catholic Church in Ireland, up until the late 1980's was more of a communist, "Big Brother" institution than a religious one. They controlled pretty much everything, so the church could do no wrong, the church was preaching the correct message and what it spoke was absolute truth. For someone whose childhood is defined in these parameters, it does take a fall in the institution to make you question your entire belief system - it's not something that comes naturally with age.

Ickle Magoo

liamw wrote: »

And when I hear stories about people leaving Catholicism and shifting to another religion becuase of the recent scandal, it baffles the mind...

I dunno, I know a few people who are looking elsewhere to worship. My mother in law has been sickened with the RCC since she found out that priests and nun's that are guilty of abuses are still entitled to pensions or a living, she's horrified at all the collection plates she's added to. She doesn't want to support them as an organisation in their present form and function but she's still very much a theist, it hasn't shaken her belief in God, just in the RCC. I can understand that.

liamw

Ickle Magoo wrote: »

I dunno, I know a few people who are looking elsewhere to worship. My mother in law has been sickened with the RCC since she found out that priests and nun's that are guilty of abuses are still entitled to pensions or a living, she's horrified at all the collection plates she's added to. She doesn't want to support them as an organisation in their present form and function but she's still very much a theist, it hasn't shaken her belief in God, just in the RCC. I can understand that.

My point was that people in the RCC are leaving for another religion. Which doesn't make sense becuase you're effectively subscribing to one set of beliefs and then dissmissing them and subscribing to another set of beliefs. To me, they aren't real beliefs (particularly thought out ones) if you can just dismiss them so easily.

Now, if you mother in law was to leave the RCC and just continue with the same beliefs herself, and pray privately or whatever, then that isn't what I'm talking about.

seamus

liamw wrote: »

My point was that people in the RCC are leaving for another religion. Which doesn't make sense becuase you're effectively subscribing to one set of beliefs and then dissmissing them and subscribing to another set of beliefs. To me, they aren't real beliefs (particularly thought out ones) if you can just dismiss them so easily.

"Ned, have you tried any of the other major religions? They're pretty much the same"

It's funny because it's true. Aside from slight variations, the christian religions are all based around the same obvious theme and people are more than happy these days to operate on the "a la carte" basis and ignore the aspects of a religion which they don't like so long as they're still based around Jesus.

Why they feel the need to worship in community may be a social construct, a need to belong, or maybe just habit. Much of christian dogma is built around the concept of sacrifice and penance so people may feel that they're not making any sacrifices or being very penetant unless those sacrifices are being validated by another person, or unless they're outwardly tangible. That is, if someone stays home and prays, how does anyone else know that they're being holy?

docdolittle

krudler wrote: »

After i was forced to do my confirmation, havent been to mass aside from funerals/weddings/christenings since,went as a kid as didnt have a choice but once i hit about 12-13 or whatever age it is you make your confirmation, cant really remember tbh i had no time for it after that, my religion teachers at school used to hate me as i asked tons of questions they couldnt give logical answers to

That's pretty much the exact answer I was going to give. I remember the teacher said something like, When jesus was buried after being crucified, an unmovable rock was put in front of the place he was. I asked how did they move the unmovable rock into the entrance in the first place, She said she'll get me an answer and it was "It was only unmovable by 1 man" So I asked why couldn't a lot of people like the apostles just move it them, then she got annoyed and just didn't answer me :rolleyes:

Goduznt Xzst

Well I was as vocally pro-religion back then as I am now anti-religion.

I believed in Demons possessing people, Angels floating about watching over people. God answering prayers daily. I'd get offended at blasphemy, turn off shows about the occult and generally was your typical devout Christian.

Sure some people claim they never believed, but I'm actually glad I did as it gives me that unique perspective of being able to see, first hand, both sides of the coin. One of the arguments the religious love to wheel out is "you never truly believed"... for those people I have a list as long my arm of the actions and inactions I took purely out of religious belief, occasionally to my detriment. Anyone who knew me back then could never say I didn't truly believe.

I guess it was all part of my upbringing, my mother taught me that whenever I had a problem, that the first thing I should do was pray to God to help me. So, from as early as I could remember, whenever anything... and I mean anything happened, I'd pray first. Lost a toy... pray. Pass a test... pray. Ask a girl out... pray. So I have a childhood of memories where God answered my prayers consistently. When I found a toy I remember thinking "God did that".

I think this is true for a lot of believers, in their minds they see God helping them and being with them all through their lives. Their parents could of given them a rock and told them to lick it whenever they had a problem and they'd still be licking it today.

Ickle Magoo

liamw wrote: »

My point was that people in the RCC are leaving for another religion. Which doesn't make sense becuase you're effectively subscribing to one set of beliefs and then dissmissing them and subscribing to another set of beliefs. To me, they aren't real beliefs (particularly thought out ones) if you can just dismiss them so easily.

Now, if you mother in law was to leave the RCC and just continue with the same beliefs herself, and pray privately or whatever, then that isn't what I'm talking about.

There isn't a huge difference in the beliefs between RCC & other Christian denomination though, some differences in the particular dogma and some differences in ritual but the actual belief systems are much of a muchness. If she was moving from Catholicism to Buddhism then I would agree with you.

robindch

Goduznt Xzst wrote: »

Well I was as vocally pro-religion back then as I am now anti-religion. I believed in Demons possessing people, Angels floating about watching over people. God answering prayers daily. I'd get offended at blasphemy, turn off shows about the occult and generally was your typical devout Christian. [....]

Gosh, perhaps we should rename this thread "The Confessional"?

pH

robindch wrote: »

Gosh, perhaps we should rename this thread "The Confessional"?

Absolutely agree, some of the 'confessions' in this thread make me suspicious that some folks posting here aren't true atheists, they've come to atheism through impure means like "thinking" and "evidence" - anyone know, is true orthodox atheism inherited along the male or female line?

MetalDawg

I was sceptical from about the age of 10 on, the whole "original sin" that a baby could be born with made no sense. Whole heaven and hell stuff made no sense either after a certain point, cant remember exactly.

Dave!

My family was never particularly religious beyond the social necessity that is going to mass on Sundays. I was dragged along to that until I was about 14 probably (can't remember really). Beyond that I'd go with the family for my nana's anniversary every year, as well as Christmas mass. If a funeral or whatever comes up then that too.

On a personal level, I was never particularly religious either. I think the deepest it went was praying to <deity> for help in certain situations. Like if I was fooked for an exam, in my head I'd be making wagers with god that if he helps me out here, I'll be nice to everybody for the day, or I'll do my homework as soon as I get home I remember being in religion class one time and we were broken into groups and had to do some sort of presentation each. I was not eager to do this, so I prayed ! And god came to the rescue ! I was one of the few people who got away with it

Anyways that's about as religious as I got.

whatdoicare

I remember there was this school book in first class which covered Irish mythology, children of lir etc etc and the school book which covered religion had more or less the same format and artwork. I remember at that age just assuming it was all the same, just stories to entertain me and I quite liked the pictures.

I got quite the shock later on that year (my communion year) when I was informed that I was to take the "stories" seriously and mommy was backing all this craziness up.

I then took a look at my family surroundings, as I often did as a six/seven year old child figuring out the world and noticed that grannies on both sides were super religious with the jeebus pictures and rosary beads....in my young mind I took that to mean religion will come to me when I get older, like most things in life such as marriage, high heels and driving. So I did what I was told and assumed that I'd understand it all when I grew up.


Of course as I grew up I realised what a load of rubbish it all is and carried on my life in reality....with my collection of Disney and Tim Burton DVDs:rolleyes:

Dades

Dave! wrote: »

I remember being in religion class one time and we were broken into groups and had to do some sort of presentation each. I was not eager to do this, so I prayed ! And god came to the rescue ! I was one of the few people who got away with it

Well I'm convinced!

/sheds modship and goes to live in the desert