For me it just happened naturally. Common sense became my religion. I mean why always ask forgiveness for being human? Even animals don't go that low.
When did you stop believing in god?
- Thread starter viralz
- Start date
RedDog
Humanoid typhoon
"If god didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent him." -Voltaire.
I was five when I realized by process of deductive reasoning that one day I would die. I have no choice in the matter. God can eat a dick, I'm alive and well, he'll have me when I'm done with this vessel.
I was five when I realized by process of deductive reasoning that one day I would die. I have no choice in the matter. God can eat a dick, I'm alive and well, he'll have me when I'm done with this vessel.
1990, when I was 13. Went to church occasionally before that, mostly when I stayed at my cousins house (they are all pretty devout Christians). Did the Sunday school thing too for a while just for fun with friends and not to pay attention to anything they were saying. Got into metal music and never looked at religion as anything other than them trying to control me.
XxSicRokerxX
Gabriel R.
"There's something in every atheist, itching to believe, and something in every believer, itching to doubt"
drew_drummer
Dancefap
Very early. 5-7 years old. Even then science blew my mind, and I was really into astronauts as a kid... it just seemed like a logical progression, to my brain at that time, that God was a ghost story.
NinjaSweater
Member
- Nov 30, 2011
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I grew up in a strict Seventh Day Adventist home. After I turned 18 and parents got divorced, I felt like I was in a cult. The way they preach about hell and gotta do this and you can't do that made me realized I didn't wanna be a part of it. I wanted to live life without believing in something that might not be even real. I'm not wasting my time.
EffigyForgotten
New Metal Member
I went to sunday school until I was 12/13 because I had to and never listened to any of the bullshit and really didn't even think about religion at all. I had much more important things to think about considering believing in a "god" technically doesn't change your life at all.
Now i'm pretty much a straight forward atheist, I don't believe in anything unless I can hear it/see it or whatever. Whoever started the whole god thing is seriously the biggest asshole ever, I still have people ( especially in my family ) be shocked when I say I don't follow any religion or believe in god.
Now i'm pretty much a straight forward atheist, I don't believe in anything unless I can hear it/see it or whatever. Whoever started the whole god thing is seriously the biggest asshole ever, I still have people ( especially in my family ) be shocked when I say I don't follow any religion or believe in god.
JeffTD
Senhor Testiculo
What makes you assume I ever started? Atheism is a default position and has been mine for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories of childhood was crying my eyes out to my dad because "heaven sounded stupid" and "living forever sounds super boring."
UncleBob
Member
- Jul 14, 2010
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I grew up in a Catholic home and had to go to church every Sunday......so that pretty much took care of it for me, think I was also around 6-7 when the whole God/Easter Bunny/Santa thing started seeming a bit stupid.
I don't dismiss that there most likely ARE things out there that we don't yet know or are yet to discover (scientists are discovering more and more bizarre shit every day), but to me the whole biblical god up in heaven and all that I just don't buy for a second.
I don't dismiss that there most likely ARE things out there that we don't yet know or are yet to discover (scientists are discovering more and more bizarre shit every day), but to me the whole biblical god up in heaven and all that I just don't buy for a second.
Mashreef
New Metal Member
xFkx
gain induction
yeah, same for me more or less. My parents took me to church a few times, but I stood there and felt like i'm in some kind of wierd sci-fi movie. Also the priest giving lectures how people should and should not live their lifes kinda bothered me, what gives him the audacity...
Luckily my parents weren't too big on the church themselves, so they didn't bother going anymore when they saw i'm not into it either
Humbug I say
amarshism
Member
StefTD
Member
Jeff summed it up.
My parents aren't religious, my grandparents were preaching every morning, but I never
got into it. I can remember, when I was like 3 years old, sitting next to them and thinking
that it looks pretty dumb what they're doing, why should I thank some strange thing for
food that my grandma cooked...
The parents of a friend really hated me because they were ultra religious and creationists,
I drew dinosaurs and all the time and they asked me why I don't draw people next to them
and I told them that it would be pretty dumb because dinosaurs went extinct 65 mio years
ago and it took a millions of years before the first human ancestor evolved...
I was like 7 years back than, but I was really into dinosaurs and evolution
My parents aren't religious, my grandparents were preaching every morning, but I never
got into it. I can remember, when I was like 3 years old, sitting next to them and thinking
that it looks pretty dumb what they're doing, why should I thank some strange thing for
food that my grandma cooked...
The parents of a friend really hated me because they were ultra religious and creationists,
I drew dinosaurs and all the time and they asked me why I don't draw people next to them
and I told them that it would be pretty dumb because dinosaurs went extinct 65 mio years
ago and it took a millions of years before the first human ancestor evolved...
I was like 7 years back than, but I was really into dinosaurs and evolution
ratsapprentice
God can gtfo
Yuh-huh.
I didn't encounter religion until I was about eight or nine years old, I found it laughable when I did.
What was even more ridiculous was the ease with which I could taunt adult believers, I did so with a sense of how embarrassing it was that they were frustrated by the beliefs of a child of my age.
plague_rider
Coffee
Couldn't really put a date or year on it... When I was really young though I remember having a complete breakdown after over thinking death and the "afterlife" and the finality of it all. I guess subconsciously that was it... I still played the charade with my family... sitting through church... miming the songs... got to a point where my sunday morning lie in was more important...
Over time though I've become less "hardcore-atheist" and started to respect other people's faith's... Not the religions, they're fucking stupid, but faith can give people strengths in times of need... Example, I won't openly bash my aunt and uncle for being catholic as catholicism was there for them when my cousin died at 23 in a motorbike accident...
Over time though I've become less "hardcore-atheist" and started to respect other people's faith's... Not the religions, they're fucking stupid, but faith can give people strengths in times of need... Example, I won't openly bash my aunt and uncle for being catholic as catholicism was there for them when my cousin died at 23 in a motorbike accident...
Nuno Filipe
You talkin' to me?
John_C
formerly Skeksis268
Similar. I was exposed to a lot of Christianity in my school /community but it was all obviously bullshit to me for as long as I can remember. There's barely any religion in my immediate family so I guess it's not surprising I grew believing in doubt over false certainty.
DullElysium
Member
At birth. I was not raised with religion. I think the first time I heard about god and religion was in preschool. My preschool was combined with a parish(used a translator for that so might be a wron term) so i guess that makes sense.
But nevertheless I never started believing. That might be why I never got good grates from the religion classes. Haha
But I like to think that if there is a god, it wouldn't matter if you do or do not believe in him. I try my best to be a good person for myself and others. If that's not enough, fuck it.
But nevertheless I never started believing. That might be why I never got good grates from the religion classes. Haha
But I like to think that if there is a god, it wouldn't matter if you do or do not believe in him. I try my best to be a good person for myself and others. If that's not enough, fuck it.
Jind
Grrrr!!! (I'm a bear)
- Mar 7, 2009
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Born and raised Catholic but with what I would describe as socially liberal parents, a fact that eventually led to my mom having a fierce disagreement with my uncle (an ordained Catholic priest) over contraception and her eventual split from Catholicism. While young, I went to church weekly with my mother and siblings (my father was not a practicing Catholic despite the fact that it was his brother that is a priest), went through catechism. had my first communion and all the standard stuff that went along with being raised in a generally extended Catholic family.
As stated however, my parents have always been social liberals and always made clear to my siblings and me that we could choose to be religious or not, they wanted us to experience some of it before deciding, but in the end it was up to us. They also were extremely honest with us where their opinions broke from church doctrine. All three of us were given the option of attending public schools or Catholic School - my older brother attended Catholic schools his entire life and was perfectly happy with it, my sister (also older) tried Catholic schools on and off throughout her education but felt most comfortable in public schools. Me? I went to public schools by choice my entire life. The key point was our parents gave us the choice.
I cannot say that I'm entirely comfortable calling myself an atheist, but also the term agnostic does not really fit - I just don't worry about it. While I'm comfortable in saying I definitely don't believe in some puppet master in the sky with the promise of salvation in the garden of heaven nor the damnation of hell, I'd be lying if I was to say that some of the teachings that came from being involved with a religion in my early years have not impacted the standards I try to hold myself to. Generally I try to live what I'll call a just life - doing as little harm to others and accepting the things that make us different all with the knowledge that free will exists in us all and with free will comes those that make both good and bad choices, and all choices have repercussions both bad and good.
I'm a firm believer that organized religion is a dividing factor in society as a whole and as such I find no use for it. Given all that has formed my feelings on the subject I readily admit that I also believe extremism in any form is probably just as destructive and as such I'm just as critical of anyone trying to force a viewpoint upon others even if I may agree with it - forced belief is just as bad as blind faith.
While most would tell me I'm an atheist, perhaps I am, I just accept that others are not and I will never live to see a world free from the extremism of religions belief.
The last thing I ever want to be is one of those types that tell others to believe as I do - I'll tell them I disagree, I'll tell them why, I'll infer what I feel is the wrongness in their stance, but they need to come to the conclusion on their own as I did - for themselves.
As stated however, my parents have always been social liberals and always made clear to my siblings and me that we could choose to be religious or not, they wanted us to experience some of it before deciding, but in the end it was up to us. They also were extremely honest with us where their opinions broke from church doctrine. All three of us were given the option of attending public schools or Catholic School - my older brother attended Catholic schools his entire life and was perfectly happy with it, my sister (also older) tried Catholic schools on and off throughout her education but felt most comfortable in public schools. Me? I went to public schools by choice my entire life. The key point was our parents gave us the choice.
I cannot say that I'm entirely comfortable calling myself an atheist, but also the term agnostic does not really fit - I just don't worry about it. While I'm comfortable in saying I definitely don't believe in some puppet master in the sky with the promise of salvation in the garden of heaven nor the damnation of hell, I'd be lying if I was to say that some of the teachings that came from being involved with a religion in my early years have not impacted the standards I try to hold myself to. Generally I try to live what I'll call a just life - doing as little harm to others and accepting the things that make us different all with the knowledge that free will exists in us all and with free will comes those that make both good and bad choices, and all choices have repercussions both bad and good.
I'm a firm believer that organized religion is a dividing factor in society as a whole and as such I find no use for it. Given all that has formed my feelings on the subject I readily admit that I also believe extremism in any form is probably just as destructive and as such I'm just as critical of anyone trying to force a viewpoint upon others even if I may agree with it - forced belief is just as bad as blind faith.
While most would tell me I'm an atheist, perhaps I am, I just accept that others are not and I will never live to see a world free from the extremism of religions belief.
The last thing I ever want to be is one of those types that tell others to believe as I do - I'll tell them I disagree, I'll tell them why, I'll infer what I feel is the wrongness in their stance, but they need to come to the conclusion on their own as I did - for themselves.
Sloan
Sounds like shit!
I never really got involved in religion until sometime during high school. I became super involved and met some really great people. I even played bass for a christian hard rock band which exposed me to some of the the negative aspects - I remember being scorned by some gospel group we played a show with because they did not believe rock music could be 'used for THE LORD'. The first album I ever did was with this band, sounds like ass, but we were what 15/16?
I think during that time, being involved in church etc was good for me, but eventually I started to see that people were believing in their religion more than they believe in themselves. I became a much, much, much stronger person when I started to take responsibility for my own life rather than praying or letting 'the lord' decide. Overall I'm a much happier person now and I don't feel religion has a place in my life although I absolutely understand why some people 'need' it.
I think during that time, being involved in church etc was good for me, but eventually I started to see that people were believing in their religion more than they believe in themselves. I became a much, much, much stronger person when I started to take responsibility for my own life rather than praying or letting 'the lord' decide. Overall I'm a much happier person now and I don't feel religion has a place in my life although I absolutely understand why some people 'need' it.
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