Why are you an atheist?

[Locut0s]

I posted my reason for being an atheist in reply to another post in the Lounge but I thought it would be interesting to get other's points of view here too.

What follows is almost a cut in past from that other post.

I was raised a strong atheist. Actually let's back that up a bit I've developed into a strong atheist, I was raised without any belief system one way or the other. Growing up religion and spirituality never even entered the picture for more than a fleeting moment or two. My father has been the greatest influence on me growing up and he nurtured and instilled in me a passion for nature and science. I can still remember trips with my dad down to the British Embassy when we lived in Malaysia during which we would watch David Attenborough documentaries. I developed an interest in science at an early age and my father nurtured and encouraged this. If there is anything that could be said to have filled the role of satiating any form of spiritual need or wonderment it would have been my early fascination with the natural world. It still fills this role to this day. I'd get my fix of awe and wonderment as much walking through Cathedral Grove National Park as a real one, and leaning about the intricacies of evolutionary biology and the physics of the cosmos as much as scripture. Fast forward a decade or more and my father again plays an important role in the development of my beliefs. This time he would engender in me my interest in literature, philosophy and humanism. I can't say I ever took these interests as far as he did but viewing the would through a humanist lens would ultimately lead to me later identifying with atheism.

To me the MOST important thing in life is the concept that ALL we have is each other. I strongly believe that we are at our strongest when we take complete and total ownership of our actions as a people, divorced from the belief in the possible influence of a higher power or the promise of a possible eternal afterlife. I really feel we come into our own and realize our greatest potential with this realization.

It would really be a great let down to me to discover there was some form of higher power or god as it would so dilute the wonderment and awe I have in the natural world that exists in his/her absence. The biological and scientific explanations for the way the world works are so much more beautiful to me in the absence of a greater power. So are the great works of humanity, art and architecture. To say that WE did this ourselves 100% by banding together and relying on each other makes these achievements all the grander IMO.

I know some claim to believe in atheism because of the shear nonsense they think religions to be, equating it with the tooth fairy, or Santa Clause etc. I respect this opinion and agree but I also find it personally somewhat lacking in scope.

[Warpy]

1. Why? Because there was never anyone on the other end of a prayer line

That was my reasoning when I was still in grade school.

I simply find that the idea there ever would be to be utterly preposterous now.

Whatever it takes to be a believer is something I just never had.

ETA: as the First Cause that set the universe in motion, I find the Taoists are probably the closest, seeing the universe as a living entity that is not self aware. I guess they never found anyone at the end of the line, either. Whether it's materialist physics or some sort of vast being is irrelevant. Neither is going to be particularly concerned with a bunch of hairless apes on a small planet circling a middle quality star on the far edge of a so-so galaxy in a universe too vast to comprehend.

[defacto7]

2. I appreciate your story and position.

I think it's good to see this question come up from time to time in this group to rehash the ideas that make us what we are. One personal quirk I have though is putting atheism into the context of belief. A person does not believe in atheism, they either are atheist or not, no capitol letter no group affiliation. It's simply a state of mind, a lack of belief. To believe is too close to the all fateful state of mind called faith which is believing without facts. Faith requires that there be no facts. If facts exist then it is no longer faith and belief floats on the edges of that shadow world of the factless. As an atheist I do not have faith, I have trust which is a changeable state based on my grasp of the facts. I don't believe in atheism. I am one simply due to the information I have and that makes it automatic.

[immoderate]

3. I'm another congenital atheist type.

Just never bought it.

I have ventured on a few investigations and quests, mostly in my college and post-graduate days. But there was no there there.

--imm

[Vashta Nerada]

4. My atheism only matters around Christmastime and Easter.

Every other day of the year, it doesn't matter.

I'm an atheist because I saw the contradictions in the bible and my pastor could never give a good explanation for those contradictions. Then, in college, I studied biology and geology and saw that the sciences offered answers which religion couldn't provide. So I realized that religion was a joke and abandoned it. I've been at peace with that since then.

[intaglio]

5. Posted this here and in Religion a while ago

Twelve years ago I was a mild mannered, self described agnostic.

I had been such an agnostic for years. If asked I would say that I was truly a sceptic, full of doubt but willing to receive a revelation.

Eleven years ago my mother died but in the final days, and aware of her impending end, she asked my sister and I to have a non-religious celebration for her funeral. To an extent it shocked me for while she had always expressed doubt about biblically based Christianity there was never any hint that she had discarded more than that. Yet here was this middle class British woman, born in the 1920s, conventionally educated, uninterested in theologies and philosophies, asking that we mark her passing, not with a pastor and prayers for her salvation but with a simple eulogy and a request not to mourn. What is more she was doing this in the very face of death.

It started me thinking, and thinking is dangerous to the status quo. Looking back I realised how unusual my mother and her mother had been and how ill conceived my view of them had become (the full story of that is a tale for another time).

Thinking is dangerous, something known to all faiths who respond by carefully partitioning thinkers away and only passing on what the faith leaders regard as acceptable to their theology and that faith. It was fatal to my faith because I saw that my use of the term "agnostic" hid that frightening demon atheism. In truth I was using the term agnostic as a conceit, a concealment and, if I was wrong, a defence in the face of vengeful but forgiving deity.

How was it a conceit? Essentially I, the agnostic, was saying, "I am open to receiving revelation, not like those atheists" but any atheist is just as open to such revelation as the agnostic. Equally the theist of another faith can fall to a revelation of god, look at the story of Paul. The whole point of revelation is that a god can grant it to anyone and in such an overpowering manner that it overcomes all objection; yet they/he/she/it does not grant such visions except to those already primed to accept them without question.

How was it concealment? When I said I was agnostic to another person you are leaving the door ajar to them bringing me into their particular faith, saying "I'm a blank sheet waiting for your god to write upon it - perhaps with a little help from you, friend". I was denying being one of those fearful atheists who can never be converted (see above) and waving a false flag to avoid conflict.

How was it defence? I was preparing an argument to make to a creature I did not believe existed. No agnostic believes in any god or gods for if they do they are not agnostic. Agnostics have no faith, have had no revelation and would deny that there can be physical proof of a deity; how is that not atheism?

There was another way in which this was a defence, it was a fragile armour against the fear of death and the fear of an afterlife. Here was where my mother led me; a Boudicca knowing that she would end but leading those who needed such a guide. Dying she led me into battle against my fears and they crumbled. She did not know this for she had died and in death was victorious.

[Locut0s]

6. That was wonderfully written, thanks for sharing! nt.

[LostOne4Ever]

7. Because I simply can not believe even an "indifferent" god

Would allow something like this to happen:


[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#dcdcdc; padding-bottom:5px; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-bottom:none; border-radius:0.4615em 0.4615em 0em 0em; box-shadow:3px 3px 3px #999999;"]Victims of Forced Love[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#f0f0f0; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-top:none; border-radius:0em 0em 0.4615em 0.4615em; box-shadow:3px 3px 3px #999999;"]Bam, Iran

Somayeh Mehri (29) and her daughter Rana Afghanipour (3) give each other a kiss. Since their disfigurement in an acid attack, they say, others don’t like to kiss them.



Somayeh and Rana live in Bam, southern Iran. They were attacked with acid by Somayeh’s husband Amir. Somayeh had frequently been beaten and locked up by her husband, and finally found the courage to ask for a divorce. Amir warned her that if she persisted in her attempts to leave him, she would not live out life with the face she had.

One night in June 2011, he poured acid on Somayeh and Rana as they slept. Somayeh’s and Rana’s faces, hands, and, in places, their bodies were severely burned. Somayeh was blinded, and Rana lost one of her eyes. Somayeh’s father sold his land in order to raise money to pay their medical expenses, and fellow villagers have also helped.


I have an extensive science background and would love to say that I lost my Deistic views because of the evidence, but to be honest I never had an issue reconciling the two. It was the realization of the horrors that go on in this world on a nearly daily basis that killed my belief.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. When I examined the mythical content of any religion, I got the same sense of

belief as I did when reading a fairy tale. The things one is asked to believe aren't logical. There's supposed to be a 'heaven' up in the skies. Where is it when man has traveled to the edge of space? People being brought back from the dead? I would logically assume that the person wasn't really dead. Then there was the 'competition' between various sects, each claiming to have all the answers and that they were the 'only one and true' religion.

[Iggo]

9. Existence of a god or gods doesn't pass the smell test.

That's about as nice as I can be about it.

[truebrit71]

10. When 'god works in mysterious ways' no longer worked...

..as an explanation for why god seemed so interested in allowing certain professional athletes to score goals/touchdowns whilst at the same time allowing children to starve to death because they were born in the 'wrong' country...

Or why my 20-month old niece was allowed to die...or my church-going wife to get cancer...

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”

[BooBrown]

17. The same for me

Your reasoning on the fallacy of god power is what I was raised on. Mom did take us to United Methodist for years so that we'd be able to judge for ourselves. But eventually, we all stopped. It just too ridiculous -- the fanfare, the ceremony, the double standards.

I think the first time I accepted the atheism label was when I really thought about the heaven thing. Beyond being unbelievable was the disgust I felt when people accept suffering and denial in this life because they think they'll be rewarded in heaven. That is such a load of crap; and the people who take advantage of them (like Pat Robertson) are no more than swindlers and cheats.

That they also get tax breaks really pisses me off.

[TexasBushwhacker]

37. Exactly

I was raised agnostic and attended a Unitarian church when I was growing up. I was content with describing myself as agnostic for a long time, but finally decided to quit sitting on the philosophical fence. I don't believe in a supreme being of any sort because the world is simply far too imperfect and unjust.

I have 2 brothers. One is an atheist and is married to a woman that he met at an atheist Meetup.com group. The other found religion after being a drug addict for decades. I always felt if religion helped him be sober, then that's groovy. Unfortunately he's still a selfish, self-centered jerk. We call him the "born again asshole". We don't even talk anymore and he hasn't seen his daughter in over 10 years. However, most of my friends are believers to one degree or another and are very nice people.

[truebrit71]

41. I used to think that about former addicts that overcame addiction with religion...

...but then I worked out that that is just as daft as well. Firstly it suggests that 'the lord' was perfectly fine watching you fuck up your life in the first place, and secondly it diminishes the personal achievement breaking free of the addiction truly represents...

If a person clings to sobriety through religion I am fairly laid-back about it, but if they use that as an excuse to brow-beat others then all bets are off...and I have met plenty I can tell you..

[TexasBushwhacker]

46. and it gets even worse

When our mother was dying of cancer, he came to visit her for the first time in many months, even though he lived just a few miles away. Did he try to make amends, or at least tell her he loved her? NO! He came to chew her out and tell her that all his drug problems were because she hadn't raised us in a Christian home. That was the last time he saw her. When she was on death's door in the hospice, we told him if he wanted to see her that she could die at any time. He put it off one day, then another. Then he said he would come and see her on Sunday - AFTER CHURCH. Well guess what? She died in the wee hours that morning.

When I was going through a box that had been packed up for years, I found an old bible that my grandmother had given my mother when she was a girl. It's cover was worn leather and my mother's name was in gold down in the corner. Given that I'm not a Christian and he is, I thought he might like to have it as a precious memento. BUT NO! He said he didn't want it and that what I should do was READ IT. As if I had never read a page of the bible in my life. Like I said, he's a born again asshole.

[onager]

11. Because no religion "worked..."

At least once I got away from the Baptists/Evangelicals who raised me.

It took a period of waffling for me, which it seems many atheists go thru. You know, the "there must be SOMETHING out there" feeling.

But by the time I was 20 years old, I was in the Marine Corps and getting "NO PREF" stamped on my dogtags in the space for "Religion."

I finally decided - "Nope, there's nothing supernatural out there. And it doesn't bother me very much. In fact, the realities of the universe are a lot more interesting than any of the fairy tales about various deities running things."

Since then I've travelled a lot and been exposed to non-Western beliefs. Including 6 years spent living in Muslim countries. I've heard a lot of marketing pitches for various beliefs and none have ever convinced me.

Having said that...over the holidays I'm expecting visits from some of our Mennonite neighbors. Who will hopefully come bearing their hellishly delicious holiday pastries.

This is a weird little corner of the South. Part of it was settled by German religious immigrants who banned slavery in their settlements. That must have gotten awkward around 1861...

[Mr.Bill]

12. As far back as I can remember

even as a toddler, I never believed the bullshit of religion. Even six years of Catholic school didn't convince me.

The bigger mystery to me is why anyone believes it.

[dimbear]

13. I don't care that religion is nonsensical. So is football. The difference is religion is

destroying the world.

There is one world. It is only so big, there is only so much room, and breeding more and more believers is the source of essentially all problems.

Putting any smiling face on that kind of magical thinking is a tragic mistake.

[Curmudgeoness]

14. Once upon a time

there was a kid who went to Sunday school and church and church camp and retreats. She didn't really think much about whether what she was hearing was true or not. Then in her early teens, she was "born again" as they say....basically meaning that she thought that she found god and Jesus. With this newfound interest, she immersed herself in the Bible.

While reading the Bible, she realized that there were holes big enough to drive trucks through. She was really turned off by the way that religion and the Bible talked about women. There were contradictions that made no sense unless you considered that it was all made up by man. So she thought about why anyone would make this up, and realized that it was a brilliant way to control people.

End of story.

[Locut0s]

15. Believing in religion requires mastery of Doublethink. :P

[Curmudgeoness]

16. Indeed it does.

The more I read, the more it absurd it appeared. I am not good at doublethink.

[Major Nikon]

18. Everyone is born an atheist

To answer your question with a question I say, "Why not?"

Believers are the ones who need to explain why they are believers.

[Locut0s]

20. True but we are also all born gullible and imprintable...

If you happened to escape it by being raised without religion like me then that's really the reason I would list for being atheist. Most people are religious cause they were indoctrinated at a very young age.

[Major Nikon]

22. I agree

To answer your question more directly my answer is because I was born that way.

In a perfect world atheists would never have to explain why, only believers would have to explain why. If I were god I would change this.

[RebelOne]

19. My first experience with religion was when I was a child

and my mother sent me to a Southern Baptist church in Miami. I went to Sunday school, vacation Bible school and the church services. When I was a teenager, I attended an Episcopalian church for a few years and went through confirmation, first communion and all the other religious nonsense. Then when I was in my late 30s, I suddenly woke up and decided all this Jesus and God mumbo-jumbo did not make much sense at all. So I became an atheist.

My father was an atheist with a genius IQ, so I guess it rubbed off on me in my later years. My daughter is also an atheist. My son thinks we are both crazy.

[Locut0s]

21. Did your son "discover" religion?

Sounds like you raised your children in an agnostic or atheist environment.

[RebelOne]

47. No, I did not. My daughter was raised as a Catholic

because that was what my ex-husband's parents wanted, but I did not object because I was an Episcopalian, though actually non-practicing at that time. After she became an adult, she decided for herself about god and religion and decided that my beliefs were the way to go.

After my divorce, when my son was 12 he went to stay with his father during the summer in Mississippi and decided to stay there until he was about 16. So he was indoctrinated into the Southern Baptist cult. He is an adult now and thinks I am a nut case because I am an atheist and is convinced I will go to hell when I die.

[Locut0s]

48. That's kind of sad he feels this way...

Sorry to hear that. Religion is such a petty thing to separate families.

[Bravatravels]

23. My answer comes from the portable atheist

"The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more."

―The Portable Atheist

Being an Atheist make sense: It allows your mind to go freely...
Brava

[awoke_in_2003]

24. I tried to believe growing up...

but a small part of my mind kept telling me the bible was BS. Eventually I started listening to that part.

[cantbeserious]

26. Agnostic Here - No Compelling Evidence For Or Against Deities - We Struggle To Understand Our Universe

eom

[DavidDvorkin]

27. Because I outgrew religion.

[Gore1FL]

28. All the good religions were taken n/t

[bravenak]

29. When I read the big picture book of bible stories as a kid I just did not believe that a flood wiped

out the whole world. It just went down hill from there.

[pink-o]

30. Mostly because NO ONE could ever answer this simple question:

If God loves us then why does he let us suffer as we do?

No lame-ass explanation of "Free Will" or pretzel logic trying to justify God's omniscience ever satisfied me. And always curious about the human condition--especially as we relate to each other in society--it finally hit me.

We don't suffer because "God" wants to teach us a lesson--or even worse, we're evil because we turned away from God. Nope. We suffer because all the base instincts of our lizard brains--greed, jealousy, addiction, sexism, racism, fear of change--evolved as survival tactics for a completely different social environment. Your average caveman had to protect his woman, (who was either preggers or nursing most of the 20-some years of her life. And good luck if 1 of those 7 kids made it to age 5) his territory, his tribe. If he found a bounty of anything, he'd better hoard it or someone else would get their hands on it. Fight, and be strong, nice chaps got beaten and eaten.

So here we are in the 21st century with all the same drives and nowhere to manifest them. The civilised among us understand we need to get past that lizard brain: Now to survive, we have to find a way to unite, help each other, share the bounty, open our minds and hearts to understanding, break the chains and limits of our evolution. Religion and a belief in God is the antithesis of that natural progression--yet there will always be those terrified types who will believe anything if it gives them comfort and foundation. It's the UNCERTAINTY that sends people running for religion.

[Locut0s]

31. It's too bad we still live in such early times...

Globally over 90% of the world is still religious to one extent. It's too bad we live at such and early point in the growth and acceptance of atheism and agnosticism.

[pink-o]

33. Agreed!

But it took a long time to evolve into what we are now. We won't see a lot of progress in our lifetimes; it's gonna be aeons before humans give up their crutches.

I've traditionally not had a lot of patience with the continued mythology--especially from people of developing nations who've taken the White Man's bible for their own. But since Mandela died, I've been re-familiarizing myself with the struggles of Apartheid. It's very easy for me to scoff as I go to my safe job in my safe neighborhood with my dependable boss and supportive friends. So many people still don't know if they're going to be alive at the end of the day. It's so hard not to believe that there must be meaning, a purpose, and higher agenda. Life has to matter to them, because they can lose it any time, and finding a reason comforts them in terrible times.

What believers don't understand is that atheists would never negate the deep emotion we have for each other. We just don't believe it has to come from a supernatural power to validate it. And if our lives have no higher purpose, it doesn't lessen their importance. In fact, freeing oneself from mythology gives people an incredible peace of mind!

[Locut0s]

34. Exactly!...

There's a huge misunderstanding and fear that atheists lead the way to a cold, heartless, unfeeling world. We'd say quite the opposite is true, that by letting go of the constrictive, oppressive trappings of religion we see the way opened to even greater feelings of belonging, happiness, freedom and connection with our fellow man. Sadly we haven't done a very good job advertising what we stand for. Perhaps that's because most of us unlike the strongly religious have no interest in proselytizing or converting. Many of us like to debate and argue that's true but true proselytizing and conversion isn't our thing, which means we haven't been the best at marketing what we truly stand for. If there's one area that religion has excelled at over the centuries it's marketing, they've got that shit down!

[pink-o]

36. Yup. Just like the Republican Party

Funny...when there's an underlying doubt about a philosophy, it has to be shouted from the rooftops, propagandized, dispensed in half-truths, sneaked into the public domain under the guise of assuaging fear (when actually fomenting it) and pounded into our brains until its considered mainstream.

But the REAL truth never needs to be trumpeted. Prolly why Dems and Atheists both are shite at marketing our brand.

[AtheistCrusader]

32. I was born an atheist.

No one ever attempted to indoctrinate me. Therefore, I never questioned my self-worth, my self-purpose, or my self-identity.

There are things to which I seek answers, but the questions are mine, and the answers are discoverable through reason and tests and trials. I never asked 'why are we here' because the question sounds like nonsense to me. I have never had a preconception of needing a 'purpose' at all.

So that's why I'm an atheist. Because my parents were kind enough to leave me alone, instead of programming me into either Protestantism, or Catholicism. They just let me find my own way.

And I did.

[Locut0s]

35. You and I are a rare breed though...

Even among atheists and agnostics many if not most had to find their way to this place, after having being raised in a religious environment. Which isn't to say that those who have rejected religion instead of being "born into it" are any lesser, indeed many are much more glad to be agnostic or atheist and feel so much more fervently. But It's going to be a long time before those like us are truly common.

[AtheistCrusader]

38. Agreed. In fact, it's sometimes problematic for me.

It is difficult for me to sometimes understand or empathize even with some other atheists, that were once believers. I don't fully grok what they've been through, and how hard or easy it was for them to change.

We are a tiny percentage of a small minority.

[Rob H.]

39. You can count me among that tiny percentage, too

My parents raised me and my brother such that if we ever expressed any interest in going to church, they'd take us but wouldn't force us to go if we didn't want to. For my part, I was too busy reading books about dinosaurs and animals, building model kits, and playing role-playing games with my friends to take any interest in religion.

By the time I got a little older and heard people talking about God and such, it was too late--all I could think was, "Wait, you really believe all that? A lot of what you just said doesn't make any rational sense at all. Talking snakes? A man rising from the dead? Why not just go all-out and throw in some werewolves while you're at it?"

[Locut0s]

42. I wonder if there is creationist D&D game...

And god rolled a D20 and there was light.

[Rob H.]

43. This is one of my favorite gaming t-shirts along those lines

I love it.



Here's a bigger version of the back--gotta love the thumbs-up!

[Locut0s]

44. Haha lol that's a great one. :) nt.

[uriel1972]

45. Heh one of my favourite lines...

But, there are very few people around me who would get the joke. /sigh

[PassingFair]

51. Third generation atheist (on my father's side)

My Mother did her best, but her religion just didn't take.

They never argued about religion in front of us, but I know
how passive aggressive my mother is, so I assume he suffered.

[RussBLib]

40. because it's about the only belief system that makes sense

in the light of science, that is

[DawgHouse]

49. A process of many years

I began to apply the same "tests and standards" to my own religion as I'd been taught to do with other religions. I could easily see the errors in Islam, Mormonism, Scientology, etc., but never actually tested my own Southern Baptist upbringing and what I'd been taught. Once I got the nerve to test the Christian faith (I say "nerve" because deep down I KNEW what it would mean), I was done.

[Aquavit]

50. Because of stories like this

[link] http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024333091 [/link]

That things like this happen leads me to believe that either any "god" that might let things like this happen are either catastrophically weak or absolutely psychotic. In either case, I want nothing to do with them.

[Heather MC]

52. My atheism occurred very recently by accident.

I was raised in a strict Jehovah's Witnesses Household. At the age of 9 I knew I didn't believe the religions teachings. By 17 I was free from all that mess. However, I still held on to a belief in god but I rejected all Religion. I prayed, but I was not a church goer, and I was very comfortable with not going to church. Around 23 I decided I fit the Agnostic lable.

At this point I still not actually read the bible and I only remembered a handful of Scriptures from my JDub days. Every now and then my mother would try to sway me back to the JDub fold. I could usely push her off with a simple statement, "it is not in my heart to be a Witness"

As long as I didn't have anything negative to say about her Religion she was ok with that.

When I was 27 My life Changed Drastically, I was married, a double home owner, with a new baby, all in one year. And 9/11 happened While I was 7 months preggers. I was pulling into north parking when the plane hit.

My Husband was raised Roman Catholic, but he oftened joke he only went to church if he was paid for it. He is a muscians and Churches pay very well for holiday muscians

Anyway, So as result, When I would share my 9/11 story about how I was pulling into work and not in the building. People started attributing my lucky survival to god. I started thinking heyyyy maybe god has a purpose for my son, maybe that's why I wasn't in the building, yeah that's it.

Next thing I knew I was going to church. SMH
I found a church, that was a mega church, 8,000 members, I could fly under the radar, I was never a gungho Christian. I never wanted to be like my mother.

After 5 years we realized the pastor was just finding new ways to say the same thing, so we left. I opted for a home church for a while, It was small 10-20 people. No hiding allowed. For awhile it was great. Then 2 years later a group of 4 new people joined us, They were the gungho for Jesus, judgemental types. Everything I hate about religion. One day I was in a heated discussion with one of them on FB about Gay marriage. She asked me, "How can you be for Gay marriage, and call yourself a Christian?" I said, "I guess I can't" She asked, "Can't what?" I said, "I guess, I can't call myself a Christian, I am done, because I will never agree that our Goverment should have the right to decide who can and can't get married."

And I was done. But I started reading the bible more objectively. before I would read the bible and search for a justification to god's cruelity. But now I just read it with out trying to inject understanding. And one day about a Year ago, I was reading the story of Job, and I looked up and said to my husband, this is a horrible story, why would anyone do this to another person. If god exist he is a piece of shit.

I realized I had just said "if" . I looked at my hubby and said, "I don't believe in god anymore" And Just like that, I was over it.

My hubby happily refers to himself as a "weak theist" He believes there is a god, but he doesn't feel the need to do anything about it. And my son he is 12 now, when he was 10 I asked him if he believed in god. He looked up from drawing hunched his shoulders and said, "no" and then went back to coloring.
Sorry this was so long I tried to abbreviate most of it.

[Holly_Hobby]

53. Communion is why I'm an Atheist

I was raised Lutheran and never ever missed a service or Sunday School, because my mother was afraid of my grandmother and what would happen if we didn't go. My grandmother ruled my mother. My dad wasn't interested in getting in the middle of that, so he complied too.

I hated it. I had Catechism on Saturday mornings and service and Sunday School on Sunday mornings, school all week long. I could never sleep in. I was forced to attend the youth group events, who were nothing more than drug addicts. The married leader of the youth group was sleeping with a 16 y.o. member.

When I was finally confirmed, I refused to eat the wafer or drink the wine. The Pastor called me and my parents into his office and wanted to know what I had against it. Isn't that what I had been working toward all these years? I said, "No. I don't want to eat Jesus or drink his blood. That's weird." I think I was 14 then. My parents grounded me for a month and I refused to go back to church, no matter what. They tried to force me, then bribe me. Nope.

Until I moved out when I was 19, I made fun of my family on Sundays, calling them cannibals. "Mmmm, Jesus. How would you like him cooked?" They finally stopped going to church for good when my grandmother died. Hypocrites.

[LittleGirl]

54. I read the God Delusion

and after questioning religion (Catholic, Protestant etc.), I decided to make peace with my non-faith. I wanted to believe but when my Father passed away in 1975 at age 15, I was in full-on holy roller state. I was dating a guy that wanted nothing but to screw me and I didn't want to give up my virginity to him. I asked the Pastor to pray for me and my family and all he could do is brush me off. I waited until I was 27 to get confirmed in the Catholic church only to get my marriage annulled to the first spouse. After that, I left the church for awhile and would attend every once in a while.
After reading the God Delusion in '07 or '08, I realized I could live the rest of my life as an atheist. The first thing that I thought was that I'll never see my Father in heaven again and that kinda sucked. But then, I could get naked and not worry about those ghosts/spirits watching me.

I felt free like I never felt before.