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Webis Group 32

newguyplz

There is no positive to this only negatives. Unless you are an Executive at ATT where you get more money in your pocket for this. I will try my best: Say Lukeb127 has a really cool website idea. It is so good that it will replace reddit and digg and fark and all of those sites. So Lukeb127 starts coding away on the site. It is ready to get out there into the world now. Now you have to PAY money to ATT to have their customers come to your site. Say you want Verizon customers as well. Now you have to pay Verizon money as well. So let's just say that its a measly 100$ a month to both companies. You being a start up may say ok we can afford that. Now lets say its 10k or even 25k per month. This is where it starts pushing you the new start up into the ground before you can even let the market decide if you are a viable product. TL;dr: You have to pay ATT money to have their customers be able to visit your site.

There is no positive to this only negatives. Unless you are an Executive at ATT where you get more money in your pocket for this. I will try my best: Say Lukeb127 has a really cool website idea. It is so good that it will replace reddit and digg and fark and all of those sites. So Lukeb127 starts coding away on the site. It is ready to get out there into the world now. Now you have to PAY money to ATT to have their customers come to your site. Say you want Verizon customers as well. Now you have to pay Verizon money as well. So let's just say that its a measly 100$ a month to both companies. You being a start up may say ok we can afford that. Now lets say its 10k or even 25k per month. This is where it starts pushing you the new start up into the ground before you can even let the market decide if you are a viable product. TL;dr: You have to pay ATT money to have their customers be able to visit your site.

technology

t5_2qh16

cej439v

There is no positive to this only negatives. Unless you are an Executive at ATT where you get more money in your pocket for this. I will try my best: Say Lukeb127 has a really cool website idea. It is so good that it will replace reddit and digg and fark and all of those sites. So Lukeb127 starts coding away on the site. It is ready to get out there into the world now. Now you have to PAY money to ATT to have their customers come to your site. Say you want Verizon customers as well. Now you have to pay Verizon money as well. So let's just say that its a measly 100$ a month to both companies. You being a start up may say ok we can afford that. Now lets say its 10k or even 25k per month. This is where it starts pushing you the new start up into the ground before you can even let the market decide if you are a viable product.

You have to pay ATT money to have their customers be able to visit your site.

darthyoshiboy

How short sighted are you that you don't think this will extend beyond AT&T very quickly once every other carrier starts realizing they can charge for data twice? Speaking of, that's certainly what they are doing. Can I only browse content that sponsors are paying for? Without my own data plan? So long as I can't, they are charging both of us for the data. Naive doesn't begin to describe you. Amazon is currently offering Prime Video as a loss leader, the Kindle as a loss leader, and many other services at or below costs to get people through the door. They have big pockets and an interest in protecting their top spot in Internet retail, they'll slit their own throats if it keeps them on top, and something like this plays right into their hands should a young startup come along and try to start usurping them. What's one more "loss leader" for a company that gives away so much to be number one? Nobody has been trying to slap Amazon for anti-competitive practices. It's very much relevant that they are creating artificial scarcity, there is virtually no cost to transmitting data these days, if it weren't for a virtual oligarchy in wireless, they'd never get away with it (as evidenced by countries that lack our limited wireless market) and now they're going to attempt to leverage that "scarcity" to start playing both ends while picking winners and losers for whose content gets delivered. TL;DR: You're either the most naive little shit I've ever encountered, or you're an AT&T shill for whatever reason someone would want to do that. Either way it falls on that matter, this is still a horrible thing for consumers and the future of the Internet, there's really no two ways about that, and given that's the case, I've no mind to continue discussing it with idiots.

How short sighted are you that you don't think this will extend beyond AT&T very quickly once every other carrier starts realizing they can charge for data twice? Speaking of, that's certainly what they are doing. Can I only browse content that sponsors are paying for? Without my own data plan? So long as I can't, they are charging both of us for the data. Naive doesn't begin to describe you. Amazon is currently offering Prime Video as a loss leader, the Kindle as a loss leader, and many other services at or below costs to get people through the door. They have big pockets and an interest in protecting their top spot in Internet retail, they'll slit their own throats if it keeps them on top, and something like this plays right into their hands should a young startup come along and try to start usurping them. What's one more "loss leader" for a company that gives away so much to be number one? Nobody has been trying to slap Amazon for anti-competitive practices. It's very much relevant that they are creating artificial scarcity, there is virtually no cost to transmitting data these days, if it weren't for a virtual oligarchy in wireless, they'd never get away with it (as evidenced by countries that lack our limited wireless market) and now they're going to attempt to leverage that "scarcity" to start playing both ends while picking winners and losers for whose content gets delivered. TL;DR: You're either the most naive little shit I've ever encountered, or you're an AT&T shill for whatever reason someone would want to do that. Either way it falls on that matter, this is still a horrible thing for consumers and the future of the Internet, there's really no two ways about that, and given that's the case, I've no mind to continue discussing it with idiots.

technology

t5_2qh16

cej78cq

How short sighted are you that you don't think this will extend beyond AT&T very quickly once every other carrier starts realizing they can charge for data twice? Speaking of, that's certainly what they are doing. Can I only browse content that sponsors are paying for? Without my own data plan? So long as I can't, they are charging both of us for the data. Naive doesn't begin to describe you. Amazon is currently offering Prime Video as a loss leader, the Kindle as a loss leader, and many other services at or below costs to get people through the door. They have big pockets and an interest in protecting their top spot in Internet retail, they'll slit their own throats if it keeps them on top, and something like this plays right into their hands should a young startup come along and try to start usurping them. What's one more "loss leader" for a company that gives away so much to be number one? Nobody has been trying to slap Amazon for anti-competitive practices. It's very much relevant that they are creating artificial scarcity, there is virtually no cost to transmitting data these days, if it weren't for a virtual oligarchy in wireless, they'd never get away with it (as evidenced by countries that lack our limited wireless market) and now they're going to attempt to leverage that "scarcity" to start playing both ends while picking winners and losers for whose content gets delivered.

You're either the most naive little shit I've ever encountered, or you're an AT&T shill for whatever reason someone would want to do that. Either way it falls on that matter, this is still a horrible thing for consumers and the future of the Internet, there's really no two ways about that, and given that's the case, I've no mind to continue discussing it with idiots.

boost2525

a) > It'll be requested from the user when they install the app, yes. No, they're told you're using a permission that provides access to that data. *It is not requested from the user, that implies they have the option of declining to provide it.* It also doesn't specify that you will use the information, or how you will use the information. b) What is this amateur hour? If my phone number changes, your entire schema falls apart. If I have more than one number, your entire schema falls apart. This is AppDev 101 stuff man. tl; dr; It's poor form on so many levels. Edit: Why am I making a fuss about this? Because you're asking for help *because you picked a shitty design*. User table with synthetic ID maps one user record to one user. Table of numbers maps one user to many numbers, numbers are stored securely, numbers are stored in string representation... making country format unimportant.

a) > It'll be requested from the user when they install the app, yes. No, they're told you're using a permission that provides access to that data. It is not requested from the user, that implies they have the option of declining to provide it. It also doesn't specify that you will use the information, or how you will use the information. b) What is this amateur hour? If my phone number changes, your entire schema falls apart. If I have more than one number, your entire schema falls apart. This is AppDev 101 stuff man. tl; dr; It's poor form on so many levels. Edit: Why am I making a fuss about this? Because you're asking for help because you picked a shitty design . User table with synthetic ID maps one user record to one user. Table of numbers maps one user to many numbers, numbers are stored securely, numbers are stored in string representation... making country format unimportant.

androiddev

t5_2r26y

cejoo6p

a) > It'll be requested from the user when they install the app, yes. No, they're told you're using a permission that provides access to that data. It is not requested from the user, that implies they have the option of declining to provide it. It also doesn't specify that you will use the information, or how you will use the information. b) What is this amateur hour? If my phone number changes, your entire schema falls apart. If I have more than one number, your entire schema falls apart. This is AppDev 101 stuff man.

It's poor form on so many levels. Edit: Why am I making a fuss about this? Because you're asking for help because you picked a shitty design . User table with synthetic ID maps one user record to one user. Table of numbers maps one user to many numbers, numbers are stored securely, numbers are stored in string representation... making country format unimportant.

Sometimes_Lies

Yeah, theming is kind of obscure, but a *very* big modifier. Basically, everything you build with more than one Great Work slot has a specific theming bonus. It's unique to the wonder(/museum), and you get a bonus for filling it. For example, the Globe Theater's theming bonus is 2x great works by the same civ written in the same era. The Hermitage requires 3 works of art (not artifacts) all by different civs and from different eras. [Here is a complete list of all theming bonuses]( Basically, you get a +1 bonus for every great work you theme properly, effectively raising its *base* tourism/culture value by 50%. If you max aesthetics, this bonus is doubled. If you're playing as France, any theming bonuses in your capital are doubled (multiplicative with aesthetics!) So basically if you don't theme everything you're cutting your culture/tourism significantly. This is a big deal even for non-culture wins, since your culture+tourism output are your defense vs ideological pressure. My last game was a domination win and I had a million museums to fight off enemy ideology pressure, and I spent *way* too much time double checking my bonuses. **tl;dr** micromanage or experience the joy of negative happiness (or a slower culture win).

Yeah, theming is kind of obscure, but a very big modifier. Basically, everything you build with more than one Great Work slot has a specific theming bonus. It's unique to the wonder(/museum), and you get a bonus for filling it. For example, the Globe Theater's theming bonus is 2x great works by the same civ written in the same era. The Hermitage requires 3 works of art (not artifacts) all by different civs and from different eras. [Here is a complete list of all theming bonuses]( Basically, you get a +1 bonus for every great work you theme properly, effectively raising its base tourism/culture value by 50%. If you max aesthetics, this bonus is doubled. If you're playing as France, any theming bonuses in your capital are doubled (multiplicative with aesthetics!) So basically if you don't theme everything you're cutting your culture/tourism significantly. This is a big deal even for non-culture wins, since your culture+tourism output are your defense vs ideological pressure. My last game was a domination win and I had a million museums to fight off enemy ideology pressure, and I spent way too much time double checking my bonuses. tl;dr micromanage or experience the joy of negative happiness (or a slower culture win).

civ

t5_2rk3b

cek319f

Yeah, theming is kind of obscure, but a very big modifier. Basically, everything you build with more than one Great Work slot has a specific theming bonus. It's unique to the wonder(/museum), and you get a bonus for filling it. For example, the Globe Theater's theming bonus is 2x great works by the same civ written in the same era. The Hermitage requires 3 works of art (not artifacts) all by different civs and from different eras. [Here is a complete list of all theming bonuses]( Basically, you get a +1 bonus for every great work you theme properly, effectively raising its base tourism/culture value by 50%. If you max aesthetics, this bonus is doubled. If you're playing as France, any theming bonuses in your capital are doubled (multiplicative with aesthetics!) So basically if you don't theme everything you're cutting your culture/tourism significantly. This is a big deal even for non-culture wins, since your culture+tourism output are your defense vs ideological pressure. My last game was a domination win and I had a million museums to fight off enemy ideology pressure, and I spent way too much time double checking my bonuses.

micromanage or experience the joy of negative happiness (or a slower culture win).

GenericBadGuyNumber3

Depends on the way you say it. Eminem made a career out of twisting words that shouldnt rhyme and making them work. Someone posted the video of him explaining how you can rhyme with the word purple even though nothing supposedly rhymes with it. I'd link it but I'm on my phone. Tl;Dr - No it doesn't, but it's close enough.

Depends on the way you say it. Eminem made a career out of twisting words that shouldnt rhyme and making them work. Someone posted the video of him explaining how you can rhyme with the word purple even though nothing supposedly rhymes with it. I'd link it but I'm on my phone. Tl;Dr - No it doesn't, but it's close enough.

IAmA

t5_2qzb6

cekbsxd

Depends on the way you say it. Eminem made a career out of twisting words that shouldnt rhyme and making them work. Someone posted the video of him explaining how you can rhyme with the word purple even though nothing supposedly rhymes with it. I'd link it but I'm on my phone.

No it doesn't, but it's close enough.

osiris0413

This gives some pretty interesting insights. Look at the English-speaking countries: Britain's #2 search term is "Indian". "Asian" is high up in America and Canada and #1 in Australia, while New Zealand has Indian, Asian and Korean. Ireland has "Ebony" as #6. Now look at literally ALL OTHER first-world countries. Aside from the term "Hentai", which shows up in a few lists, NO other countries have ethnic terms in their top 10 (aside from asian countries having asian, indian countries having indian, etc). Literally: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, and Poland do not have "Asian", "Indian", "Black"/"Ebony" or anything else in their top 10. English speakers: fetishize much? And virtually all of the east asian countries search for other nationalities... e.g. "Japan/ese" especially is in the top results for China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Phillippines. Interestingly, Japan only searches for itself, and South Korea searches for itself and China but not Japan. Which, given Japan's reputation for nationalism and animosity between them and South Korea, is an interesting aside. **TL;DR: Porn searches reveal a lot about psychology and international diplomacy, but still fail to explain why Afghans search for "Dutch Bitch"**

This gives some pretty interesting insights. Look at the English-speaking countries: Britain's #2 search term is "Indian". "Asian" is high up in America and Canada and #1 in Australia, while New Zealand has Indian, Asian and Korean. Ireland has "Ebony" as #6. Now look at literally ALL OTHER first-world countries. Aside from the term "Hentai", which shows up in a few lists, NO other countries have ethnic terms in their top 10 (aside from asian countries having asian, indian countries having indian, etc). Literally: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, and Poland do not have "Asian", "Indian", "Black"/"Ebony" or anything else in their top 10. English speakers: fetishize much? And virtually all of the east asian countries search for other nationalities... e.g. "Japan/ese" especially is in the top results for China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Phillippines. Interestingly, Japan only searches for itself, and South Korea searches for itself and China but not Japan. Which, given Japan's reputation for nationalism and animosity between them and South Korea, is an interesting aside. TL;DR: Porn searches reveal a lot about psychology and international diplomacy, but still fail to explain why Afghans search for "Dutch Bitch"

IAmA

t5_2qzb6

cejvrtw

This gives some pretty interesting insights. Look at the English-speaking countries: Britain's #2 search term is "Indian". "Asian" is high up in America and Canada and #1 in Australia, while New Zealand has Indian, Asian and Korean. Ireland has "Ebony" as #6. Now look at literally ALL OTHER first-world countries. Aside from the term "Hentai", which shows up in a few lists, NO other countries have ethnic terms in their top 10 (aside from asian countries having asian, indian countries having indian, etc). Literally: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, and Poland do not have "Asian", "Indian", "Black"/"Ebony" or anything else in their top 10. English speakers: fetishize much? And virtually all of the east asian countries search for other nationalities... e.g. "Japan/ese" especially is in the top results for China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Phillippines. Interestingly, Japan only searches for itself, and South Korea searches for itself and China but not Japan. Which, given Japan's reputation for nationalism and animosity between them and South Korea, is an interesting aside.

Porn searches reveal a lot about psychology and international diplomacy, but still fail to explain why Afghans search for "Dutch Bitch"

crowfantasy

I'd say think about the juxtaposition between the image they show as an advertisement (old couple holding hands on a park bench) and the product which is being advertised (hardcore porn streamed over the internet). I say it's just about perfect because I can't imagine a better way to advertise porn to a mass audience. They can't show people having sex, and they probably shouldn't show people actually using their product (i.e. a man coming home from work, sitting down at his computer, typing in their url, and smiling with anticipation) so what do they show instead? Something completely innocuous and wholesome. The joke, I believe, is that we, the viewer, know what their product is: by seeing it advertised through a commercial with old people sitting serenely on a bench, we cannot help but laugh at how uncanny the whole situation is. Had pornhub actually aired this commercial, I believe it would be the first commercial for hardcore pornography on standard t.v. channels, let alone the first commercial during the superbowl. Basically, I think, what we are laughing at is the very idea of a mass porn depository which (more or less) everyone uses, but which is not (yet) polite to talk about in public. Tldr: it's analogous to calling a huge bodybuilder "tiny".

I'd say think about the juxtaposition between the image they show as an advertisement (old couple holding hands on a park bench) and the product which is being advertised (hardcore porn streamed over the internet). I say it's just about perfect because I can't imagine a better way to advertise porn to a mass audience. They can't show people having sex, and they probably shouldn't show people actually using their product (i.e. a man coming home from work, sitting down at his computer, typing in their url, and smiling with anticipation) so what do they show instead? Something completely innocuous and wholesome. The joke, I believe, is that we, the viewer, know what their product is: by seeing it advertised through a commercial with old people sitting serenely on a bench, we cannot help but laugh at how uncanny the whole situation is. Had pornhub actually aired this commercial, I believe it would be the first commercial for hardcore pornography on standard t.v. channels, let alone the first commercial during the superbowl. Basically, I think, what we are laughing at is the very idea of a mass porn depository which (more or less) everyone uses, but which is not (yet) polite to talk about in public. Tldr: it's analogous to calling a huge bodybuilder "tiny".

IAmA

t5_2qzb6

cfar3xv

I'd say think about the juxtaposition between the image they show as an advertisement (old couple holding hands on a park bench) and the product which is being advertised (hardcore porn streamed over the internet). I say it's just about perfect because I can't imagine a better way to advertise porn to a mass audience. They can't show people having sex, and they probably shouldn't show people actually using their product (i.e. a man coming home from work, sitting down at his computer, typing in their url, and smiling with anticipation) so what do they show instead? Something completely innocuous and wholesome. The joke, I believe, is that we, the viewer, know what their product is: by seeing it advertised through a commercial with old people sitting serenely on a bench, we cannot help but laugh at how uncanny the whole situation is. Had pornhub actually aired this commercial, I believe it would be the first commercial for hardcore pornography on standard t.v. channels, let alone the first commercial during the superbowl. Basically, I think, what we are laughing at is the very idea of a mass porn depository which (more or less) everyone uses, but which is not (yet) polite to talk about in public.

it's analogous to calling a huge bodybuilder "tiny".

Hazy_V

I think you've nailed it, but there is no rule that says we have to have a resolution or point to this movie. I saw it pretty much bald, maybe a few posters, no reviews, and coming out of that movie I was relating more to the story because of how similar it could have been to someone I know, not mulling over the idea that brand names were bombarding the screen (GASP, first time I've been exposed to it). As it's been said in this thread, every critic and reviewer probably relies on advertising on their own damn articles to survive, and they have the gall to-- (insert hate media speech) So that's why I liked it, the existential type life-mirror angle that is a paradox but tries anyways. I could see how it would turn people off though, this shit is meaningless, and meaninglessness can be sort of grating. When you take the three brands (and I'm sure you could find a few more examples) you mentioned and analyse them a bit more closely than oh... say a concept that would be semi-controversial that would lead to more hits... I thought that they were more connected with characters and their choices than showing the brands themselves. Papa Johns represents Mitty's transition to adulthood, Life represents his boring job that's almost taunting his dreams with it's philosophy, and eHarmony was more like a cheep excuse to give a guy with almost no social connections a consistent interaction that drove the narrative. I'm sure there's a movie trope about that char that is the protag's bro, maybe someone he/she's known forever that gives them shit but from a place of love. Mitty can't technically have that due to the narrative, and yet they found a way to work it in. While movies try to sneak around product placement hoping people on the internet only point it out 100 times instead of the usual 1000, I felt like this one went balls out and owned it. Maybe the exact thing that made some critics check out of the movie is the reason people like me checked in. I guess it's their job to say moral stuff like that, but I'm looking around my apartment and seeing a shit ton of brands staring me in the face. You guys living in caves? TL;DR: Can you believe meaninglessness is a word? What the hell is that?

I think you've nailed it, but there is no rule that says we have to have a resolution or point to this movie. I saw it pretty much bald, maybe a few posters, no reviews, and coming out of that movie I was relating more to the story because of how similar it could have been to someone I know, not mulling over the idea that brand names were bombarding the screen (GASP, first time I've been exposed to it). As it's been said in this thread, every critic and reviewer probably relies on advertising on their own damn articles to survive, and they have the gall to-- (insert hate media speech) So that's why I liked it, the existential type life-mirror angle that is a paradox but tries anyways. I could see how it would turn people off though, this shit is meaningless, and meaninglessness can be sort of grating. When you take the three brands (and I'm sure you could find a few more examples) you mentioned and analyse them a bit more closely than oh... say a concept that would be semi-controversial that would lead to more hits... I thought that they were more connected with characters and their choices than showing the brands themselves. Papa Johns represents Mitty's transition to adulthood, Life represents his boring job that's almost taunting his dreams with it's philosophy, and eHarmony was more like a cheep excuse to give a guy with almost no social connections a consistent interaction that drove the narrative. I'm sure there's a movie trope about that char that is the protag's bro, maybe someone he/she's known forever that gives them shit but from a place of love. Mitty can't technically have that due to the narrative, and yet they found a way to work it in. While movies try to sneak around product placement hoping people on the internet only point it out 100 times instead of the usual 1000, I felt like this one went balls out and owned it. Maybe the exact thing that made some critics check out of the movie is the reason people like me checked in. I guess it's their job to say moral stuff like that, but I'm looking around my apartment and seeing a shit ton of brands staring me in the face. You guys living in caves? TL;DR: Can you believe meaninglessness is a word? What the hell is that?

TrueFilm

t5_2szp0

cek9rp8

I think you've nailed it, but there is no rule that says we have to have a resolution or point to this movie. I saw it pretty much bald, maybe a few posters, no reviews, and coming out of that movie I was relating more to the story because of how similar it could have been to someone I know, not mulling over the idea that brand names were bombarding the screen (GASP, first time I've been exposed to it). As it's been said in this thread, every critic and reviewer probably relies on advertising on their own damn articles to survive, and they have the gall to-- (insert hate media speech) So that's why I liked it, the existential type life-mirror angle that is a paradox but tries anyways. I could see how it would turn people off though, this shit is meaningless, and meaninglessness can be sort of grating. When you take the three brands (and I'm sure you could find a few more examples) you mentioned and analyse them a bit more closely than oh... say a concept that would be semi-controversial that would lead to more hits... I thought that they were more connected with characters and their choices than showing the brands themselves. Papa Johns represents Mitty's transition to adulthood, Life represents his boring job that's almost taunting his dreams with it's philosophy, and eHarmony was more like a cheep excuse to give a guy with almost no social connections a consistent interaction that drove the narrative. I'm sure there's a movie trope about that char that is the protag's bro, maybe someone he/she's known forever that gives them shit but from a place of love. Mitty can't technically have that due to the narrative, and yet they found a way to work it in. While movies try to sneak around product placement hoping people on the internet only point it out 100 times instead of the usual 1000, I felt like this one went balls out and owned it. Maybe the exact thing that made some critics check out of the movie is the reason people like me checked in. I guess it's their job to say moral stuff like that, but I'm looking around my apartment and seeing a shit ton of brands staring me in the face. You guys living in caves?

Can you believe meaninglessness is a word? What the hell is that?

razorbackmac

I had various sets of these on my walls and ceilings growing up. Everything from planets and stars to dinosaurs to cartoon characters. I moved to campus for college and my parents bought a new house. When my dad found these while unpacking, he just randomly started putting them in the kitchen on the cabinets, ceilings, and walls. Now my parents kitchen glows with the light of dinosaurs floating through space. TL:DR Kitchen space dinosaurs

I had various sets of these on my walls and ceilings growing up. Everything from planets and stars to dinosaurs to cartoon characters. I moved to campus for college and my parents bought a new house. When my dad found these while unpacking, he just randomly started putting them in the kitchen on the cabinets, ceilings, and walls. Now my parents kitchen glows with the light of dinosaurs floating through space. TL:DR Kitchen space dinosaurs

nostalgia

t5_2qnub

cekb233

I had various sets of these on my walls and ceilings growing up. Everything from planets and stars to dinosaurs to cartoon characters. I moved to campus for college and my parents bought a new house. When my dad found these while unpacking, he just randomly started putting them in the kitchen on the cabinets, ceilings, and walls. Now my parents kitchen glows with the light of dinosaurs floating through space.

Kitchen space dinosaurs

razorbackmac

You most certainly can: I had various sets of these on my walls and ceilings growing up. Everything from planets and stars to dinosaurs to cartoon characters. I moved to campus for college and my parents bought a new house. When my dad found these while unpacking, he just randomly started putting them in the kitchen on the cabinets, ceilings, and walls. Now my parents kitchen glows with the light of dinosaurs floating through space. TL:DR Kitchen space dinosaurs

You most certainly can: I had various sets of these on my walls and ceilings growing up. Everything from planets and stars to dinosaurs to cartoon characters. I moved to campus for college and my parents bought a new house. When my dad found these while unpacking, he just randomly started putting them in the kitchen on the cabinets, ceilings, and walls. Now my parents kitchen glows with the light of dinosaurs floating through space. TL:DR Kitchen space dinosaurs

nostalgia

t5_2qnub

cekycvk

You most certainly can: I had various sets of these on my walls and ceilings growing up. Everything from planets and stars to dinosaurs to cartoon characters. I moved to campus for college and my parents bought a new house. When my dad found these while unpacking, he just randomly started putting them in the kitchen on the cabinets, ceilings, and walls. Now my parents kitchen glows with the light of dinosaurs floating through space.

Kitchen space dinosaurs

cboogie

Alright here comes devils advocate. Because that was me 15 years ago and now feeling very accomplished as a musician I feel a need to stick up for these guys. You never know if one of these kids will see these comments and want to give up. Most people here are right. This is not very good. But nobody is saying why. These guys could be a shit ton better with a little advice and a few hours of practice. So here is mine. For the engineer - It sounded super weird because everything recorded was a direct feed from the board. If you mixed in a little reverb to reconstruct the sound of the auditorium it would make way more sense. Or preferably have some room mics to mix in. Make it sound more natural. You could hear the crowd at the end through the drum mics and they seemed to enjoy it. Keyboards - it's great that he has the balls to sing and play at the same time but if you can't hit a chord while singing play just the root. Also some accidentals are ok but not in that timbre! Get an organ or clavi sound and put it through a distortion pedal to give it some grit. It will make is sound like missing the chords to not giving a fuck. Drummer - stop listening to everyone else. You drive the band. (Well if you're playing pop) practice playing to a click. It's painstaking. Annoying as hell. But it will make you a better drummer. Bass - you need to follow the drummer an not lead him. If mr keyboard is not around and just you and the drummer can get together to jam, do it. Also play quarter notes, half notes, whole notes! Whatever is within your ability. Accuracy and good tone will always trump technical ability in my book. tl;dr - Just a random guy that can relate to these guys and offering his two cents.

Alright here comes devils advocate. Because that was me 15 years ago and now feeling very accomplished as a musician I feel a need to stick up for these guys. You never know if one of these kids will see these comments and want to give up. Most people here are right. This is not very good. But nobody is saying why. These guys could be a shit ton better with a little advice and a few hours of practice. So here is mine. For the engineer - It sounded super weird because everything recorded was a direct feed from the board. If you mixed in a little reverb to reconstruct the sound of the auditorium it would make way more sense. Or preferably have some room mics to mix in. Make it sound more natural. You could hear the crowd at the end through the drum mics and they seemed to enjoy it. Keyboards - it's great that he has the balls to sing and play at the same time but if you can't hit a chord while singing play just the root. Also some accidentals are ok but not in that timbre! Get an organ or clavi sound and put it through a distortion pedal to give it some grit. It will make is sound like missing the chords to not giving a fuck. Drummer - stop listening to everyone else. You drive the band. (Well if you're playing pop) practice playing to a click. It's painstaking. Annoying as hell. But it will make you a better drummer. Bass - you need to follow the drummer an not lead him. If mr keyboard is not around and just you and the drummer can get together to jam, do it. Also play quarter notes, half notes, whole notes! Whatever is within your ability. Accuracy and good tone will always trump technical ability in my book. tl;dr - Just a random guy that can relate to these guys and offering his two cents.

NotTimAndEric

t5_2tk05

cekfgml

Alright here comes devils advocate. Because that was me 15 years ago and now feeling very accomplished as a musician I feel a need to stick up for these guys. You never know if one of these kids will see these comments and want to give up. Most people here are right. This is not very good. But nobody is saying why. These guys could be a shit ton better with a little advice and a few hours of practice. So here is mine. For the engineer - It sounded super weird because everything recorded was a direct feed from the board. If you mixed in a little reverb to reconstruct the sound of the auditorium it would make way more sense. Or preferably have some room mics to mix in. Make it sound more natural. You could hear the crowd at the end through the drum mics and they seemed to enjoy it. Keyboards - it's great that he has the balls to sing and play at the same time but if you can't hit a chord while singing play just the root. Also some accidentals are ok but not in that timbre! Get an organ or clavi sound and put it through a distortion pedal to give it some grit. It will make is sound like missing the chords to not giving a fuck. Drummer - stop listening to everyone else. You drive the band. (Well if you're playing pop) practice playing to a click. It's painstaking. Annoying as hell. But it will make you a better drummer. Bass - you need to follow the drummer an not lead him. If mr keyboard is not around and just you and the drummer can get together to jam, do it. Also play quarter notes, half notes, whole notes! Whatever is within your ability. Accuracy and good tone will always trump technical ability in my book.

Just a random guy that can relate to these guys and offering his two cents.

alastoris

I work part time at a coffee shop in Canada. One time I had a man came up to me asking for just a glass water. Moments after giving him some, he began bawling his eyes out. I work in a downtown area and there are a fair amount of crazies homeless around. But this gentleman was well dressed and didn't have that no-shower stink to him. However, it did concerned me on his wrist was a hospital admission band. As he was bawling his eyes out, he began to tell me what happened. I didn't ask him what happened but he seemed like he really needed someone to lend a ear so I thought, why not. So this gentleman came to Toronto for a trip to scout of a place to live as he intend to move here due to his job (something about drummer for something, I didn't pay attention) and an appointment at the hospital. At some point during his schedule, he was robbed and had his wallet with his cash and bus return ticket stolen (He lives in Winnipeg). At this point, all he had was a police report and his wristband has his identification. Without his ID, he couldn't get money from the bank, nor could he have his ticket reprinted. To made his day worst, his doctor told him he had gullstone which means he was in pain the entire time he was speaking to him while bawling his eyes out. He then told me how the bus operator hear his story and while he can't give him a free ticket, he could give him a certain discount which would bring the cost of the ticket to about $70. However, all he had on him was a $50 from his luggage he left at his hotel. At this point, my co-worker came back from break and I began mine and I thought to myself, "it's only $20". A green $20 bill can send this man home to his family. So without telling him, I went to the bank across the street and withdraw $20 from the teller machine and went back to my store. The look on his face in complete disbelief will be something I will remember for a long time. He began by saying "No, I cannot accept this from you. I did not tell you my story to get money form you". In which I replied "If $20 can get you back to your family which would be worried about you, then why the hell not?". He began bawling his eyes out again and took out a really beat up phone which he received from another good willed Canadian and called his son "Son, I will be home for dinner". For the next 10 minutes he wouldn't stop thanking me and told his son what I did and tried to get me on the phone with him as he wanted to thank me as well. I unfortunately had to refuse the call as my break was over and I was really behind the cleaning schedule due to this. So I just told him to leave as its best for him to get his ticket as soon as possible and return home to his family. Before he left, he gave me his email address and said "I am a drummer for _____", if you have any concert you want to go to, drop me an email and I will get you those tickets!" Unfortunately, I am not a fan of concerts so I gave it to my co-worker I was working with atm and she in turn lost that little piece of paper. **TL;DR** I met a grown man having a rough day bawling his eyes out at work. He was short $20 to for his ticket home and I gave it to him.

I work part time at a coffee shop in Canada. One time I had a man came up to me asking for just a glass water. Moments after giving him some, he began bawling his eyes out. I work in a downtown area and there are a fair amount of crazies homeless around. But this gentleman was well dressed and didn't have that no-shower stink to him. However, it did concerned me on his wrist was a hospital admission band. As he was bawling his eyes out, he began to tell me what happened. I didn't ask him what happened but he seemed like he really needed someone to lend a ear so I thought, why not. So this gentleman came to Toronto for a trip to scout of a place to live as he intend to move here due to his job (something about drummer for something, I didn't pay attention) and an appointment at the hospital. At some point during his schedule, he was robbed and had his wallet with his cash and bus return ticket stolen (He lives in Winnipeg). At this point, all he had was a police report and his wristband has his identification. Without his ID, he couldn't get money from the bank, nor could he have his ticket reprinted. To made his day worst, his doctor told him he had gullstone which means he was in pain the entire time he was speaking to him while bawling his eyes out. He then told me how the bus operator hear his story and while he can't give him a free ticket, he could give him a certain discount which would bring the cost of the ticket to about $70. However, all he had on him was a $50 from his luggage he left at his hotel. At this point, my co-worker came back from break and I began mine and I thought to myself, "it's only $20". A green $20 bill can send this man home to his family. So without telling him, I went to the bank across the street and withdraw $20 from the teller machine and went back to my store. The look on his face in complete disbelief will be something I will remember for a long time. He began by saying "No, I cannot accept this from you. I did not tell you my story to get money form you". In which I replied "If $20 can get you back to your family which would be worried about you, then why the hell not?". He began bawling his eyes out again and took out a really beat up phone which he received from another good willed Canadian and called his son "Son, I will be home for dinner". For the next 10 minutes he wouldn't stop thanking me and told his son what I did and tried to get me on the phone with him as he wanted to thank me as well. I unfortunately had to refuse the call as my break was over and I was really behind the cleaning schedule due to this. So I just told him to leave as its best for him to get his ticket as soon as possible and return home to his family. Before he left, he gave me his email address and said "I am a drummer for _ ", if you have any concert you want to go to, drop me an email and I will get you those tickets!" Unfortunately, I am not a fan of concerts so I gave it to my co-worker I was working with atm and she in turn lost that little piece of paper. TL;DR I met a grown man having a rough day bawling his eyes out at work. He was short $20 to for his ticket home and I gave it to him.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cekb1yf

I work part time at a coffee shop in Canada. One time I had a man came up to me asking for just a glass water. Moments after giving him some, he began bawling his eyes out. I work in a downtown area and there are a fair amount of crazies homeless around. But this gentleman was well dressed and didn't have that no-shower stink to him. However, it did concerned me on his wrist was a hospital admission band. As he was bawling his eyes out, he began to tell me what happened. I didn't ask him what happened but he seemed like he really needed someone to lend a ear so I thought, why not. So this gentleman came to Toronto for a trip to scout of a place to live as he intend to move here due to his job (something about drummer for something, I didn't pay attention) and an appointment at the hospital. At some point during his schedule, he was robbed and had his wallet with his cash and bus return ticket stolen (He lives in Winnipeg). At this point, all he had was a police report and his wristband has his identification. Without his ID, he couldn't get money from the bank, nor could he have his ticket reprinted. To made his day worst, his doctor told him he had gullstone which means he was in pain the entire time he was speaking to him while bawling his eyes out. He then told me how the bus operator hear his story and while he can't give him a free ticket, he could give him a certain discount which would bring the cost of the ticket to about $70. However, all he had on him was a $50 from his luggage he left at his hotel. At this point, my co-worker came back from break and I began mine and I thought to myself, "it's only $20". A green $20 bill can send this man home to his family. So without telling him, I went to the bank across the street and withdraw $20 from the teller machine and went back to my store. The look on his face in complete disbelief will be something I will remember for a long time. He began by saying "No, I cannot accept this from you. I did not tell you my story to get money form you". In which I replied "If $20 can get you back to your family which would be worried about you, then why the hell not?". He began bawling his eyes out again and took out a really beat up phone which he received from another good willed Canadian and called his son "Son, I will be home for dinner". For the next 10 minutes he wouldn't stop thanking me and told his son what I did and tried to get me on the phone with him as he wanted to thank me as well. I unfortunately had to refuse the call as my break was over and I was really behind the cleaning schedule due to this. So I just told him to leave as its best for him to get his ticket as soon as possible and return home to his family. Before he left, he gave me his email address and said "I am a drummer for _ ", if you have any concert you want to go to, drop me an email and I will get you those tickets!" Unfortunately, I am not a fan of concerts so I gave it to my co-worker I was working with atm and she in turn lost that little piece of paper.

I met a grown man having a rough day bawling his eyes out at work. He was short $20 to for his ticket home and I gave it to him.

menotyou16

I believe you and i believe in her, i quit cold turkey. Its hard, not impossible. Also i feel for you both. I was told after a heart problem that if i continue to smoke i WILL get heart disease, but thats not enough to make my SO quit with me, i had to do it alone. But I've realized if i don't like it, it's my problem and when i leave her because of it, it'll be her problem. This isn't long but: Tl/dr: i wish my girlfriend would quit because i had to.

I believe you and i believe in her, i quit cold turkey. Its hard, not impossible. Also i feel for you both. I was told after a heart problem that if i continue to smoke i WILL get heart disease, but thats not enough to make my SO quit with me, i had to do it alone. But I've realized if i don't like it, it's my problem and when i leave her because of it, it'll be her problem. This isn't long but: Tl/dr: i wish my girlfriend would quit because i had to.

AdviceAnimals

t5_2s7tt

cekvnnf

I believe you and i believe in her, i quit cold turkey. Its hard, not impossible. Also i feel for you both. I was told after a heart problem that if i continue to smoke i WILL get heart disease, but thats not enough to make my SO quit with me, i had to do it alone. But I've realized if i don't like it, it's my problem and when i leave her because of it, it'll be her problem. This isn't long but:

i wish my girlfriend would quit because i had to.

hinduyankee

I was on mushrooms eating a popsicle in pajama pants and got a boner and my girlfriend took a picture of me, and the pants and sunlight were such that you could clearly see the silhouette of my erection. She posted it to reddit and her title was funny enough that it got to the front page and alot of people I know ended up seeing it. Imagine surfing reddit and seeing your brother's dong just thriving! I always had a small penis complex until that day, and then reddit told me I am packing or whatever. That was big for me. I mean I met Marilyn Manson while going to reunite with my mom at the airport that night, and yet the penis thing is still the best thing to happen that day. edit: tldr: having my erect penis on the front page is probably responsible for a huge turnaround in my life since then.

I was on mushrooms eating a popsicle in pajama pants and got a boner and my girlfriend took a picture of me, and the pants and sunlight were such that you could clearly see the silhouette of my erection. She posted it to reddit and her title was funny enough that it got to the front page and alot of people I know ended up seeing it. Imagine surfing reddit and seeing your brother's dong just thriving! I always had a small penis complex until that day, and then reddit told me I am packing or whatever. That was big for me. I mean I met Marilyn Manson while going to reunite with my mom at the airport that night, and yet the penis thing is still the best thing to happen that day. edit: tldr: having my erect penis on the front page is probably responsible for a huge turnaround in my life since then.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cekowbf

I was on mushrooms eating a popsicle in pajama pants and got a boner and my girlfriend took a picture of me, and the pants and sunlight were such that you could clearly see the silhouette of my erection. She posted it to reddit and her title was funny enough that it got to the front page and alot of people I know ended up seeing it. Imagine surfing reddit and seeing your brother's dong just thriving! I always had a small penis complex until that day, and then reddit told me I am packing or whatever. That was big for me. I mean I met Marilyn Manson while going to reunite with my mom at the airport that night, and yet the penis thing is still the best thing to happen that day. edit:

having my erect penis on the front page is probably responsible for a huge turnaround in my life since then.

torn_labia

It's from a song by Carly Simon, but the television show Boy Meets World had an episode where one of the girl characters sang the song about one of the characters in the show she was hung up on, Eric Matthews. Funny, as I had no idea why the hell people were mentioning Boy Meets World until I Googled it, and then I actually DID remember seeing that episode. TL;DR - fell ass backwards into accidental upvotes/karma

It's from a song by Carly Simon, but the television show Boy Meets World had an episode where one of the girl characters sang the song about one of the characters in the show she was hung up on, Eric Matthews. Funny, as I had no idea why the hell people were mentioning Boy Meets World until I Googled it, and then I actually DID remember seeing that episode. TL;DR - fell ass backwards into accidental upvotes/karma

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cekvi9q

It's from a song by Carly Simon, but the television show Boy Meets World had an episode where one of the girl characters sang the song about one of the characters in the show she was hung up on, Eric Matthews. Funny, as I had no idea why the hell people were mentioning Boy Meets World until I Googled it, and then I actually DID remember seeing that episode.

fell ass backwards into accidental upvotes/karma

Bad_Life_Advice

Below is this users story followed by a link to the picture he talks about please click it and read the first comment >[–]hinduyankee 553 points 9 hours ago* (684|131) I was on mushrooms eating a popsicle in pajama pants and got a boner and my girlfriend took a picture of me, and the pants and sunlight were such that you could clearly see the silhouette of my erection. She posted it to reddit and her title was funny enough that it got to the front page and alot of people I know ended up seeing it. Imagine surfing reddit and seeing your brother's dong just thriving! I always had a small penis complex until that day, and then reddit told me I am packing or whatever. That was big for me. I mean I met Marilyn Manson while going to reunite with my mom at the airport that night, and yet the penis thing is still the best thing to happen that day. edit: tldr: having my erect penis on the front page is probably responsible for a huge turnaround in my life since then.

Below is this users story followed by a link to the picture he talks about please click it and read the first comment >[–]hinduyankee 553 points 9 hours ago* (684|131) I was on mushrooms eating a popsicle in pajama pants and got a boner and my girlfriend took a picture of me, and the pants and sunlight were such that you could clearly see the silhouette of my erection. She posted it to reddit and her title was funny enough that it got to the front page and alot of people I know ended up seeing it. Imagine surfing reddit and seeing your brother's dong just thriving! I always had a small penis complex until that day, and then reddit told me I am packing or whatever. That was big for me. I mean I met Marilyn Manson while going to reunite with my mom at the airport that night, and yet the penis thing is still the best thing to happen that day. edit: tldr: having my erect penis on the front page is probably responsible for a huge turnaround in my life since then.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cel3zdw

Below is this users story followed by a link to the picture he talks about please click it and read the first comment >[–]hinduyankee 553 points 9 hours ago* (684|131) I was on mushrooms eating a popsicle in pajama pants and got a boner and my girlfriend took a picture of me, and the pants and sunlight were such that you could clearly see the silhouette of my erection. She posted it to reddit and her title was funny enough that it got to the front page and alot of people I know ended up seeing it. Imagine surfing reddit and seeing your brother's dong just thriving! I always had a small penis complex until that day, and then reddit told me I am packing or whatever. That was big for me. I mean I met Marilyn Manson while going to reunite with my mom at the airport that night, and yet the penis thing is still the best thing to happen that day. edit:

having my erect penis on the front page is probably responsible for a huge turnaround in my life since then.

lollerkittenz

A few years ago I was feeling randy and I ended up posting a picture of my junk online. One particular girl commented on it, not to talk about my junk, but to ask about a band poster on my wall in the background. We talked music from there and she's been a great friend ever since. It makes for a great story to explain to other people how we met. My unremarkable dick brought us together as we rode a bicycle made of friendship into dreams. Edit: TL;DR - My dick got me friendzoned.

A few years ago I was feeling randy and I ended up posting a picture of my junk online. One particular girl commented on it, not to talk about my junk, but to ask about a band poster on my wall in the background. We talked music from there and she's been a great friend ever since. It makes for a great story to explain to other people how we met. My unremarkable dick brought us together as we rode a bicycle made of friendship into dreams. Edit: TL;DR - My dick got me friendzoned.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cekrmbh

A few years ago I was feeling randy and I ended up posting a picture of my junk online. One particular girl commented on it, not to talk about my junk, but to ask about a band poster on my wall in the background. We talked music from there and she's been a great friend ever since. It makes for a great story to explain to other people how we met. My unremarkable dick brought us together as we rode a bicycle made of friendship into dreams. Edit:

My dick got me friendzoned.

Ramn47

I'll try to sum up all of the history that unravels around the curse that can become having oil as a country. We were, primarily, an agricultural country, and because of our location relative to the caribbean, a great harbor for commercial transaction (and all the potential for tourism that never have been exploited correctly. I mean, we have the caribbean, the andes, the amazonic jungle, [tepuyes]( [the angel falls]( desert dunes, [Los Llanos]( In the mid-fifties, was the oil-boom. Then everyone (that knew what the hell oil is, and how to take advantage of it) was rich, the thing is we were as every other banana republic on dictatorship, a right wing one, so they didn't care too much about social issues. When democracy finally came, economy was strong but we were pretty ignorant about a lot of shit, most people didn't know how to read. So a little bit of people struggle for the power, some were good presidents, some were bad. Fast forward to the seventies, all venezuelans were in Miami, FL buying everything, two of each one. Everything was incredibly cheap. Meanwhile, here some more bad economic decisions. No one here produce something the world would want, no innovations, no profit; boom we're on debt. More economic decisions, boom Chávez came to the power. He was a bad administrator, A LOT of economic bad decisions, and to try to amend the he made worse ones like CADIVI (the currency exchange controls) , but also some Social incredibly good ones, he had some nice social ideas, but he wasn't a man for handling money. More debt. He dies (because that's the only way he'd left the power after almost two decades. He wasn't strictly a dictator. A shitton of people loved him. His discourse was extremely demagogic, hence the love). His heir Maduro [wins]( so more mob oratory, buying love/votes with oil money, more ruin, less production, looting, etc. **TL;DR**: government abuses. Also, too many problems with the electrical system. No, I don't think bitcoin would be well-implemented. Venezuela is not ready, not just yet.

I'll try to sum up all of the history that unravels around the curse that can become having oil as a country. We were, primarily, an agricultural country, and because of our location relative to the caribbean, a great harbor for commercial transaction (and all the potential for tourism that never have been exploited correctly. I mean, we have the caribbean, the andes, the amazonic jungle, [tepuyes]( [the angel falls]( desert dunes, [Los Llanos]( In the mid-fifties, was the oil-boom. Then everyone (that knew what the hell oil is, and how to take advantage of it) was rich, the thing is we were as every other banana republic on dictatorship, a right wing one, so they didn't care too much about social issues. When democracy finally came, economy was strong but we were pretty ignorant about a lot of shit, most people didn't know how to read. So a little bit of people struggle for the power, some were good presidents, some were bad. Fast forward to the seventies, all venezuelans were in Miami, FL buying everything, two of each one. Everything was incredibly cheap. Meanwhile, here some more bad economic decisions. No one here produce something the world would want, no innovations, no profit; boom we're on debt. More economic decisions, boom Chávez came to the power. He was a bad administrator, A LOT of economic bad decisions, and to try to amend the he made worse ones like CADIVI (the currency exchange controls) , but also some Social incredibly good ones, he had some nice social ideas, but he wasn't a man for handling money. More debt. He dies (because that's the only way he'd left the power after almost two decades. He wasn't strictly a dictator. A shitton of people loved him. His discourse was extremely demagogic, hence the love). His heir Maduro [wins]( so more mob oratory, buying love/votes with oil money, more ruin, less production, looting, etc. TL;DR : government abuses. Also, too many problems with the electrical system. No, I don't think bitcoin would be well-implemented. Venezuela is not ready, not just yet.

Bitcoin

t5_2s3qj

celm5i2

I'll try to sum up all of the history that unravels around the curse that can become having oil as a country. We were, primarily, an agricultural country, and because of our location relative to the caribbean, a great harbor for commercial transaction (and all the potential for tourism that never have been exploited correctly. I mean, we have the caribbean, the andes, the amazonic jungle, [tepuyes]( [the angel falls]( desert dunes, [Los Llanos]( In the mid-fifties, was the oil-boom. Then everyone (that knew what the hell oil is, and how to take advantage of it) was rich, the thing is we were as every other banana republic on dictatorship, a right wing one, so they didn't care too much about social issues. When democracy finally came, economy was strong but we were pretty ignorant about a lot of shit, most people didn't know how to read. So a little bit of people struggle for the power, some were good presidents, some were bad. Fast forward to the seventies, all venezuelans were in Miami, FL buying everything, two of each one. Everything was incredibly cheap. Meanwhile, here some more bad economic decisions. No one here produce something the world would want, no innovations, no profit; boom we're on debt. More economic decisions, boom Chávez came to the power. He was a bad administrator, A LOT of economic bad decisions, and to try to amend the he made worse ones like CADIVI (the currency exchange controls) , but also some Social incredibly good ones, he had some nice social ideas, but he wasn't a man for handling money. More debt. He dies (because that's the only way he'd left the power after almost two decades. He wasn't strictly a dictator. A shitton of people loved him. His discourse was extremely demagogic, hence the love). His heir Maduro [wins]( so more mob oratory, buying love/votes with oil money, more ruin, less production, looting, etc.

government abuses. Also, too many problems with the electrical system. No, I don't think bitcoin would be well-implemented. Venezuela is not ready, not just yet.

McVolker

I agree with this. If we gain a considerable base, then it might be something to do, but for the time being, it isn't very needed. There isn't much in Requiem that is completely alien in the way of lore to that of Skyrim, which most all of us here probably have a heavy understanding/knowledge of. TLDR: Spoilers aren't a problem right now, can be dealt with if they become a problem.

I agree with this. If we gain a considerable base, then it might be something to do, but for the time being, it isn't very needed. There isn't much in Requiem that is completely alien in the way of lore to that of Skyrim, which most all of us here probably have a heavy understanding/knowledge of. TLDR: Spoilers aren't a problem right now, can be dealt with if they become a problem.

skyrimrequiem

t5_2znbs

ceksimc

I agree with this. If we gain a considerable base, then it might be something to do, but for the time being, it isn't very needed. There isn't much in Requiem that is completely alien in the way of lore to that of Skyrim, which most all of us here probably have a heavy understanding/knowledge of.

Spoilers aren't a problem right now, can be dealt with if they become a problem.

house_in_motion

[Relevant Radiolab Episode about a girl with rabies and the doctor treating her]( Full of interesting stuff about rabies and medicine. TL;DR you don't want rabies.

[Relevant Radiolab Episode about a girl with rabies and the doctor treating her]( Full of interesting stuff about rabies and medicine. TL;DR you don't want rabies.

todayilearned

t5_2qqjc

celcwyp

Relevant Radiolab Episode about a girl with rabies and the doctor treating her]( Full of interesting stuff about rabies and medicine.

you don't want rabies.

Naked_Bacon_Tuesday

The manipulation of sight lines on Hardhat and Dome in MW3, though less so on Hardhat, made the maps dynamic. Neither has elevation that can allow someone to overlook a large percentage (being able to see more than 10% of the map at any one time in a game like CoD is a problem) of the map from a covered location either. They are still 2 of the best maps in the game. Map size doesn't matter as long as the conflict fronts are engaging. Additionally, these characteristics makes the maps "play bigger" than they are. A bad example of this, despite the fact that everyone loves it: Nuketown in BOs. That map "plays" as the smallest non-FFA map in the CoD universe. The sight lines (closed off and elevated positions leading to sentry gun abuse and limited comeback potential) and ridiculous spawn switches on that map makes it fundamentally too small and, therefore, bad. TL;DR - the maps were small in MW3, but the sight lines and lack of abuseable elevation made them play bigger. EDITS: grammar and clarity EDIT 2: it's worth noting that my analysis is only useful for the "marathon game types", i.e. TD and KC. For game types like S&D, strategic choices will change. thus changing how the map plays (obviously).

The manipulation of sight lines on Hardhat and Dome in MW3, though less so on Hardhat, made the maps dynamic. Neither has elevation that can allow someone to overlook a large percentage (being able to see more than 10% of the map at any one time in a game like CoD is a problem) of the map from a covered location either. They are still 2 of the best maps in the game. Map size doesn't matter as long as the conflict fronts are engaging. Additionally, these characteristics makes the maps "play bigger" than they are. A bad example of this, despite the fact that everyone loves it: Nuketown in BOs. That map "plays" as the smallest non-FFA map in the CoD universe. The sight lines (closed off and elevated positions leading to sentry gun abuse and limited comeback potential) and ridiculous spawn switches on that map makes it fundamentally too small and, therefore, bad. TL;DR - the maps were small in MW3, but the sight lines and lack of abuseable elevation made them play bigger. EDITS: grammar and clarity EDIT 2: it's worth noting that my analysis is only useful for the "marathon game types", i.e. TD and KC. For game types like S&D, strategic choices will change. thus changing how the map plays (obviously).

gaming

t5_2qh03

celdv4j

The manipulation of sight lines on Hardhat and Dome in MW3, though less so on Hardhat, made the maps dynamic. Neither has elevation that can allow someone to overlook a large percentage (being able to see more than 10% of the map at any one time in a game like CoD is a problem) of the map from a covered location either. They are still 2 of the best maps in the game. Map size doesn't matter as long as the conflict fronts are engaging. Additionally, these characteristics makes the maps "play bigger" than they are. A bad example of this, despite the fact that everyone loves it: Nuketown in BOs. That map "plays" as the smallest non-FFA map in the CoD universe. The sight lines (closed off and elevated positions leading to sentry gun abuse and limited comeback potential) and ridiculous spawn switches on that map makes it fundamentally too small and, therefore, bad.

the maps were small in MW3, but the sight lines and lack of abuseable elevation made them play bigger. EDITS: grammar and clarity EDIT 2: it's worth noting that my analysis is only useful for the "marathon game types", i.e. TD and KC. For game types like S&D, strategic choices will change. thus changing how the map plays (obviously).

dogpigrabbit

ET is still played a lot, check www.crossfire.nu, download ET Ultimate Installer (cant get a link on my phone, apologies) and use et.trackbase.com to search for public servers! Etpro is the most standard mod available, and there are still a few populated etpro servers around. TL;DR- ET is still as good as ever. The addiction never ends.

ET is still played a lot, check www.crossfire.nu, download ET Ultimate Installer (cant get a link on my phone, apologies) and use et.trackbase.com to search for public servers! Etpro is the most standard mod available, and there are still a few populated etpro servers around. TL;DR- ET is still as good as ever. The addiction never ends.

gaming

t5_2qh03

celgm90

ET is still played a lot, check www.crossfire.nu, download ET Ultimate Installer (cant get a link on my phone, apologies) and use et.trackbase.com to search for public servers! Etpro is the most standard mod available, and there are still a few populated etpro servers around.

ET is still as good as ever. The addiction never ends.

frenzyboard

21 men on the field. 5 on each team with swords, 5 with shields, and one offensive player, depending on whose turn it is to try and score. The offensive player carries a pole with his/her team's flag. The field is your standard 120 yard football field. Each 10 yard endzone belongs to a team, and represents their homeland. The goal is to advance your flag bearer at least 10 yards every 4 skirmishes. A skirmish lasts until the flag bearer is hobbled. At the end of 4 skirmishes without the capture of a homeland, it's the opposing team's right to mount an offense. This will signal the first of their four offensive skirmishes, and is called a counter offense. The first play of the game, and the first play after a successful homeland capture will start at the attacking team's homeland line (endzone line). The defending team must start at the 50 yard line, and halt the offensive team's advance. First offense will always be given to the away team, while the home team will have first offense at the second half. During Championship games, the offense will be determined by a coin toss, unless one team is defending the title for the second season in a row. In which case, they will be treated as the home team. When a player is hobbled, they have to drop to one knee, and are unable to move from their fallen position until the skirmish has ended. Swordsmen are still able to hobble enemy players who venture too close to their fallen position. A skirmish ends when the flag bearer has been hobbled, driven out of bounds, planted his flag (takes a down), drops his flag, or captures the enemy homeland. To hobble a player, one of a team's 5 swordsmen must touch an opposing player with their striker on either their body, legs, or sword arm. Shield bearers cannot hobble players but can be hobbled themselves. They can, however knock down or push back opposing players by using the front of their shield. They cannot use the edges of their shields to hit their opponents. Doing so is a foul. A foul counts as a five yard loss for their team, opposing or defending. Swordsmen foul by hitting opponents anywhere above the neck. Games last an hour, broken up into 15 minute quarters. TL;DR: [link](

21 men on the field. 5 on each team with swords, 5 with shields, and one offensive player, depending on whose turn it is to try and score. The offensive player carries a pole with his/her team's flag. The field is your standard 120 yard football field. Each 10 yard endzone belongs to a team, and represents their homeland. The goal is to advance your flag bearer at least 10 yards every 4 skirmishes. A skirmish lasts until the flag bearer is hobbled. At the end of 4 skirmishes without the capture of a homeland, it's the opposing team's right to mount an offense. This will signal the first of their four offensive skirmishes, and is called a counter offense. The first play of the game, and the first play after a successful homeland capture will start at the attacking team's homeland line (endzone line). The defending team must start at the 50 yard line, and halt the offensive team's advance. First offense will always be given to the away team, while the home team will have first offense at the second half. During Championship games, the offense will be determined by a coin toss, unless one team is defending the title for the second season in a row. In which case, they will be treated as the home team. When a player is hobbled, they have to drop to one knee, and are unable to move from their fallen position until the skirmish has ended. Swordsmen are still able to hobble enemy players who venture too close to their fallen position. A skirmish ends when the flag bearer has been hobbled, driven out of bounds, planted his flag (takes a down), drops his flag, or captures the enemy homeland. To hobble a player, one of a team's 5 swordsmen must touch an opposing player with their striker on either their body, legs, or sword arm. Shield bearers cannot hobble players but can be hobbled themselves. They can, however knock down or push back opposing players by using the front of their shield. They cannot use the edges of their shields to hit their opponents. Doing so is a foul. A foul counts as a five yard loss for their team, opposing or defending. Swordsmen foul by hitting opponents anywhere above the neck. Games last an hour, broken up into 15 minute quarters. TL;DR: [link](

gaming

t5_2qh03

celhc85

21 men on the field. 5 on each team with swords, 5 with shields, and one offensive player, depending on whose turn it is to try and score. The offensive player carries a pole with his/her team's flag. The field is your standard 120 yard football field. Each 10 yard endzone belongs to a team, and represents their homeland. The goal is to advance your flag bearer at least 10 yards every 4 skirmishes. A skirmish lasts until the flag bearer is hobbled. At the end of 4 skirmishes without the capture of a homeland, it's the opposing team's right to mount an offense. This will signal the first of their four offensive skirmishes, and is called a counter offense. The first play of the game, and the first play after a successful homeland capture will start at the attacking team's homeland line (endzone line). The defending team must start at the 50 yard line, and halt the offensive team's advance. First offense will always be given to the away team, while the home team will have first offense at the second half. During Championship games, the offense will be determined by a coin toss, unless one team is defending the title for the second season in a row. In which case, they will be treated as the home team. When a player is hobbled, they have to drop to one knee, and are unable to move from their fallen position until the skirmish has ended. Swordsmen are still able to hobble enemy players who venture too close to their fallen position. A skirmish ends when the flag bearer has been hobbled, driven out of bounds, planted his flag (takes a down), drops his flag, or captures the enemy homeland. To hobble a player, one of a team's 5 swordsmen must touch an opposing player with their striker on either their body, legs, or sword arm. Shield bearers cannot hobble players but can be hobbled themselves. They can, however knock down or push back opposing players by using the front of their shield. They cannot use the edges of their shields to hit their opponents. Doing so is a foul. A foul counts as a five yard loss for their team, opposing or defending. Swordsmen foul by hitting opponents anywhere above the neck. Games last an hour, broken up into 15 minute quarters.

link](

Robert_Zero

Some people want a new experience, some people want updates to an experience they like just fine, some people want a new experience but may not enjoy or appreciate every alternative being offered. TL:DR; "Gamers" are not a united cabal where the words of some can be projected on the whole.

Some people want a new experience, some people want updates to an experience they like just fine, some people want a new experience but may not enjoy or appreciate every alternative being offered. TL:DR; "Gamers" are not a united cabal where the words of some can be projected on the whole.

gaming

t5_2qh03

celhsfq

Some people want a new experience, some people want updates to an experience they like just fine, some people want a new experience but may not enjoy or appreciate every alternative being offered.

Gamers" are not a united cabal where the words of some can be projected on the whole.

Banner_Free

As I've said in a few other comments: It's important to consider all the variables, evaluate all the potential solutions, and see what works best for **you**. I can provide general knowledge on the subject, but I can't make any guarantees about how well that knowledge will apply to your own specific situation. That said, here are some thoughts: The main (only?) reason I would discourage someone from using T-Mobile service is poor coverage in their area. I've never had coverage issues in the SF/Bay Area, but I do know folks - especially in rural areas - who've tried T-Mo and switched back to ATT/Verizon because they just didn't get any signal. So, ask around and see what you can find out about quality of T-Mobile coverage in your area. Make sure there's good reception at your home, at all of your workplaces/schools/etc. I also estimated your T-Mo costs based on the assumption that you'd want new phones at $0 down. If you buy used phones for some/all of you from a site like [Swappa](www.swappa.com), you can bring down that monthly bill significantly. (If you bring your own phone, you can also use the $30/mo prepaid plan with 100 minutes, unlimited text, unlimited data. The low minute count means it's not an option for most folks, but I just thought I'd put that information out there.) If T-Mobile simply isn't an option, see if an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) would work. Those are companies that lease spectrum/service from the major carriers (ATT/Verizon/Sprint) and sell it to you at competitive prices. Check out Net10 Wireless, Straight Talk, Ting, Page Plus, Republic Wireless, etc. You'll likely end up with a higher up-front cost for phones (since they don't offer device financing), but significantly lower monthly bills. Definitely feel free to reply/PM me if you have any more questions! **TLDR:** Go with T-Mobile if their coverage is good. Bring your own phones if you want to save more. Check out MVNOs if T-Mo won't work.

As I've said in a few other comments: It's important to consider all the variables, evaluate all the potential solutions, and see what works best for you . I can provide general knowledge on the subject, but I can't make any guarantees about how well that knowledge will apply to your own specific situation. That said, here are some thoughts: The main (only?) reason I would discourage someone from using T-Mobile service is poor coverage in their area. I've never had coverage issues in the SF/Bay Area, but I do know folks - especially in rural areas - who've tried T-Mo and switched back to ATT/Verizon because they just didn't get any signal. So, ask around and see what you can find out about quality of T-Mobile coverage in your area. Make sure there's good reception at your home, at all of your workplaces/schools/etc. I also estimated your T-Mo costs based on the assumption that you'd want new phones at $0 down. If you buy used phones for some/all of you from a site like Swappa , you can bring down that monthly bill significantly. (If you bring your own phone, you can also use the $30/mo prepaid plan with 100 minutes, unlimited text, unlimited data. The low minute count means it's not an option for most folks, but I just thought I'd put that information out there.) If T-Mobile simply isn't an option, see if an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) would work. Those are companies that lease spectrum/service from the major carriers (ATT/Verizon/Sprint) and sell it to you at competitive prices. Check out Net10 Wireless, Straight Talk, Ting, Page Plus, Republic Wireless, etc. You'll likely end up with a higher up-front cost for phones (since they don't offer device financing), but significantly lower monthly bills. Definitely feel free to reply/PM me if you have any more questions! TLDR: Go with T-Mobile if their coverage is good. Bring your own phones if you want to save more. Check out MVNOs if T-Mo won't work.

Frugal

t5_2qhbe

cemd4cr

As I've said in a few other comments: It's important to consider all the variables, evaluate all the potential solutions, and see what works best for you . I can provide general knowledge on the subject, but I can't make any guarantees about how well that knowledge will apply to your own specific situation. That said, here are some thoughts: The main (only?) reason I would discourage someone from using T-Mobile service is poor coverage in their area. I've never had coverage issues in the SF/Bay Area, but I do know folks - especially in rural areas - who've tried T-Mo and switched back to ATT/Verizon because they just didn't get any signal. So, ask around and see what you can find out about quality of T-Mobile coverage in your area. Make sure there's good reception at your home, at all of your workplaces/schools/etc. I also estimated your T-Mo costs based on the assumption that you'd want new phones at $0 down. If you buy used phones for some/all of you from a site like Swappa , you can bring down that monthly bill significantly. (If you bring your own phone, you can also use the $30/mo prepaid plan with 100 minutes, unlimited text, unlimited data. The low minute count means it's not an option for most folks, but I just thought I'd put that information out there.) If T-Mobile simply isn't an option, see if an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) would work. Those are companies that lease spectrum/service from the major carriers (ATT/Verizon/Sprint) and sell it to you at competitive prices. Check out Net10 Wireless, Straight Talk, Ting, Page Plus, Republic Wireless, etc. You'll likely end up with a higher up-front cost for phones (since they don't offer device financing), but significantly lower monthly bills. Definitely feel free to reply/PM me if you have any more questions!

Go with T-Mobile if their coverage is good. Bring your own phones if you want to save more. Check out MVNOs if T-Mo won't work.

FosteredWill

Its totally cool to ask questions about things here, or to express that you dont know enough from so and so information. But your question has obviously been asked....I dont know, I'm just trying be clear and add that slight social pressure to discourage people from not trying to find information, even while acknowledging that it's OK to not know information and be confused about new things (I mean, I am a newb too.) **TL;DR**: wtf man, use the search bar. Add more specifics to your question if you're not satisfied [which is ok!]

Its totally cool to ask questions about things here, or to express that you dont know enough from so and so information. But your question has obviously been asked....I dont know, I'm just trying be clear and add that slight social pressure to discourage people from not trying to find information, even while acknowledging that it's OK to not know information and be confused about new things (I mean, I am a newb too.) TL;DR : wtf man, use the search bar. Add more specifics to your question if you're not satisfied [which is ok!]

Nootropics

t5_2r81c

cem09pa

Its totally cool to ask questions about things here, or to express that you dont know enough from so and so information. But your question has obviously been asked....I dont know, I'm just trying be clear and add that slight social pressure to discourage people from not trying to find information, even while acknowledging that it's OK to not know information and be confused about new things (I mean, I am a newb too.)

wtf man, use the search bar. Add more specifics to your question if you're not satisfied [which is ok!]

sqwirk

I'm not religious. When it comes to believing in a higher power I think that's a bit silly...I'm all for believing in yourself and relying on willpower. It's weird to me how for religious people all good things are due to a "higher power"..they never take credit for themselves. Yet when something bad happens, they don't blame this "higher power," it feels like selective faith to me which is where ignorance tap dances on stage. I think it's totally fine to believe in whatever you want but don't try to convert others just because you think your way of thinking is the best. Belief is a personal thing and I feel like it should stay that way...that's why organized religion also raises my eyebrows. Especially when it comes to someone who might be different and therefore rejected by the religious community even though they share the same beliefs and follow everything to a T. Is it really that great of a thing if rejection of natural states of being are so prominent? I'm rambling but **TL;DR believe in yourself and feel good about your accomplishments...don't just thank "god," you definitely had some say in the matter.**

I'm not religious. When it comes to believing in a higher power I think that's a bit silly...I'm all for believing in yourself and relying on willpower. It's weird to me how for religious people all good things are due to a "higher power"..they never take credit for themselves. Yet when something bad happens, they don't blame this "higher power," it feels like selective faith to me which is where ignorance tap dances on stage. I think it's totally fine to believe in whatever you want but don't try to convert others just because you think your way of thinking is the best. Belief is a personal thing and I feel like it should stay that way...that's why organized religion also raises my eyebrows. Especially when it comes to someone who might be different and therefore rejected by the religious community even though they share the same beliefs and follow everything to a T. Is it really that great of a thing if rejection of natural states of being are so prominent? I'm rambling but TL;DR believe in yourself and feel good about your accomplishments...don't just thank "god," you definitely had some say in the matter.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cem7ho0

I'm not religious. When it comes to believing in a higher power I think that's a bit silly...I'm all for believing in yourself and relying on willpower. It's weird to me how for religious people all good things are due to a "higher power"..they never take credit for themselves. Yet when something bad happens, they don't blame this "higher power," it feels like selective faith to me which is where ignorance tap dances on stage. I think it's totally fine to believe in whatever you want but don't try to convert others just because you think your way of thinking is the best. Belief is a personal thing and I feel like it should stay that way...that's why organized religion also raises my eyebrows. Especially when it comes to someone who might be different and therefore rejected by the religious community even though they share the same beliefs and follow everything to a T. Is it really that great of a thing if rejection of natural states of being are so prominent? I'm rambling but

believe in yourself and feel good about your accomplishments...don't just thank "god," you definitely had some say in the matter.

GimmeHugs

I'm not so much religious anymore, so bear with me. I apologize if it seems like too much to read. I was raised Christian. I grew up in a Presbyterian Church filled with loving people who accepted me regardless of my differences with beliefs, the way I dressed, the way I wanted to live my life. I'd say, I was lucky- because I live in the South, and it could have been MUCH WORSE depending on which denomination I went to. Church, for most folks who went there, was more of an effort of connection with God, which was fine. Sure, everyone had their arguments, but at the end of the day we didn't let them define our judgments about them. Enough about that, I'll move on. Sorry. I never really had a "connection" with God. At most, I felt the love and care of those around me, but nothing unearthly or anything I couldn't rationally explain myself. My dad was Christian, and a very prime example of what I wish more people would be like. He gave as much as he could to those in need, he sheltered the cold and hungry in homes he bought, he never judged others, always had an optimistic perspective on life regardless of his many physical ailments (tumor, stroke, neural disease , paralysis), and he held the tenants of mercy and love above all else as a means to gain understanding of any situation. The reason I say all this is because most of the reason I wanted to stay Christian- even with my doubts and problems with religion- was because of him. I wanted to live a life in his perspective and legacy, and I figured that maybe it was Christianity that was bracing him all these years. When he passed, I fell into a depression that lasts somewhat today. Heart palpitations, dizzying headaches, nosebleeds and migraines, constant panic- all of it is still with me even if I'm happy with where I am and what I'm doing. Going to church is now painful (during holidays like Christmas), because each time I look over I see the pew my father sat in and can imagine him sitting there, smiling. It makes me so mad and upset when everyone is in church, smiling as well- and I feel terrible for feeling that way. My own life is somewhat at a standstill, and it's a combination of pain and fear that block me from obtaining what I want to achieve. I want to be like my own father, but I can't be happy in church anymore, I can't be happy at home anymore. I don't smile like they do, I don't even believe in the God that they do, I can't even find comfort in death because there is so much I love about this world to let it go. So I sit there, grinding my teeth during prayer. I sit there as a favor to my family, so my mother and sister won't feel so alone. Because even in the house of God, the one man that we loved more than anything else in the world isn't there. When people give thanks, it makes me want to scream, I want to cry- because religion hasn't returned anything to me. I'm in a room with happy people, and they look at me, wanting me to be happy- and I can't be. And that is when I knew... My dad was a good person because that's who he was, and I don't need religion to make me better. I may still have my problems, I may still be upset at the world I love so much, but I have to solve it myself. I can't just sit down and hope things will get better. I have to make this change. And maybe I will end up like my old man some day- I just know that I won't find it there. Normally, I'd try to TL:DR this, but I can't.. really think of a way to condense it. Anyways, thanks to anyone who took the time to reading this.

I'm not so much religious anymore, so bear with me. I apologize if it seems like too much to read. I was raised Christian. I grew up in a Presbyterian Church filled with loving people who accepted me regardless of my differences with beliefs, the way I dressed, the way I wanted to live my life. I'd say, I was lucky- because I live in the South, and it could have been MUCH WORSE depending on which denomination I went to. Church, for most folks who went there, was more of an effort of connection with God, which was fine. Sure, everyone had their arguments, but at the end of the day we didn't let them define our judgments about them. Enough about that, I'll move on. Sorry. I never really had a "connection" with God. At most, I felt the love and care of those around me, but nothing unearthly or anything I couldn't rationally explain myself. My dad was Christian, and a very prime example of what I wish more people would be like. He gave as much as he could to those in need, he sheltered the cold and hungry in homes he bought, he never judged others, always had an optimistic perspective on life regardless of his many physical ailments (tumor, stroke, neural disease , paralysis), and he held the tenants of mercy and love above all else as a means to gain understanding of any situation. The reason I say all this is because most of the reason I wanted to stay Christian- even with my doubts and problems with religion- was because of him. I wanted to live a life in his perspective and legacy, and I figured that maybe it was Christianity that was bracing him all these years. When he passed, I fell into a depression that lasts somewhat today. Heart palpitations, dizzying headaches, nosebleeds and migraines, constant panic- all of it is still with me even if I'm happy with where I am and what I'm doing. Going to church is now painful (during holidays like Christmas), because each time I look over I see the pew my father sat in and can imagine him sitting there, smiling. It makes me so mad and upset when everyone is in church, smiling as well- and I feel terrible for feeling that way. My own life is somewhat at a standstill, and it's a combination of pain and fear that block me from obtaining what I want to achieve. I want to be like my own father, but I can't be happy in church anymore, I can't be happy at home anymore. I don't smile like they do, I don't even believe in the God that they do, I can't even find comfort in death because there is so much I love about this world to let it go. So I sit there, grinding my teeth during prayer. I sit there as a favor to my family, so my mother and sister won't feel so alone. Because even in the house of God, the one man that we loved more than anything else in the world isn't there. When people give thanks, it makes me want to scream, I want to cry- because religion hasn't returned anything to me. I'm in a room with happy people, and they look at me, wanting me to be happy- and I can't be. And that is when I knew... My dad was a good person because that's who he was, and I don't need religion to make me better. I may still have my problems, I may still be upset at the world I love so much, but I have to solve it myself. I can't just sit down and hope things will get better. I have to make this change. And maybe I will end up like my old man some day- I just know that I won't find it there. Normally, I'd try to TL:DR this, but I can't.. really think of a way to condense it. Anyways, thanks to anyone who took the time to reading this.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cem7j37

I'm not so much religious anymore, so bear with me. I apologize if it seems like too much to read. I was raised Christian. I grew up in a Presbyterian Church filled with loving people who accepted me regardless of my differences with beliefs, the way I dressed, the way I wanted to live my life. I'd say, I was lucky- because I live in the South, and it could have been MUCH WORSE depending on which denomination I went to. Church, for most folks who went there, was more of an effort of connection with God, which was fine. Sure, everyone had their arguments, but at the end of the day we didn't let them define our judgments about them. Enough about that, I'll move on. Sorry. I never really had a "connection" with God. At most, I felt the love and care of those around me, but nothing unearthly or anything I couldn't rationally explain myself. My dad was Christian, and a very prime example of what I wish more people would be like. He gave as much as he could to those in need, he sheltered the cold and hungry in homes he bought, he never judged others, always had an optimistic perspective on life regardless of his many physical ailments (tumor, stroke, neural disease , paralysis), and he held the tenants of mercy and love above all else as a means to gain understanding of any situation. The reason I say all this is because most of the reason I wanted to stay Christian- even with my doubts and problems with religion- was because of him. I wanted to live a life in his perspective and legacy, and I figured that maybe it was Christianity that was bracing him all these years. When he passed, I fell into a depression that lasts somewhat today. Heart palpitations, dizzying headaches, nosebleeds and migraines, constant panic- all of it is still with me even if I'm happy with where I am and what I'm doing. Going to church is now painful (during holidays like Christmas), because each time I look over I see the pew my father sat in and can imagine him sitting there, smiling. It makes me so mad and upset when everyone is in church, smiling as well- and I feel terrible for feeling that way. My own life is somewhat at a standstill, and it's a combination of pain and fear that block me from obtaining what I want to achieve. I want to be like my own father, but I can't be happy in church anymore, I can't be happy at home anymore. I don't smile like they do, I don't even believe in the God that they do, I can't even find comfort in death because there is so much I love about this world to let it go. So I sit there, grinding my teeth during prayer. I sit there as a favor to my family, so my mother and sister won't feel so alone. Because even in the house of God, the one man that we loved more than anything else in the world isn't there. When people give thanks, it makes me want to scream, I want to cry- because religion hasn't returned anything to me. I'm in a room with happy people, and they look at me, wanting me to be happy- and I can't be. And that is when I knew... My dad was a good person because that's who he was, and I don't need religion to make me better. I may still have my problems, I may still be upset at the world I love so much, but I have to solve it myself. I can't just sit down and hope things will get better. I have to make this change. And maybe I will end up like my old man some day- I just know that I won't find it there. Normally, I'd try to

this, but I can't.. really think of a way to condense it. Anyways, thanks to anyone who took the time to reading this.

tcp1

My mother was a devout catholic as a child. My dad always claimed to believe, although he wasn't a real churchgoer. He gave to charity and insisted on baptizing us, and always called himself a baptist for some reason. I truly think he believed. I am an absolute atheist. Why? Tragedy and the bullshit that there is a "just and loving God" that so many religions espouse. My mother lost her younger brother to a drowning when she was a kid. Along with that went her faith. My best friend at age 10 was part of an absolutely devout churchgoing family that had the pastor over for dinner weekly. He died of leukemia at 11. There went most of mine. My parents lived a good life and sacrificed most of what they could have had for us, their kids. My mom developed Alzheimer's at 65. My dad couldn't handle it and committed suicide, leaving us to watch my once brilliant mother fade into oblivion. (she was a computer programmer from 1965-1995, and her favorite pastime was answering every question correctly on Jeopardy. Now she can't write her name. ) That sealed the deal for me. If God is just and loving, then he/she/it wouldn't do that to good and faithful people. If God isn't loving or gets off on that shit, fuck God. If it's some kind of test or proof of faith, see above. Being a scientific / rational person in the end and with all the absolute lies and contradiction of organized / classical religions to boot - I can conclude nothing but religion is a product of man's insecurity and a way to deal with fear of death. It's promoted in society because it also pushes the balance towards "good" by the idea that there's some punishment if you're not even if you don't get caught. All religious "explanations" see to be conveniently vague and are basically cop-outs for contradictions and rational explanations that are depressing. I guess the TL;DR is that I've gone through a lot of shit in life, seen no evidence of any sort of just and loving or even controlling God, and see plenty of stories made up that work pretty well to make humans feel better. So I'm an atheist. If I do have any inklings of belief, it consists of the conclusion that God is an asshole.

My mother was a devout catholic as a child. My dad always claimed to believe, although he wasn't a real churchgoer. He gave to charity and insisted on baptizing us, and always called himself a baptist for some reason. I truly think he believed. I am an absolute atheist. Why? Tragedy and the bullshit that there is a "just and loving God" that so many religions espouse. My mother lost her younger brother to a drowning when she was a kid. Along with that went her faith. My best friend at age 10 was part of an absolutely devout churchgoing family that had the pastor over for dinner weekly. He died of leukemia at 11. There went most of mine. My parents lived a good life and sacrificed most of what they could have had for us, their kids. My mom developed Alzheimer's at 65. My dad couldn't handle it and committed suicide, leaving us to watch my once brilliant mother fade into oblivion. (she was a computer programmer from 1965-1995, and her favorite pastime was answering every question correctly on Jeopardy. Now she can't write her name. ) That sealed the deal for me. If God is just and loving, then he/she/it wouldn't do that to good and faithful people. If God isn't loving or gets off on that shit, fuck God. If it's some kind of test or proof of faith, see above. Being a scientific / rational person in the end and with all the absolute lies and contradiction of organized / classical religions to boot - I can conclude nothing but religion is a product of man's insecurity and a way to deal with fear of death. It's promoted in society because it also pushes the balance towards "good" by the idea that there's some punishment if you're not even if you don't get caught. All religious "explanations" see to be conveniently vague and are basically cop-outs for contradictions and rational explanations that are depressing. I guess the TL;DR is that I've gone through a lot of shit in life, seen no evidence of any sort of just and loving or even controlling God, and see plenty of stories made up that work pretty well to make humans feel better. So I'm an atheist. If I do have any inklings of belief, it consists of the conclusion that God is an asshole.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cemaa9c

My mother was a devout catholic as a child. My dad always claimed to believe, although he wasn't a real churchgoer. He gave to charity and insisted on baptizing us, and always called himself a baptist for some reason. I truly think he believed. I am an absolute atheist. Why? Tragedy and the bullshit that there is a "just and loving God" that so many religions espouse. My mother lost her younger brother to a drowning when she was a kid. Along with that went her faith. My best friend at age 10 was part of an absolutely devout churchgoing family that had the pastor over for dinner weekly. He died of leukemia at 11. There went most of mine. My parents lived a good life and sacrificed most of what they could have had for us, their kids. My mom developed Alzheimer's at 65. My dad couldn't handle it and committed suicide, leaving us to watch my once brilliant mother fade into oblivion. (she was a computer programmer from 1965-1995, and her favorite pastime was answering every question correctly on Jeopardy. Now she can't write her name. ) That sealed the deal for me. If God is just and loving, then he/she/it wouldn't do that to good and faithful people. If God isn't loving or gets off on that shit, fuck God. If it's some kind of test or proof of faith, see above. Being a scientific / rational person in the end and with all the absolute lies and contradiction of organized / classical religions to boot - I can conclude nothing but religion is a product of man's insecurity and a way to deal with fear of death. It's promoted in society because it also pushes the balance towards "good" by the idea that there's some punishment if you're not even if you don't get caught. All religious "explanations" see to be conveniently vague and are basically cop-outs for contradictions and rational explanations that are depressing. I guess the

is that I've gone through a lot of shit in life, seen no evidence of any sort of just and loving or even controlling God, and see plenty of stories made up that work pretty well to make humans feel better. So I'm an atheist. If I do have any inklings of belief, it consists of the conclusion that God is an asshole.

Wildcat7878

I'm not religious, in fact I've become an atheist. I'll do my best to explain what's led me to this point. I was born to a Christian (Lutheran father, Baptist mother) family and I was baptized Lutheran as an infant. Religion was forced on me from such an early age that it was environmental to me, just a part of the world like day and night, the wind, the oceans; telling me there was no such thing as God would have been the same as telling me there was no such thing as gravity. Despite the fact that my family were not church-going or even overtly spiritual, religion remained as fundamental to me as breathing. I thought it was something you had to do. Now even from this young age I didn't understand it; religion never made sense to me. I didn't "feel" God or faith or the divine plan, but instead of questioning it, I took this as a deficiency in myself. I thought "I'm a bad person. I don't feel all these things everyone else feels about God; He must hate me, I must be bad." All I felt was an overwhelming fear of Hell. I developed some pretty toxic neurosis over it, in fact. Deep down, I didn't believe. I didn't feel the connection to God and that fact terrified me because I still took religion, and by extension Hell for disbelief, as a foregone conclusion. Around the age 9 or 10 I saw a movie on television that explicitly depicted images of Hell in this gruesome, bloody, terrible way and it scarred me. I thought "That's it! That's what's going to happen to me! I'm going to Hell and those things are going to happen to me forever and ever no matter how many good things I do because I don't believe and the pastor told us that you have to believe and no amount of good works can buy your way into Heaven!" You have to understand the kind of damage that kind of threat can do to a child. I still struggle with the residue of it today. No matter how happy I was in the moment, when it died down I was left alone in my head with only these awful, dark thoughts I couldn't make go away. Any time I didn't have something to focus my attention on, the fear swept in and my head filled with these images and thoughts. I was doomed, I couldn't escape. All I could do was try to ignore it; try to fill the space those thoughts occupied with anything else. TV, video games, movies, books, the internet; I had to have constant entertainment all the time or I'd degenerate into a terrified, neurotic mess. I couldn't sleep without the TV to push the thoughts away. When I slept I had these lucid nightmares of Hell and torture. I developed a bizarre, OCD-like neurosis as a result. I'd get the impression in my mind that "If you don't touch that doorknob you'll go to Hell." "If you don't get out of your chair before this commercial ends, you're going to Hell." "If you don't sit back down before the show comes back on, you'll go to Hell." Just this bizarre, off the wall, terrifying, scarring bullshit, all because of a baptism and a movie. I got a handle on it all in my early teens. My father passed away suddenly when I was 14, in the midst of our turbulent Father-Pubescent Son relationship, which was rocky to say the least. In middle school I'd found some respite in the punk-rock, counter-culture clique which was a stark contrast to the values my father held and wanted for me. I dressed like, sounded like, and acted like a punk. I know there were times he was ashamed of me. He never said it, but I could see it in his eyes. So the summer leading up to my 14th birthday we spent the whole summer together going on road trips cross-country, talking about life and hitting on cute waitresses at diners, just being father and son. For once we'd become buddies rather than enemies. Then, BAM, he's gone; 18 days after my birthday and two days before his. It hit me hard in a way I can't describe. I spent a couple years in this ashamed, apologetic, miserable haze of regret until I came to the realization, years later, that I'd always looked up to him and wanted to emulate him. If you've stuck with the story long enough to read this, you may be thinking "What the Hell does this have to do with being religious or not religious!?" Everything. Once my head straightened out regarding my father and my relationship with him, I found myself with this urge to posthumously make him proud. I developed a completely fresh sense of morality based on the values that my father had taught me. Secular values, not just things you do because God said so. He taught me respect, for myself and others, never to start a fight but to always finish one, to never let people disrespect you and always look out for people who are weaker than you are. You could say I found a new religion trying to fill his shoes. This new moral code is what led me to agnosticism. I never felt that what the Bible taught was "right." Sure some of it was; don't kill, don't steal, do unto others, but that was all congruent with my own sense or morality, not it's source. I started seriously doubting religion. "So God is going to cast me into a lake of fire for all eternity just for not believing in him? Anyone who doesn't believe in him or someone who calls him by a different name? A child who can't even reason for himself just because he wasn't baptized? People who don't gather in a building every Sunday and say nice things about him? People who are gay? But you made me this way! The pastor told me you created us in your image! Why did you make me this way just to punish me for it!? If everything is part of your plan why do you punish people for doing things!? YOU MADE THEM DO IT!!!" That is not a loving God doing that. That's a spiteful, petty, egomaniacal, narcissistic, sadistic, and evil monster. I dropped Christianity and became agnostic. I still believed that "something" was responsible for the universe and life, but I no longer believed that it was a magical sky-wizard that would burn me alive for eternity for having a rational thought or two. Once I'd dropped religion I saw the world differently. Everything wasn't part of the plan anymore. Nobody was working in mysterious ways anymore when women were raped and children murdered and people mutilated and terrible horrors befell good people. It all made me sick. What made me sicker was that I'd passively accepted these things for years as part of some predestined, bullshit plan for the world cooked up by some supreme being. I saw evil and injustice for what they really were. I became intensely interested in politics because these terrible things I saw so often seemed to lead back to government. I learned just how free this country really is and how corrupt and amoral our government really is and it all fell into place for me. Religion is just another tool to control people. It follows the same basic principle as government. "Do what I say or I'll hurt you." "Give me money or I'll hurt you." "Don't follow anyone but me or I'll hurt you." It's coercion by definition. This realization is what has finally led me to atheism. I don't need a God to tell me what is right and wrong. I don't need religion to tell me not to kill or steal. Religion is immoral. Its coercive and mentally damaging. It sets the nearly irreparable precedent from an early age that there is always authority over you that must be obeyed. Rather than pursuing questions that may never be answered it sits upon answers that must never be questioned. I'm sure this is TL;DR for most people. I'll be surprised if anyone actually reads this cover to cover, but I needed to write this. For me I guess it's just one more axe-swing at the trunk of the goddamn Redwood of brain damage that religion has done to me.

I'm not religious, in fact I've become an atheist. I'll do my best to explain what's led me to this point. I was born to a Christian (Lutheran father, Baptist mother) family and I was baptized Lutheran as an infant. Religion was forced on me from such an early age that it was environmental to me, just a part of the world like day and night, the wind, the oceans; telling me there was no such thing as God would have been the same as telling me there was no such thing as gravity. Despite the fact that my family were not church-going or even overtly spiritual, religion remained as fundamental to me as breathing. I thought it was something you had to do. Now even from this young age I didn't understand it; religion never made sense to me. I didn't "feel" God or faith or the divine plan, but instead of questioning it, I took this as a deficiency in myself. I thought "I'm a bad person. I don't feel all these things everyone else feels about God; He must hate me, I must be bad." All I felt was an overwhelming fear of Hell. I developed some pretty toxic neurosis over it, in fact. Deep down, I didn't believe. I didn't feel the connection to God and that fact terrified me because I still took religion, and by extension Hell for disbelief, as a foregone conclusion. Around the age 9 or 10 I saw a movie on television that explicitly depicted images of Hell in this gruesome, bloody, terrible way and it scarred me. I thought "That's it! That's what's going to happen to me! I'm going to Hell and those things are going to happen to me forever and ever no matter how many good things I do because I don't believe and the pastor told us that you have to believe and no amount of good works can buy your way into Heaven!" You have to understand the kind of damage that kind of threat can do to a child. I still struggle with the residue of it today. No matter how happy I was in the moment, when it died down I was left alone in my head with only these awful, dark thoughts I couldn't make go away. Any time I didn't have something to focus my attention on, the fear swept in and my head filled with these images and thoughts. I was doomed, I couldn't escape. All I could do was try to ignore it; try to fill the space those thoughts occupied with anything else. TV, video games, movies, books, the internet; I had to have constant entertainment all the time or I'd degenerate into a terrified, neurotic mess. I couldn't sleep without the TV to push the thoughts away. When I slept I had these lucid nightmares of Hell and torture. I developed a bizarre, OCD-like neurosis as a result. I'd get the impression in my mind that "If you don't touch that doorknob you'll go to Hell." "If you don't get out of your chair before this commercial ends, you're going to Hell." "If you don't sit back down before the show comes back on, you'll go to Hell." Just this bizarre, off the wall, terrifying, scarring bullshit, all because of a baptism and a movie. I got a handle on it all in my early teens. My father passed away suddenly when I was 14, in the midst of our turbulent Father-Pubescent Son relationship, which was rocky to say the least. In middle school I'd found some respite in the punk-rock, counter-culture clique which was a stark contrast to the values my father held and wanted for me. I dressed like, sounded like, and acted like a punk. I know there were times he was ashamed of me. He never said it, but I could see it in his eyes. So the summer leading up to my 14th birthday we spent the whole summer together going on road trips cross-country, talking about life and hitting on cute waitresses at diners, just being father and son. For once we'd become buddies rather than enemies. Then, BAM, he's gone; 18 days after my birthday and two days before his. It hit me hard in a way I can't describe. I spent a couple years in this ashamed, apologetic, miserable haze of regret until I came to the realization, years later, that I'd always looked up to him and wanted to emulate him. If you've stuck with the story long enough to read this, you may be thinking "What the Hell does this have to do with being religious or not religious!?" Everything. Once my head straightened out regarding my father and my relationship with him, I found myself with this urge to posthumously make him proud. I developed a completely fresh sense of morality based on the values that my father had taught me. Secular values, not just things you do because God said so. He taught me respect, for myself and others, never to start a fight but to always finish one, to never let people disrespect you and always look out for people who are weaker than you are. You could say I found a new religion trying to fill his shoes. This new moral code is what led me to agnosticism. I never felt that what the Bible taught was "right." Sure some of it was; don't kill, don't steal, do unto others, but that was all congruent with my own sense or morality, not it's source. I started seriously doubting religion. "So God is going to cast me into a lake of fire for all eternity just for not believing in him? Anyone who doesn't believe in him or someone who calls him by a different name? A child who can't even reason for himself just because he wasn't baptized? People who don't gather in a building every Sunday and say nice things about him? People who are gay? But you made me this way! The pastor told me you created us in your image! Why did you make me this way just to punish me for it!? If everything is part of your plan why do you punish people for doing things!? YOU MADE THEM DO IT!!!" That is not a loving God doing that. That's a spiteful, petty, egomaniacal, narcissistic, sadistic, and evil monster. I dropped Christianity and became agnostic. I still believed that "something" was responsible for the universe and life, but I no longer believed that it was a magical sky-wizard that would burn me alive for eternity for having a rational thought or two. Once I'd dropped religion I saw the world differently. Everything wasn't part of the plan anymore. Nobody was working in mysterious ways anymore when women were raped and children murdered and people mutilated and terrible horrors befell good people. It all made me sick. What made me sicker was that I'd passively accepted these things for years as part of some predestined, bullshit plan for the world cooked up by some supreme being. I saw evil and injustice for what they really were. I became intensely interested in politics because these terrible things I saw so often seemed to lead back to government. I learned just how free this country really is and how corrupt and amoral our government really is and it all fell into place for me. Religion is just another tool to control people. It follows the same basic principle as government. "Do what I say or I'll hurt you." "Give me money or I'll hurt you." "Don't follow anyone but me or I'll hurt you." It's coercion by definition. This realization is what has finally led me to atheism. I don't need a God to tell me what is right and wrong. I don't need religion to tell me not to kill or steal. Religion is immoral. Its coercive and mentally damaging. It sets the nearly irreparable precedent from an early age that there is always authority over you that must be obeyed. Rather than pursuing questions that may never be answered it sits upon answers that must never be questioned. I'm sure this is TL;DR for most people. I'll be surprised if anyone actually reads this cover to cover, but I needed to write this. For me I guess it's just one more axe-swing at the trunk of the goddamn Redwood of brain damage that religion has done to me.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cemafjf

I'm not religious, in fact I've become an atheist. I'll do my best to explain what's led me to this point. I was born to a Christian (Lutheran father, Baptist mother) family and I was baptized Lutheran as an infant. Religion was forced on me from such an early age that it was environmental to me, just a part of the world like day and night, the wind, the oceans; telling me there was no such thing as God would have been the same as telling me there was no such thing as gravity. Despite the fact that my family were not church-going or even overtly spiritual, religion remained as fundamental to me as breathing. I thought it was something you had to do. Now even from this young age I didn't understand it; religion never made sense to me. I didn't "feel" God or faith or the divine plan, but instead of questioning it, I took this as a deficiency in myself. I thought "I'm a bad person. I don't feel all these things everyone else feels about God; He must hate me, I must be bad." All I felt was an overwhelming fear of Hell. I developed some pretty toxic neurosis over it, in fact. Deep down, I didn't believe. I didn't feel the connection to God and that fact terrified me because I still took religion, and by extension Hell for disbelief, as a foregone conclusion. Around the age 9 or 10 I saw a movie on television that explicitly depicted images of Hell in this gruesome, bloody, terrible way and it scarred me. I thought "That's it! That's what's going to happen to me! I'm going to Hell and those things are going to happen to me forever and ever no matter how many good things I do because I don't believe and the pastor told us that you have to believe and no amount of good works can buy your way into Heaven!" You have to understand the kind of damage that kind of threat can do to a child. I still struggle with the residue of it today. No matter how happy I was in the moment, when it died down I was left alone in my head with only these awful, dark thoughts I couldn't make go away. Any time I didn't have something to focus my attention on, the fear swept in and my head filled with these images and thoughts. I was doomed, I couldn't escape. All I could do was try to ignore it; try to fill the space those thoughts occupied with anything else. TV, video games, movies, books, the internet; I had to have constant entertainment all the time or I'd degenerate into a terrified, neurotic mess. I couldn't sleep without the TV to push the thoughts away. When I slept I had these lucid nightmares of Hell and torture. I developed a bizarre, OCD-like neurosis as a result. I'd get the impression in my mind that "If you don't touch that doorknob you'll go to Hell." "If you don't get out of your chair before this commercial ends, you're going to Hell." "If you don't sit back down before the show comes back on, you'll go to Hell." Just this bizarre, off the wall, terrifying, scarring bullshit, all because of a baptism and a movie. I got a handle on it all in my early teens. My father passed away suddenly when I was 14, in the midst of our turbulent Father-Pubescent Son relationship, which was rocky to say the least. In middle school I'd found some respite in the punk-rock, counter-culture clique which was a stark contrast to the values my father held and wanted for me. I dressed like, sounded like, and acted like a punk. I know there were times he was ashamed of me. He never said it, but I could see it in his eyes. So the summer leading up to my 14th birthday we spent the whole summer together going on road trips cross-country, talking about life and hitting on cute waitresses at diners, just being father and son. For once we'd become buddies rather than enemies. Then, BAM, he's gone; 18 days after my birthday and two days before his. It hit me hard in a way I can't describe. I spent a couple years in this ashamed, apologetic, miserable haze of regret until I came to the realization, years later, that I'd always looked up to him and wanted to emulate him. If you've stuck with the story long enough to read this, you may be thinking "What the Hell does this have to do with being religious or not religious!?" Everything. Once my head straightened out regarding my father and my relationship with him, I found myself with this urge to posthumously make him proud. I developed a completely fresh sense of morality based on the values that my father had taught me. Secular values, not just things you do because God said so. He taught me respect, for myself and others, never to start a fight but to always finish one, to never let people disrespect you and always look out for people who are weaker than you are. You could say I found a new religion trying to fill his shoes. This new moral code is what led me to agnosticism. I never felt that what the Bible taught was "right." Sure some of it was; don't kill, don't steal, do unto others, but that was all congruent with my own sense or morality, not it's source. I started seriously doubting religion. "So God is going to cast me into a lake of fire for all eternity just for not believing in him? Anyone who doesn't believe in him or someone who calls him by a different name? A child who can't even reason for himself just because he wasn't baptized? People who don't gather in a building every Sunday and say nice things about him? People who are gay? But you made me this way! The pastor told me you created us in your image! Why did you make me this way just to punish me for it!? If everything is part of your plan why do you punish people for doing things!? YOU MADE THEM DO IT!!!" That is not a loving God doing that. That's a spiteful, petty, egomaniacal, narcissistic, sadistic, and evil monster. I dropped Christianity and became agnostic. I still believed that "something" was responsible for the universe and life, but I no longer believed that it was a magical sky-wizard that would burn me alive for eternity for having a rational thought or two. Once I'd dropped religion I saw the world differently. Everything wasn't part of the plan anymore. Nobody was working in mysterious ways anymore when women were raped and children murdered and people mutilated and terrible horrors befell good people. It all made me sick. What made me sicker was that I'd passively accepted these things for years as part of some predestined, bullshit plan for the world cooked up by some supreme being. I saw evil and injustice for what they really were. I became intensely interested in politics because these terrible things I saw so often seemed to lead back to government. I learned just how free this country really is and how corrupt and amoral our government really is and it all fell into place for me. Religion is just another tool to control people. It follows the same basic principle as government. "Do what I say or I'll hurt you." "Give me money or I'll hurt you." "Don't follow anyone but me or I'll hurt you." It's coercion by definition. This realization is what has finally led me to atheism. I don't need a God to tell me what is right and wrong. I don't need religion to tell me not to kill or steal. Religion is immoral. Its coercive and mentally damaging. It sets the nearly irreparable precedent from an early age that there is always authority over you that must be obeyed. Rather than pursuing questions that may never be answered it sits upon answers that must never be questioned. I'm sure this is

for most people. I'll be surprised if anyone actually reads this cover to cover, but I needed to write this. For me I guess it's just one more axe-swing at the trunk of the goddamn Redwood of brain damage that religion has done to me.

DefconDelta88

My parents were incredibly neutral growing up and always said without bias that they would support whatever my sister or I wanted to believe in, be it taking us to church or finding a sacraficial lamb, or buying a telescope. I was able to freely explore various religions and science throughout my childhood and took great fascination in the philisophy behind religion. It was a relatively natural process, rejecting religion as reality and holding science in a high regard. I have a very logical brain and for me, religion always came across as a convenient answer and way to maintain public order in a society that otherwise had very little in common from clan to clan and tribe to tribe. Religion was very clearly an institution that kept order, provided some level of education (monks were very well educated), and gave people a fundamental form of hope and positivity in what could otherwise be viewed as a very harsh life. It all makes sense that humanity would embrace it like we did, and because I see this it makes the picture of religion and its place in society all the more clear. We are now transitioning into a day and age where science has answered questions like where lightning comes from (not Thor) and over the centuries the 'facts' of religion have long since been chipped away by the *realities* of science (actual facts). As time goes on we learn more and more, and at the current time, religion is quickly becoming unecessary and incompatible with a progressive society. In its philisophical form, most religions embrace general "this is good and this is bad shit to do" conduct for human beings in general, so there is good to be had. The danger lies in taking it literally and failing to see the metephors in the text. It's also a book compiled of thousands of text written by thousands of people over thousands of years. I wouldn't trust a school text book's accuracy from 1993, let alone a two-thousand year old compilation of hokum. So TLDR; science makes sense and is humble enough to admit its shortcomings, religion does not and does not.

My parents were incredibly neutral growing up and always said without bias that they would support whatever my sister or I wanted to believe in, be it taking us to church or finding a sacraficial lamb, or buying a telescope. I was able to freely explore various religions and science throughout my childhood and took great fascination in the philisophy behind religion. It was a relatively natural process, rejecting religion as reality and holding science in a high regard. I have a very logical brain and for me, religion always came across as a convenient answer and way to maintain public order in a society that otherwise had very little in common from clan to clan and tribe to tribe. Religion was very clearly an institution that kept order, provided some level of education (monks were very well educated), and gave people a fundamental form of hope and positivity in what could otherwise be viewed as a very harsh life. It all makes sense that humanity would embrace it like we did, and because I see this it makes the picture of religion and its place in society all the more clear. We are now transitioning into a day and age where science has answered questions like where lightning comes from (not Thor) and over the centuries the 'facts' of religion have long since been chipped away by the realities of science (actual facts). As time goes on we learn more and more, and at the current time, religion is quickly becoming unecessary and incompatible with a progressive society. In its philisophical form, most religions embrace general "this is good and this is bad shit to do" conduct for human beings in general, so there is good to be had. The danger lies in taking it literally and failing to see the metephors in the text. It's also a book compiled of thousands of text written by thousands of people over thousands of years. I wouldn't trust a school text book's accuracy from 1993, let alone a two-thousand year old compilation of hokum. So TLDR; science makes sense and is humble enough to admit its shortcomings, religion does not and does not.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cembz12

My parents were incredibly neutral growing up and always said without bias that they would support whatever my sister or I wanted to believe in, be it taking us to church or finding a sacraficial lamb, or buying a telescope. I was able to freely explore various religions and science throughout my childhood and took great fascination in the philisophy behind religion. It was a relatively natural process, rejecting religion as reality and holding science in a high regard. I have a very logical brain and for me, religion always came across as a convenient answer and way to maintain public order in a society that otherwise had very little in common from clan to clan and tribe to tribe. Religion was very clearly an institution that kept order, provided some level of education (monks were very well educated), and gave people a fundamental form of hope and positivity in what could otherwise be viewed as a very harsh life. It all makes sense that humanity would embrace it like we did, and because I see this it makes the picture of religion and its place in society all the more clear. We are now transitioning into a day and age where science has answered questions like where lightning comes from (not Thor) and over the centuries the 'facts' of religion have long since been chipped away by the realities of science (actual facts). As time goes on we learn more and more, and at the current time, religion is quickly becoming unecessary and incompatible with a progressive society. In its philisophical form, most religions embrace general "this is good and this is bad shit to do" conduct for human beings in general, so there is good to be had. The danger lies in taking it literally and failing to see the metephors in the text. It's also a book compiled of thousands of text written by thousands of people over thousands of years. I wouldn't trust a school text book's accuracy from 1993, let alone a two-thousand year old compilation of hokum. So

science makes sense and is humble enough to admit its shortcomings, religion does not and does not.

Josh_Thompson

I tried once when I was bored and hungover on a weekend and two guys knocked on my door. I just so happened to have a moment to talk about their personal lord and savior. So I start asking them a bunch of questions before getting down to the meat of the religion. Apparently god didn't want me to have sex with my girlfriend anymore, made a joke about "at least she gives mean head", also I can't be getting head anymore either or even jerk it or look at porn for that matter. Then I tell them without any sexual release I'd probably become a complete ass hole and start drinking more. Another big no right there, drinking is a no no (humorously being an ass hole is alright, god is okay with that). Not just alcohol, these guys said no coke or coffee either. Do you know what they told me was the big reward for all that? When I day I will go to one of the lower levels of heaven. Didn't even get into one of the jazzier levels, so naturally I ask "well which level would I go to now" and they told me I'd go to that same lower level heaven... So let me get this straight you want me to give up alcohol, sex, blow jobs, porn, masturbation, coffee and most soft drinks for what benefit exactly? They both paused and looked at each other for a moment, and they came up with something about it improving my life and making god happy. It was at that exact moment I realized I didn't really give a shit whether god was happy or not, if there even was a god I don't suppose it would say a lot about the guy if he was first of emotional like a 12 year old girl or that he (or she for that matter) would be satisfied with me living my life his set of ways (which are all against the grain of human desire), I mean shit if he wanted a robot he should have made one I mean he's fucking god right? Honestly, it just sounded like a crock of shit. >TL;DR still drinking and getting blow jobs til this day

I tried once when I was bored and hungover on a weekend and two guys knocked on my door. I just so happened to have a moment to talk about their personal lord and savior. So I start asking them a bunch of questions before getting down to the meat of the religion. Apparently god didn't want me to have sex with my girlfriend anymore, made a joke about "at least she gives mean head", also I can't be getting head anymore either or even jerk it or look at porn for that matter. Then I tell them without any sexual release I'd probably become a complete ass hole and start drinking more. Another big no right there, drinking is a no no (humorously being an ass hole is alright, god is okay with that). Not just alcohol, these guys said no coke or coffee either. Do you know what they told me was the big reward for all that? When I day I will go to one of the lower levels of heaven. Didn't even get into one of the jazzier levels, so naturally I ask "well which level would I go to now" and they told me I'd go to that same lower level heaven... So let me get this straight you want me to give up alcohol, sex, blow jobs, porn, masturbation, coffee and most soft drinks for what benefit exactly? They both paused and looked at each other for a moment, and they came up with something about it improving my life and making god happy. It was at that exact moment I realized I didn't really give a shit whether god was happy or not, if there even was a god I don't suppose it would say a lot about the guy if he was first of emotional like a 12 year old girl or that he (or she for that matter) would be satisfied with me living my life his set of ways (which are all against the grain of human desire), I mean shit if he wanted a robot he should have made one I mean he's fucking god right? Honestly, it just sounded like a crock of shit. >TL;DR still drinking and getting blow jobs til this day

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cemhz1c

I tried once when I was bored and hungover on a weekend and two guys knocked on my door. I just so happened to have a moment to talk about their personal lord and savior. So I start asking them a bunch of questions before getting down to the meat of the religion. Apparently god didn't want me to have sex with my girlfriend anymore, made a joke about "at least she gives mean head", also I can't be getting head anymore either or even jerk it or look at porn for that matter. Then I tell them without any sexual release I'd probably become a complete ass hole and start drinking more. Another big no right there, drinking is a no no (humorously being an ass hole is alright, god is okay with that). Not just alcohol, these guys said no coke or coffee either. Do you know what they told me was the big reward for all that? When I day I will go to one of the lower levels of heaven. Didn't even get into one of the jazzier levels, so naturally I ask "well which level would I go to now" and they told me I'd go to that same lower level heaven... So let me get this straight you want me to give up alcohol, sex, blow jobs, porn, masturbation, coffee and most soft drinks for what benefit exactly? They both paused and looked at each other for a moment, and they came up with something about it improving my life and making god happy. It was at that exact moment I realized I didn't really give a shit whether god was happy or not, if there even was a god I don't suppose it would say a lot about the guy if he was first of emotional like a 12 year old girl or that he (or she for that matter) would be satisfied with me living my life his set of ways (which are all against the grain of human desire), I mean shit if he wanted a robot he should have made one I mean he's fucking god right? Honestly, it just sounded like a crock of shit. >

still drinking and getting blow jobs til this day

Skrp

Not religious anymore, though I was raised a Christian, in a household that was very relaxed about religion. This is going to be quite long, but it explains my process in detail. From a *very* early age I was sent to Sunday school, but my parents saw it mostly as a social thing, and I think I was allowed to quit, either that or they pulled me out, or something. I used to pray that things would be better, my mom was often sick, both physically and mentally, and I was bullied a lot at school, prayed for it to stop, for me not to get the shit kicked out of me, stuff like that. There were nights I'd cry myself to sleep, and wondering why God wouldn't help me out, what had I done wrong to deserve what was happening to me? I was too little to understand that the universe isn't fair. Having a gay aunt, and parents who weren't married, and there being a fair amount of swearing at home, and all sorts of little things like that, it shaped a religious view where I believed in a personal God, but not a very strict one. Of course, I hadn't ever read the bible, at least not understood any of it, so I had no idea about the mythology, and what demands it makes, nor how up to interpretation it is in many places. I knew very little about Christianity, but I still consider myself to have been a Christian, mind you. Hell, I was so ignorant about the matter that for a long time I didn't even know that unbelievers existed, or that other religions, or even other denominations of the same religion existed, at least until a few years into elementary school. Fast forward to my confirmation. By now I knew there were agnostics, atheists, various religions etc, and knew a bit about many of them. We attended bible studies and we were told to read certain chapters and verses, and I wondered why we were told to read certain things, while other things were not even given mention, so I decided to read as much of the bible as I could be bothered with. I ended up reading most of it. Some time during all this I was confirmed, but the digestion of all this information kept churning around in my head for a long time after that day, and bit by bit I realized how much I detested God, based on what's written about him in the bible. So: Eventually I realized that while I believed God existed, I simply couldn't find it in me to worship said entity. I thought him a cruel tyrannical fuck, not to put too fine a point on it. On top of this I had also gotten into listening to Metal and I had noticed that in the bible, there's very little about Satan, certainly very little negative is said about him. To me, it started to look like he was someone brave enough to stand up to the ultimate tyrant, on principle, despite having no hope of winning at all. I saw him as being a maligned being, essentially being called evil and all of that as a sort of propaganda effort. So for a while I was a theistic satanist. That didn't entail anything like sacrifice and doing evil, I carried on living pretty much as I did before, it was just my attitude to god that had changed. After some months of this, I realized that this too was wrong for me. It started to seem incredibly silly, again partly thanks to me listening a lot to metal, it just opened me to a more critical point of view somehow. At this point I became a deist, because I believed in a creator god, but not a personal one at all. I thought there must have been something that at least put together the laws of nature to create this universe. It didn't make sense to me that there could be any other possibilities. This was the case for many years, until in 2008 I had a nervous breakdown due to extreme sleep deprivation, and during my recovery time after that, I read a lot of everything. I became convinced of practically every conspiracy theory out there. But being someone who likes to subject myself to the contrary point of view to see if my ideas hold up to scrutiny, I looked up resources that debunked these theories. After a lot of that, I evaluated the theories against the debunkings, and one by one, the conspiracy theories fell, and I learned more and more about skepticism, and I became a lot more interested in science, philosophy, discussion, etc. I watched debates, read books, scientifically themed news articles, like at phys.org and other places, and the more I exposed myself to this stuff, the more I started to learn and understand the arguments that the universe may not have been created. Once I realized that this is the case, I became an atheist, not because I'm dead certain the universe doesn't have a creator, but because I think the burden of proof is on people who try to convince me that there is a creator. And that burden of proof has yet to be met as far as I'm concerned. So TL;DR: Was christian, through incremental steps i became a satanist, then a deist, then an atheist. As for what sort of atheist I am, that'd technically be an agnostic atheist, however, I think the likelyhood of there being a god seems vanishingly small.

Not religious anymore, though I was raised a Christian, in a household that was very relaxed about religion. This is going to be quite long, but it explains my process in detail. From a very early age I was sent to Sunday school, but my parents saw it mostly as a social thing, and I think I was allowed to quit, either that or they pulled me out, or something. I used to pray that things would be better, my mom was often sick, both physically and mentally, and I was bullied a lot at school, prayed for it to stop, for me not to get the shit kicked out of me, stuff like that. There were nights I'd cry myself to sleep, and wondering why God wouldn't help me out, what had I done wrong to deserve what was happening to me? I was too little to understand that the universe isn't fair. Having a gay aunt, and parents who weren't married, and there being a fair amount of swearing at home, and all sorts of little things like that, it shaped a religious view where I believed in a personal God, but not a very strict one. Of course, I hadn't ever read the bible, at least not understood any of it, so I had no idea about the mythology, and what demands it makes, nor how up to interpretation it is in many places. I knew very little about Christianity, but I still consider myself to have been a Christian, mind you. Hell, I was so ignorant about the matter that for a long time I didn't even know that unbelievers existed, or that other religions, or even other denominations of the same religion existed, at least until a few years into elementary school. Fast forward to my confirmation. By now I knew there were agnostics, atheists, various religions etc, and knew a bit about many of them. We attended bible studies and we were told to read certain chapters and verses, and I wondered why we were told to read certain things, while other things were not even given mention, so I decided to read as much of the bible as I could be bothered with. I ended up reading most of it. Some time during all this I was confirmed, but the digestion of all this information kept churning around in my head for a long time after that day, and bit by bit I realized how much I detested God, based on what's written about him in the bible. So: Eventually I realized that while I believed God existed, I simply couldn't find it in me to worship said entity. I thought him a cruel tyrannical fuck, not to put too fine a point on it. On top of this I had also gotten into listening to Metal and I had noticed that in the bible, there's very little about Satan, certainly very little negative is said about him. To me, it started to look like he was someone brave enough to stand up to the ultimate tyrant, on principle, despite having no hope of winning at all. I saw him as being a maligned being, essentially being called evil and all of that as a sort of propaganda effort. So for a while I was a theistic satanist. That didn't entail anything like sacrifice and doing evil, I carried on living pretty much as I did before, it was just my attitude to god that had changed. After some months of this, I realized that this too was wrong for me. It started to seem incredibly silly, again partly thanks to me listening a lot to metal, it just opened me to a more critical point of view somehow. At this point I became a deist, because I believed in a creator god, but not a personal one at all. I thought there must have been something that at least put together the laws of nature to create this universe. It didn't make sense to me that there could be any other possibilities. This was the case for many years, until in 2008 I had a nervous breakdown due to extreme sleep deprivation, and during my recovery time after that, I read a lot of everything. I became convinced of practically every conspiracy theory out there. But being someone who likes to subject myself to the contrary point of view to see if my ideas hold up to scrutiny, I looked up resources that debunked these theories. After a lot of that, I evaluated the theories against the debunkings, and one by one, the conspiracy theories fell, and I learned more and more about skepticism, and I became a lot more interested in science, philosophy, discussion, etc. I watched debates, read books, scientifically themed news articles, like at phys.org and other places, and the more I exposed myself to this stuff, the more I started to learn and understand the arguments that the universe may not have been created. Once I realized that this is the case, I became an atheist, not because I'm dead certain the universe doesn't have a creator, but because I think the burden of proof is on people who try to convince me that there is a creator. And that burden of proof has yet to be met as far as I'm concerned. So TL;DR: Was christian, through incremental steps i became a satanist, then a deist, then an atheist. As for what sort of atheist I am, that'd technically be an agnostic atheist, however, I think the likelyhood of there being a god seems vanishingly small.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cemr9fi

Not religious anymore, though I was raised a Christian, in a household that was very relaxed about religion. This is going to be quite long, but it explains my process in detail. From a very early age I was sent to Sunday school, but my parents saw it mostly as a social thing, and I think I was allowed to quit, either that or they pulled me out, or something. I used to pray that things would be better, my mom was often sick, both physically and mentally, and I was bullied a lot at school, prayed for it to stop, for me not to get the shit kicked out of me, stuff like that. There were nights I'd cry myself to sleep, and wondering why God wouldn't help me out, what had I done wrong to deserve what was happening to me? I was too little to understand that the universe isn't fair. Having a gay aunt, and parents who weren't married, and there being a fair amount of swearing at home, and all sorts of little things like that, it shaped a religious view where I believed in a personal God, but not a very strict one. Of course, I hadn't ever read the bible, at least not understood any of it, so I had no idea about the mythology, and what demands it makes, nor how up to interpretation it is in many places. I knew very little about Christianity, but I still consider myself to have been a Christian, mind you. Hell, I was so ignorant about the matter that for a long time I didn't even know that unbelievers existed, or that other religions, or even other denominations of the same religion existed, at least until a few years into elementary school. Fast forward to my confirmation. By now I knew there were agnostics, atheists, various religions etc, and knew a bit about many of them. We attended bible studies and we were told to read certain chapters and verses, and I wondered why we were told to read certain things, while other things were not even given mention, so I decided to read as much of the bible as I could be bothered with. I ended up reading most of it. Some time during all this I was confirmed, but the digestion of all this information kept churning around in my head for a long time after that day, and bit by bit I realized how much I detested God, based on what's written about him in the bible. So: Eventually I realized that while I believed God existed, I simply couldn't find it in me to worship said entity. I thought him a cruel tyrannical fuck, not to put too fine a point on it. On top of this I had also gotten into listening to Metal and I had noticed that in the bible, there's very little about Satan, certainly very little negative is said about him. To me, it started to look like he was someone brave enough to stand up to the ultimate tyrant, on principle, despite having no hope of winning at all. I saw him as being a maligned being, essentially being called evil and all of that as a sort of propaganda effort. So for a while I was a theistic satanist. That didn't entail anything like sacrifice and doing evil, I carried on living pretty much as I did before, it was just my attitude to god that had changed. After some months of this, I realized that this too was wrong for me. It started to seem incredibly silly, again partly thanks to me listening a lot to metal, it just opened me to a more critical point of view somehow. At this point I became a deist, because I believed in a creator god, but not a personal one at all. I thought there must have been something that at least put together the laws of nature to create this universe. It didn't make sense to me that there could be any other possibilities. This was the case for many years, until in 2008 I had a nervous breakdown due to extreme sleep deprivation, and during my recovery time after that, I read a lot of everything. I became convinced of practically every conspiracy theory out there. But being someone who likes to subject myself to the contrary point of view to see if my ideas hold up to scrutiny, I looked up resources that debunked these theories. After a lot of that, I evaluated the theories against the debunkings, and one by one, the conspiracy theories fell, and I learned more and more about skepticism, and I became a lot more interested in science, philosophy, discussion, etc. I watched debates, read books, scientifically themed news articles, like at phys.org and other places, and the more I exposed myself to this stuff, the more I started to learn and understand the arguments that the universe may not have been created. Once I realized that this is the case, I became an atheist, not because I'm dead certain the universe doesn't have a creator, but because I think the burden of proof is on people who try to convince me that there is a creator. And that burden of proof has yet to be met as far as I'm concerned. So

Was christian, through incremental steps i became a satanist, then a deist, then an atheist. As for what sort of atheist I am, that'd technically be an agnostic atheist, however, I think the likelyhood of there being a god seems vanishingly small.

Samwisegamgee92

I suppose it depends on what you define "being religious" as. Some see it as believing, some see it as church attendance. I grew up in a Quaker church. I went every Sunday to silent worship, attended service afterwards, participated in bible study, etc. One day in my teens, while sitting in the sound room messing around on my phone, it hit me that I was no longer going to these things to gain knowledge or help my faith in anyway, but merely out of forced repetition. Church itself had lost its meaning to me. So I stopped going. I started attending different places of worship on some Sundays, or during their weekly services, to learn about other faiths and religions. I received a lot of negative backlash from some church attendees, and still get snide comments about my not attending. I was accused of denouncing my religion and becoming a "wild, rebellious, liberal atheist" (someone actually wrote that in the notes of their RSVP to my open house as to why they would not be in attendance). It took many years of in depth conversations with my father, step-mother and grandmother before they finally understood what was going on with me internally. There was never a struggle with my faith. I've always had it, just in a different way than everyone else. I just had to step away from my church to find it my own way, which I feel has made me stronger in my faith and become a better person on my own. I'm not limited to one denomination and I'm still open to learning about all belief (or non-belief) systems. Since then, I have only attended my family church on Easter and Christmas, as to appease my family, who are now fully supportive of my choice to leave. TL;DR Church became just a habit and I left to explore other religions with a lot of negative backlash from my previous "church family"

I suppose it depends on what you define "being religious" as. Some see it as believing, some see it as church attendance. I grew up in a Quaker church. I went every Sunday to silent worship, attended service afterwards, participated in bible study, etc. One day in my teens, while sitting in the sound room messing around on my phone, it hit me that I was no longer going to these things to gain knowledge or help my faith in anyway, but merely out of forced repetition. Church itself had lost its meaning to me. So I stopped going. I started attending different places of worship on some Sundays, or during their weekly services, to learn about other faiths and religions. I received a lot of negative backlash from some church attendees, and still get snide comments about my not attending. I was accused of denouncing my religion and becoming a "wild, rebellious, liberal atheist" (someone actually wrote that in the notes of their RSVP to my open house as to why they would not be in attendance). It took many years of in depth conversations with my father, step-mother and grandmother before they finally understood what was going on with me internally. There was never a struggle with my faith. I've always had it, just in a different way than everyone else. I just had to step away from my church to find it my own way, which I feel has made me stronger in my faith and become a better person on my own. I'm not limited to one denomination and I'm still open to learning about all belief (or non-belief) systems. Since then, I have only attended my family church on Easter and Christmas, as to appease my family, who are now fully supportive of my choice to leave. TL;DR Church became just a habit and I left to explore other religions with a lot of negative backlash from my previous "church family"

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cem4nh7

I suppose it depends on what you define "being religious" as. Some see it as believing, some see it as church attendance. I grew up in a Quaker church. I went every Sunday to silent worship, attended service afterwards, participated in bible study, etc. One day in my teens, while sitting in the sound room messing around on my phone, it hit me that I was no longer going to these things to gain knowledge or help my faith in anyway, but merely out of forced repetition. Church itself had lost its meaning to me. So I stopped going. I started attending different places of worship on some Sundays, or during their weekly services, to learn about other faiths and religions. I received a lot of negative backlash from some church attendees, and still get snide comments about my not attending. I was accused of denouncing my religion and becoming a "wild, rebellious, liberal atheist" (someone actually wrote that in the notes of their RSVP to my open house as to why they would not be in attendance). It took many years of in depth conversations with my father, step-mother and grandmother before they finally understood what was going on with me internally. There was never a struggle with my faith. I've always had it, just in a different way than everyone else. I just had to step away from my church to find it my own way, which I feel has made me stronger in my faith and become a better person on my own. I'm not limited to one denomination and I'm still open to learning about all belief (or non-belief) systems. Since then, I have only attended my family church on Easter and Christmas, as to appease my family, who are now fully supportive of my choice to leave.

Church became just a habit and I left to explore other religions with a lot of negative backlash from my previous "church family"

aenimalius

In science, a *theory* is an explanation for how or why something works. The word applies regardless of the proven status of the theory. A proven theory is still a theory as it still describes the workings of a system. A *law* is a description of a natural phenomenon and does not overlap with or supersede a theory. tl;dr: In science, theories explain and laws describe. Neither word makes any claim as to the veracity of three description or explanation.

In science, a theory is an explanation for how or why something works. The word applies regardless of the proven status of the theory. A proven theory is still a theory as it still describes the workings of a system. A law is a description of a natural phenomenon and does not overlap with or supersede a theory. tl;dr: In science, theories explain and laws describe. Neither word makes any claim as to the veracity of three description or explanation.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cem4sy0

In science, a theory is an explanation for how or why something works. The word applies regardless of the proven status of the theory. A proven theory is still a theory as it still describes the workings of a system. A law is a description of a natural phenomenon and does not overlap with or supersede a theory.

In science, theories explain and laws describe. Neither word makes any claim as to the veracity of three description or explanation.

viagas72

As a child up until the age of about 12/13 religion was always a big part of my life, despite living in mainly a secular household. Regardless of being atheist, my parents raised me in a household which has always been entirely accepting of differing opinions, ideologies, creeds etc. As a result of this my fascination with the Christian faith as a child was always fine with my parents, and they supported me wanting to go to church and participating in religious ceremonies. Eventually, as I began to become more socially active and school became a larger part of my life, religion became less and less important to me. I think this was because I saw doing well in school and having fun with my friends as more important.. This has carried on into recent times, and has lead to me not attending any kind of ceremony besides funerals, weddings and baptisms. Throughout this time, I have obviously noticed the hypocrisies of Christianity, though, and battled with the fact that it totally conflicts with some of my core beliefs, which has led me to identifying myself as an Atheist in the past. Even still (I don't know if this is because of how I grew up, or some other reason) I think that the Christian faith does offer some great lessons about morality in the Bible, despite being horribly outdated. Because of that I recently decided to learn about as many faiths as possible, mainly to find further life lessons, because I think that the lessons taught in Bible have shaped me well as a person. (FYI the Qur'an is a beautiful read, and highly recommend it to anyone.) Some parts of Christianity have stuck with me, and probably with forever, though. Again I don't know if this is because of how I grew up as a child, but I feel as if having a chance to meet with lost relatives in the afterlife, and constantly having somebody watching over me and protecting me incredibly comforting, however ridiculous and unscientific as it is. Anyway, that's just my two cents. Got a bit long, but hey, it's basically the story of my faith in a nutshell. TL;DR Was a religious child, fell out of faith, but some has stayed with me. EDIT: Just wanted to point out that I've never taken a lot of the teachings in the Bible as gospel (hah) but rather as stories that should be taken with the lesson behind them as the main focus, instead of actually have historically occurred.

As a child up until the age of about 12/13 religion was always a big part of my life, despite living in mainly a secular household. Regardless of being atheist, my parents raised me in a household which has always been entirely accepting of differing opinions, ideologies, creeds etc. As a result of this my fascination with the Christian faith as a child was always fine with my parents, and they supported me wanting to go to church and participating in religious ceremonies. Eventually, as I began to become more socially active and school became a larger part of my life, religion became less and less important to me. I think this was because I saw doing well in school and having fun with my friends as more important.. This has carried on into recent times, and has lead to me not attending any kind of ceremony besides funerals, weddings and baptisms. Throughout this time, I have obviously noticed the hypocrisies of Christianity, though, and battled with the fact that it totally conflicts with some of my core beliefs, which has led me to identifying myself as an Atheist in the past. Even still (I don't know if this is because of how I grew up, or some other reason) I think that the Christian faith does offer some great lessons about morality in the Bible, despite being horribly outdated. Because of that I recently decided to learn about as many faiths as possible, mainly to find further life lessons, because I think that the lessons taught in Bible have shaped me well as a person. (FYI the Qur'an is a beautiful read, and highly recommend it to anyone.) Some parts of Christianity have stuck with me, and probably with forever, though. Again I don't know if this is because of how I grew up as a child, but I feel as if having a chance to meet with lost relatives in the afterlife, and constantly having somebody watching over me and protecting me incredibly comforting, however ridiculous and unscientific as it is. Anyway, that's just my two cents. Got a bit long, but hey, it's basically the story of my faith in a nutshell. TL;DR Was a religious child, fell out of faith, but some has stayed with me. EDIT: Just wanted to point out that I've never taken a lot of the teachings in the Bible as gospel (hah) but rather as stories that should be taken with the lesson behind them as the main focus, instead of actually have historically occurred.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cem5hmu

As a child up until the age of about 12/13 religion was always a big part of my life, despite living in mainly a secular household. Regardless of being atheist, my parents raised me in a household which has always been entirely accepting of differing opinions, ideologies, creeds etc. As a result of this my fascination with the Christian faith as a child was always fine with my parents, and they supported me wanting to go to church and participating in religious ceremonies. Eventually, as I began to become more socially active and school became a larger part of my life, religion became less and less important to me. I think this was because I saw doing well in school and having fun with my friends as more important.. This has carried on into recent times, and has lead to me not attending any kind of ceremony besides funerals, weddings and baptisms. Throughout this time, I have obviously noticed the hypocrisies of Christianity, though, and battled with the fact that it totally conflicts with some of my core beliefs, which has led me to identifying myself as an Atheist in the past. Even still (I don't know if this is because of how I grew up, or some other reason) I think that the Christian faith does offer some great lessons about morality in the Bible, despite being horribly outdated. Because of that I recently decided to learn about as many faiths as possible, mainly to find further life lessons, because I think that the lessons taught in Bible have shaped me well as a person. (FYI the Qur'an is a beautiful read, and highly recommend it to anyone.) Some parts of Christianity have stuck with me, and probably with forever, though. Again I don't know if this is because of how I grew up as a child, but I feel as if having a chance to meet with lost relatives in the afterlife, and constantly having somebody watching over me and protecting me incredibly comforting, however ridiculous and unscientific as it is. Anyway, that's just my two cents. Got a bit long, but hey, it's basically the story of my faith in a nutshell.

Was a religious child, fell out of faith, but some has stayed with me. EDIT: Just wanted to point out that I've never taken a lot of the teachings in the Bible as gospel (hah) but rather as stories that should be taken with the lesson behind them as the main focus, instead of actually have historically occurred.

AnExplosion

I am not religious. I will preface that by saying that I am also not an Atheist. I was raised in a Methodist household, and our church was very liberal and tolerant. Nonetheless, as I reached my mid-teens I found myself desperately wanting the depth of faith I saw in others. I took to message boards and chat-rooms, spoke to those of a myriad systems of belief, and it always came to a point where my questions ended with a singular response - "Well, you must have faith." For a time after that, I ascribed to Atheism, believing that it was the logical course to take. As I grew into an adult, I found that many who declared themselves Atheists practiced the same sort of bias and discrimination as I had seen from the far more prevalent Christians I grew up around. I'm 23 now, and with the aid of our wondrous internet and a plethora of books, I've been able to examine both history and faith, and my personal deduction is that it all comes down to being human. We're intelligent animals, but we're still limited in our understanding of many topics. Because of our intellect, we also obsess over eventualities or possibilities, nurture fears and complexes that would not exist were our drives simply attaining enough food and shelter to survive. I understand the logic of Faith, and the areas where it can provide an individual with security or peace of mind; both of these are invaluable things to possess. Given how many arguments I've endured about this, my stance has become rather more streamlined. Imagine yourself in utter, pitch darkness. You cannot even see your own hand an inch in front of your face. You stand before a forest, and your goal lies on other other side. You absolutely must pass through it, and as you do you hear the crackle of leaves, nocturnal predators and prey, snapping twigs and the small fits of slumbering creatures. Your mind, possessing the towering drive for creativity which it does, fills your head with nightmare visages and slavering maws. Is it easier to simply say 'I must do this, and so despite my fears I will press on,' Or to give that fear up, to believe that your actions are ordained, that you are defended by some force beyond your understanding or reckoning? That to simply clutch at a talisman or invoke a name carries with it the power to see you safely on your way? It is my humble belief that faith of one stripe or another will exist until Mankind eradicates every gap of knowledge in the known universe. So long as those gaps exist, fear will fill them and men will do their best to plaster those fears with duct tape and faith. For me, to simply exist with the functions of a human being is enough. I do what I can to thrive in the moment, and take great joy and comfort in the simple mechanics of living, breathing and feeling the sun beat down upon my back. I would love to have the certainty provided by a deep and abiding faith, but it remains beyond me and probably always will. Tl;dr: I am, which is enough.

I am not religious. I will preface that by saying that I am also not an Atheist. I was raised in a Methodist household, and our church was very liberal and tolerant. Nonetheless, as I reached my mid-teens I found myself desperately wanting the depth of faith I saw in others. I took to message boards and chat-rooms, spoke to those of a myriad systems of belief, and it always came to a point where my questions ended with a singular response - "Well, you must have faith." For a time after that, I ascribed to Atheism, believing that it was the logical course to take. As I grew into an adult, I found that many who declared themselves Atheists practiced the same sort of bias and discrimination as I had seen from the far more prevalent Christians I grew up around. I'm 23 now, and with the aid of our wondrous internet and a plethora of books, I've been able to examine both history and faith, and my personal deduction is that it all comes down to being human. We're intelligent animals, but we're still limited in our understanding of many topics. Because of our intellect, we also obsess over eventualities or possibilities, nurture fears and complexes that would not exist were our drives simply attaining enough food and shelter to survive. I understand the logic of Faith, and the areas where it can provide an individual with security or peace of mind; both of these are invaluable things to possess. Given how many arguments I've endured about this, my stance has become rather more streamlined. Imagine yourself in utter, pitch darkness. You cannot even see your own hand an inch in front of your face. You stand before a forest, and your goal lies on other other side. You absolutely must pass through it, and as you do you hear the crackle of leaves, nocturnal predators and prey, snapping twigs and the small fits of slumbering creatures. Your mind, possessing the towering drive for creativity which it does, fills your head with nightmare visages and slavering maws. Is it easier to simply say 'I must do this, and so despite my fears I will press on,' Or to give that fear up, to believe that your actions are ordained, that you are defended by some force beyond your understanding or reckoning? That to simply clutch at a talisman or invoke a name carries with it the power to see you safely on your way? It is my humble belief that faith of one stripe or another will exist until Mankind eradicates every gap of knowledge in the known universe. So long as those gaps exist, fear will fill them and men will do their best to plaster those fears with duct tape and faith. For me, to simply exist with the functions of a human being is enough. I do what I can to thrive in the moment, and take great joy and comfort in the simple mechanics of living, breathing and feeling the sun beat down upon my back. I would love to have the certainty provided by a deep and abiding faith, but it remains beyond me and probably always will. Tl;dr: I am, which is enough.

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t5_2qh1i

cem5pkt

I am not religious. I will preface that by saying that I am also not an Atheist. I was raised in a Methodist household, and our church was very liberal and tolerant. Nonetheless, as I reached my mid-teens I found myself desperately wanting the depth of faith I saw in others. I took to message boards and chat-rooms, spoke to those of a myriad systems of belief, and it always came to a point where my questions ended with a singular response - "Well, you must have faith." For a time after that, I ascribed to Atheism, believing that it was the logical course to take. As I grew into an adult, I found that many who declared themselves Atheists practiced the same sort of bias and discrimination as I had seen from the far more prevalent Christians I grew up around. I'm 23 now, and with the aid of our wondrous internet and a plethora of books, I've been able to examine both history and faith, and my personal deduction is that it all comes down to being human. We're intelligent animals, but we're still limited in our understanding of many topics. Because of our intellect, we also obsess over eventualities or possibilities, nurture fears and complexes that would not exist were our drives simply attaining enough food and shelter to survive. I understand the logic of Faith, and the areas where it can provide an individual with security or peace of mind; both of these are invaluable things to possess. Given how many arguments I've endured about this, my stance has become rather more streamlined. Imagine yourself in utter, pitch darkness. You cannot even see your own hand an inch in front of your face. You stand before a forest, and your goal lies on other other side. You absolutely must pass through it, and as you do you hear the crackle of leaves, nocturnal predators and prey, snapping twigs and the small fits of slumbering creatures. Your mind, possessing the towering drive for creativity which it does, fills your head with nightmare visages and slavering maws. Is it easier to simply say 'I must do this, and so despite my fears I will press on,' Or to give that fear up, to believe that your actions are ordained, that you are defended by some force beyond your understanding or reckoning? That to simply clutch at a talisman or invoke a name carries with it the power to see you safely on your way? It is my humble belief that faith of one stripe or another will exist until Mankind eradicates every gap of knowledge in the known universe. So long as those gaps exist, fear will fill them and men will do their best to plaster those fears with duct tape and faith. For me, to simply exist with the functions of a human being is enough. I do what I can to thrive in the moment, and take great joy and comfort in the simple mechanics of living, breathing and feeling the sun beat down upon my back. I would love to have the certainty provided by a deep and abiding faith, but it remains beyond me and probably always will.

I am, which is enough.

Brony_Jim

I hope this gets burried because I hate this memory. The arch bishop of my diocese decided that during the confirmation ceremony for me and 120 other children was a good time to pick a verbal fight with me, over the loud speaker, for the rest of the 600 or more people that were attenting that mass. Summarizing: when he asked what I wanted my confirmation name to be, I said "John, after my mothers father, who has been like a second father for me throughout my life and has shaped me into the individual I am today. Unlike my other grandfather, who I am named after, I want to have John added in order to honor both." That wasn't good enough so he demanded I change to "John the Baptist because he'd be more likely to show me the ways of god and that I can't pick the name of someone who isn't a saint because he isn't a role model then." Don't forget, this was over the oud speaker, so everyone, both my grandfathers included, heard me being told my pap wasn't good enough to be a role model. TLDR: I lost my faith the day I was confirmed.

I hope this gets burried because I hate this memory. The arch bishop of my diocese decided that during the confirmation ceremony for me and 120 other children was a good time to pick a verbal fight with me, over the loud speaker, for the rest of the 600 or more people that were attenting that mass. Summarizing: when he asked what I wanted my confirmation name to be, I said "John, after my mothers father, who has been like a second father for me throughout my life and has shaped me into the individual I am today. Unlike my other grandfather, who I am named after, I want to have John added in order to honor both." That wasn't good enough so he demanded I change to "John the Baptist because he'd be more likely to show me the ways of god and that I can't pick the name of someone who isn't a saint because he isn't a role model then." Don't forget, this was over the oud speaker, so everyone, both my grandfathers included, heard me being told my pap wasn't good enough to be a role model. TLDR: I lost my faith the day I was confirmed.

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t5_2qh1i

cem5tmi

I hope this gets burried because I hate this memory. The arch bishop of my diocese decided that during the confirmation ceremony for me and 120 other children was a good time to pick a verbal fight with me, over the loud speaker, for the rest of the 600 or more people that were attenting that mass. Summarizing: when he asked what I wanted my confirmation name to be, I said "John, after my mothers father, who has been like a second father for me throughout my life and has shaped me into the individual I am today. Unlike my other grandfather, who I am named after, I want to have John added in order to honor both." That wasn't good enough so he demanded I change to "John the Baptist because he'd be more likely to show me the ways of god and that I can't pick the name of someone who isn't a saint because he isn't a role model then." Don't forget, this was over the oud speaker, so everyone, both my grandfathers included, heard me being told my pap wasn't good enough to be a role model.

I lost my faith the day I was confirmed.

KingZant

Im not religious. I don't know where to even begin with what exactly I feel. When it comes to humans and evolution and all that, I believe that evolution was how life came about. Religion is a funny thing though. I love the concept of gods and goddesses of various aspects of nature. I love how religion can be such a powerful tool that can bring people together. There are certain aspects that I love to think about and discuss, simply because they're fun and interesting. I guess I dislike how everyone thinks that their personal religion is the correct one, when in reality, that doesn't change anything. I like to think logically, and that humans would blow these things out of proportion because we happen to be the tiny fraction of existence that can think for itself. We've become so self aware that we wonder how we even came to exist, and that there must be a higher power. I believe that we're lucky that we are the bit of existence that can think for itself. Most people take it for granted and try to find reasons for why exactly this is. I just accept things as they are, really. I believe that the Big Bang happened, and that over the course of existence(which people forget is a looong fucking time) stuff happened and things change. We just got incredibly lucky to not be space dust somewhere, or inside a dense, hot thing we call a star. Im also not good at condensing my thoughts and getting points across quickly. If anyone has any input let me hear it. TL;DR Wall of text, my bad. Id appreciate of if you heard my viewpoint though.

Im not religious. I don't know where to even begin with what exactly I feel. When it comes to humans and evolution and all that, I believe that evolution was how life came about. Religion is a funny thing though. I love the concept of gods and goddesses of various aspects of nature. I love how religion can be such a powerful tool that can bring people together. There are certain aspects that I love to think about and discuss, simply because they're fun and interesting. I guess I dislike how everyone thinks that their personal religion is the correct one, when in reality, that doesn't change anything. I like to think logically, and that humans would blow these things out of proportion because we happen to be the tiny fraction of existence that can think for itself. We've become so self aware that we wonder how we even came to exist, and that there must be a higher power. I believe that we're lucky that we are the bit of existence that can think for itself. Most people take it for granted and try to find reasons for why exactly this is. I just accept things as they are, really. I believe that the Big Bang happened, and that over the course of existence(which people forget is a looong fucking time) stuff happened and things change. We just got incredibly lucky to not be space dust somewhere, or inside a dense, hot thing we call a star. Im also not good at condensing my thoughts and getting points across quickly. If anyone has any input let me hear it. TL;DR Wall of text, my bad. Id appreciate of if you heard my viewpoint though.

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t5_2qh1i

cem5zcz

Im not religious. I don't know where to even begin with what exactly I feel. When it comes to humans and evolution and all that, I believe that evolution was how life came about. Religion is a funny thing though. I love the concept of gods and goddesses of various aspects of nature. I love how religion can be such a powerful tool that can bring people together. There are certain aspects that I love to think about and discuss, simply because they're fun and interesting. I guess I dislike how everyone thinks that their personal religion is the correct one, when in reality, that doesn't change anything. I like to think logically, and that humans would blow these things out of proportion because we happen to be the tiny fraction of existence that can think for itself. We've become so self aware that we wonder how we even came to exist, and that there must be a higher power. I believe that we're lucky that we are the bit of existence that can think for itself. Most people take it for granted and try to find reasons for why exactly this is. I just accept things as they are, really. I believe that the Big Bang happened, and that over the course of existence(which people forget is a looong fucking time) stuff happened and things change. We just got incredibly lucky to not be space dust somewhere, or inside a dense, hot thing we call a star. Im also not good at condensing my thoughts and getting points across quickly. If anyone has any input let me hear it.

Wall of text, my bad. Id appreciate of if you heard my viewpoint though.

brulosopher

I eventually proposed to my GF, we got married a couple years later, and moved to a new state where we didn't really know anyone. I began graduate school in psychology, which provided ample time and opportunity for self-reflection. Up until this time, I considered myself agnostic, which I soon realized was driven by fear. The truth was, I didn't hold any supernatural beliefs. I recall the moment I informed my wife of this, the experience of pure joy and freedom, as if I was being released from some prison. It was far more powerful than the aforementioned experience of singing to an empty church. This meant something to me, not on a religious level this time, but a very human level. My song writing served to document my progression into non-belief with popular themes being hypocrisy, the power of genuine love, and humility. My wife and I are still married and love each other more than we ever have. She eventually abandoned all belief and, like me, holds no resentment about her religious past. Neither of us were abused or traumatized in any way by the church, we simply came to our own conclusions. We have 3 beautiful kids who have never been to church. In fact, here's a cute story (at least I think so)- my wife was playing one of my songs ([here's a rough version of it]( for my 4 y/o the other day, who began singing along to the following lyrics: *While I can't be too sure your god is love* *In my life, Love is god* *And for me that's enough* She nailed every word except "god," which she replaced with "gawk." I couldn't help but consider just how different my life, and perhaps the lives of everyone on Earth, would be if none of us even understood the concept of "god." I learn more from my kids than I ever did in formal education :) So that's basically it. I know it was long, but fuck it, I had the time and interest. Please feel free to ask any questions, I'm very open with my perspectives. Cheers! tl;dr: just because?

I eventually proposed to my GF, we got married a couple years later, and moved to a new state where we didn't really know anyone. I began graduate school in psychology, which provided ample time and opportunity for self-reflection. Up until this time, I considered myself agnostic, which I soon realized was driven by fear. The truth was, I didn't hold any supernatural beliefs. I recall the moment I informed my wife of this, the experience of pure joy and freedom, as if I was being released from some prison. It was far more powerful than the aforementioned experience of singing to an empty church. This meant something to me, not on a religious level this time, but a very human level. My song writing served to document my progression into non-belief with popular themes being hypocrisy, the power of genuine love, and humility. My wife and I are still married and love each other more than we ever have. She eventually abandoned all belief and, like me, holds no resentment about her religious past. Neither of us were abused or traumatized in any way by the church, we simply came to our own conclusions. We have 3 beautiful kids who have never been to church. In fact, here's a cute story (at least I think so)- my wife was playing one of my songs ([here's a rough version of it]( for my 4 y/o the other day, who began singing along to the following lyrics: While I can't be too sure your god is love In my life, Love is god And for me that's enough She nailed every word except "god," which she replaced with "gawk." I couldn't help but consider just how different my life, and perhaps the lives of everyone on Earth, would be if none of us even understood the concept of "god." I learn more from my kids than I ever did in formal education :) So that's basically it. I know it was long, but fuck it, I had the time and interest. Please feel free to ask any questions, I'm very open with my perspectives. Cheers! tl;dr: just because?

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t5_2qh1i

cem648f

I eventually proposed to my GF, we got married a couple years later, and moved to a new state where we didn't really know anyone. I began graduate school in psychology, which provided ample time and opportunity for self-reflection. Up until this time, I considered myself agnostic, which I soon realized was driven by fear. The truth was, I didn't hold any supernatural beliefs. I recall the moment I informed my wife of this, the experience of pure joy and freedom, as if I was being released from some prison. It was far more powerful than the aforementioned experience of singing to an empty church. This meant something to me, not on a religious level this time, but a very human level. My song writing served to document my progression into non-belief with popular themes being hypocrisy, the power of genuine love, and humility. My wife and I are still married and love each other more than we ever have. She eventually abandoned all belief and, like me, holds no resentment about her religious past. Neither of us were abused or traumatized in any way by the church, we simply came to our own conclusions. We have 3 beautiful kids who have never been to church. In fact, here's a cute story (at least I think so)- my wife was playing one of my songs ([here's a rough version of it]( for my 4 y/o the other day, who began singing along to the following lyrics: While I can't be too sure your god is love In my life, Love is god And for me that's enough She nailed every word except "god," which she replaced with "gawk." I couldn't help but consider just how different my life, and perhaps the lives of everyone on Earth, would be if none of us even understood the concept of "god." I learn more from my kids than I ever did in formal education :) So that's basically it. I know it was long, but fuck it, I had the time and interest. Please feel free to ask any questions, I'm very open with my perspectives. Cheers!

just because?

darthbone

When I was very young, i took Christianity as a given, as i was raised by a largely Catholic family. However, my father didn't really practice, and my mom did but didn't go to church. They were generally way too busy with my brother and I, and felt there were more important things for them to be doing. They always drove me toward exploring my faith whenever I asked, but as I got to be 12 or so, I actually started thinking about it, and I just simply **realized I didn't believe in god.** It wasn't an active dismissal. It was just a realization that, when the chips were down, I just didn't really believe in religion. I think a lot of religious people have a difficult time understanding the difference between dismissing a religion as false(Atheism), and simply not believing in one (Agnosticism). Ultimately I don't believe the human mind is capable of making itself believe anything. It's possible to delude oneself, but the understanding that you're lying to yourself is still buried somewhere inside. I simply CAN'T believe in the supernatural, because I simply don't. I think a lot of devoutly religious people who have been religious their entire lives seem to view this from the stance that the default setting for a human is to believe in a God or Gods. For me, I was never forced down that path, so if that belief IS latent (which I seriously doubt), it never manifested itself in me. Tl;Dr: I'm simply not religious because I've never been able to believe in any God or Gods. It was not a choice.

When I was very young, i took Christianity as a given, as i was raised by a largely Catholic family. However, my father didn't really practice, and my mom did but didn't go to church. They were generally way too busy with my brother and I, and felt there were more important things for them to be doing. They always drove me toward exploring my faith whenever I asked, but as I got to be 12 or so, I actually started thinking about it, and I just simply realized I didn't believe in god. It wasn't an active dismissal. It was just a realization that, when the chips were down, I just didn't really believe in religion. I think a lot of religious people have a difficult time understanding the difference between dismissing a religion as false(Atheism), and simply not believing in one (Agnosticism). Ultimately I don't believe the human mind is capable of making itself believe anything. It's possible to delude oneself, but the understanding that you're lying to yourself is still buried somewhere inside. I simply CAN'T believe in the supernatural, because I simply don't. I think a lot of devoutly religious people who have been religious their entire lives seem to view this from the stance that the default setting for a human is to believe in a God or Gods. For me, I was never forced down that path, so if that belief IS latent (which I seriously doubt), it never manifested itself in me. Tl;Dr: I'm simply not religious because I've never been able to believe in any God or Gods. It was not a choice.

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cem6575

When I was very young, i took Christianity as a given, as i was raised by a largely Catholic family. However, my father didn't really practice, and my mom did but didn't go to church. They were generally way too busy with my brother and I, and felt there were more important things for them to be doing. They always drove me toward exploring my faith whenever I asked, but as I got to be 12 or so, I actually started thinking about it, and I just simply realized I didn't believe in god. It wasn't an active dismissal. It was just a realization that, when the chips were down, I just didn't really believe in religion. I think a lot of religious people have a difficult time understanding the difference between dismissing a religion as false(Atheism), and simply not believing in one (Agnosticism). Ultimately I don't believe the human mind is capable of making itself believe anything. It's possible to delude oneself, but the understanding that you're lying to yourself is still buried somewhere inside. I simply CAN'T believe in the supernatural, because I simply don't. I think a lot of devoutly religious people who have been religious their entire lives seem to view this from the stance that the default setting for a human is to believe in a God or Gods. For me, I was never forced down that path, so if that belief IS latent (which I seriously doubt), it never manifested itself in me.

I'm simply not religious because I've never been able to believe in any God or Gods. It was not a choice.

hircine1

I was raised Catholic, went to a Catholic elementary school, was confirmed, etc. I never believed a word. The stories made no logical sense, and magic doesn't exist. Period. This made me the "troublemaker" because I rolled my eyes a lot and flat out thought the stories were ridiculous. TLDR: there is no such thing as magic

I was raised Catholic, went to a Catholic elementary school, was confirmed, etc. I never believed a word. The stories made no logical sense, and magic doesn't exist. Period. This made me the "troublemaker" because I rolled my eyes a lot and flat out thought the stories were ridiculous. TLDR: there is no such thing as magic

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cem666d

I was raised Catholic, went to a Catholic elementary school, was confirmed, etc. I never believed a word. The stories made no logical sense, and magic doesn't exist. Period. This made me the "troublemaker" because I rolled my eyes a lot and flat out thought the stories were ridiculous.

there is no such thing as magic

Ryelen

I was raised Mormon, It was always spoken about as if it were absolutely true when I was growing up. When I got into my teens I just sort of stopped going and eventually it just wasn't important to me anymore. Fast forward about 4 years I was about to move from a small town, to Salt Lake to live with my also not practicing brother. All my stuff was packed up and I was bored at my parents house. So I grabbed a historical fiction book off her shelf, It happened to be Book one of the Pillar of Light series" It is about a completely made up fictional family that is placed in Palmyra New York when Joseph Smith was first founding the church and what their reactions to it would be. That book reminded me of things I had felt growing up. Of feelings I had once had, held dear and forgotten. I probably read 500 pages that night and was up until 3-4 AM. I prayed for the first time in years after reading that and let the lord know felt that for the first time I knew the Church was true and asked him to confirm it for me. I got an undeniable feeling of a burning in my breast, a feeling of peace and serenity. I've stayed an active member for the most part ever since. Another thing I've always applied is Matthew 7:20 "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Whenever I am putting the lord first in my life things seem to work out in my favor much more often then not. I also noticed that the most devout of my friends were also the ones who seemed to be going places and doing things with their lives. My siblings that are the most stalwart members also seem to be doing the best financially. Throughout my adult life their has been numerous times where I was struggling financially, one of the LDS Tenants is to pay 10% of all income to the church in tithing. I know it doesn't make sense, and the math doesn't work out. But the times when I was not paying my tithing were the times I've struggled the most financially in my life. I would stop paying while times were good and within a couple months I would always end up struggling in one way or another. Their were times where I did the math budgeted it all out and realized if I paid tithing I could not pay all my bills. But I paid my tithing first like I should and somehow it worked out that I was able to pay all my bills, that has happened more times then I can count and helps to reaffirm my testimony. TL:DR: I was raised Mormon, fell away and then came back to it on my own. I am currently religious because of specific spiritual events that have taken place in my own life.

I was raised Mormon, It was always spoken about as if it were absolutely true when I was growing up. When I got into my teens I just sort of stopped going and eventually it just wasn't important to me anymore. Fast forward about 4 years I was about to move from a small town, to Salt Lake to live with my also not practicing brother. All my stuff was packed up and I was bored at my parents house. So I grabbed a historical fiction book off her shelf, It happened to be Book one of the Pillar of Light series" It is about a completely made up fictional family that is placed in Palmyra New York when Joseph Smith was first founding the church and what their reactions to it would be. That book reminded me of things I had felt growing up. Of feelings I had once had, held dear and forgotten. I probably read 500 pages that night and was up until 3-4 AM. I prayed for the first time in years after reading that and let the lord know felt that for the first time I knew the Church was true and asked him to confirm it for me. I got an undeniable feeling of a burning in my breast, a feeling of peace and serenity. I've stayed an active member for the most part ever since. Another thing I've always applied is Matthew 7:20 "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Whenever I am putting the lord first in my life things seem to work out in my favor much more often then not. I also noticed that the most devout of my friends were also the ones who seemed to be going places and doing things with their lives. My siblings that are the most stalwart members also seem to be doing the best financially. Throughout my adult life their has been numerous times where I was struggling financially, one of the LDS Tenants is to pay 10% of all income to the church in tithing. I know it doesn't make sense, and the math doesn't work out. But the times when I was not paying my tithing were the times I've struggled the most financially in my life. I would stop paying while times were good and within a couple months I would always end up struggling in one way or another. Their were times where I did the math budgeted it all out and realized if I paid tithing I could not pay all my bills. But I paid my tithing first like I should and somehow it worked out that I was able to pay all my bills, that has happened more times then I can count and helps to reaffirm my testimony. TL:DR: I was raised Mormon, fell away and then came back to it on my own. I am currently religious because of specific spiritual events that have taken place in my own life.

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t5_2qh1i

cem68wm

I was raised Mormon, It was always spoken about as if it were absolutely true when I was growing up. When I got into my teens I just sort of stopped going and eventually it just wasn't important to me anymore. Fast forward about 4 years I was about to move from a small town, to Salt Lake to live with my also not practicing brother. All my stuff was packed up and I was bored at my parents house. So I grabbed a historical fiction book off her shelf, It happened to be Book one of the Pillar of Light series" It is about a completely made up fictional family that is placed in Palmyra New York when Joseph Smith was first founding the church and what their reactions to it would be. That book reminded me of things I had felt growing up. Of feelings I had once had, held dear and forgotten. I probably read 500 pages that night and was up until 3-4 AM. I prayed for the first time in years after reading that and let the lord know felt that for the first time I knew the Church was true and asked him to confirm it for me. I got an undeniable feeling of a burning in my breast, a feeling of peace and serenity. I've stayed an active member for the most part ever since. Another thing I've always applied is Matthew 7:20 "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Whenever I am putting the lord first in my life things seem to work out in my favor much more often then not. I also noticed that the most devout of my friends were also the ones who seemed to be going places and doing things with their lives. My siblings that are the most stalwart members also seem to be doing the best financially. Throughout my adult life their has been numerous times where I was struggling financially, one of the LDS Tenants is to pay 10% of all income to the church in tithing. I know it doesn't make sense, and the math doesn't work out. But the times when I was not paying my tithing were the times I've struggled the most financially in my life. I would stop paying while times were good and within a couple months I would always end up struggling in one way or another. Their were times where I did the math budgeted it all out and realized if I paid tithing I could not pay all my bills. But I paid my tithing first like I should and somehow it worked out that I was able to pay all my bills, that has happened more times then I can count and helps to reaffirm my testimony.

I was raised Mormon, fell away and then came back to it on my own. I am currently religious because of specific spiritual events that have taken place in my own life.

LesP

Not to nitpick, but that's a false equivalency and suggests that the reason those states caused atrocities is that they were atheistic. The rejection of religion is not what motivated those states' oppression or war crimes; the lack of religion is instead a calculated tool to support the cult of personality around their leaders, i.e. you can't worship your glorious god-king (at least in the case of the DPRK) leader if you're too busy worshipping a skyman who rules the universe and whose rules supersede the political authority's. USSR/DPRK/China's atheism didn't "cause some of the worst crimes in history", their insane leadership did. While the insane leadership is also the cause of jihadist atrocities, in the case of the jihadis religion **IS** the core motivator for or means of justifying the violence. The atheist states you mention never used "there is no god therefore we can do all this horrible stuff", but the jihadis (or crusaders, or inquisitors... feel free to pick your own flavor of holy war/religious atrocity, history is full of examples) **DO** use religion or religious belief to motivate/justify their killings ("allah/god wills that these infidels be killed", "kill these people and you will be rewarded in paradise"). Even so, the cults of personality tend to be religious in nature and use many of the same techniques used by religion (indoctrination of the young, idolatry) and could arguably be described as religious even if their "religion" isn't dedicated to worshipping a supernatural being. **TL;DR** *atheists* committing atrocities is not the same as *atheism* causing atrocities, otherwise every "christian" on death row would be a symptom of religion's horrible influence (which they aren't). Religion and religious beliefs, however, can demonstrably be shown to be the underlying cause for many atrocities throughout history.

Not to nitpick, but that's a false equivalency and suggests that the reason those states caused atrocities is that they were atheistic. The rejection of religion is not what motivated those states' oppression or war crimes; the lack of religion is instead a calculated tool to support the cult of personality around their leaders, i.e. you can't worship your glorious god-king (at least in the case of the DPRK) leader if you're too busy worshipping a skyman who rules the universe and whose rules supersede the political authority's. USSR/DPRK/China's atheism didn't "cause some of the worst crimes in history", their insane leadership did. While the insane leadership is also the cause of jihadist atrocities, in the case of the jihadis religion IS the core motivator for or means of justifying the violence. The atheist states you mention never used "there is no god therefore we can do all this horrible stuff", but the jihadis (or crusaders, or inquisitors... feel free to pick your own flavor of holy war/religious atrocity, history is full of examples) DO use religion or religious belief to motivate/justify their killings ("allah/god wills that these infidels be killed", "kill these people and you will be rewarded in paradise"). Even so, the cults of personality tend to be religious in nature and use many of the same techniques used by religion (indoctrination of the young, idolatry) and could arguably be described as religious even if their "religion" isn't dedicated to worshipping a supernatural being. TL;DR atheists committing atrocities is not the same as atheism causing atrocities, otherwise every "christian" on death row would be a symptom of religion's horrible influence (which they aren't). Religion and religious beliefs, however, can demonstrably be shown to be the underlying cause for many atrocities throughout history.

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t5_2qh1i

cem6g1l

Not to nitpick, but that's a false equivalency and suggests that the reason those states caused atrocities is that they were atheistic. The rejection of religion is not what motivated those states' oppression or war crimes; the lack of religion is instead a calculated tool to support the cult of personality around their leaders, i.e. you can't worship your glorious god-king (at least in the case of the DPRK) leader if you're too busy worshipping a skyman who rules the universe and whose rules supersede the political authority's. USSR/DPRK/China's atheism didn't "cause some of the worst crimes in history", their insane leadership did. While the insane leadership is also the cause of jihadist atrocities, in the case of the jihadis religion IS the core motivator for or means of justifying the violence. The atheist states you mention never used "there is no god therefore we can do all this horrible stuff", but the jihadis (or crusaders, or inquisitors... feel free to pick your own flavor of holy war/religious atrocity, history is full of examples) DO use religion or religious belief to motivate/justify their killings ("allah/god wills that these infidels be killed", "kill these people and you will be rewarded in paradise"). Even so, the cults of personality tend to be religious in nature and use many of the same techniques used by religion (indoctrination of the young, idolatry) and could arguably be described as religious even if their "religion" isn't dedicated to worshipping a supernatural being.

atheists committing atrocities is not the same as atheism causing atrocities, otherwise every "christian" on death row would be a symptom of religion's horrible influence (which they aren't). Religion and religious beliefs, however, can demonstrably be shown to be the underlying cause for many atrocities throughout history.

eatingchocolate

I was raised in a family that is religious but fairly open minded. Didn't have to pray every night and whatever, but went to church on Sundays, etc. So I had a vague understanding of the christian faith at least. I've always believed in God. I don't like the idea that we just become nothing after death. It's comforting to know I don't just stop existing after all of this. When I pray, I honestly feel like someone is listening. Maybe that sounds crazy but whatever. However, I also honestly believe that literally anything is possible. How the fuck do I know what happens when we die? I've never died, I couldn't tell you. For all I know a giant toad with six eyes and legs could be "God". Hopefully not because that would be really fuckin' weird, but if I see something I don't expect when I die, then I'll accept it. I don't judge people for what they believe in, everyone deserves to have something they believe in without it being ridiculed. Frankly, I don't give a shit what other people believe. My faith is for myself, and I don't really bring it into any other aspect of my life, if that makes sense. **TLDR**; Idk I just do, but open to possibilities cause who the fuck knows really.

I was raised in a family that is religious but fairly open minded. Didn't have to pray every night and whatever, but went to church on Sundays, etc. So I had a vague understanding of the christian faith at least. I've always believed in God. I don't like the idea that we just become nothing after death. It's comforting to know I don't just stop existing after all of this. When I pray, I honestly feel like someone is listening. Maybe that sounds crazy but whatever. However, I also honestly believe that literally anything is possible. How the fuck do I know what happens when we die? I've never died, I couldn't tell you. For all I know a giant toad with six eyes and legs could be "God". Hopefully not because that would be really fuckin' weird, but if I see something I don't expect when I die, then I'll accept it. I don't judge people for what they believe in, everyone deserves to have something they believe in without it being ridiculed. Frankly, I don't give a shit what other people believe. My faith is for myself, and I don't really bring it into any other aspect of my life, if that makes sense. TLDR ; Idk I just do, but open to possibilities cause who the fuck knows really.

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t5_2qh1i

cem6gey

I was raised in a family that is religious but fairly open minded. Didn't have to pray every night and whatever, but went to church on Sundays, etc. So I had a vague understanding of the christian faith at least. I've always believed in God. I don't like the idea that we just become nothing after death. It's comforting to know I don't just stop existing after all of this. When I pray, I honestly feel like someone is listening. Maybe that sounds crazy but whatever. However, I also honestly believe that literally anything is possible. How the fuck do I know what happens when we die? I've never died, I couldn't tell you. For all I know a giant toad with six eyes and legs could be "God". Hopefully not because that would be really fuckin' weird, but if I see something I don't expect when I die, then I'll accept it. I don't judge people for what they believe in, everyone deserves to have something they believe in without it being ridiculed. Frankly, I don't give a shit what other people believe. My faith is for myself, and I don't really bring it into any other aspect of my life, if that makes sense.

Idk I just do, but open to possibilities cause who the fuck knows really.

darkiron112

Faith can exist where scientific observation or evidence (note: proof cannot be obtained. disproof can be obtained, but we only have evidence upon which to make decisions) has yet to tread. In this way, the two do not conflict. However, in areas where the scientific method has had its way, faith must move out of the way in the name of logic, should said science properly work against said faith. To operate in other directions is said denail. TLDR; Faith is not explicitly the denial of observation, but in Faith vs Science (*good* science), it becomes that denial. That is how they are opposed.

Faith can exist where scientific observation or evidence (note: proof cannot be obtained. disproof can be obtained, but we only have evidence upon which to make decisions) has yet to tread. In this way, the two do not conflict. However, in areas where the scientific method has had its way, faith must move out of the way in the name of logic, should said science properly work against said faith. To operate in other directions is said denail. TLDR; Faith is not explicitly the denial of observation, but in Faith vs Science ( good science), it becomes that denial. That is how they are opposed.

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t5_2qh1i

cem6j7f

Faith can exist where scientific observation or evidence (note: proof cannot be obtained. disproof can be obtained, but we only have evidence upon which to make decisions) has yet to tread. In this way, the two do not conflict. However, in areas where the scientific method has had its way, faith must move out of the way in the name of logic, should said science properly work against said faith. To operate in other directions is said denail.

Faith is not explicitly the denial of observation, but in Faith vs Science ( good science), it becomes that denial. That is how they are opposed.

PimmehSC

To start out: I'm Dutch (That means the Netherlands). I've been raised without anything religious, but my parents and extended family were raised catholic. I'm studying to become an English teacher and plan to write the greatest novels ever written. At some point in my life I understood enough of religion to know that I don't believe in the christian god. At that point I became, like a lot of teenagers, convinced and almost fanatical atheist. I laughed at religion and scoffed at people who believed. Years later, though, I would go on to live in the USA for a student exchange program. I ended up in Idaho, and interacted a lot with mormons, catholics, methodists, and all other kinds of religions. I read a lot. always have, always will, and the idea behind religion is interesting. It's a staple in most fantasy, and the concept often seems to bizarre to actively believe in. But I kept reading, ended up reading the Bible, various verses from the Koran, and I've still to start on the Torah and Bhagavad Gita, the latter of which is incredibly interesting to me. And as years passed, I learned more and more of the world, of the universe, and of what belief actually means to me. Instead of believing that there's a God or Goddess or group of deities, I realized that I believe in infinity, even though I cannot begin to comprehend what that means. I don't believe reality started with a Big Bang, because absolute nothing doesn't exist. Outside of a small sphere containing all the mass in the universe, there has to have been something. Maybe it IS a God, but would he really bother with me? Maybe he would, seeing as an infinitely powerful being or creator also has the capabilities to know absolutely fucking everything that goes around. But I doubt that he cares. For the sake of simplicity, I use the male form. The female God concept, however amusing, doesn't matter to me in the use, but I am a guy so writing from a male perspective is easier for me. If he does care, he would chuckle at my life, maybe pity a bit (some problems, nothing too bad though), because in the end I'm a pretty clever guy with some pretty ambitious ideas, and I absolutely love people. Not all of them, in fact most of them suck, but the idea of people is something that I cannot shake. People can be magnificent. People have the capacity do absolutely fucking anything, given the time and dedication. I'm an incredibly white european, basically raised with privilege (heh) and I refuse to give up on making this world a better place. Not for god, not for buddha, but for me. I am nice, though a bit incompetent socially. I'm smart, though horribly lacking in some parts of my brain. I want to be kind because I want the world to be kind. There are plenty of people like me, and maybe they follow religions and are good Christians or Muslims, but I don't think that, deep in their hearts, they do it for God. They do it for themselves. We're ingrained with the sense of survival, advancement, and happyness, and people who stray from being nice are outside the norm and should be aided back to being nice. This is something that I believe. A conviction stronger than a lot of religious people that I've met (though a lot weaker than some other religious convictions I've seen in people), and still inadequate to change the world on it's own. I refuse to give up on making this world better, even though I can't do much about it yet as a student. I'll bide my time. Eventually I'll end up writing great books, or teaching kids how to be good people, aside from English. Giving up on this is impossible for me. I can forget about it for a while, but I'll always remember how nice it is to be nice, and have nice people around. So yes, I smoke (weed now, tobacco in the past), I drink, I have sex before marriage, I'm easily too fierce in discussions, I have to apologise often for being a dick without knowing it, I'm horribly competitive in Dota 2 and can rage better than many, and I have failed in life many many times. But I'll never stop trying to do better, because I believe in a good and nice universe. Why don't I believe in god? Because I don't, and even if I did I wouldn't want to have someone else tell me how to believe. Belief is something personal and amazing, so if you're religious and maybe offended by what I'm saying, I would like to praise you for your convictions, and beg you to understand that people might not share your beliefs, which is ok! **tl;dr: Not religious in traditional sense, but not strictly atheistic either.**

To start out: I'm Dutch (That means the Netherlands). I've been raised without anything religious, but my parents and extended family were raised catholic. I'm studying to become an English teacher and plan to write the greatest novels ever written. At some point in my life I understood enough of religion to know that I don't believe in the christian god. At that point I became, like a lot of teenagers, convinced and almost fanatical atheist. I laughed at religion and scoffed at people who believed. Years later, though, I would go on to live in the USA for a student exchange program. I ended up in Idaho, and interacted a lot with mormons, catholics, methodists, and all other kinds of religions. I read a lot. always have, always will, and the idea behind religion is interesting. It's a staple in most fantasy, and the concept often seems to bizarre to actively believe in. But I kept reading, ended up reading the Bible, various verses from the Koran, and I've still to start on the Torah and Bhagavad Gita, the latter of which is incredibly interesting to me. And as years passed, I learned more and more of the world, of the universe, and of what belief actually means to me. Instead of believing that there's a God or Goddess or group of deities, I realized that I believe in infinity, even though I cannot begin to comprehend what that means. I don't believe reality started with a Big Bang, because absolute nothing doesn't exist. Outside of a small sphere containing all the mass in the universe, there has to have been something. Maybe it IS a God, but would he really bother with me? Maybe he would, seeing as an infinitely powerful being or creator also has the capabilities to know absolutely fucking everything that goes around. But I doubt that he cares. For the sake of simplicity, I use the male form. The female God concept, however amusing, doesn't matter to me in the use, but I am a guy so writing from a male perspective is easier for me. If he does care, he would chuckle at my life, maybe pity a bit (some problems, nothing too bad though), because in the end I'm a pretty clever guy with some pretty ambitious ideas, and I absolutely love people. Not all of them, in fact most of them suck, but the idea of people is something that I cannot shake. People can be magnificent. People have the capacity do absolutely fucking anything, given the time and dedication. I'm an incredibly white european, basically raised with privilege (heh) and I refuse to give up on making this world a better place. Not for god, not for buddha, but for me. I am nice, though a bit incompetent socially. I'm smart, though horribly lacking in some parts of my brain. I want to be kind because I want the world to be kind. There are plenty of people like me, and maybe they follow religions and are good Christians or Muslims, but I don't think that, deep in their hearts, they do it for God. They do it for themselves. We're ingrained with the sense of survival, advancement, and happyness, and people who stray from being nice are outside the norm and should be aided back to being nice. This is something that I believe. A conviction stronger than a lot of religious people that I've met (though a lot weaker than some other religious convictions I've seen in people), and still inadequate to change the world on it's own. I refuse to give up on making this world better, even though I can't do much about it yet as a student. I'll bide my time. Eventually I'll end up writing great books, or teaching kids how to be good people, aside from English. Giving up on this is impossible for me. I can forget about it for a while, but I'll always remember how nice it is to be nice, and have nice people around. So yes, I smoke (weed now, tobacco in the past), I drink, I have sex before marriage, I'm easily too fierce in discussions, I have to apologise often for being a dick without knowing it, I'm horribly competitive in Dota 2 and can rage better than many, and I have failed in life many many times. But I'll never stop trying to do better, because I believe in a good and nice universe. Why don't I believe in god? Because I don't, and even if I did I wouldn't want to have someone else tell me how to believe. Belief is something personal and amazing, so if you're religious and maybe offended by what I'm saying, I would like to praise you for your convictions, and beg you to understand that people might not share your beliefs, which is ok! tl;dr: Not religious in traditional sense, but not strictly atheistic either.

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t5_2qh1i

cem6lkv

To start out: I'm Dutch (That means the Netherlands). I've been raised without anything religious, but my parents and extended family were raised catholic. I'm studying to become an English teacher and plan to write the greatest novels ever written. At some point in my life I understood enough of religion to know that I don't believe in the christian god. At that point I became, like a lot of teenagers, convinced and almost fanatical atheist. I laughed at religion and scoffed at people who believed. Years later, though, I would go on to live in the USA for a student exchange program. I ended up in Idaho, and interacted a lot with mormons, catholics, methodists, and all other kinds of religions. I read a lot. always have, always will, and the idea behind religion is interesting. It's a staple in most fantasy, and the concept often seems to bizarre to actively believe in. But I kept reading, ended up reading the Bible, various verses from the Koran, and I've still to start on the Torah and Bhagavad Gita, the latter of which is incredibly interesting to me. And as years passed, I learned more and more of the world, of the universe, and of what belief actually means to me. Instead of believing that there's a God or Goddess or group of deities, I realized that I believe in infinity, even though I cannot begin to comprehend what that means. I don't believe reality started with a Big Bang, because absolute nothing doesn't exist. Outside of a small sphere containing all the mass in the universe, there has to have been something. Maybe it IS a God, but would he really bother with me? Maybe he would, seeing as an infinitely powerful being or creator also has the capabilities to know absolutely fucking everything that goes around. But I doubt that he cares. For the sake of simplicity, I use the male form. The female God concept, however amusing, doesn't matter to me in the use, but I am a guy so writing from a male perspective is easier for me. If he does care, he would chuckle at my life, maybe pity a bit (some problems, nothing too bad though), because in the end I'm a pretty clever guy with some pretty ambitious ideas, and I absolutely love people. Not all of them, in fact most of them suck, but the idea of people is something that I cannot shake. People can be magnificent. People have the capacity do absolutely fucking anything, given the time and dedication. I'm an incredibly white european, basically raised with privilege (heh) and I refuse to give up on making this world a better place. Not for god, not for buddha, but for me. I am nice, though a bit incompetent socially. I'm smart, though horribly lacking in some parts of my brain. I want to be kind because I want the world to be kind. There are plenty of people like me, and maybe they follow religions and are good Christians or Muslims, but I don't think that, deep in their hearts, they do it for God. They do it for themselves. We're ingrained with the sense of survival, advancement, and happyness, and people who stray from being nice are outside the norm and should be aided back to being nice. This is something that I believe. A conviction stronger than a lot of religious people that I've met (though a lot weaker than some other religious convictions I've seen in people), and still inadequate to change the world on it's own. I refuse to give up on making this world better, even though I can't do much about it yet as a student. I'll bide my time. Eventually I'll end up writing great books, or teaching kids how to be good people, aside from English. Giving up on this is impossible for me. I can forget about it for a while, but I'll always remember how nice it is to be nice, and have nice people around. So yes, I smoke (weed now, tobacco in the past), I drink, I have sex before marriage, I'm easily too fierce in discussions, I have to apologise often for being a dick without knowing it, I'm horribly competitive in Dota 2 and can rage better than many, and I have failed in life many many times. But I'll never stop trying to do better, because I believe in a good and nice universe. Why don't I believe in god? Because I don't, and even if I did I wouldn't want to have someone else tell me how to believe. Belief is something personal and amazing, so if you're religious and maybe offended by what I'm saying, I would like to praise you for your convictions, and beg you to understand that people might not share your beliefs, which is ok!

Not religious in traditional sense, but not strictly atheistic either.

soswinglifeaway

I was raised in a Christian home. My parents were conservative, but not crazy (like the ones you see on TV). I believed as a kid, but then in high school I became agnostic. Reasons being: out of all of the religions in the entire world, what are the chances I was born into a family that just happened to *get it right*. It seemed impossibly unlikely. I never stopped believing that there was *a God*, but I briefly stopped believing in the Bible. My return to Christianity was gradual. I didn't just wake up one morning and suddenly believe again, but eventually I realized that I really did believe Christianity to be true. I studied apologetics (books such as [this]( one) which helped confirm my belief that the God in the bible was THE God. I've always believed in creation. I've studied evolution a bit but it's never added up for me. The idea that an explosion led to *life* (emotions, complex thought, etc) is ridiculous to me (no offense to those who believe in evolution). The fact that we are the exact distance from the sun that we need to be. The fact that we are made up of so many tiny, complex elements. Even a part of us as small as our eye is extremely complex. Or taking a closeup look at [snowflakes]( They seem so intricately designed. To think all of this developed in that exact way *by chance* simply doesn't add up for me. tl;dr: I believe in creation because it's too far fetched for me to believe that we all ended up the way we are in this world, the way it is, by chance.

I was raised in a Christian home. My parents were conservative, but not crazy (like the ones you see on TV). I believed as a kid, but then in high school I became agnostic. Reasons being: out of all of the religions in the entire world, what are the chances I was born into a family that just happened to get it right . It seemed impossibly unlikely. I never stopped believing that there was a God , but I briefly stopped believing in the Bible. My return to Christianity was gradual. I didn't just wake up one morning and suddenly believe again, but eventually I realized that I really did believe Christianity to be true. I studied apologetics (books such as this which helped confirm my belief that the God in the bible was THE God. I've always believed in creation. I've studied evolution a bit but it's never added up for me. The idea that an explosion led to life (emotions, complex thought, etc) is ridiculous to me (no offense to those who believe in evolution). The fact that we are the exact distance from the sun that we need to be. The fact that we are made up of so many tiny, complex elements. Even a part of us as small as our eye is extremely complex. Or taking a closeup look at [snowflakes]( They seem so intricately designed. To think all of this developed in that exact way by chance simply doesn't add up for me. tl;dr: I believe in creation because it's too far fetched for me to believe that we all ended up the way we are in this world, the way it is, by chance.

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t5_2qh1i

cem6maj

I was raised in a Christian home. My parents were conservative, but not crazy (like the ones you see on TV). I believed as a kid, but then in high school I became agnostic. Reasons being: out of all of the religions in the entire world, what are the chances I was born into a family that just happened to get it right . It seemed impossibly unlikely. I never stopped believing that there was a God , but I briefly stopped believing in the Bible. My return to Christianity was gradual. I didn't just wake up one morning and suddenly believe again, but eventually I realized that I really did believe Christianity to be true. I studied apologetics (books such as this which helped confirm my belief that the God in the bible was THE God. I've always believed in creation. I've studied evolution a bit but it's never added up for me. The idea that an explosion led to life (emotions, complex thought, etc) is ridiculous to me (no offense to those who believe in evolution). The fact that we are the exact distance from the sun that we need to be. The fact that we are made up of so many tiny, complex elements. Even a part of us as small as our eye is extremely complex. Or taking a closeup look at [snowflakes]( They seem so intricately designed. To think all of this developed in that exact way by chance simply doesn't add up for me.

I believe in creation because it's too far fetched for me to believe that we all ended up the way we are in this world, the way it is, by chance.

dotelpenguin

Not religious. Detest the Catholic church now. Grew up Catholic. Went to a catholic elementary school and Jr. High. Went to church twice a week. Fridays and Sat. The first problem I had was never being allowed to question the church. I was a very curious boy growing up and always questioned why things where. I was told that is just the way it is. If I pushed I got yelled at or punished. When I was a teenager I was very active in youth group, helped teach kids and organized all the events. Only I had a deep hatred for myself because I was GAY. Closeted and confused and terrified. So I did what any "good" Catholic should do, I hid it. Until the day I decided to talk to the head priest about it. His response was to pray about it and not be gay, and to enter the seminary. However I was also told I could not receive communion anymore and I had all responsibility taken away from me for the youth group. I was then "encouraged" not to come to youth group anymore by the directors. The Other priests response was quite different, his response was to have sex with me, and pray together after. It was "OK" as long as you prayed for forgiveness after. He too tried to talk me into joining the seminary. A letter I wrote to the bishop about it was never returned, however the priest in question was immediately transferred to another church. I could not believe how lavish these priests lived. Both always had new cars, housing was paid for. All the new toys. The one in question had an entire game room with all the latest games and arcade machines. All bought by the church. He took us on expensive dinners and vacations with that church money. It was then I realized how corrupt and horrible the Catholic church was. I do believe there is something bigger out there. But the church is nothing more than a corrupt entity filled with horrible people covering up to keep their lifestyle. I refuse to step foot into a catholic church ever again. **TL:DR - Was kicked out of church when asking for help, Had sex with priest but it was OK "because we prayed after"** Edit: words

Not religious. Detest the Catholic church now. Grew up Catholic. Went to a catholic elementary school and Jr. High. Went to church twice a week. Fridays and Sat. The first problem I had was never being allowed to question the church. I was a very curious boy growing up and always questioned why things where. I was told that is just the way it is. If I pushed I got yelled at or punished. When I was a teenager I was very active in youth group, helped teach kids and organized all the events. Only I had a deep hatred for myself because I was GAY. Closeted and confused and terrified. So I did what any "good" Catholic should do, I hid it. Until the day I decided to talk to the head priest about it. His response was to pray about it and not be gay, and to enter the seminary. However I was also told I could not receive communion anymore and I had all responsibility taken away from me for the youth group. I was then "encouraged" not to come to youth group anymore by the directors. The Other priests response was quite different, his response was to have sex with me, and pray together after. It was "OK" as long as you prayed for forgiveness after. He too tried to talk me into joining the seminary. A letter I wrote to the bishop about it was never returned, however the priest in question was immediately transferred to another church. I could not believe how lavish these priests lived. Both always had new cars, housing was paid for. All the new toys. The one in question had an entire game room with all the latest games and arcade machines. All bought by the church. He took us on expensive dinners and vacations with that church money. It was then I realized how corrupt and horrible the Catholic church was. I do believe there is something bigger out there. But the church is nothing more than a corrupt entity filled with horrible people covering up to keep their lifestyle. I refuse to step foot into a catholic church ever again. TL:DR - Was kicked out of church when asking for help, Had sex with priest but it was OK "because we prayed after" Edit: words

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t5_2qh1i

cem6mhu

Not religious. Detest the Catholic church now. Grew up Catholic. Went to a catholic elementary school and Jr. High. Went to church twice a week. Fridays and Sat. The first problem I had was never being allowed to question the church. I was a very curious boy growing up and always questioned why things where. I was told that is just the way it is. If I pushed I got yelled at or punished. When I was a teenager I was very active in youth group, helped teach kids and organized all the events. Only I had a deep hatred for myself because I was GAY. Closeted and confused and terrified. So I did what any "good" Catholic should do, I hid it. Until the day I decided to talk to the head priest about it. His response was to pray about it and not be gay, and to enter the seminary. However I was also told I could not receive communion anymore and I had all responsibility taken away from me for the youth group. I was then "encouraged" not to come to youth group anymore by the directors. The Other priests response was quite different, his response was to have sex with me, and pray together after. It was "OK" as long as you prayed for forgiveness after. He too tried to talk me into joining the seminary. A letter I wrote to the bishop about it was never returned, however the priest in question was immediately transferred to another church. I could not believe how lavish these priests lived. Both always had new cars, housing was paid for. All the new toys. The one in question had an entire game room with all the latest games and arcade machines. All bought by the church. He took us on expensive dinners and vacations with that church money. It was then I realized how corrupt and horrible the Catholic church was. I do believe there is something bigger out there. But the church is nothing more than a corrupt entity filled with horrible people covering up to keep their lifestyle. I refuse to step foot into a catholic church ever again.

Was kicked out of church when asking for help, Had sex with priest but it was OK "because we prayed after" Edit: words

DegenerateWizard

I was a Christian to the nth degree when I was in middle to high school. I was at my church, in one form or another, veritably every single day. In my 9th grade year I began dating a Jewish girl; my first real girlfriend. The people in my church (a non-denominational Christian, which is supposed to be one of the most liberal) came down on me hard. This was spearheaded by a very prominent family within the church. I was being tortured; I was dragged into the men's bathroom by my 14 year old arm by a woman and told that by "mixing yolks" I was going to burn in hell. After a month of this I went to my youth minister to ask for help, to which I was basically told that because of the stature of the family railroading me, his hands were tied. My eyes were opened. The dirty politics, contradictory, and sheep mentality of the church made me objective and questioning of the entire structure, from the façade that people put on to the teachings themselves. In the end I became an atheist, and I'm happier for it. Tl;dr: dated Jew, church turned against me, there is no god, I'm still a good person.

I was a Christian to the nth degree when I was in middle to high school. I was at my church, in one form or another, veritably every single day. In my 9th grade year I began dating a Jewish girl; my first real girlfriend. The people in my church (a non-denominational Christian, which is supposed to be one of the most liberal) came down on me hard. This was spearheaded by a very prominent family within the church. I was being tortured; I was dragged into the men's bathroom by my 14 year old arm by a woman and told that by "mixing yolks" I was going to burn in hell. After a month of this I went to my youth minister to ask for help, to which I was basically told that because of the stature of the family railroading me, his hands were tied. My eyes were opened. The dirty politics, contradictory, and sheep mentality of the church made me objective and questioning of the entire structure, from the façade that people put on to the teachings themselves. In the end I became an atheist, and I'm happier for it. Tl;dr: dated Jew, church turned against me, there is no god, I'm still a good person.

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t5_2qh1i

cem6pbw

I was a Christian to the nth degree when I was in middle to high school. I was at my church, in one form or another, veritably every single day. In my 9th grade year I began dating a Jewish girl; my first real girlfriend. The people in my church (a non-denominational Christian, which is supposed to be one of the most liberal) came down on me hard. This was spearheaded by a very prominent family within the church. I was being tortured; I was dragged into the men's bathroom by my 14 year old arm by a woman and told that by "mixing yolks" I was going to burn in hell. After a month of this I went to my youth minister to ask for help, to which I was basically told that because of the stature of the family railroading me, his hands were tied. My eyes were opened. The dirty politics, contradictory, and sheep mentality of the church made me objective and questioning of the entire structure, from the façade that people put on to the teachings themselves. In the end I became an atheist, and I'm happier for it.

dated Jew, church turned against me, there is no god, I'm still a good person.

philo_the_middle

If we view belief in God/god as a spectrum, with a-theism on the left, theism on the right and agnosticism in the middle, I have moved from devout theist to somewhat-theist, somewhat-agnostic and here's why: I was raised Southern Baptist but am very logical/analytic. For questions of knowledge (defined for me as justified true belief), one has to have evidence to make logical decisions from. Logic requires physical evidence to base premises and conclusions upon. For me, the use of bible scripture as divine truth doesn't cut it anymore due to years of research into various analyses of many sections. I came to discover, that no amount of logic/reason can move from the physical to the metaphysical. There is no logical path to believe in God - there's no explanation that doesn't have holes. So, everyday I have to make a conscious choice to believe in God against any doubts because the only thing I _know_ at this point is that no amount of logical reasoning can prove/disprove the existence of God or gods. From a likelihood point of view, it is unlikely there is a God, but I continue to choose to believe because if there is not, then humanity has no hope for a universal, REAL truth that transcends any idea of truth. I believe the messages preached by Jesus of Nazareth is the best hope for mankind, therefore I choose to believe. **TLDR:** Raised Baptist, logical problems ensued, now I still choose to believe because logic/reasoning cannot move from the physical to the metaphysical.

If we view belief in God/god as a spectrum, with a-theism on the left, theism on the right and agnosticism in the middle, I have moved from devout theist to somewhat-theist, somewhat-agnostic and here's why: I was raised Southern Baptist but am very logical/analytic. For questions of knowledge (defined for me as justified true belief), one has to have evidence to make logical decisions from. Logic requires physical evidence to base premises and conclusions upon. For me, the use of bible scripture as divine truth doesn't cut it anymore due to years of research into various analyses of many sections. I came to discover, that no amount of logic/reason can move from the physical to the metaphysical. There is no logical path to believe in God - there's no explanation that doesn't have holes. So, everyday I have to make a conscious choice to believe in God against any doubts because the only thing I know at this point is that no amount of logical reasoning can prove/disprove the existence of God or gods. From a likelihood point of view, it is unlikely there is a God, but I continue to choose to believe because if there is not, then humanity has no hope for a universal, REAL truth that transcends any idea of truth. I believe the messages preached by Jesus of Nazareth is the best hope for mankind, therefore I choose to believe. TLDR: Raised Baptist, logical problems ensued, now I still choose to believe because logic/reasoning cannot move from the physical to the metaphysical.

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t5_2qh1i

cem6pku

If we view belief in God/god as a spectrum, with a-theism on the left, theism on the right and agnosticism in the middle, I have moved from devout theist to somewhat-theist, somewhat-agnostic and here's why: I was raised Southern Baptist but am very logical/analytic. For questions of knowledge (defined for me as justified true belief), one has to have evidence to make logical decisions from. Logic requires physical evidence to base premises and conclusions upon. For me, the use of bible scripture as divine truth doesn't cut it anymore due to years of research into various analyses of many sections. I came to discover, that no amount of logic/reason can move from the physical to the metaphysical. There is no logical path to believe in God - there's no explanation that doesn't have holes. So, everyday I have to make a conscious choice to believe in God against any doubts because the only thing I know at this point is that no amount of logical reasoning can prove/disprove the existence of God or gods. From a likelihood point of view, it is unlikely there is a God, but I continue to choose to believe because if there is not, then humanity has no hope for a universal, REAL truth that transcends any idea of truth. I believe the messages preached by Jesus of Nazareth is the best hope for mankind, therefore I choose to believe.

Raised Baptist, logical problems ensued, now I still choose to believe because logic/reasoning cannot move from the physical to the metaphysical.

TheBestWifesHusband

i believe there was a guy, with a good idea, who may or may not have been called Jesus roving the Middle East telling people to be awesome to each other and promoting equality saying "we're all the children of God, you me, him her, all of us." The people went "OMG this guy says he's the son of god! I know I'm not cause my Dad is that dude over here, but this guys says he is!!" Then it kinda snowballed and got hijacked by a bunch of other people and turned into a set of different enormous, bloated, massively contradictory "religions." All with the same kind of point (be awesome to each other) but with a different "spin." All at each others throats, often living in economic systems which forced them to change the "interpretation" of their religion (lending money for profit is a sin you know! Worshipping money? Another sin. etc etc) I also believe the devicive nature of religion (almost like sports teams) causes most of our worlds pain, sufferring and conflict. TL;DR IMO Jesus was a dude with a good message. But not the son of God. Organisation of religion killed it's original message and function.

i believe there was a guy, with a good idea, who may or may not have been called Jesus roving the Middle East telling people to be awesome to each other and promoting equality saying "we're all the children of God, you me, him her, all of us." The people went "OMG this guy says he's the son of god! I know I'm not cause my Dad is that dude over here, but this guys says he is!!" Then it kinda snowballed and got hijacked by a bunch of other people and turned into a set of different enormous, bloated, massively contradictory "religions." All with the same kind of point (be awesome to each other) but with a different "spin." All at each others throats, often living in economic systems which forced them to change the "interpretation" of their religion (lending money for profit is a sin you know! Worshipping money? Another sin. etc etc) I also believe the devicive nature of religion (almost like sports teams) causes most of our worlds pain, sufferring and conflict. TL;DR IMO Jesus was a dude with a good message. But not the son of God. Organisation of religion killed it's original message and function.

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t5_2qh1i

cem6tfu

i believe there was a guy, with a good idea, who may or may not have been called Jesus roving the Middle East telling people to be awesome to each other and promoting equality saying "we're all the children of God, you me, him her, all of us." The people went "OMG this guy says he's the son of god! I know I'm not cause my Dad is that dude over here, but this guys says he is!!" Then it kinda snowballed and got hijacked by a bunch of other people and turned into a set of different enormous, bloated, massively contradictory "religions." All with the same kind of point (be awesome to each other) but with a different "spin." All at each others throats, often living in economic systems which forced them to change the "interpretation" of their religion (lending money for profit is a sin you know! Worshipping money? Another sin. etc etc) I also believe the devicive nature of religion (almost like sports teams) causes most of our worlds pain, sufferring and conflict.

IMO Jesus was a dude with a good message. But not the son of God. Organisation of religion killed it's original message and function.

grahamsmacker

Hogwash. This trope is tiresome, and only valid against fundamentalism. I am a Christian, but I don't rely on religion to give me facts about the Universe. Science is the best means that humans have to find fact--period. My faith and science are never in conflict, because my faith doesn't give me facts. My faith offers me meaning, hope, and truths about the human experience. All soft, subjective things that are still essential to me. Throw in the fact that science itself reveals data that show healthful benefits to individuals and to society when non-authoritarain religions are practiced and I have it both ways: something that makes me feel better about life, and something scientifically demonstrated to make me happier, calmer, and with better focus. Tell me again about how science and faith are at odds with each other. TL;DR - There is more to religion that fundamentalism, and the constant bickering of atheists and religious fundamentalists is boring.

Hogwash. This trope is tiresome, and only valid against fundamentalism. I am a Christian, but I don't rely on religion to give me facts about the Universe. Science is the best means that humans have to find fact--period. My faith and science are never in conflict, because my faith doesn't give me facts. My faith offers me meaning, hope, and truths about the human experience. All soft, subjective things that are still essential to me. Throw in the fact that science itself reveals data that show healthful benefits to individuals and to society when non-authoritarain religions are practiced and I have it both ways: something that makes me feel better about life, and something scientifically demonstrated to make me happier, calmer, and with better focus. Tell me again about how science and faith are at odds with each other. TL;DR - There is more to religion that fundamentalism, and the constant bickering of atheists and religious fundamentalists is boring.

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t5_2qh1i

cem6v06

Hogwash. This trope is tiresome, and only valid against fundamentalism. I am a Christian, but I don't rely on religion to give me facts about the Universe. Science is the best means that humans have to find fact--period. My faith and science are never in conflict, because my faith doesn't give me facts. My faith offers me meaning, hope, and truths about the human experience. All soft, subjective things that are still essential to me. Throw in the fact that science itself reveals data that show healthful benefits to individuals and to society when non-authoritarain religions are practiced and I have it both ways: something that makes me feel better about life, and something scientifically demonstrated to make me happier, calmer, and with better focus. Tell me again about how science and faith are at odds with each other.

There is more to religion that fundamentalism, and the constant bickering of atheists and religious fundamentalists is boring.

blobcat123

Raised as a devout Hindu. Parents are Hindu, family has strong ties to religion, super religious family. I also was super religious. For any Hindus out there, I was familiar with basic mantras, and I memorized the Hanuman Chalisa. I live in America, so no Hinduism based schools here. Now, Hinduism is actually more of a lifestyle than a religion, however my parents were strictly into the religious part of it. Most of my parents friends are Indians, and Hindus as well. They all attended Temple regularly, as did I. I was raised to always obey, to love and fear God(s). God was someone who I always prayed to, to escape trouble. Well, little me was in for a rude awakening. In middle school, I was bullied for a straight two years. It was non-stop, everyday. The only thing I could do was pray. I was helpless. My parents told me the same thing "pray to god, and everything will be ok". I did pray, a ton. I chanted mantras, and prayed. However, these were upperclassmen, so they left the school after I entered a certain grade, and I was no longer bullied. It was then I realized that God had, put simply, done jack-shit. It was all me, waiting out the entire period of bullying. No divine intervention had come to save me. I was alone. I started to develop this form of thinking more, that I am in control of my life, and God had nothing to do with it. Eventually, I stopped believing in God completely. I realized, that everything has a purpose, everything is the result of an action. The bullying didn't stop because God saved me, it stopped because the bullies left the school. Eventually I told my parents, that I stopped believing in God, and had no plan to start again; that I would always be an atheist. That really pissed my dad off. How could he, a devout Hindu of the highest caste have a son, who denies his religion and the truths of God? My dad and I now have this sort of rift, which was always there, but now it's greater because I no longer attend temple with him, I don't attend poojas (religious rituals) with him. As a result of this, I no longer see my family's friends that regularly go to the temple. It's not only my religion that I shun, it's all religion. I don't see why people have God in their lives, an ethereal force that can only be described but cannot be proven nor can it be disproved. There's no motivation of self to do anything, if you entrust your fate to God. TL;DR: I don't like religion because I believe that all motivation and action should come from within and not from a belief in a force that governs the universe. I no longer have an extremely strong bond with my parents nor my community because of my decision. I am currently very happy with my decision, and plan to look into Buddhism later. edit: fixed formatting

Raised as a devout Hindu. Parents are Hindu, family has strong ties to religion, super religious family. I also was super religious. For any Hindus out there, I was familiar with basic mantras, and I memorized the Hanuman Chalisa. I live in America, so no Hinduism based schools here. Now, Hinduism is actually more of a lifestyle than a religion, however my parents were strictly into the religious part of it. Most of my parents friends are Indians, and Hindus as well. They all attended Temple regularly, as did I. I was raised to always obey, to love and fear God(s). God was someone who I always prayed to, to escape trouble. Well, little me was in for a rude awakening. In middle school, I was bullied for a straight two years. It was non-stop, everyday. The only thing I could do was pray. I was helpless. My parents told me the same thing "pray to god, and everything will be ok". I did pray, a ton. I chanted mantras, and prayed. However, these were upperclassmen, so they left the school after I entered a certain grade, and I was no longer bullied. It was then I realized that God had, put simply, done jack-shit. It was all me, waiting out the entire period of bullying. No divine intervention had come to save me. I was alone. I started to develop this form of thinking more, that I am in control of my life, and God had nothing to do with it. Eventually, I stopped believing in God completely. I realized, that everything has a purpose, everything is the result of an action. The bullying didn't stop because God saved me, it stopped because the bullies left the school. Eventually I told my parents, that I stopped believing in God, and had no plan to start again; that I would always be an atheist. That really pissed my dad off. How could he, a devout Hindu of the highest caste have a son, who denies his religion and the truths of God? My dad and I now have this sort of rift, which was always there, but now it's greater because I no longer attend temple with him, I don't attend poojas (religious rituals) with him. As a result of this, I no longer see my family's friends that regularly go to the temple. It's not only my religion that I shun, it's all religion. I don't see why people have God in their lives, an ethereal force that can only be described but cannot be proven nor can it be disproved. There's no motivation of self to do anything, if you entrust your fate to God. TL;DR: I don't like religion because I believe that all motivation and action should come from within and not from a belief in a force that governs the universe. I no longer have an extremely strong bond with my parents nor my community because of my decision. I am currently very happy with my decision, and plan to look into Buddhism later. edit: fixed formatting

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t5_2qh1i

cem6yhb

Raised as a devout Hindu. Parents are Hindu, family has strong ties to religion, super religious family. I also was super religious. For any Hindus out there, I was familiar with basic mantras, and I memorized the Hanuman Chalisa. I live in America, so no Hinduism based schools here. Now, Hinduism is actually more of a lifestyle than a religion, however my parents were strictly into the religious part of it. Most of my parents friends are Indians, and Hindus as well. They all attended Temple regularly, as did I. I was raised to always obey, to love and fear God(s). God was someone who I always prayed to, to escape trouble. Well, little me was in for a rude awakening. In middle school, I was bullied for a straight two years. It was non-stop, everyday. The only thing I could do was pray. I was helpless. My parents told me the same thing "pray to god, and everything will be ok". I did pray, a ton. I chanted mantras, and prayed. However, these were upperclassmen, so they left the school after I entered a certain grade, and I was no longer bullied. It was then I realized that God had, put simply, done jack-shit. It was all me, waiting out the entire period of bullying. No divine intervention had come to save me. I was alone. I started to develop this form of thinking more, that I am in control of my life, and God had nothing to do with it. Eventually, I stopped believing in God completely. I realized, that everything has a purpose, everything is the result of an action. The bullying didn't stop because God saved me, it stopped because the bullies left the school. Eventually I told my parents, that I stopped believing in God, and had no plan to start again; that I would always be an atheist. That really pissed my dad off. How could he, a devout Hindu of the highest caste have a son, who denies his religion and the truths of God? My dad and I now have this sort of rift, which was always there, but now it's greater because I no longer attend temple with him, I don't attend poojas (religious rituals) with him. As a result of this, I no longer see my family's friends that regularly go to the temple. It's not only my religion that I shun, it's all religion. I don't see why people have God in their lives, an ethereal force that can only be described but cannot be proven nor can it be disproved. There's no motivation of self to do anything, if you entrust your fate to God.

I don't like religion because I believe that all motivation and action should come from within and not from a belief in a force that governs the universe. I no longer have an extremely strong bond with my parents nor my community because of my decision. I am currently very happy with my decision, and plan to look into Buddhism later. edit: fixed formatting

CndConnection

Because it's very simple to figure out it's all completely bullshit and that real life does not mirror religious texts AT ALL. If you live your life according to the script, you will simply follow a string of inconsistency and misguidance the whole way and only truly ignorant folks and scared folks can make excuses for why it's different ("god works in mysterious ways!") You gotta be fucking stupid to think the secret of this universe is written in a book, written by humans no less, thousands of years ago in languages we struggle to fully understand. How can anyone not see it's fake once they realize the only reason they know about it/believe it, is because they were born in it and people indoctrinated them to believe it. EDIT Forgot to mention my background; raised catholic in small catholic town. Nothing hardcore, didn't have to go to church if I didn't want to but I went sometimes with my best friend's family if I had slept over Saturday night. Didn't mind it so much, people were friendly and the messages of peace and all that were nice to hear as a kid (only to become upsetting as you realize it's all bullshit and the people in the pews are like everyone else: flawed and by their definition sinful). Someone below mentioned that they got to study more than one religion and that helped them see the inconsistencies. I too was very lucky in that our school taught about more than just one, even in the class meant only for Christianity. It worked like this : either you were in Christian theory class or in a "morals" class where basically the teacher discussed how morals and ethics and how to be civil and that shit. I am rambling but yeah even in the Christian class we talked about other religions (perhaps only because my teacher was a good person idk). I distinctly remember thinking "if so many people across the world think it's all a different thing, even if they have similar base message, how could only 1 be true?" so that helped enlighten me. Tl;Dr: Realized on my own at around age 15 that it couldn't be real but chose to remain agnostic. After growing up and constantly being reminded that bad shit happens to good people and that no one out there will help you, I decided there is no way a god exists and if he did, he can suck a cock.

Because it's very simple to figure out it's all completely bullshit and that real life does not mirror religious texts AT ALL. If you live your life according to the script, you will simply follow a string of inconsistency and misguidance the whole way and only truly ignorant folks and scared folks can make excuses for why it's different ("god works in mysterious ways!") You gotta be fucking stupid to think the secret of this universe is written in a book, written by humans no less, thousands of years ago in languages we struggle to fully understand. How can anyone not see it's fake once they realize the only reason they know about it/believe it, is because they were born in it and people indoctrinated them to believe it. EDIT Forgot to mention my background; raised catholic in small catholic town. Nothing hardcore, didn't have to go to church if I didn't want to but I went sometimes with my best friend's family if I had slept over Saturday night. Didn't mind it so much, people were friendly and the messages of peace and all that were nice to hear as a kid (only to become upsetting as you realize it's all bullshit and the people in the pews are like everyone else: flawed and by their definition sinful). Someone below mentioned that they got to study more than one religion and that helped them see the inconsistencies. I too was very lucky in that our school taught about more than just one, even in the class meant only for Christianity. It worked like this : either you were in Christian theory class or in a "morals" class where basically the teacher discussed how morals and ethics and how to be civil and that shit. I am rambling but yeah even in the Christian class we talked about other religions (perhaps only because my teacher was a good person idk). I distinctly remember thinking "if so many people across the world think it's all a different thing, even if they have similar base message, how could only 1 be true?" so that helped enlighten me. Tl;Dr: Realized on my own at around age 15 that it couldn't be real but chose to remain agnostic. After growing up and constantly being reminded that bad shit happens to good people and that no one out there will help you, I decided there is no way a god exists and if he did, he can suck a cock.

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t5_2qh1i

cem726z

Because it's very simple to figure out it's all completely bullshit and that real life does not mirror religious texts AT ALL. If you live your life according to the script, you will simply follow a string of inconsistency and misguidance the whole way and only truly ignorant folks and scared folks can make excuses for why it's different ("god works in mysterious ways!") You gotta be fucking stupid to think the secret of this universe is written in a book, written by humans no less, thousands of years ago in languages we struggle to fully understand. How can anyone not see it's fake once they realize the only reason they know about it/believe it, is because they were born in it and people indoctrinated them to believe it. EDIT Forgot to mention my background; raised catholic in small catholic town. Nothing hardcore, didn't have to go to church if I didn't want to but I went sometimes with my best friend's family if I had slept over Saturday night. Didn't mind it so much, people were friendly and the messages of peace and all that were nice to hear as a kid (only to become upsetting as you realize it's all bullshit and the people in the pews are like everyone else: flawed and by their definition sinful). Someone below mentioned that they got to study more than one religion and that helped them see the inconsistencies. I too was very lucky in that our school taught about more than just one, even in the class meant only for Christianity. It worked like this : either you were in Christian theory class or in a "morals" class where basically the teacher discussed how morals and ethics and how to be civil and that shit. I am rambling but yeah even in the Christian class we talked about other religions (perhaps only because my teacher was a good person idk). I distinctly remember thinking "if so many people across the world think it's all a different thing, even if they have similar base message, how could only 1 be true?" so that helped enlighten me.

Realized on my own at around age 15 that it couldn't be real but chose to remain agnostic. After growing up and constantly being reminded that bad shit happens to good people and that no one out there will help you, I decided there is no way a god exists and if he did, he can suck a cock.

flclimber

I was religious until I read the bible. Let that sink in for a second. The main text of my religion caused me to lose my faith. It's easy to pick out parts that you like. Be good to your neighbor, turn the other cheek, etc. What I didn't realize is the fact that good morality only covers what seems to be 1% of the text. What else is in there you ask? How to keep and treat your slaves. If you rape a woman and take her virginity, she better damn well become your wife. Not only that, but just think of how many wars were started in the name of religion. The crusades, for instance. How psychotic were these Christians when they truly believed God was on their side. The crusaders are to Christianity what the WTC bombers are to Islam. And then there's the notion that homosexuality is wrong. It doesn't affect them in any way, but two guys who love each other can't get married because you say your god thinks it's wrong? Blow me. Abortion is wrong too? Even if the mother and/or child will die without it? Love thy neighbor, my ass. I refer to myself as apathetic, or an apatheist. I don't care if there is or isn't a higher power, I'm going to live my life according to my own moral compass. If there isn't a god, nothing is lost. If there is a god, and he decides to judge me, he will take note of my actions and realize I led a good life, and treated others with kindness. If he actually supports the rape, murder, and genocide in the bible, and claimed by people in his name, then I don't want to go to heaven. TL;DR I don't have a problem with God, it's his fanclub I can't stand. Sorry if that's hard to follow, or if I made any spelling errors, I'm on mobile right now.

I was religious until I read the bible. Let that sink in for a second. The main text of my religion caused me to lose my faith. It's easy to pick out parts that you like. Be good to your neighbor, turn the other cheek, etc. What I didn't realize is the fact that good morality only covers what seems to be 1% of the text. What else is in there you ask? How to keep and treat your slaves. If you rape a woman and take her virginity, she better damn well become your wife. Not only that, but just think of how many wars were started in the name of religion. The crusades, for instance. How psychotic were these Christians when they truly believed God was on their side. The crusaders are to Christianity what the WTC bombers are to Islam. And then there's the notion that homosexuality is wrong. It doesn't affect them in any way, but two guys who love each other can't get married because you say your god thinks it's wrong? Blow me. Abortion is wrong too? Even if the mother and/or child will die without it? Love thy neighbor, my ass. I refer to myself as apathetic, or an apatheist. I don't care if there is or isn't a higher power, I'm going to live my life according to my own moral compass. If there isn't a god, nothing is lost. If there is a god, and he decides to judge me, he will take note of my actions and realize I led a good life, and treated others with kindness. If he actually supports the rape, murder, and genocide in the bible, and claimed by people in his name, then I don't want to go to heaven. TL;DR I don't have a problem with God, it's his fanclub I can't stand. Sorry if that's hard to follow, or if I made any spelling errors, I'm on mobile right now.

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t5_2qh1i

cem73bo

I was religious until I read the bible. Let that sink in for a second. The main text of my religion caused me to lose my faith. It's easy to pick out parts that you like. Be good to your neighbor, turn the other cheek, etc. What I didn't realize is the fact that good morality only covers what seems to be 1% of the text. What else is in there you ask? How to keep and treat your slaves. If you rape a woman and take her virginity, she better damn well become your wife. Not only that, but just think of how many wars were started in the name of religion. The crusades, for instance. How psychotic were these Christians when they truly believed God was on their side. The crusaders are to Christianity what the WTC bombers are to Islam. And then there's the notion that homosexuality is wrong. It doesn't affect them in any way, but two guys who love each other can't get married because you say your god thinks it's wrong? Blow me. Abortion is wrong too? Even if the mother and/or child will die without it? Love thy neighbor, my ass. I refer to myself as apathetic, or an apatheist. I don't care if there is or isn't a higher power, I'm going to live my life according to my own moral compass. If there isn't a god, nothing is lost. If there is a god, and he decides to judge me, he will take note of my actions and realize I led a good life, and treated others with kindness. If he actually supports the rape, murder, and genocide in the bible, and claimed by people in his name, then I don't want to go to heaven.

I don't have a problem with God, it's his fanclub I can't stand. Sorry if that's hard to follow, or if I made any spelling errors, I'm on mobile right now.

dastweinerhund

I had already read books like Alice and Wonderland and Roald Dahl books before I was introduced to Catholicism so it was very silly for me to read such stories and be told that adults believed them to be true. I had to go to Sunday school and I asked questions that would get me in trouble or sent home. Then my mom said I didn't have to go anymore. She's an atheist but was just taking me because my grandmother was Catholic and wanted her to take me. tldr: I read books before the bible.

I had already read books like Alice and Wonderland and Roald Dahl books before I was introduced to Catholicism so it was very silly for me to read such stories and be told that adults believed them to be true. I had to go to Sunday school and I asked questions that would get me in trouble or sent home. Then my mom said I didn't have to go anymore. She's an atheist but was just taking me because my grandmother was Catholic and wanted her to take me. tldr: I read books before the bible.

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t5_2qh1i

cem75q5

I had already read books like Alice and Wonderland and Roald Dahl books before I was introduced to Catholicism so it was very silly for me to read such stories and be told that adults believed them to be true. I had to go to Sunday school and I asked questions that would get me in trouble or sent home. Then my mom said I didn't have to go anymore. She's an atheist but was just taking me because my grandmother was Catholic and wanted her to take me.

I read books before the bible.

Burdicus

I don't think God *directly* answers prayer. It's very possibly he listens to them, but I don't think he makes it happen. However, the beauty of faith in God is discovering answers you never would have before. A perfect example for me... a few years back I had put on a lot of weight. I wasn't "fat" by any means, but I desperately wanted to get back in shape before it was too late. I started running again. The first few days I kind of half-assed it and didn't get much of a workout in. Then one day I decided I was going to be motivated and really push myself. Right when I got to that point where I usually gave up, a song came on (I was listening to Pandora on my phone while running). The song made me think of God. I thought to myself, 'God would *want* me to better my life' and I pushed harder. That year I lost 40lbs and it all started that day. Now, to make things clear, I'm not saying God put that song on my Pandora. What I'm saying is, if I didn't *beleive* in God, that song would have meant nothing to me and I may not have gotten past my slump. I had prayed to God to help me lose weight in the past, but had no answer. But this time, through my fiath in God, I was able to find my own answer. **TL;DR:** God didn't magically take the weight off of me, but my belief in God allowed me to do it myself. __ **EDIT**: A lot of people seem to think that I'm contributing my weight loss to God. That's not exactly what I'm doing. **I** did the work. I'm simply stating that my faith is what allowed me to be motivated, without that faith I can't say for certain if I ever would have found the motivation to make a change. **EDIT 2:** I appreciate all of the questions and comments people have submitted to this post. I'm always happy to be part of a respectable conversation like this. No one has insulted me for my beliefs, and as such I feel this leads to great understanding, especially between those who disagree.

I don't think God directly answers prayer. It's very possibly he listens to them, but I don't think he makes it happen. However, the beauty of faith in God is discovering answers you never would have before. A perfect example for me... a few years back I had put on a lot of weight. I wasn't "fat" by any means, but I desperately wanted to get back in shape before it was too late. I started running again. The first few days I kind of half-assed it and didn't get much of a workout in. Then one day I decided I was going to be motivated and really push myself. Right when I got to that point where I usually gave up, a song came on (I was listening to Pandora on my phone while running). The song made me think of God. I thought to myself, 'God would want me to better my life' and I pushed harder. That year I lost 40lbs and it all started that day. Now, to make things clear, I'm not saying God put that song on my Pandora. What I'm saying is, if I didn't beleive in God, that song would have meant nothing to me and I may not have gotten past my slump. I had prayed to God to help me lose weight in the past, but had no answer. But this time, through my fiath in God, I was able to find my own answer. TL;DR: God didn't magically take the weight off of me, but my belief in God allowed me to do it myself. __ EDIT : A lot of people seem to think that I'm contributing my weight loss to God. That's not exactly what I'm doing. I did the work. I'm simply stating that my faith is what allowed me to be motivated, without that faith I can't say for certain if I ever would have found the motivation to make a change. EDIT 2: I appreciate all of the questions and comments people have submitted to this post. I'm always happy to be part of a respectable conversation like this. No one has insulted me for my beliefs, and as such I feel this leads to great understanding, especially between those who disagree.

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t5_2qh1i

cem76jb

I don't think God directly answers prayer. It's very possibly he listens to them, but I don't think he makes it happen. However, the beauty of faith in God is discovering answers you never would have before. A perfect example for me... a few years back I had put on a lot of weight. I wasn't "fat" by any means, but I desperately wanted to get back in shape before it was too late. I started running again. The first few days I kind of half-assed it and didn't get much of a workout in. Then one day I decided I was going to be motivated and really push myself. Right when I got to that point where I usually gave up, a song came on (I was listening to Pandora on my phone while running). The song made me think of God. I thought to myself, 'God would want me to better my life' and I pushed harder. That year I lost 40lbs and it all started that day. Now, to make things clear, I'm not saying God put that song on my Pandora. What I'm saying is, if I didn't beleive in God, that song would have meant nothing to me and I may not have gotten past my slump. I had prayed to God to help me lose weight in the past, but had no answer. But this time, through my fiath in God, I was able to find my own answer.

God didn't magically take the weight off of me, but my belief in God allowed me to do it myself. __ EDIT : A lot of people seem to think that I'm contributing my weight loss to God. That's not exactly what I'm doing. I did the work. I'm simply stating that my faith is what allowed me to be motivated, without that faith I can't say for certain if I ever would have found the motivation to make a change. EDIT 2: I appreciate all of the questions and comments people have submitted to this post. I'm always happy to be part of a respectable conversation like this. No one has insulted me for my beliefs, and as such I feel this leads to great understanding, especially between those who disagree.

Barabajagala

When I was 5 I figured out Santa didn't exist. When I was 7 I read in a book that The Big Bang created the universe. As a 7 year old, to me, God was primarily the creator of everything, so to learn that the universe was made by another possible source I figured God was just another Santa. I was very surprised when I told Mum of my discovery that she was coy about the real answer, which she wasn't particularly about Santa. That set the groundings for my standing and as I grew up I got very stubborn about it, but couldn't exactly back it up other than the basics. I then took a 2 year Philosophy and Ethics course which really affirmed my beliefs despite being very well taught for impartiality. I found that every argument presented for God was fallible (ontological lol) and even the stronger arguments had flaws which were countered. In science nothing is correct, only less untrue. It takes all the evidence in the world to prove something correct, and only one piece against to prove false. I carry this mentality into philosophy of religion. This leaves me with wondering why other people may be religious. Some people may be brought up one religion (Dawkins called this Child Abuse, which is a stretch and a half, but made the point that a child wouldn't be called a Tory child if born to Tory parents and the same should apply to religion). But in response to voluntarily turning to religion (barring mental issues, religious experiences, drug use and other similar impacting factors) I like a Marxist theory of religion. Communism etc isn't really for me, but Marx said that religion was 'a spiritual gin to comfort the pain of life', and that sits well with me. Some people just want comfort and to feel at ease, which is all good. I would like to point out I'm not saying people turning to religion is desperation, I try not to be condescending (that means to talk down to people). And, seeing how I am perfectly comfortable feeling life is meaningless on a larger scale (perfectly meaningful on our considerably smaller scale) I have no need to be religious. Thank you for reading, sorry if I deeply offended anybody, I have done far too much of that when I was 15, I don't like being caught doing that anymore. TL;DR : Existential nihilist hates Santa, metaphorical thought and Happiness.

When I was 5 I figured out Santa didn't exist. When I was 7 I read in a book that The Big Bang created the universe. As a 7 year old, to me, God was primarily the creator of everything, so to learn that the universe was made by another possible source I figured God was just another Santa. I was very surprised when I told Mum of my discovery that she was coy about the real answer, which she wasn't particularly about Santa. That set the groundings for my standing and as I grew up I got very stubborn about it, but couldn't exactly back it up other than the basics. I then took a 2 year Philosophy and Ethics course which really affirmed my beliefs despite being very well taught for impartiality. I found that every argument presented for God was fallible (ontological lol) and even the stronger arguments had flaws which were countered. In science nothing is correct, only less untrue. It takes all the evidence in the world to prove something correct, and only one piece against to prove false. I carry this mentality into philosophy of religion. This leaves me with wondering why other people may be religious. Some people may be brought up one religion (Dawkins called this Child Abuse, which is a stretch and a half, but made the point that a child wouldn't be called a Tory child if born to Tory parents and the same should apply to religion). But in response to voluntarily turning to religion (barring mental issues, religious experiences, drug use and other similar impacting factors) I like a Marxist theory of religion. Communism etc isn't really for me, but Marx said that religion was 'a spiritual gin to comfort the pain of life', and that sits well with me. Some people just want comfort and to feel at ease, which is all good. I would like to point out I'm not saying people turning to religion is desperation, I try not to be condescending (that means to talk down to people). And, seeing how I am perfectly comfortable feeling life is meaningless on a larger scale (perfectly meaningful on our considerably smaller scale) I have no need to be religious. Thank you for reading, sorry if I deeply offended anybody, I have done far too much of that when I was 15, I don't like being caught doing that anymore. TL;DR : Existential nihilist hates Santa, metaphorical thought and Happiness.

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t5_2qh1i

cem7a0g

When I was 5 I figured out Santa didn't exist. When I was 7 I read in a book that The Big Bang created the universe. As a 7 year old, to me, God was primarily the creator of everything, so to learn that the universe was made by another possible source I figured God was just another Santa. I was very surprised when I told Mum of my discovery that she was coy about the real answer, which she wasn't particularly about Santa. That set the groundings for my standing and as I grew up I got very stubborn about it, but couldn't exactly back it up other than the basics. I then took a 2 year Philosophy and Ethics course which really affirmed my beliefs despite being very well taught for impartiality. I found that every argument presented for God was fallible (ontological lol) and even the stronger arguments had flaws which were countered. In science nothing is correct, only less untrue. It takes all the evidence in the world to prove something correct, and only one piece against to prove false. I carry this mentality into philosophy of religion. This leaves me with wondering why other people may be religious. Some people may be brought up one religion (Dawkins called this Child Abuse, which is a stretch and a half, but made the point that a child wouldn't be called a Tory child if born to Tory parents and the same should apply to religion). But in response to voluntarily turning to religion (barring mental issues, religious experiences, drug use and other similar impacting factors) I like a Marxist theory of religion. Communism etc isn't really for me, but Marx said that religion was 'a spiritual gin to comfort the pain of life', and that sits well with me. Some people just want comfort and to feel at ease, which is all good. I would like to point out I'm not saying people turning to religion is desperation, I try not to be condescending (that means to talk down to people). And, seeing how I am perfectly comfortable feeling life is meaningless on a larger scale (perfectly meaningful on our considerably smaller scale) I have no need to be religious. Thank you for reading, sorry if I deeply offended anybody, I have done far too much of that when I was 15, I don't like being caught doing that anymore.

Existential nihilist hates Santa, metaphorical thought and Happiness.

SoulProxy

Location: North-east Europe. I was raised to respect Christianity because my mother was religious. But she had enough sense to no force it on me too much. So I counted my hailmary's and went to church during Christmas and thought nothing of it other than that I was really bored by all of it. Looking back I think I never really believed it all, I just played along with it. Then during teenage years I was quite confused as any teenager is and had no formal opinion about all of this. It rarely bothered me, so I was quite indifferent to it all. Come young adulthood. I had a chance to attend a couple of art and history 32 hour courses about the history of religions, Iconography, Art ... That really let me to take a quite analytic look at all religions and how similar were they and how artificial they all were. Still did not thing too bad of it, just it that religion was not for me and I considered myself above such fairy tales. But then I had a couple of experiences during university where I saw how religion can make people happy but also destroy them as individuals. And the cost of their happiness was basically wilful ignorance and prejudice in the name of god. I lost a few good friends to religion and had to watch how they were forced to give up things they loved and sever contacts with people they liked. Then I started to see what religion really was in most of the cases - a greedy organisation to control masses. It was all about the money, it was all about control. And anyone who would fall for their circular logic and red herrings was a potential prey they did not want to let go. **That is when I realised that I did not hate religion in particular... I just hated organised religion.** So now as long as the person keeps his religion to himself I keep my atheism to myself. But if they dare to challenge me I promise to give them a healthy discussion. From my experience I have learned that most religious people just lack information and education in the subject and how the world works or at least how we think it works. tl;dr; Was raised kinda Christian, trough education and life experiences became atheist. I am tolerant towards religious people but I despise organised religion.

Location: North-east Europe. I was raised to respect Christianity because my mother was religious. But she had enough sense to no force it on me too much. So I counted my hailmary's and went to church during Christmas and thought nothing of it other than that I was really bored by all of it. Looking back I think I never really believed it all, I just played along with it. Then during teenage years I was quite confused as any teenager is and had no formal opinion about all of this. It rarely bothered me, so I was quite indifferent to it all. Come young adulthood. I had a chance to attend a couple of art and history 32 hour courses about the history of religions, Iconography, Art ... That really let me to take a quite analytic look at all religions and how similar were they and how artificial they all were. Still did not thing too bad of it, just it that religion was not for me and I considered myself above such fairy tales. But then I had a couple of experiences during university where I saw how religion can make people happy but also destroy them as individuals. And the cost of their happiness was basically wilful ignorance and prejudice in the name of god. I lost a few good friends to religion and had to watch how they were forced to give up things they loved and sever contacts with people they liked. Then I started to see what religion really was in most of the cases - a greedy organisation to control masses. It was all about the money, it was all about control. And anyone who would fall for their circular logic and red herrings was a potential prey they did not want to let go. That is when I realised that I did not hate religion in particular... I just hated organised religion. So now as long as the person keeps his religion to himself I keep my atheism to myself. But if they dare to challenge me I promise to give them a healthy discussion. From my experience I have learned that most religious people just lack information and education in the subject and how the world works or at least how we think it works. tl;dr; Was raised kinda Christian, trough education and life experiences became atheist. I am tolerant towards religious people but I despise organised religion.

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t5_2qh1i

cem7de5

Location: North-east Europe. I was raised to respect Christianity because my mother was religious. But she had enough sense to no force it on me too much. So I counted my hailmary's and went to church during Christmas and thought nothing of it other than that I was really bored by all of it. Looking back I think I never really believed it all, I just played along with it. Then during teenage years I was quite confused as any teenager is and had no formal opinion about all of this. It rarely bothered me, so I was quite indifferent to it all. Come young adulthood. I had a chance to attend a couple of art and history 32 hour courses about the history of religions, Iconography, Art ... That really let me to take a quite analytic look at all religions and how similar were they and how artificial they all were. Still did not thing too bad of it, just it that religion was not for me and I considered myself above such fairy tales. But then I had a couple of experiences during university where I saw how religion can make people happy but also destroy them as individuals. And the cost of their happiness was basically wilful ignorance and prejudice in the name of god. I lost a few good friends to religion and had to watch how they were forced to give up things they loved and sever contacts with people they liked. Then I started to see what religion really was in most of the cases - a greedy organisation to control masses. It was all about the money, it was all about control. And anyone who would fall for their circular logic and red herrings was a potential prey they did not want to let go. That is when I realised that I did not hate religion in particular... I just hated organised religion. So now as long as the person keeps his religion to himself I keep my atheism to myself. But if they dare to challenge me I promise to give them a healthy discussion. From my experience I have learned that most religious people just lack information and education in the subject and how the world works or at least how we think it works.

Was raised kinda Christian, trough education and life experiences became atheist. I am tolerant towards religious people but I despise organised religion.

DrAlanThicke

I was raised Catholic by my mom and her side of my family. I went to a Catholic private school until I was 9 and then I attended CCD (sunday school) through middle school until I was confirmed. I had always questioned the logic of being a good person out of fear. My mom and grandmother were pretty bigoted about their views and chose to be a bit on the fundamentalist side and took the bible word for word. I guess why I renounced my religion was realizing I liked being a relatively good person, even better than those who were teaching me, without the fear and ignorance. Don't get me wrong, the Bible has great stories and is great for teaching someone what is generally regarded as right and wrong. I just found it unnecessary for me to live my life the way I want to. The whole Catholic sex scandal was pretty much the nail in the coffin. The only downfall to my decision is that now I have to deal with my family's "holier-than-thou" complex. I'd still rather have a disappointed Grandmother than adopt such a ridiculous mindset. The whole procession of mass seemed pretty cultish as well but I'm just ranting now. TL;DR Completely disagreed with Catholic teachings and I would rather be my own person and deal with being scolded than limit myself to "the word of the lord".

I was raised Catholic by my mom and her side of my family. I went to a Catholic private school until I was 9 and then I attended CCD (sunday school) through middle school until I was confirmed. I had always questioned the logic of being a good person out of fear. My mom and grandmother were pretty bigoted about their views and chose to be a bit on the fundamentalist side and took the bible word for word. I guess why I renounced my religion was realizing I liked being a relatively good person, even better than those who were teaching me, without the fear and ignorance. Don't get me wrong, the Bible has great stories and is great for teaching someone what is generally regarded as right and wrong. I just found it unnecessary for me to live my life the way I want to. The whole Catholic sex scandal was pretty much the nail in the coffin. The only downfall to my decision is that now I have to deal with my family's "holier-than-thou" complex. I'd still rather have a disappointed Grandmother than adopt such a ridiculous mindset. The whole procession of mass seemed pretty cultish as well but I'm just ranting now. TL;DR Completely disagreed with Catholic teachings and I would rather be my own person and deal with being scolded than limit myself to "the word of the lord".

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t5_2qh1i

cem7gqf

I was raised Catholic by my mom and her side of my family. I went to a Catholic private school until I was 9 and then I attended CCD (sunday school) through middle school until I was confirmed. I had always questioned the logic of being a good person out of fear. My mom and grandmother were pretty bigoted about their views and chose to be a bit on the fundamentalist side and took the bible word for word. I guess why I renounced my religion was realizing I liked being a relatively good person, even better than those who were teaching me, without the fear and ignorance. Don't get me wrong, the Bible has great stories and is great for teaching someone what is generally regarded as right and wrong. I just found it unnecessary for me to live my life the way I want to. The whole Catholic sex scandal was pretty much the nail in the coffin. The only downfall to my decision is that now I have to deal with my family's "holier-than-thou" complex. I'd still rather have a disappointed Grandmother than adopt such a ridiculous mindset. The whole procession of mass seemed pretty cultish as well but I'm just ranting now.

Completely disagreed with Catholic teachings and I would rather be my own person and deal with being scolded than limit myself to "the word of the lord".

NoChopsMcGee

I was born, raised and baptised as a Catholic. My mother brought me with her to Sunday mass with her almost every week and I spent some time as part of the church choir. When I was 17 I went backpacking through Europe and I spent quite a bit of time visiting the churches there, including St. Peters Cathedral. I was disgusted by the extravagance of those buildings and every time I looked at another one all I could think of is the corruption and greed of the church at the time of their construction. People were literally dying on the streets due to poverty, and likely giving most of what little they did have to the church in an attempt to convince god to save them. Any god that claims to be benevolent wouldn't allow the people who claim to be speaking for it transgress against the message of love and help that they are supposed to preach. It doesn't seem to me like things have changed very much since then. TL;DR: Went to old churches and saw the extravagance, greed and corruption that plagues the Catholic Church.

I was born, raised and baptised as a Catholic. My mother brought me with her to Sunday mass with her almost every week and I spent some time as part of the church choir. When I was 17 I went backpacking through Europe and I spent quite a bit of time visiting the churches there, including St. Peters Cathedral. I was disgusted by the extravagance of those buildings and every time I looked at another one all I could think of is the corruption and greed of the church at the time of their construction. People were literally dying on the streets due to poverty, and likely giving most of what little they did have to the church in an attempt to convince god to save them. Any god that claims to be benevolent wouldn't allow the people who claim to be speaking for it transgress against the message of love and help that they are supposed to preach. It doesn't seem to me like things have changed very much since then. TL;DR: Went to old churches and saw the extravagance, greed and corruption that plagues the Catholic Church.

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t5_2qh1i

cem7h7v

I was born, raised and baptised as a Catholic. My mother brought me with her to Sunday mass with her almost every week and I spent some time as part of the church choir. When I was 17 I went backpacking through Europe and I spent quite a bit of time visiting the churches there, including St. Peters Cathedral. I was disgusted by the extravagance of those buildings and every time I looked at another one all I could think of is the corruption and greed of the church at the time of their construction. People were literally dying on the streets due to poverty, and likely giving most of what little they did have to the church in an attempt to convince god to save them. Any god that claims to be benevolent wouldn't allow the people who claim to be speaking for it transgress against the message of love and help that they are supposed to preach. It doesn't seem to me like things have changed very much since then.

Went to old churches and saw the extravagance, greed and corruption that plagues the Catholic Church.

mcsestretch

Same here. I was raised Baptist and in college studied Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Bahai, Confucianism, and others in order to better understand how various cultures understood God. I went to services, talked to pastors, sikhs, rabbis, etc. to make sure I understood their beliefs with regard to treatment of god(s), treatment of fellow man, etc. In the end, I felt I better understood the nature of religion and its function within ancient and modern society. I went away and meditated, prayed, discussed with friends of various religions about their views of the others. I came back to Methodism because of their general views on God: He is a loving creator and father who wants the best for his children, even if we don't always see it the same way. They preach that we live in a fallen world, that some things happen because this world is in desperate need of redemption. The Methodist churches I have attended don't throw bibles at people, disown them from the faith because they say they are gay, believe differently or ask difficult questions. As a matter of fact I teach an adult Sunday school class where everything is open to discussion. TLDR: Methodist because most of their churches to be very open and accepting.

Same here. I was raised Baptist and in college studied Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Bahai, Confucianism, and others in order to better understand how various cultures understood God. I went to services, talked to pastors, sikhs, rabbis, etc. to make sure I understood their beliefs with regard to treatment of god(s), treatment of fellow man, etc. In the end, I felt I better understood the nature of religion and its function within ancient and modern society. I went away and meditated, prayed, discussed with friends of various religions about their views of the others. I came back to Methodism because of their general views on God: He is a loving creator and father who wants the best for his children, even if we don't always see it the same way. They preach that we live in a fallen world, that some things happen because this world is in desperate need of redemption. The Methodist churches I have attended don't throw bibles at people, disown them from the faith because they say they are gay, believe differently or ask difficult questions. As a matter of fact I teach an adult Sunday school class where everything is open to discussion. TLDR: Methodist because most of their churches to be very open and accepting.

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t5_2qh1i

cem7jfk

Same here. I was raised Baptist and in college studied Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Bahai, Confucianism, and others in order to better understand how various cultures understood God. I went to services, talked to pastors, sikhs, rabbis, etc. to make sure I understood their beliefs with regard to treatment of god(s), treatment of fellow man, etc. In the end, I felt I better understood the nature of religion and its function within ancient and modern society. I went away and meditated, prayed, discussed with friends of various religions about their views of the others. I came back to Methodism because of their general views on God: He is a loving creator and father who wants the best for his children, even if we don't always see it the same way. They preach that we live in a fallen world, that some things happen because this world is in desperate need of redemption. The Methodist churches I have attended don't throw bibles at people, disown them from the faith because they say they are gay, believe differently or ask difficult questions. As a matter of fact I teach an adult Sunday school class where everything is open to discussion.

Methodist because most of their churches to be very open and accepting.

sensibl

"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." -Thomas Jefferson, I think? Non-religious because I simply cannot tolerate the idea of a fellow human trying to convince me that he knows more about eternity, paradise and spiritual fulfillment. This is particularly aggravating when the paradise-peddling comes from the Catholic church. Something about a man with few true life experiences outside of a lifetime spent serving a hierarchy bugs me to no end. TLDR: who the hell are you to tell me about eternity?

"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." -Thomas Jefferson, I think? Non-religious because I simply cannot tolerate the idea of a fellow human trying to convince me that he knows more about eternity, paradise and spiritual fulfillment. This is particularly aggravating when the paradise-peddling comes from the Catholic church. Something about a man with few true life experiences outside of a lifetime spent serving a hierarchy bugs me to no end. TLDR: who the hell are you to tell me about eternity?

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t5_2qh1i

cem7leh

Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." -Thomas Jefferson, I think? Non-religious because I simply cannot tolerate the idea of a fellow human trying to convince me that he knows more about eternity, paradise and spiritual fulfillment. This is particularly aggravating when the paradise-peddling comes from the Catholic church. Something about a man with few true life experiences outside of a lifetime spent serving a hierarchy bugs me to no end.

who the hell are you to tell me about eternity?

oddfreedomstrike

My mother was raised as a devout Catholic and my Nana (my grandmother) shoved it down her throat. Church every Sunday, church activities throughout the week and Catholic private schools. The whole nine. She rebelled pretty hard in her teenage years because she felt so repressed and ended up with my eldest brother at 15. Having a child out of wedlock and a black baby at that sent her southern father in to an angry rage and they forced her to repent. She continued to rebel and eleven months later my other brother was born. In all my mother detested what religion did to her and how it made her feel so we were all religion free growing up. The idea of church was foreign to us for the most part. When she got with my step father, who was Mormon, we started going to church but that's a whole other can of worms and let me say, it in no way made me religious and just pushed me further from wanting anything to do with it. TLDR; mom was raised Catholic, hated it and rebelled. She didn't want us to be like that and raised us without any religion and then forced us to become Mormon after marrying step dad. Now I hate some religion but respect people's rights to have their own faith.

My mother was raised as a devout Catholic and my Nana (my grandmother) shoved it down her throat. Church every Sunday, church activities throughout the week and Catholic private schools. The whole nine. She rebelled pretty hard in her teenage years because she felt so repressed and ended up with my eldest brother at 15. Having a child out of wedlock and a black baby at that sent her southern father in to an angry rage and they forced her to repent. She continued to rebel and eleven months later my other brother was born. In all my mother detested what religion did to her and how it made her feel so we were all religion free growing up. The idea of church was foreign to us for the most part. When she got with my step father, who was Mormon, we started going to church but that's a whole other can of worms and let me say, it in no way made me religious and just pushed me further from wanting anything to do with it. TLDR; mom was raised Catholic, hated it and rebelled. She didn't want us to be like that and raised us without any religion and then forced us to become Mormon after marrying step dad. Now I hate some religion but respect people's rights to have their own faith.

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t5_2qh1i

cem7m2n

My mother was raised as a devout Catholic and my Nana (my grandmother) shoved it down her throat. Church every Sunday, church activities throughout the week and Catholic private schools. The whole nine. She rebelled pretty hard in her teenage years because she felt so repressed and ended up with my eldest brother at 15. Having a child out of wedlock and a black baby at that sent her southern father in to an angry rage and they forced her to repent. She continued to rebel and eleven months later my other brother was born. In all my mother detested what religion did to her and how it made her feel so we were all religion free growing up. The idea of church was foreign to us for the most part. When she got with my step father, who was Mormon, we started going to church but that's a whole other can of worms and let me say, it in no way made me religious and just pushed me further from wanting anything to do with it.

mom was raised Catholic, hated it and rebelled. She didn't want us to be like that and raised us without any religion and then forced us to become Mormon after marrying step dad. Now I hate some religion but respect people's rights to have their own faith.

Grottner

My mother went to Catholic school minus one year in high school and holds most of those beliefs and considers herself to have faith. My father was raised Protestant and hated going to church every Sunday. Once when he was in a teenager, he got pissed not wanting to go to church and kicked his shoe which broke a window. My mother stopped attending mass when she wanted to marry my father in the Catholic church. Her particular church denied this request because of my father not being Catholic. My mother also has some resentment for her local church because her parents (one being a drug addict and the other severely schizophrenic) essentially abandoned her and her 4 siblings while they were still children. Her not being able to get married in the church was the last straw. She still has some guilt since the church technically doesn't recognize her marriage and feels some guilt and anger for being seen as "living in sin." For most of my childhood, the only times we attended church was when we visited my father's family. They still do go to church every week. My father's sisters (he has 2) have condemned our family for not going to church and have bluntly said that we will go to Hell or some deserve punishment. This has lessened in recent years, but this was at its worst when my aunts each had children going to jail for drug and gun related reasons. Jesus must live in a prison because that is when their children always find Him. My father would talk about my aunts as being the type of people that go to church as a type of reset button for their wrongs-doings that week and how their good actions were just "brownie points for Heaven." Anyway, from the looks of it, you might assume I am an atheist, and that is completely correct. However, I was agnostic up until I graduated from college. I went to a private Catholic university and studied philosophy. Faith was an important part of the school, so most of my philosophy classes at some point or another would deal with proofs of God's existence or questions of the problem of evil. Many of the proofs required a type of faith in God in order for them to logically work out. I also had to take a few Catholic theology classes to graduate. Overall, the arguments for God were not compelling for me and the constant hinge was needing faith. I learned about more than just Catholicism though. I took a class on Islam and we had a trip to one of their places of worship during a time when they got together (can't remember what they are called). One of my professors was Orthodox Jewish and would openly answer any questions people had. I also had classes with men who were becoming priests (seminarians) and they were super awesome to talk with and really great to study with. I took a course in martial arts with two of them. Overall, it was an awesome experience with them with the exception of my first higher level philosophy class where they ignored me. Granted, I was one of three women in the class and I dressed somewhat provocatively at times. (Seminarians had to wear all grey and black. I would where bright pink and other "girly" clothing.) I learned a lot about faith and religion at my university and I honestly found people at my university to basically be the exact opposite of the type of people that my aunts are when it comes to faith and the discussion of religion. So I had some restored "faith" in people of faith. I was able to have first hand experience with the worst and best of people where their religion and God is the focal point of their lives. My basic conclusions from my experiences was that being a good person is what matters and that I cannot claim to have faith when I know in my core that I don't. TL;DR: My parents had issues with organized religion and never forced faith on me. My relatives would demonize my family for not going to church. Yet, I wanted to learn more about faith and so I attended a Catholic university. University helped me learn that religion and religious people are not all bad, but I still cannot honestly I am a person of faith because I have yet to find a compelling argument for God's existence.

My mother went to Catholic school minus one year in high school and holds most of those beliefs and considers herself to have faith. My father was raised Protestant and hated going to church every Sunday. Once when he was in a teenager, he got pissed not wanting to go to church and kicked his shoe which broke a window. My mother stopped attending mass when she wanted to marry my father in the Catholic church. Her particular church denied this request because of my father not being Catholic. My mother also has some resentment for her local church because her parents (one being a drug addict and the other severely schizophrenic) essentially abandoned her and her 4 siblings while they were still children. Her not being able to get married in the church was the last straw. She still has some guilt since the church technically doesn't recognize her marriage and feels some guilt and anger for being seen as "living in sin." For most of my childhood, the only times we attended church was when we visited my father's family. They still do go to church every week. My father's sisters (he has 2) have condemned our family for not going to church and have bluntly said that we will go to Hell or some deserve punishment. This has lessened in recent years, but this was at its worst when my aunts each had children going to jail for drug and gun related reasons. Jesus must live in a prison because that is when their children always find Him. My father would talk about my aunts as being the type of people that go to church as a type of reset button for their wrongs-doings that week and how their good actions were just "brownie points for Heaven." Anyway, from the looks of it, you might assume I am an atheist, and that is completely correct. However, I was agnostic up until I graduated from college. I went to a private Catholic university and studied philosophy. Faith was an important part of the school, so most of my philosophy classes at some point or another would deal with proofs of God's existence or questions of the problem of evil. Many of the proofs required a type of faith in God in order for them to logically work out. I also had to take a few Catholic theology classes to graduate. Overall, the arguments for God were not compelling for me and the constant hinge was needing faith. I learned about more than just Catholicism though. I took a class on Islam and we had a trip to one of their places of worship during a time when they got together (can't remember what they are called). One of my professors was Orthodox Jewish and would openly answer any questions people had. I also had classes with men who were becoming priests (seminarians) and they were super awesome to talk with and really great to study with. I took a course in martial arts with two of them. Overall, it was an awesome experience with them with the exception of my first higher level philosophy class where they ignored me. Granted, I was one of three women in the class and I dressed somewhat provocatively at times. (Seminarians had to wear all grey and black. I would where bright pink and other "girly" clothing.) I learned a lot about faith and religion at my university and I honestly found people at my university to basically be the exact opposite of the type of people that my aunts are when it comes to faith and the discussion of religion. So I had some restored "faith" in people of faith. I was able to have first hand experience with the worst and best of people where their religion and God is the focal point of their lives. My basic conclusions from my experiences was that being a good person is what matters and that I cannot claim to have faith when I know in my core that I don't. TL;DR: My parents had issues with organized religion and never forced faith on me. My relatives would demonize my family for not going to church. Yet, I wanted to learn more about faith and so I attended a Catholic university. University helped me learn that religion and religious people are not all bad, but I still cannot honestly I am a person of faith because I have yet to find a compelling argument for God's existence.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cem7o2n

My mother went to Catholic school minus one year in high school and holds most of those beliefs and considers herself to have faith. My father was raised Protestant and hated going to church every Sunday. Once when he was in a teenager, he got pissed not wanting to go to church and kicked his shoe which broke a window. My mother stopped attending mass when she wanted to marry my father in the Catholic church. Her particular church denied this request because of my father not being Catholic. My mother also has some resentment for her local church because her parents (one being a drug addict and the other severely schizophrenic) essentially abandoned her and her 4 siblings while they were still children. Her not being able to get married in the church was the last straw. She still has some guilt since the church technically doesn't recognize her marriage and feels some guilt and anger for being seen as "living in sin." For most of my childhood, the only times we attended church was when we visited my father's family. They still do go to church every week. My father's sisters (he has 2) have condemned our family for not going to church and have bluntly said that we will go to Hell or some deserve punishment. This has lessened in recent years, but this was at its worst when my aunts each had children going to jail for drug and gun related reasons. Jesus must live in a prison because that is when their children always find Him. My father would talk about my aunts as being the type of people that go to church as a type of reset button for their wrongs-doings that week and how their good actions were just "brownie points for Heaven." Anyway, from the looks of it, you might assume I am an atheist, and that is completely correct. However, I was agnostic up until I graduated from college. I went to a private Catholic university and studied philosophy. Faith was an important part of the school, so most of my philosophy classes at some point or another would deal with proofs of God's existence or questions of the problem of evil. Many of the proofs required a type of faith in God in order for them to logically work out. I also had to take a few Catholic theology classes to graduate. Overall, the arguments for God were not compelling for me and the constant hinge was needing faith. I learned about more than just Catholicism though. I took a class on Islam and we had a trip to one of their places of worship during a time when they got together (can't remember what they are called). One of my professors was Orthodox Jewish and would openly answer any questions people had. I also had classes with men who were becoming priests (seminarians) and they were super awesome to talk with and really great to study with. I took a course in martial arts with two of them. Overall, it was an awesome experience with them with the exception of my first higher level philosophy class where they ignored me. Granted, I was one of three women in the class and I dressed somewhat provocatively at times. (Seminarians had to wear all grey and black. I would where bright pink and other "girly" clothing.) I learned a lot about faith and religion at my university and I honestly found people at my university to basically be the exact opposite of the type of people that my aunts are when it comes to faith and the discussion of religion. So I had some restored "faith" in people of faith. I was able to have first hand experience with the worst and best of people where their religion and God is the focal point of their lives. My basic conclusions from my experiences was that being a good person is what matters and that I cannot claim to have faith when I know in my core that I don't.

My parents had issues with organized religion and never forced faith on me. My relatives would demonize my family for not going to church. Yet, I wanted to learn more about faith and so I attended a Catholic university. University helped me learn that religion and religious people are not all bad, but I still cannot honestly I am a person of faith because I have yet to find a compelling argument for God's existence.

thewatches

I started off religious because I was brought up in a Christian family that went to church every Sunday. I was always very involved in the church growing up. Then I went to college and really began to look into everything. I took this as an opportunity to step back, look at everything on my own from a logical standpoint and ask some tough questions. I'm an engineering student so I've studied a shitton of physics which led me to more and more reading about the big bang and evolution and just origins in general. I read from both the perspectives of theist and atheist scientists and philosophers on their opinions of God and origins of the universe. My conclusion was basically that for every argument for God, there was another argument against, and for every argument against God, there was an equally compelling "statistical" response. Basically it seemed like a tie. Then I started reading about the Bible and took some classes on it as a piece of historical literature and learned that it is confusing and extremely difficult to read/interpret. But the biggest thing really seemed to be Jesus. I'm not going to get into all of it, but everything he did and how the stories about him were written and the number of prophesies he fulfilled makes me think he was the real deal. Even looking at Jesus from the most logical standpoint leaves me thinking he was the son of God. So basically my conclusion here was that, though the Bible may be confusing and hard to read, Jesus makes me believe in God and in him. It would take a hell of a long time to explain it all in detail, but that's my conclusion. TL;DR I grew up in a Christian household, but eventually got to step back and look at God, the big band, science, religion, evolution, and the Bible from a logical perspective and ended up staying with Christianity.

I started off religious because I was brought up in a Christian family that went to church every Sunday. I was always very involved in the church growing up. Then I went to college and really began to look into everything. I took this as an opportunity to step back, look at everything on my own from a logical standpoint and ask some tough questions. I'm an engineering student so I've studied a shitton of physics which led me to more and more reading about the big bang and evolution and just origins in general. I read from both the perspectives of theist and atheist scientists and philosophers on their opinions of God and origins of the universe. My conclusion was basically that for every argument for God, there was another argument against, and for every argument against God, there was an equally compelling "statistical" response. Basically it seemed like a tie. Then I started reading about the Bible and took some classes on it as a piece of historical literature and learned that it is confusing and extremely difficult to read/interpret. But the biggest thing really seemed to be Jesus. I'm not going to get into all of it, but everything he did and how the stories about him were written and the number of prophesies he fulfilled makes me think he was the real deal. Even looking at Jesus from the most logical standpoint leaves me thinking he was the son of God. So basically my conclusion here was that, though the Bible may be confusing and hard to read, Jesus makes me believe in God and in him. It would take a hell of a long time to explain it all in detail, but that's my conclusion. TL;DR I grew up in a Christian household, but eventually got to step back and look at God, the big band, science, religion, evolution, and the Bible from a logical perspective and ended up staying with Christianity.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cem7ogy

I started off religious because I was brought up in a Christian family that went to church every Sunday. I was always very involved in the church growing up. Then I went to college and really began to look into everything. I took this as an opportunity to step back, look at everything on my own from a logical standpoint and ask some tough questions. I'm an engineering student so I've studied a shitton of physics which led me to more and more reading about the big bang and evolution and just origins in general. I read from both the perspectives of theist and atheist scientists and philosophers on their opinions of God and origins of the universe. My conclusion was basically that for every argument for God, there was another argument against, and for every argument against God, there was an equally compelling "statistical" response. Basically it seemed like a tie. Then I started reading about the Bible and took some classes on it as a piece of historical literature and learned that it is confusing and extremely difficult to read/interpret. But the biggest thing really seemed to be Jesus. I'm not going to get into all of it, but everything he did and how the stories about him were written and the number of prophesies he fulfilled makes me think he was the real deal. Even looking at Jesus from the most logical standpoint leaves me thinking he was the son of God. So basically my conclusion here was that, though the Bible may be confusing and hard to read, Jesus makes me believe in God and in him. It would take a hell of a long time to explain it all in detail, but that's my conclusion.

I grew up in a Christian household, but eventually got to step back and look at God, the big band, science, religion, evolution, and the Bible from a logical perspective and ended up staying with Christianity.

Anna_Draconis

Was raised Mormon from about the age of five and baptised at eight. I hated waking up for Sunday school and having to wear dress shoes, but other than that I don't think I had any complaints. I listened to the stories, questioned some of them but not fervently so. I guess I believed in God, not so much for him but more for a simple answer to a bunch of complicated questions. I didn't have a crisis of faith until I was about 11 years old and really started to pay attention to the stories. I decided that God wasn't such a great guy after all. If we were all his children, why was he always killing people for not believing in him? Or for being crappy people? Surely people can change? I walked up and told my mother that God was either dead (Since he hadn't been on a mass-murdering spree in millennia) or he was a genocidal maniac on a break. I was sent to my room. We had stopped going to church every Sunday by this point already (My mom was ill) so not going was already the norm. Even though I'd already cut God and all other religions out of my life, something was still missing, though. The science answer explains how stuff works and comes together, but the big bang, how it all started, wasn't satisfactory. And isn't it just a little too convenient how atoms of matter could fall into place so perfectly on a planet that's just the right distance from the sun to create sentient free-thinking life? It's too perfect in a sense to be a random fluke of atoms and electrons. So I'm not sure what *exactly* is responsible for that, if it's an intelligent being or some other force, but it gave me a sort of faith in fate. Things fall into place like this because there's some force out there that says it's just *meant* to. So nowadays I'm spiritual in the sense that I believe there's some force behind it all, though I don't believe it's the God religion talks about. Maybe it's the future is predetermined and everything that happens a certain way does so just because it must. I don't have a perfect answer for it and I don't think anyone really truly could. It's beyond our understanding, whatever it is, and I think it's kind of arrogant to make assumptions or theories on something intangible like that. I don't have the answer because I don't think anyone can. For the afterlife or what happens after we die, I think there's something to it, though mostly because I can't believe that all of these experiences, memories, and personalities just stop after our physical bodies die. That doesn't work for me at all. There's far too much *stuff* in a life for it to just disappear into nothing like that. The Mormon explanation never satisfied me. They basically have three Heavens and a Hell, as I was taught, and you get ranked based on the good and bad in your life. That's too simple, and there would always be grey areas because no two people are the same. So my belief is that we each create our own Heaven or Hell based on the sum total of our lives, where we live out the rest of time with whatever treatment we deserve. I've tried to explain this before on here and people misinterpreted it as creating an infinite number of pocket afterlifes, but it's not that either. You get exactly what you deserve, in the most simple way I can explain it. Your afterlife also doesn't interact with anyone else's, your experiences are yours and unique and there's no crossover. Anyways, this explanation suits me because it encourages me to be a better person. I'm not perfect, never claimed to be and likely never will be, but if I actively try and be a good person, my post-mortem existence should, in theory, not be hell. **TL:DR;** God is dead, Fate is probably the answer to everything maybe, and your afterlife is exactly what your actions in life determines you deserve. I'm not the greatest at explaining things so if there's any serious questions I'll try my best at answering them.

Was raised Mormon from about the age of five and baptised at eight. I hated waking up for Sunday school and having to wear dress shoes, but other than that I don't think I had any complaints. I listened to the stories, questioned some of them but not fervently so. I guess I believed in God, not so much for him but more for a simple answer to a bunch of complicated questions. I didn't have a crisis of faith until I was about 11 years old and really started to pay attention to the stories. I decided that God wasn't such a great guy after all. If we were all his children, why was he always killing people for not believing in him? Or for being crappy people? Surely people can change? I walked up and told my mother that God was either dead (Since he hadn't been on a mass-murdering spree in millennia) or he was a genocidal maniac on a break. I was sent to my room. We had stopped going to church every Sunday by this point already (My mom was ill) so not going was already the norm. Even though I'd already cut God and all other religions out of my life, something was still missing, though. The science answer explains how stuff works and comes together, but the big bang, how it all started, wasn't satisfactory. And isn't it just a little too convenient how atoms of matter could fall into place so perfectly on a planet that's just the right distance from the sun to create sentient free-thinking life? It's too perfect in a sense to be a random fluke of atoms and electrons. So I'm not sure what exactly is responsible for that, if it's an intelligent being or some other force, but it gave me a sort of faith in fate. Things fall into place like this because there's some force out there that says it's just meant to. So nowadays I'm spiritual in the sense that I believe there's some force behind it all, though I don't believe it's the God religion talks about. Maybe it's the future is predetermined and everything that happens a certain way does so just because it must. I don't have a perfect answer for it and I don't think anyone really truly could. It's beyond our understanding, whatever it is, and I think it's kind of arrogant to make assumptions or theories on something intangible like that. I don't have the answer because I don't think anyone can. For the afterlife or what happens after we die, I think there's something to it, though mostly because I can't believe that all of these experiences, memories, and personalities just stop after our physical bodies die. That doesn't work for me at all. There's far too much stuff in a life for it to just disappear into nothing like that. The Mormon explanation never satisfied me. They basically have three Heavens and a Hell, as I was taught, and you get ranked based on the good and bad in your life. That's too simple, and there would always be grey areas because no two people are the same. So my belief is that we each create our own Heaven or Hell based on the sum total of our lives, where we live out the rest of time with whatever treatment we deserve. I've tried to explain this before on here and people misinterpreted it as creating an infinite number of pocket afterlifes, but it's not that either. You get exactly what you deserve, in the most simple way I can explain it. Your afterlife also doesn't interact with anyone else's, your experiences are yours and unique and there's no crossover. Anyways, this explanation suits me because it encourages me to be a better person. I'm not perfect, never claimed to be and likely never will be, but if I actively try and be a good person, my post-mortem existence should, in theory, not be hell. TL:DR; God is dead, Fate is probably the answer to everything maybe, and your afterlife is exactly what your actions in life determines you deserve. I'm not the greatest at explaining things so if there's any serious questions I'll try my best at answering them.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cem7pvv

Was raised Mormon from about the age of five and baptised at eight. I hated waking up for Sunday school and having to wear dress shoes, but other than that I don't think I had any complaints. I listened to the stories, questioned some of them but not fervently so. I guess I believed in God, not so much for him but more for a simple answer to a bunch of complicated questions. I didn't have a crisis of faith until I was about 11 years old and really started to pay attention to the stories. I decided that God wasn't such a great guy after all. If we were all his children, why was he always killing people for not believing in him? Or for being crappy people? Surely people can change? I walked up and told my mother that God was either dead (Since he hadn't been on a mass-murdering spree in millennia) or he was a genocidal maniac on a break. I was sent to my room. We had stopped going to church every Sunday by this point already (My mom was ill) so not going was already the norm. Even though I'd already cut God and all other religions out of my life, something was still missing, though. The science answer explains how stuff works and comes together, but the big bang, how it all started, wasn't satisfactory. And isn't it just a little too convenient how atoms of matter could fall into place so perfectly on a planet that's just the right distance from the sun to create sentient free-thinking life? It's too perfect in a sense to be a random fluke of atoms and electrons. So I'm not sure what exactly is responsible for that, if it's an intelligent being or some other force, but it gave me a sort of faith in fate. Things fall into place like this because there's some force out there that says it's just meant to. So nowadays I'm spiritual in the sense that I believe there's some force behind it all, though I don't believe it's the God religion talks about. Maybe it's the future is predetermined and everything that happens a certain way does so just because it must. I don't have a perfect answer for it and I don't think anyone really truly could. It's beyond our understanding, whatever it is, and I think it's kind of arrogant to make assumptions or theories on something intangible like that. I don't have the answer because I don't think anyone can. For the afterlife or what happens after we die, I think there's something to it, though mostly because I can't believe that all of these experiences, memories, and personalities just stop after our physical bodies die. That doesn't work for me at all. There's far too much stuff in a life for it to just disappear into nothing like that. The Mormon explanation never satisfied me. They basically have three Heavens and a Hell, as I was taught, and you get ranked based on the good and bad in your life. That's too simple, and there would always be grey areas because no two people are the same. So my belief is that we each create our own Heaven or Hell based on the sum total of our lives, where we live out the rest of time with whatever treatment we deserve. I've tried to explain this before on here and people misinterpreted it as creating an infinite number of pocket afterlifes, but it's not that either. You get exactly what you deserve, in the most simple way I can explain it. Your afterlife also doesn't interact with anyone else's, your experiences are yours and unique and there's no crossover. Anyways, this explanation suits me because it encourages me to be a better person. I'm not perfect, never claimed to be and likely never will be, but if I actively try and be a good person, my post-mortem existence should, in theory, not be hell.

God is dead, Fate is probably the answer to everything maybe, and your afterlife is exactly what your actions in life determines you deserve. I'm not the greatest at explaining things so if there's any serious questions I'll try my best at answering them.

dotMJEG

Having studied physics and astronomy in school, I have found that via science you can find true comfort in the world. Now, this may seem like the whole *Science and proof vs Religion and Faith* argument, but I assure you, **it isn't**. In a nutshell, Science can really take us places, but it can't go everywhere/ anywhere, all fields have limits, and most of those are far beyond our own limits as a human-being. This is where I have my faith. That there is a reason for it all, that there is life out there, there is ***too much*** stuff in existence for there not to be. Some call it a test, some call it a game. I just stick with "It's life". If there is something there, for us next, for us being here, for anything/ everything, it is highly likely we will never begin to understand what or why that is. If there isn't, if this is all truly random, well i guess that's tough, because we can't really do anything about it. Live your life, love life, respect life, and try to help inspire everyone else to do the same. **TL;DR** Science for the moment is our way forward, it has limits, likely beyond ours. *This* is where faith plays its part. We probably can't understand the real reason for ["everything"]( and likely never will. If there isn't a reason, we can't change that. So just live and love and live and love.

Having studied physics and astronomy in school, I have found that via science you can find true comfort in the world. Now, this may seem like the whole Science and proof vs Religion and Faith argument, but I assure you, it isn't . In a nutshell, Science can really take us places, but it can't go everywhere/ anywhere, all fields have limits, and most of those are far beyond our own limits as a human-being. This is where I have my faith. That there is a reason for it all, that there is life out there, there is too much stuff in existence for there not to be. Some call it a test, some call it a game. I just stick with "It's life". If there is something there, for us next, for us being here, for anything/ everything, it is highly likely we will never begin to understand what or why that is. If there isn't, if this is all truly random, well i guess that's tough, because we can't really do anything about it. Live your life, love life, respect life, and try to help inspire everyone else to do the same. TL;DR Science for the moment is our way forward, it has limits, likely beyond ours. This is where faith plays its part. We probably can't understand the real reason for ["everything"]( and likely never will. If there isn't a reason, we can't change that. So just live and love and live and love.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cem7uhk

Having studied physics and astronomy in school, I have found that via science you can find true comfort in the world. Now, this may seem like the whole Science and proof vs Religion and Faith argument, but I assure you, it isn't . In a nutshell, Science can really take us places, but it can't go everywhere/ anywhere, all fields have limits, and most of those are far beyond our own limits as a human-being. This is where I have my faith. That there is a reason for it all, that there is life out there, there is too much stuff in existence for there not to be. Some call it a test, some call it a game. I just stick with "It's life". If there is something there, for us next, for us being here, for anything/ everything, it is highly likely we will never begin to understand what or why that is. If there isn't, if this is all truly random, well i guess that's tough, because we can't really do anything about it. Live your life, love life, respect life, and try to help inspire everyone else to do the same.

Science for the moment is our way forward, it has limits, likely beyond ours. This is where faith plays its part. We probably can't understand the real reason for ["everything"]( and likely never will. If there isn't a reason, we can't change that. So just live and love and live and love.

inetman

I was raised kind of agnostic: My mother is a bit religious while my dad isn't. They decided I should choose for my self when I'm old enough. My Dad always had a big interest in ancient culture and archeology what is quite fascinating when you are young. This lead to the fact that I read Ancient Greek stories quite early. Their polytheistic views are quite entertaining and made my ask how they came up with them. Turns out they are largely inspired by even older cultures like ancient Egypt's culture and religion(s). From there on I started to realize that religions developed over time and often have a lot in common. You can see how older religions inspired and influenced younger ones. Given this realization it seems to be more rational to assume that every religion is something that was developed by humans over time. So how can one of them be true while other are not? I read quite a lot of religious texts from different epochs and I learned a lot of good moral ideas by doing so. I could never believe in one (or two or many) gods though because it doesn't add up. Further I regard many institutionalizations of religions harmful and as a body of control that we should get rid of. The only place for religion in modern society should by to transport good values by using great stories that's it. Nevertheless I'm not an atheist in the redditors sense who has to tell everyone how stupid religions are. My girlfriend is catholic and I have the deepest respect for that. It's not my business what she believes in as long as she accepts that I think different. TL;DR: Religions developed over time, you can always find a predeceasing religion that influenced a modern one - therefore it's unlogical that any modern religion is not man made an thereby false. Also: respect other's opinion!

I was raised kind of agnostic: My mother is a bit religious while my dad isn't. They decided I should choose for my self when I'm old enough. My Dad always had a big interest in ancient culture and archeology what is quite fascinating when you are young. This lead to the fact that I read Ancient Greek stories quite early. Their polytheistic views are quite entertaining and made my ask how they came up with them. Turns out they are largely inspired by even older cultures like ancient Egypt's culture and religion(s). From there on I started to realize that religions developed over time and often have a lot in common. You can see how older religions inspired and influenced younger ones. Given this realization it seems to be more rational to assume that every religion is something that was developed by humans over time. So how can one of them be true while other are not? I read quite a lot of religious texts from different epochs and I learned a lot of good moral ideas by doing so. I could never believe in one (or two or many) gods though because it doesn't add up. Further I regard many institutionalizations of religions harmful and as a body of control that we should get rid of. The only place for religion in modern society should by to transport good values by using great stories that's it. Nevertheless I'm not an atheist in the redditors sense who has to tell everyone how stupid religions are. My girlfriend is catholic and I have the deepest respect for that. It's not my business what she believes in as long as she accepts that I think different. TL;DR: Religions developed over time, you can always find a predeceasing religion that influenced a modern one - therefore it's unlogical that any modern religion is not man made an thereby false. Also: respect other's opinion!

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t5_2qh1i

cem7v3y

I was raised kind of agnostic: My mother is a bit religious while my dad isn't. They decided I should choose for my self when I'm old enough. My Dad always had a big interest in ancient culture and archeology what is quite fascinating when you are young. This lead to the fact that I read Ancient Greek stories quite early. Their polytheistic views are quite entertaining and made my ask how they came up with them. Turns out they are largely inspired by even older cultures like ancient Egypt's culture and religion(s). From there on I started to realize that religions developed over time and often have a lot in common. You can see how older religions inspired and influenced younger ones. Given this realization it seems to be more rational to assume that every religion is something that was developed by humans over time. So how can one of them be true while other are not? I read quite a lot of religious texts from different epochs and I learned a lot of good moral ideas by doing so. I could never believe in one (or two or many) gods though because it doesn't add up. Further I regard many institutionalizations of religions harmful and as a body of control that we should get rid of. The only place for religion in modern society should by to transport good values by using great stories that's it. Nevertheless I'm not an atheist in the redditors sense who has to tell everyone how stupid religions are. My girlfriend is catholic and I have the deepest respect for that. It's not my business what she believes in as long as she accepts that I think different.

Religions developed over time, you can always find a predeceasing religion that influenced a modern one - therefore it's unlogical that any modern religion is not man made an thereby false. Also: respect other's opinion!

Kurvco

Little but late to the party, but oh well. When I was very young I was raised in a methodist church, always told about god and how he watched over me. At about the time I was eight, I started to grow skeptical, due to the fact that things that could easily be attributed to science, or own personal ability were attributed to god. Around the time of confirmation, where you officially become part of the methodist church, I had regained the faith I had lost, due to much more belief being thrown upon me, and that I was going through a rough time in my life. By my junior year in high school, when I was extremely depressed, and borderline suicidal, I quickly began to lose faith again. This time it was due to people telling me it was a test from god. It felt incredibly stupid to me. Why would you put your faith in something only to have it be able to drop you at any moment for a test? Once I lost my faith, the final straw for the church was when they all agreed that they think people with any faith are better than those without, but do much more good. I almost blew up on one girl, but that's probably due to many things making me not like her. TL;DR: "When your life is good, it's because god loves you. When it's bad it's still because he loves you."

Little but late to the party, but oh well. When I was very young I was raised in a methodist church, always told about god and how he watched over me. At about the time I was eight, I started to grow skeptical, due to the fact that things that could easily be attributed to science, or own personal ability were attributed to god. Around the time of confirmation, where you officially become part of the methodist church, I had regained the faith I had lost, due to much more belief being thrown upon me, and that I was going through a rough time in my life. By my junior year in high school, when I was extremely depressed, and borderline suicidal, I quickly began to lose faith again. This time it was due to people telling me it was a test from god. It felt incredibly stupid to me. Why would you put your faith in something only to have it be able to drop you at any moment for a test? Once I lost my faith, the final straw for the church was when they all agreed that they think people with any faith are better than those without, but do much more good. I almost blew up on one girl, but that's probably due to many things making me not like her. TL;DR: "When your life is good, it's because god loves you. When it's bad it's still because he loves you."

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t5_2qh1i

cem7xr8

Little but late to the party, but oh well. When I was very young I was raised in a methodist church, always told about god and how he watched over me. At about the time I was eight, I started to grow skeptical, due to the fact that things that could easily be attributed to science, or own personal ability were attributed to god. Around the time of confirmation, where you officially become part of the methodist church, I had regained the faith I had lost, due to much more belief being thrown upon me, and that I was going through a rough time in my life. By my junior year in high school, when I was extremely depressed, and borderline suicidal, I quickly began to lose faith again. This time it was due to people telling me it was a test from god. It felt incredibly stupid to me. Why would you put your faith in something only to have it be able to drop you at any moment for a test? Once I lost my faith, the final straw for the church was when they all agreed that they think people with any faith are better than those without, but do much more good. I almost blew up on one girl, but that's probably due to many things making me not like her.

When your life is good, it's because god loves you. When it's bad it's still because he loves you."

sailorJery

I was raised a fundamentalist baptist. Some of my earliest memories are Sunday school in that old cold war era schoolhouse that got converted to a church. But as I got older I started to doubt my faith, I would struggle with it at night with tears in my eyes, if only for want of heaven did I believe in god. I was taught to suppress these doubts and I did a decent job until my 19th year. One of the youth leaders who might have been 10 years older than me, a lawyer who had attended Liberty University and was married with 3 kids just died one day. He came home from work, had a brain aneurysm and died in his wife's arms. That was when the beginning of the end. It freaked me out that he had lived his life in a manner that I was looking to pattern my life after and was just cut down out of fucking nowhere. What had he missed out on? What could he possibly have done with his life had he but sought to be the sole author of it? In the following weeks I lost my complete confidence in fundamentalist christianity. I was still a theist I just thought that maybe the avenue I had been taught wasn't all there was to it. I joined the navy that year. In doing so I gained a great deal in the manner of life education, but I still believed in some sort of higher power. Then my last year in I started buying and reading every book on the best seller list as well as some of the ones I wasn't allowed to read growing up. Among them the book of Mormon, the Quran , and the Satanic Bible. The last book I read before my deconversion was The God Delusion, it challenged me to have the courage of my doubts. I quickly made contact with another atheist onboard and he recommended Christopher Hitchens, and that, as they say, was that. TLDR fundamentalist baptist experiences death, life, and free thought via books for the deconversion

I was raised a fundamentalist baptist. Some of my earliest memories are Sunday school in that old cold war era schoolhouse that got converted to a church. But as I got older I started to doubt my faith, I would struggle with it at night with tears in my eyes, if only for want of heaven did I believe in god. I was taught to suppress these doubts and I did a decent job until my 19th year. One of the youth leaders who might have been 10 years older than me, a lawyer who had attended Liberty University and was married with 3 kids just died one day. He came home from work, had a brain aneurysm and died in his wife's arms. That was when the beginning of the end. It freaked me out that he had lived his life in a manner that I was looking to pattern my life after and was just cut down out of fucking nowhere. What had he missed out on? What could he possibly have done with his life had he but sought to be the sole author of it? In the following weeks I lost my complete confidence in fundamentalist christianity. I was still a theist I just thought that maybe the avenue I had been taught wasn't all there was to it. I joined the navy that year. In doing so I gained a great deal in the manner of life education, but I still believed in some sort of higher power. Then my last year in I started buying and reading every book on the best seller list as well as some of the ones I wasn't allowed to read growing up. Among them the book of Mormon, the Quran , and the Satanic Bible. The last book I read before my deconversion was The God Delusion, it challenged me to have the courage of my doubts. I quickly made contact with another atheist onboard and he recommended Christopher Hitchens, and that, as they say, was that. TLDR fundamentalist baptist experiences death, life, and free thought via books for the deconversion

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t5_2qh1i

cem801e

I was raised a fundamentalist baptist. Some of my earliest memories are Sunday school in that old cold war era schoolhouse that got converted to a church. But as I got older I started to doubt my faith, I would struggle with it at night with tears in my eyes, if only for want of heaven did I believe in god. I was taught to suppress these doubts and I did a decent job until my 19th year. One of the youth leaders who might have been 10 years older than me, a lawyer who had attended Liberty University and was married with 3 kids just died one day. He came home from work, had a brain aneurysm and died in his wife's arms. That was when the beginning of the end. It freaked me out that he had lived his life in a manner that I was looking to pattern my life after and was just cut down out of fucking nowhere. What had he missed out on? What could he possibly have done with his life had he but sought to be the sole author of it? In the following weeks I lost my complete confidence in fundamentalist christianity. I was still a theist I just thought that maybe the avenue I had been taught wasn't all there was to it. I joined the navy that year. In doing so I gained a great deal in the manner of life education, but I still believed in some sort of higher power. Then my last year in I started buying and reading every book on the best seller list as well as some of the ones I wasn't allowed to read growing up. Among them the book of Mormon, the Quran , and the Satanic Bible. The last book I read before my deconversion was The God Delusion, it challenged me to have the courage of my doubts. I quickly made contact with another atheist onboard and he recommended Christopher Hitchens, and that, as they say, was that.

fundamentalist baptist experiences death, life, and free thought via books for the deconversion

Dont-quote-me

I've read tons of versions of ancient Mythologies: It was part of the curriculum in grade school to read the Greek/Roman myths, plus there were tons of other books on Norse, Asian, Native American tales in the school library as well. Compound that with an interest in Dungeons & Dragons (Deities and Demigods 1st ed. ftw.) and comic books (Walt Sominson's Mighty Thor) and I considered myself as well read on mythology as a 11 year old could be. I would innocently enough ask if Samson had ever met Hercules, or why there never any big fights documented between Roman and Egyptian gods. It was explained to me that those were just stories and never happened, and Samson, Moses, Jesus, etc, were real. Sharing similarities in stories was interesting to me, impossibly strong men, golden showers of light, people that lived to be 100s of years older than normal, pointed to an original tale, or at least some ancient copyright infringement. As I got older, I built a philosophy that perhaps these celestial visitors presented themselves in a way that would make sense to the peoples they were in contact with. That's why the similarities were so consistent, same stories, different filters. Now I'm pretty consistent in my agnosticism: Is there something greater than me in the universe? Don't know. Did they get it right 1,000's of years ago? Pretty obviously not. Basically, all the religions have the same single mission statement: Don't be a dick. It just got muddled with the Dogma of the times. Follow that with thousands of interpretations and translational errors, you have a recipe for trouble. TL;DR - Benevolent Martians hate watching monkey shit fights. Told us to chill.

I've read tons of versions of ancient Mythologies: It was part of the curriculum in grade school to read the Greek/Roman myths, plus there were tons of other books on Norse, Asian, Native American tales in the school library as well. Compound that with an interest in Dungeons & Dragons (Deities and Demigods 1st ed. ftw.) and comic books (Walt Sominson's Mighty Thor) and I considered myself as well read on mythology as a 11 year old could be. I would innocently enough ask if Samson had ever met Hercules, or why there never any big fights documented between Roman and Egyptian gods. It was explained to me that those were just stories and never happened, and Samson, Moses, Jesus, etc, were real. Sharing similarities in stories was interesting to me, impossibly strong men, golden showers of light, people that lived to be 100s of years older than normal, pointed to an original tale, or at least some ancient copyright infringement. As I got older, I built a philosophy that perhaps these celestial visitors presented themselves in a way that would make sense to the peoples they were in contact with. That's why the similarities were so consistent, same stories, different filters. Now I'm pretty consistent in my agnosticism: Is there something greater than me in the universe? Don't know. Did they get it right 1,000's of years ago? Pretty obviously not. Basically, all the religions have the same single mission statement: Don't be a dick. It just got muddled with the Dogma of the times. Follow that with thousands of interpretations and translational errors, you have a recipe for trouble. TL;DR - Benevolent Martians hate watching monkey shit fights. Told us to chill.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cem866k

I've read tons of versions of ancient Mythologies: It was part of the curriculum in grade school to read the Greek/Roman myths, plus there were tons of other books on Norse, Asian, Native American tales in the school library as well. Compound that with an interest in Dungeons & Dragons (Deities and Demigods 1st ed. ftw.) and comic books (Walt Sominson's Mighty Thor) and I considered myself as well read on mythology as a 11 year old could be. I would innocently enough ask if Samson had ever met Hercules, or why there never any big fights documented between Roman and Egyptian gods. It was explained to me that those were just stories and never happened, and Samson, Moses, Jesus, etc, were real. Sharing similarities in stories was interesting to me, impossibly strong men, golden showers of light, people that lived to be 100s of years older than normal, pointed to an original tale, or at least some ancient copyright infringement. As I got older, I built a philosophy that perhaps these celestial visitors presented themselves in a way that would make sense to the peoples they were in contact with. That's why the similarities were so consistent, same stories, different filters. Now I'm pretty consistent in my agnosticism: Is there something greater than me in the universe? Don't know. Did they get it right 1,000's of years ago? Pretty obviously not. Basically, all the religions have the same single mission statement: Don't be a dick. It just got muddled with the Dogma of the times. Follow that with thousands of interpretations and translational errors, you have a recipe for trouble.

Benevolent Martians hate watching monkey shit fights. Told us to chill.

masterfield

I think it's pure logic, I come from a really religious italian family, we live in Spain (and was born there) in a very diverse area, muslims, budists, catholic spaniards, and practicly every kind of people you can find living together, so since I was a kid I always wondered why would my religion be the true one and not the others, if there was any truth on any particular religion, why would we have so many, so different from each others? Besides that, once you start to think for yourself you see how obvious it is, anyone who digs a bit deeper in the history of religions in general is capable of seeing all the connections, all the common patterns that show that every big or little religion on earth worships the sun, which through the years it gets all blurry and the spooky gibberish starts to take over this big "tale", ending up in a big mess of wrong interpretations, shame, and fear, that the powerful ones through history exploited to control the people. I think there's nothing wrong on believing in something superior or abstract, but when you start to kill people because they don't believe in the same god than you, or seeing how "built on money" churches are nowadays, I call bullshit on that, fuck religions. **TL;DR: Religions are all based on the same patterns, worshipping the sun, learning history I "discovered" that god didn't create no man, the man created god, which there's nothing wrong with, but once you start killing people because of a belief, you fucked up.**

I think it's pure logic, I come from a really religious italian family, we live in Spain (and was born there) in a very diverse area, muslims, budists, catholic spaniards, and practicly every kind of people you can find living together, so since I was a kid I always wondered why would my religion be the true one and not the others, if there was any truth on any particular religion, why would we have so many, so different from each others? Besides that, once you start to think for yourself you see how obvious it is, anyone who digs a bit deeper in the history of religions in general is capable of seeing all the connections, all the common patterns that show that every big or little religion on earth worships the sun, which through the years it gets all blurry and the spooky gibberish starts to take over this big "tale", ending up in a big mess of wrong interpretations, shame, and fear, that the powerful ones through history exploited to control the people. I think there's nothing wrong on believing in something superior or abstract, but when you start to kill people because they don't believe in the same god than you, or seeing how "built on money" churches are nowadays, I call bullshit on that, fuck religions. TL;DR: Religions are all based on the same patterns, worshipping the sun, learning history I "discovered" that god didn't create no man, the man created god, which there's nothing wrong with, but once you start killing people because of a belief, you fucked up.

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t5_2qh1i

cem870x

I think it's pure logic, I come from a really religious italian family, we live in Spain (and was born there) in a very diverse area, muslims, budists, catholic spaniards, and practicly every kind of people you can find living together, so since I was a kid I always wondered why would my religion be the true one and not the others, if there was any truth on any particular religion, why would we have so many, so different from each others? Besides that, once you start to think for yourself you see how obvious it is, anyone who digs a bit deeper in the history of religions in general is capable of seeing all the connections, all the common patterns that show that every big or little religion on earth worships the sun, which through the years it gets all blurry and the spooky gibberish starts to take over this big "tale", ending up in a big mess of wrong interpretations, shame, and fear, that the powerful ones through history exploited to control the people. I think there's nothing wrong on believing in something superior or abstract, but when you start to kill people because they don't believe in the same god than you, or seeing how "built on money" churches are nowadays, I call bullshit on that, fuck religions.

Religions are all based on the same patterns, worshipping the sun, learning history I "discovered" that god didn't create no man, the man created god, which there's nothing wrong with, but once you start killing people because of a belief, you fucked up.

Vash-

But rejecting religion isn't the same as the belief that God doesn or doesn't exist. So many athiests reject religion as their basis for not believing in a God, but that logically doesn't make sense. They say 'religion is the cause of war/brainwashing/greed etc.', but that in itself has nothing to do with the fact of 'does God exist or not?' And honestly I don't know how you can actually investigate that. Most athiests (in my opinion), reject the existence of God because they find alternatives to the traditional beliefs associated with God (as an example: evolution disproves God, because it means he didn't create everything), but that doesn't disprove the existance of God either. tl;dr Religion isn't indicative of the the existence of God or not.

But rejecting religion isn't the same as the belief that God doesn or doesn't exist. So many athiests reject religion as their basis for not believing in a God, but that logically doesn't make sense. They say 'religion is the cause of war/brainwashing/greed etc.', but that in itself has nothing to do with the fact of 'does God exist or not?' And honestly I don't know how you can actually investigate that. Most athiests (in my opinion), reject the existence of God because they find alternatives to the traditional beliefs associated with God (as an example: evolution disproves God, because it means he didn't create everything), but that doesn't disprove the existance of God either. tl;dr Religion isn't indicative of the the existence of God or not.

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t5_2qh1i

cem87w2

But rejecting religion isn't the same as the belief that God doesn or doesn't exist. So many athiests reject religion as their basis for not believing in a God, but that logically doesn't make sense. They say 'religion is the cause of war/brainwashing/greed etc.', but that in itself has nothing to do with the fact of 'does God exist or not?' And honestly I don't know how you can actually investigate that. Most athiests (in my opinion), reject the existence of God because they find alternatives to the traditional beliefs associated with God (as an example: evolution disproves God, because it means he didn't create everything), but that doesn't disprove the existance of God either.

Religion isn't indicative of the the existence of God or not.

Zeichef

I just can't bring myself to believe a 'fable' created by people thousands of years ago, when they had less than one millionth of the knowledge we have today about the cosmos, and enforced by evil and uneducated people throughout the centuries, resulting in billions of deaths. Loss of life is the greatest tragedy in this cosmos, for it is eternal and permanent. I will not waste a single moment in this precious and only life, worshiping a deity that will doom my soul to eternal suffering if I don't. TL;DR: "Knowledge is prefferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable." - Carl Sagan

I just can't bring myself to believe a 'fable' created by people thousands of years ago, when they had less than one millionth of the knowledge we have today about the cosmos, and enforced by evil and uneducated people throughout the centuries, resulting in billions of deaths. Loss of life is the greatest tragedy in this cosmos, for it is eternal and permanent. I will not waste a single moment in this precious and only life, worshiping a deity that will doom my soul to eternal suffering if I don't. TL;DR: "Knowledge is prefferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable." Carl Sagan

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t5_2qh1i

cem8av7

I just can't bring myself to believe a 'fable' created by people thousands of years ago, when they had less than one millionth of the knowledge we have today about the cosmos, and enforced by evil and uneducated people throughout the centuries, resulting in billions of deaths. Loss of life is the greatest tragedy in this cosmos, for it is eternal and permanent. I will not waste a single moment in this precious and only life, worshiping a deity that will doom my soul to eternal suffering if I don't.

Knowledge is prefferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable." Carl Sagan

wonkifier

>I have no proof or evidence that the song would have motivated me in any other way Or another song would have similarly motivated you afterwards, etc. It's not that I believe you definitely would have been motivated, just that motivation can be a very random thing, depending on all sorts of little factors you're not paying attention to. TL;DR Just because it happened after doesn't mean it happened because of

>I have no proof or evidence that the song would have motivated me in any other way Or another song would have similarly motivated you afterwards, etc. It's not that I believe you definitely would have been motivated, just that motivation can be a very random thing, depending on all sorts of little factors you're not paying attention to. TL;DR Just because it happened after doesn't mean it happened because of

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t5_2qh1i

cem8gfp

I have no proof or evidence that the song would have motivated me in any other way Or another song would have similarly motivated you afterwards, etc. It's not that I believe you definitely would have been motivated, just that motivation can be a very random thing, depending on all sorts of little factors you're not paying attention to.

Just because it happened after doesn't mean it happened because of

hkw4210

Sorry in advance for the wall of text. Mobile formatting gets me all confused :/ Were your parents religious/were you raised religious? Yes, and yes. My entire family is very religious, and I was raised to have a blind faith, in a very conservative Protestant church. My dad is definitely less religious than my mom, and he's the pretty good kind. My mom is very religious, but she's the kind who says she loves Jesus, but doesn't act anything like him. She can be pretty awful, judgmental, full of hate, close-minded, racist. Name a bad Christian stereotype, and she probably fits it, sadly. Your school/community? Growing up, I was a public schooler, but I lived in a very small Midwestern town where pretty much everyone is religious. After high school, I went to a large private Christian University in the South. The community was obviously pretty religious, but it was there that I met real moderate and liberal religious people, as well as a pretty decent subset of the community who were non-religious. Did you shun your religion for some reason? YES! I actually went to college and get a degree in Religion, but it was due to my studies, my work on a mission trip in Africa, and an experience working as a minister that I became, for lack of a better term, an atheist. It was like, a thousand things all came together in my mind, and it clicked for me - I've found that I just can't make myself believe in any deity, no matter how much I want to. It's ok though; I'm actually a much better person now that I'm not religious, and I really like the new things that I'm learning about myself and my views on a variety of subjects that I never allowed myself to work through when I was religious. TL;DR: raised super religious, went to college to go into ministry, ended up becoming an atheist during my studies.

Sorry in advance for the wall of text. Mobile formatting gets me all confused :/ Were your parents religious/were you raised religious? Yes, and yes. My entire family is very religious, and I was raised to have a blind faith, in a very conservative Protestant church. My dad is definitely less religious than my mom, and he's the pretty good kind. My mom is very religious, but she's the kind who says she loves Jesus, but doesn't act anything like him. She can be pretty awful, judgmental, full of hate, close-minded, racist. Name a bad Christian stereotype, and she probably fits it, sadly. Your school/community? Growing up, I was a public schooler, but I lived in a very small Midwestern town where pretty much everyone is religious. After high school, I went to a large private Christian University in the South. The community was obviously pretty religious, but it was there that I met real moderate and liberal religious people, as well as a pretty decent subset of the community who were non-religious. Did you shun your religion for some reason? YES! I actually went to college and get a degree in Religion, but it was due to my studies, my work on a mission trip in Africa, and an experience working as a minister that I became, for lack of a better term, an atheist. It was like, a thousand things all came together in my mind, and it clicked for me - I've found that I just can't make myself believe in any deity, no matter how much I want to. It's ok though; I'm actually a much better person now that I'm not religious, and I really like the new things that I'm learning about myself and my views on a variety of subjects that I never allowed myself to work through when I was religious. TL;DR: raised super religious, went to college to go into ministry, ended up becoming an atheist during my studies.

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t5_2qh1i

cem8irg

Sorry in advance for the wall of text. Mobile formatting gets me all confused :/ Were your parents religious/were you raised religious? Yes, and yes. My entire family is very religious, and I was raised to have a blind faith, in a very conservative Protestant church. My dad is definitely less religious than my mom, and he's the pretty good kind. My mom is very religious, but she's the kind who says she loves Jesus, but doesn't act anything like him. She can be pretty awful, judgmental, full of hate, close-minded, racist. Name a bad Christian stereotype, and she probably fits it, sadly. Your school/community? Growing up, I was a public schooler, but I lived in a very small Midwestern town where pretty much everyone is religious. After high school, I went to a large private Christian University in the South. The community was obviously pretty religious, but it was there that I met real moderate and liberal religious people, as well as a pretty decent subset of the community who were non-religious. Did you shun your religion for some reason? YES! I actually went to college and get a degree in Religion, but it was due to my studies, my work on a mission trip in Africa, and an experience working as a minister that I became, for lack of a better term, an atheist. It was like, a thousand things all came together in my mind, and it clicked for me - I've found that I just can't make myself believe in any deity, no matter how much I want to. It's ok though; I'm actually a much better person now that I'm not religious, and I really like the new things that I'm learning about myself and my views on a variety of subjects that I never allowed myself to work through when I was religious.

raised super religious, went to college to go into ministry, ended up becoming an atheist during my studies.

WizardShit

I was a heavily logical person and as consequence, ended up as atheist from a fairly early age, probably 11 or 12. My family was never particularly religious, though I guess they were christian. Anyway, all that logical thinking combined with a long history of depression took its toll. I ended in a nice nihilistic pit, the world and myself were just dull, grey machinery for the most part. Occasionally, I'd get inspired and have some new desire or interest in my life. But each new thing burned out quicker than the last. I did a few semesters at my local community college (it's very good as far as community colleges go, I'm told) and then lost interest and just quit. I was at the end of my rope: out of options for life; I figured I'd just kill myself. It wasn't that I was really that sad. I wasn't really that *anything*. I just couldn't be bothered to keep on living. But, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Maybe it was fear, maybe it was just the same lack of motivation from the rest of my life. Cue Jesus, right? Wrong. I couldn't kill myself and I couldn't live as I was, so something had to change. My employer ended up pissing me off. (It was a few hours a week doing this newspaper thing, needed money to pay for my coping herbs). I have about two anger levels: irritated and rage. This was quite a feat on her behalf, as I generally only go berserk once every year or few. The result was me going "Fuck you, fuck this, fuck that, fuck everything, I'm tired of letting circumstance determine my mood". I was going to be happy. It became a conscious decision, and discovering I had that option, I changed my outlook on everything. I started seeing everything to positive and I started meditating (nothing religious, just found it improved mental clarity and helped me control my outlooks) Across the board, everything was better. Memory improved. Senses enhanced. I suddenly had social skills I had never had before. I could talk to people. I was smarter. It just kept going. I could drink and drink and my coordination and speech were improved instead of stumbling and slurring. I had excellent control of my mind, and by virtue of that, my body and actions. It was easy. I found I could operate by intention and just sort of flow without really knowing how I was doing whatever I was doing. If I knew what I wanted to do, for the most part, I could do it. Then things started getting *weird*. I'd will things to happen and they would happen. This was an extension of operating by intention. The lines between things I was doing and things that were happening around me were becoming a little blurred. At first it was minor stuff that could easily be coincidence, but there is one major event that stands out. I was at my girlfriend's house and her family had a dog that was just awful and constantly causing problems. I pictured the dog dying, like a snapped neck or something. I didn't expect anything to happen. Fast forward a little bit, couple days maybe a week. I went with my girlfriend to a local thrift shop, just looking around. At the thrift shop, I ended up talking to this guy who had been a straight up legit monk, lived in a monastery for some years apparently. Dude starts talking to me about esoteric stuff and philosophy. We come back from the thrift store and come to find out that the dog has strangled itself to death on a garden hose in the time we were gone. So, um, yeah, not exactly an atheist anymore, not really sure what I believe. I would be the first one to discount my sanity, but that dog is definitely dead and that is one helluva fucking coincidence. TL;DR Dog kills itself shortly after I imagine it dying by similar action while I was at a thrift store talking to a goddamned monk about esoteric shit.

I was a heavily logical person and as consequence, ended up as atheist from a fairly early age, probably 11 or 12. My family was never particularly religious, though I guess they were christian. Anyway, all that logical thinking combined with a long history of depression took its toll. I ended in a nice nihilistic pit, the world and myself were just dull, grey machinery for the most part. Occasionally, I'd get inspired and have some new desire or interest in my life. But each new thing burned out quicker than the last. I did a few semesters at my local community college (it's very good as far as community colleges go, I'm told) and then lost interest and just quit. I was at the end of my rope: out of options for life; I figured I'd just kill myself. It wasn't that I was really that sad. I wasn't really that anything . I just couldn't be bothered to keep on living. But, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Maybe it was fear, maybe it was just the same lack of motivation from the rest of my life. Cue Jesus, right? Wrong. I couldn't kill myself and I couldn't live as I was, so something had to change. My employer ended up pissing me off. (It was a few hours a week doing this newspaper thing, needed money to pay for my coping herbs). I have about two anger levels: irritated and rage. This was quite a feat on her behalf, as I generally only go berserk once every year or few. The result was me going "Fuck you, fuck this, fuck that, fuck everything, I'm tired of letting circumstance determine my mood". I was going to be happy. It became a conscious decision, and discovering I had that option, I changed my outlook on everything. I started seeing everything to positive and I started meditating (nothing religious, just found it improved mental clarity and helped me control my outlooks) Across the board, everything was better. Memory improved. Senses enhanced. I suddenly had social skills I had never had before. I could talk to people. I was smarter. It just kept going. I could drink and drink and my coordination and speech were improved instead of stumbling and slurring. I had excellent control of my mind, and by virtue of that, my body and actions. It was easy. I found I could operate by intention and just sort of flow without really knowing how I was doing whatever I was doing. If I knew what I wanted to do, for the most part, I could do it. Then things started getting weird . I'd will things to happen and they would happen. This was an extension of operating by intention. The lines between things I was doing and things that were happening around me were becoming a little blurred. At first it was minor stuff that could easily be coincidence, but there is one major event that stands out. I was at my girlfriend's house and her family had a dog that was just awful and constantly causing problems. I pictured the dog dying, like a snapped neck or something. I didn't expect anything to happen. Fast forward a little bit, couple days maybe a week. I went with my girlfriend to a local thrift shop, just looking around. At the thrift shop, I ended up talking to this guy who had been a straight up legit monk, lived in a monastery for some years apparently. Dude starts talking to me about esoteric stuff and philosophy. We come back from the thrift store and come to find out that the dog has strangled itself to death on a garden hose in the time we were gone. So, um, yeah, not exactly an atheist anymore, not really sure what I believe. I would be the first one to discount my sanity, but that dog is definitely dead and that is one helluva fucking coincidence. TL;DR Dog kills itself shortly after I imagine it dying by similar action while I was at a thrift store talking to a goddamned monk about esoteric shit.

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t5_2qh1i

cem8jdv

I was a heavily logical person and as consequence, ended up as atheist from a fairly early age, probably 11 or 12. My family was never particularly religious, though I guess they were christian. Anyway, all that logical thinking combined with a long history of depression took its toll. I ended in a nice nihilistic pit, the world and myself were just dull, grey machinery for the most part. Occasionally, I'd get inspired and have some new desire or interest in my life. But each new thing burned out quicker than the last. I did a few semesters at my local community college (it's very good as far as community colleges go, I'm told) and then lost interest and just quit. I was at the end of my rope: out of options for life; I figured I'd just kill myself. It wasn't that I was really that sad. I wasn't really that anything . I just couldn't be bothered to keep on living. But, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Maybe it was fear, maybe it was just the same lack of motivation from the rest of my life. Cue Jesus, right? Wrong. I couldn't kill myself and I couldn't live as I was, so something had to change. My employer ended up pissing me off. (It was a few hours a week doing this newspaper thing, needed money to pay for my coping herbs). I have about two anger levels: irritated and rage. This was quite a feat on her behalf, as I generally only go berserk once every year or few. The result was me going "Fuck you, fuck this, fuck that, fuck everything, I'm tired of letting circumstance determine my mood". I was going to be happy. It became a conscious decision, and discovering I had that option, I changed my outlook on everything. I started seeing everything to positive and I started meditating (nothing religious, just found it improved mental clarity and helped me control my outlooks) Across the board, everything was better. Memory improved. Senses enhanced. I suddenly had social skills I had never had before. I could talk to people. I was smarter. It just kept going. I could drink and drink and my coordination and speech were improved instead of stumbling and slurring. I had excellent control of my mind, and by virtue of that, my body and actions. It was easy. I found I could operate by intention and just sort of flow without really knowing how I was doing whatever I was doing. If I knew what I wanted to do, for the most part, I could do it. Then things started getting weird . I'd will things to happen and they would happen. This was an extension of operating by intention. The lines between things I was doing and things that were happening around me were becoming a little blurred. At first it was minor stuff that could easily be coincidence, but there is one major event that stands out. I was at my girlfriend's house and her family had a dog that was just awful and constantly causing problems. I pictured the dog dying, like a snapped neck or something. I didn't expect anything to happen. Fast forward a little bit, couple days maybe a week. I went with my girlfriend to a local thrift shop, just looking around. At the thrift shop, I ended up talking to this guy who had been a straight up legit monk, lived in a monastery for some years apparently. Dude starts talking to me about esoteric stuff and philosophy. We come back from the thrift store and come to find out that the dog has strangled itself to death on a garden hose in the time we were gone. So, um, yeah, not exactly an atheist anymore, not really sure what I believe. I would be the first one to discount my sanity, but that dog is definitely dead and that is one helluva fucking coincidence.

Dog kills itself shortly after I imagine it dying by similar action while I was at a thrift store talking to a goddamned monk about esoteric shit.

zombie_Leghumpr

Im at a point in my life where I have no idea what I believe in. I was raised Christian but my parents were never strict. My mom is crazy philosophical (and has since become Wiccan) and my dad just doesn't talk about it for fear that a demon will rip his head off (idk why this is but whatever). When i was about 18 i kind of just slipped out of it. I felt like i was part of an ancient civilization that still prayed for a corn crop. Since i wasn't sure, i took it upon myself to study religions to see if i could find one on my own. I couldn't find one that really mixes well with science. This is crucial for me because i am a very logical person. It was hard because it seemed like all of them had the same elements, but all of them contradicted each other. So I kinda just said meh and continued on with my life. Side note: i used to discuss religion and other touchy subjects with my high school drama teacher outside of school. I wish i could explain how amazing this man was not only to me, but to all of the kids in drama every year. He was one of those teachers that taught you real qualities and didn't sugar coat how hard life was. Before he was our drama teacher he had produced rap videos and met people like p Diddy, jay z, and kanye west when he was first starting out (he said he was a dick with no talent at all) and seen how dark the world really was. He told us stories of girls waiting in line to fuck some guy just so they could get clips of their ass in the video. Anyway after one of our long discussions about religion he told me that it didn't matter what you believe in. Just because you're part of a certain faith doesn't make you a good person. You have to be a good person. I thought this was the greatest advice at the time. Sorry for the long as fuck story. Tldr; religions contradict each other, i had a bomb ass drama teacher, you don't have to be part of a religion to be a good person.

Im at a point in my life where I have no idea what I believe in. I was raised Christian but my parents were never strict. My mom is crazy philosophical (and has since become Wiccan) and my dad just doesn't talk about it for fear that a demon will rip his head off (idk why this is but whatever). When i was about 18 i kind of just slipped out of it. I felt like i was part of an ancient civilization that still prayed for a corn crop. Since i wasn't sure, i took it upon myself to study religions to see if i could find one on my own. I couldn't find one that really mixes well with science. This is crucial for me because i am a very logical person. It was hard because it seemed like all of them had the same elements, but all of them contradicted each other. So I kinda just said meh and continued on with my life. Side note: i used to discuss religion and other touchy subjects with my high school drama teacher outside of school. I wish i could explain how amazing this man was not only to me, but to all of the kids in drama every year. He was one of those teachers that taught you real qualities and didn't sugar coat how hard life was. Before he was our drama teacher he had produced rap videos and met people like p Diddy, jay z, and kanye west when he was first starting out (he said he was a dick with no talent at all) and seen how dark the world really was. He told us stories of girls waiting in line to fuck some guy just so they could get clips of their ass in the video. Anyway after one of our long discussions about religion he told me that it didn't matter what you believe in. Just because you're part of a certain faith doesn't make you a good person. You have to be a good person. I thought this was the greatest advice at the time. Sorry for the long as fuck story. Tldr; religions contradict each other, i had a bomb ass drama teacher, you don't have to be part of a religion to be a good person.

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t5_2qh1i

cem8jmy

Im at a point in my life where I have no idea what I believe in. I was raised Christian but my parents were never strict. My mom is crazy philosophical (and has since become Wiccan) and my dad just doesn't talk about it for fear that a demon will rip his head off (idk why this is but whatever). When i was about 18 i kind of just slipped out of it. I felt like i was part of an ancient civilization that still prayed for a corn crop. Since i wasn't sure, i took it upon myself to study religions to see if i could find one on my own. I couldn't find one that really mixes well with science. This is crucial for me because i am a very logical person. It was hard because it seemed like all of them had the same elements, but all of them contradicted each other. So I kinda just said meh and continued on with my life. Side note: i used to discuss religion and other touchy subjects with my high school drama teacher outside of school. I wish i could explain how amazing this man was not only to me, but to all of the kids in drama every year. He was one of those teachers that taught you real qualities and didn't sugar coat how hard life was. Before he was our drama teacher he had produced rap videos and met people like p Diddy, jay z, and kanye west when he was first starting out (he said he was a dick with no talent at all) and seen how dark the world really was. He told us stories of girls waiting in line to fuck some guy just so they could get clips of their ass in the video. Anyway after one of our long discussions about religion he told me that it didn't matter what you believe in. Just because you're part of a certain faith doesn't make you a good person. You have to be a good person. I thought this was the greatest advice at the time. Sorry for the long as fuck story.

religions contradict each other, i had a bomb ass drama teacher, you don't have to be part of a religion to be a good person.

namtrix

My mom was overbearing most if my life especially with religion and all my school attendance had been at a private christian school and it just became more of me being used to it but not knowing what any of it meant and i came to the conclusion that i said i believed just because everyone i knew did and as weird as this will come off now weed has helped me find religion in my own way. It helps me appreciate life and nature and just sort of talks to me in its own way. So people just generally have to make their own relationship with religion if they desire to. But to me weed has in its own way reconnected me with God and just enjoy knowing there's someone that understands and loves me for me. Tl dr; weed made me love God

My mom was overbearing most if my life especially with religion and all my school attendance had been at a private christian school and it just became more of me being used to it but not knowing what any of it meant and i came to the conclusion that i said i believed just because everyone i knew did and as weird as this will come off now weed has helped me find religion in my own way. It helps me appreciate life and nature and just sort of talks to me in its own way. So people just generally have to make their own relationship with religion if they desire to. But to me weed has in its own way reconnected me with God and just enjoy knowing there's someone that understands and loves me for me. Tl dr; weed made me love God

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t5_2qh1i

cem8kjr

My mom was overbearing most if my life especially with religion and all my school attendance had been at a private christian school and it just became more of me being used to it but not knowing what any of it meant and i came to the conclusion that i said i believed just because everyone i knew did and as weird as this will come off now weed has helped me find religion in my own way. It helps me appreciate life and nature and just sort of talks to me in its own way. So people just generally have to make their own relationship with religion if they desire to. But to me weed has in its own way reconnected me with God and just enjoy knowing there's someone that understands and loves me for me.

weed made me love God

Foxy_Boxes

Throwaway here. In the beginning of my life, I was Christian because my parents raised me that way. I had a part of my life where I had trouble believing in God because my life felt empty, lackluster, and just plain terrible, but, looking back on it, I have chalked it up to puberty. Fast forward to today. I am still a Christian, but not because my parents influence me. I have a more liberal look on Christianity, now. I believe that Jesus was the son of God, died for my sins on the cross, and was resurrected, but, along the lines of everything else, I believe in the one rule: Love others as you would love yourself. I try not to be judgemental, even though I am, I understand that I sin, and repent for them through prayer and attending church, and I know that I will never be perfect, but that shouldn't stop me for acting in the best interest of myself and the others around me and in my life. I believe that you shouldn't be disrespectful towards different religions or to nonreligious people. They deserve the same treatment you would give to someone important in your life. Now, I also believe that science has a place in religion, and that interpreting the history of the world from one source causes SERIOUS problems. I see science as the human understanding of the world around us, and that there is a reason behind everything that was here, and that, just because we are the dominant species on the planet right now, doesn't mean that we've ALWAYS been the dominant species, and that the Earth hasn't always been made just for us. Now, being a liberal anything, much less Christian, in Texas is a bit of a problem for obvious reasons. I have run into people that believe the whole "5000 year old Earth" theory, and talking to them is like talking to a brick wall. A very, very religious brick wall. So, I've learned to keep my religious views to myself unless I am talking to someone who is willing to debate with me. Tl;dr: I am a liberal Christian in Texas who believes the biggest thing in Christianity is to not be a dick to people.

Throwaway here. In the beginning of my life, I was Christian because my parents raised me that way. I had a part of my life where I had trouble believing in God because my life felt empty, lackluster, and just plain terrible, but, looking back on it, I have chalked it up to puberty. Fast forward to today. I am still a Christian, but not because my parents influence me. I have a more liberal look on Christianity, now. I believe that Jesus was the son of God, died for my sins on the cross, and was resurrected, but, along the lines of everything else, I believe in the one rule: Love others as you would love yourself. I try not to be judgemental, even though I am, I understand that I sin, and repent for them through prayer and attending church, and I know that I will never be perfect, but that shouldn't stop me for acting in the best interest of myself and the others around me and in my life. I believe that you shouldn't be disrespectful towards different religions or to nonreligious people. They deserve the same treatment you would give to someone important in your life. Now, I also believe that science has a place in religion, and that interpreting the history of the world from one source causes SERIOUS problems. I see science as the human understanding of the world around us, and that there is a reason behind everything that was here, and that, just because we are the dominant species on the planet right now, doesn't mean that we've ALWAYS been the dominant species, and that the Earth hasn't always been made just for us. Now, being a liberal anything, much less Christian, in Texas is a bit of a problem for obvious reasons. I have run into people that believe the whole "5000 year old Earth" theory, and talking to them is like talking to a brick wall. A very, very religious brick wall. So, I've learned to keep my religious views to myself unless I am talking to someone who is willing to debate with me. Tl;dr: I am a liberal Christian in Texas who believes the biggest thing in Christianity is to not be a dick to people.

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t5_2qh1i

cem8m6n

Throwaway here. In the beginning of my life, I was Christian because my parents raised me that way. I had a part of my life where I had trouble believing in God because my life felt empty, lackluster, and just plain terrible, but, looking back on it, I have chalked it up to puberty. Fast forward to today. I am still a Christian, but not because my parents influence me. I have a more liberal look on Christianity, now. I believe that Jesus was the son of God, died for my sins on the cross, and was resurrected, but, along the lines of everything else, I believe in the one rule: Love others as you would love yourself. I try not to be judgemental, even though I am, I understand that I sin, and repent for them through prayer and attending church, and I know that I will never be perfect, but that shouldn't stop me for acting in the best interest of myself and the others around me and in my life. I believe that you shouldn't be disrespectful towards different religions or to nonreligious people. They deserve the same treatment you would give to someone important in your life. Now, I also believe that science has a place in religion, and that interpreting the history of the world from one source causes SERIOUS problems. I see science as the human understanding of the world around us, and that there is a reason behind everything that was here, and that, just because we are the dominant species on the planet right now, doesn't mean that we've ALWAYS been the dominant species, and that the Earth hasn't always been made just for us. Now, being a liberal anything, much less Christian, in Texas is a bit of a problem for obvious reasons. I have run into people that believe the whole "5000 year old Earth" theory, and talking to them is like talking to a brick wall. A very, very religious brick wall. So, I've learned to keep my religious views to myself unless I am talking to someone who is willing to debate with me.

I am a liberal Christian in Texas who believes the biggest thing in Christianity is to not be a dick to people.

aryeh56

I recently addressed this question on the forums at satwcomic.com I described myself as a deist Jew for those interested, here is the question and my answer, which I think you will find relevant: @Lonelyamerican Why do you hang on to the faith when so many of us don't? Where do you stand on key issues, like marrying only other Jews, or keeping Kosher, or shabbat e.t.c? Sorry about the delay, busy spending Christmas hanging out with Jewish friends(to answer one question) The other question is much more complicated. I happened to come up with a good analogy during a class today called 'Religious Quests' (appropriately enough) To me religion stands opposed to evolution, not in the creationism weird way, but as a moral buffer against our animal instincts. So that's why I hang onto religion, but you asked why I hang on to 'the faith'. I assume you mean Judaism specifically. Judaism's moral values appeal to me, not the literal biblical morals, but the culture of discussion and interpretation that creates a lasting, adaptable culture is something important to me. Additionally, I feel a deep personal connection to something larger than myself: four thousand years of personal history and an intellectual community that spans the entire planet. That's why Judaism matters to me and the answers to your other questions derive from that, things like kashrut or Shabbat are constructs that we use to acknowledge our history and bind together have to be maintained out of respect to our pears and fore-bearers if nothing else. Marrying Jewish is even more important out of deference to my children's right to benefit from our community and my parents right to have a Jewish legacy and my spouses right to practice their religion in our household, which I cannot commit to if its going to affect the values of my children. I do want them to learn about other cultures and faiths but only in the right context, once they've learned "that isn't us". TL;DR Tradition has value, regardless of belief in god. Too much assimilation is bad.

I recently addressed this question on the forums at satwcomic.com I described myself as a deist Jew for those interested, here is the question and my answer, which I think you will find relevant: @Lonelyamerican Why do you hang on to the faith when so many of us don't? Where do you stand on key issues, like marrying only other Jews, or keeping Kosher, or shabbat e.t.c? Sorry about the delay, busy spending Christmas hanging out with Jewish friends(to answer one question) The other question is much more complicated. I happened to come up with a good analogy during a class today called 'Religious Quests' (appropriately enough) To me religion stands opposed to evolution, not in the creationism weird way, but as a moral buffer against our animal instincts. So that's why I hang onto religion, but you asked why I hang on to 'the faith'. I assume you mean Judaism specifically. Judaism's moral values appeal to me, not the literal biblical morals, but the culture of discussion and interpretation that creates a lasting, adaptable culture is something important to me. Additionally, I feel a deep personal connection to something larger than myself: four thousand years of personal history and an intellectual community that spans the entire planet. That's why Judaism matters to me and the answers to your other questions derive from that, things like kashrut or Shabbat are constructs that we use to acknowledge our history and bind together have to be maintained out of respect to our pears and fore-bearers if nothing else. Marrying Jewish is even more important out of deference to my children's right to benefit from our community and my parents right to have a Jewish legacy and my spouses right to practice their religion in our household, which I cannot commit to if its going to affect the values of my children. I do want them to learn about other cultures and faiths but only in the right context, once they've learned "that isn't us". TL;DR Tradition has value, regardless of belief in god. Too much assimilation is bad.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cem8meq

I recently addressed this question on the forums at satwcomic.com I described myself as a deist Jew for those interested, here is the question and my answer, which I think you will find relevant: @Lonelyamerican Why do you hang on to the faith when so many of us don't? Where do you stand on key issues, like marrying only other Jews, or keeping Kosher, or shabbat e.t.c? Sorry about the delay, busy spending Christmas hanging out with Jewish friends(to answer one question) The other question is much more complicated. I happened to come up with a good analogy during a class today called 'Religious Quests' (appropriately enough) To me religion stands opposed to evolution, not in the creationism weird way, but as a moral buffer against our animal instincts. So that's why I hang onto religion, but you asked why I hang on to 'the faith'. I assume you mean Judaism specifically. Judaism's moral values appeal to me, not the literal biblical morals, but the culture of discussion and interpretation that creates a lasting, adaptable culture is something important to me. Additionally, I feel a deep personal connection to something larger than myself: four thousand years of personal history and an intellectual community that spans the entire planet. That's why Judaism matters to me and the answers to your other questions derive from that, things like kashrut or Shabbat are constructs that we use to acknowledge our history and bind together have to be maintained out of respect to our pears and fore-bearers if nothing else. Marrying Jewish is even more important out of deference to my children's right to benefit from our community and my parents right to have a Jewish legacy and my spouses right to practice their religion in our household, which I cannot commit to if its going to affect the values of my children. I do want them to learn about other cultures and faiths but only in the right context, once they've learned "that isn't us".

Tradition has value, regardless of belief in god. Too much assimilation is bad.

Celdron

I think this is one of the reasons many atheists reject religion, they simply don't see the reason in believing in it. I, however, am a Christian because I have seen amazing things that cannot be explained only using logic and science. I am not denouncing science at all, but at this moment it cannot explain the origin of the big bang, why humans have become sentient and other species have yet to reach sentience (though some apes are close), and all sorts of smaller "petty" miracles. Yes there is a small chance of all this happening randomly, which according to the theory of the multiverse means there is a 100% chance of all this happening in one universe (excluding the origin of the big bang, which has a 100% chance to happen in every universe and is still unexplained). Furthermore, through logical analysis it can be determined that there either HAS to be a God, or there CANNOT be a God. This is because God is seen as an Omnipotent figure, which means he has control over everything. So according to quantum theory, if there is a chance of God existing, then there is a 100% chance he exists in a universe; however, because God is Omnipotent, this would mean he exists in every universe. So there is either a 100% or 0% chance a God exists. This effectively says that if you are agnostic, you should go ahead and become theist for the God you think might exist. Lastly, there is a logical reason to be theist rather than atheist. If there is a God, and you are theist for him/her, most religions reward you with an afterlife. However, if you do not believe in him, many religions believe there is a punishment in the afterlife. If there is no God, both the atheist and theist simply ceases to exist. So logically, you should pick a religion you like and devote yourself to it. However if you choose Christianity, I would warn you that you must actually be religious if you take up the label. Our God dislikes Agnostics and non-devout Christians more than he dislikes Atheists and people devout to other gods. Whatever you choose to believe, God and I will love you and wish you the best in life. God gave you the freedom to do as you please, and I do not want to try and take that freedom from you. Religion gets a bad light when it's followers try to force people into believing, and that light needs to be turned off, because that is not what religion is about. The heart of religion is to love others and enjoy your life, whilst bringing joy to the people around you. I've noticed that religious people tend to be much happier than those who are not. Why? Probably because we know we aren't important, accept that, and make the best of what we have, knowing that there is always hope for the future. **TL;DR:** I am religious because my God brings me love, hope, and happiness. If you are not a Christian: we still love you, you still have hope, and we want you to be happy.

I think this is one of the reasons many atheists reject religion, they simply don't see the reason in believing in it. I, however, am a Christian because I have seen amazing things that cannot be explained only using logic and science. I am not denouncing science at all, but at this moment it cannot explain the origin of the big bang, why humans have become sentient and other species have yet to reach sentience (though some apes are close), and all sorts of smaller "petty" miracles. Yes there is a small chance of all this happening randomly, which according to the theory of the multiverse means there is a 100% chance of all this happening in one universe (excluding the origin of the big bang, which has a 100% chance to happen in every universe and is still unexplained). Furthermore, through logical analysis it can be determined that there either HAS to be a God, or there CANNOT be a God. This is because God is seen as an Omnipotent figure, which means he has control over everything. So according to quantum theory, if there is a chance of God existing, then there is a 100% chance he exists in a universe; however, because God is Omnipotent, this would mean he exists in every universe. So there is either a 100% or 0% chance a God exists. This effectively says that if you are agnostic, you should go ahead and become theist for the God you think might exist. Lastly, there is a logical reason to be theist rather than atheist. If there is a God, and you are theist for him/her, most religions reward you with an afterlife. However, if you do not believe in him, many religions believe there is a punishment in the afterlife. If there is no God, both the atheist and theist simply ceases to exist. So logically, you should pick a religion you like and devote yourself to it. However if you choose Christianity, I would warn you that you must actually be religious if you take up the label. Our God dislikes Agnostics and non-devout Christians more than he dislikes Atheists and people devout to other gods. Whatever you choose to believe, God and I will love you and wish you the best in life. God gave you the freedom to do as you please, and I do not want to try and take that freedom from you. Religion gets a bad light when it's followers try to force people into believing, and that light needs to be turned off, because that is not what religion is about. The heart of religion is to love others and enjoy your life, whilst bringing joy to the people around you. I've noticed that religious people tend to be much happier than those who are not. Why? Probably because we know we aren't important, accept that, and make the best of what we have, knowing that there is always hope for the future. TL;DR: I am religious because my God brings me love, hope, and happiness. If you are not a Christian: we still love you, you still have hope, and we want you to be happy.

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t5_2qh1i

cem8pdv

I think this is one of the reasons many atheists reject religion, they simply don't see the reason in believing in it. I, however, am a Christian because I have seen amazing things that cannot be explained only using logic and science. I am not denouncing science at all, but at this moment it cannot explain the origin of the big bang, why humans have become sentient and other species have yet to reach sentience (though some apes are close), and all sorts of smaller "petty" miracles. Yes there is a small chance of all this happening randomly, which according to the theory of the multiverse means there is a 100% chance of all this happening in one universe (excluding the origin of the big bang, which has a 100% chance to happen in every universe and is still unexplained). Furthermore, through logical analysis it can be determined that there either HAS to be a God, or there CANNOT be a God. This is because God is seen as an Omnipotent figure, which means he has control over everything. So according to quantum theory, if there is a chance of God existing, then there is a 100% chance he exists in a universe; however, because God is Omnipotent, this would mean he exists in every universe. So there is either a 100% or 0% chance a God exists. This effectively says that if you are agnostic, you should go ahead and become theist for the God you think might exist. Lastly, there is a logical reason to be theist rather than atheist. If there is a God, and you are theist for him/her, most religions reward you with an afterlife. However, if you do not believe in him, many religions believe there is a punishment in the afterlife. If there is no God, both the atheist and theist simply ceases to exist. So logically, you should pick a religion you like and devote yourself to it. However if you choose Christianity, I would warn you that you must actually be religious if you take up the label. Our God dislikes Agnostics and non-devout Christians more than he dislikes Atheists and people devout to other gods. Whatever you choose to believe, God and I will love you and wish you the best in life. God gave you the freedom to do as you please, and I do not want to try and take that freedom from you. Religion gets a bad light when it's followers try to force people into believing, and that light needs to be turned off, because that is not what religion is about. The heart of religion is to love others and enjoy your life, whilst bringing joy to the people around you. I've noticed that religious people tend to be much happier than those who are not. Why? Probably because we know we aren't important, accept that, and make the best of what we have, knowing that there is always hope for the future.

I am religious because my God brings me love, hope, and happiness. If you are not a Christian: we still love you, you still have hope, and we want you to be happy.

EmbyrFlayme

Raised in a Christian religion. Sometime in my teens and early 20's I really started thinking about why I was religious. I wondered if I would be religious or have the same religion if I weren't raised the way I was. Part of this was brought on by attending a university and being exposed to more beliefs, and also watching friends walk away from the beliefs they were raised in. I started really pondering and studying and the end result was, I am still religious. I am no religious scholar by any means, but despite all the differences in religions/beliefs (christian, pagan, muslim, etc. etc.) I found that the similarities they all taught were something that ended up strengthening my faith. I don't think I fit the mold of the classic Christian, but I still attend the church of my childhood and have a deeply rooted belief in Christ. TLDR: Grew up Christian, questioned my faith, stayed Christian.

Raised in a Christian religion. Sometime in my teens and early 20's I really started thinking about why I was religious. I wondered if I would be religious or have the same religion if I weren't raised the way I was. Part of this was brought on by attending a university and being exposed to more beliefs, and also watching friends walk away from the beliefs they were raised in. I started really pondering and studying and the end result was, I am still religious. I am no religious scholar by any means, but despite all the differences in religions/beliefs (christian, pagan, muslim, etc. etc.) I found that the similarities they all taught were something that ended up strengthening my faith. I don't think I fit the mold of the classic Christian, but I still attend the church of my childhood and have a deeply rooted belief in Christ. TLDR: Grew up Christian, questioned my faith, stayed Christian.

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t5_2qh1i

cem8pex

Raised in a Christian religion. Sometime in my teens and early 20's I really started thinking about why I was religious. I wondered if I would be religious or have the same religion if I weren't raised the way I was. Part of this was brought on by attending a university and being exposed to more beliefs, and also watching friends walk away from the beliefs they were raised in. I started really pondering and studying and the end result was, I am still religious. I am no religious scholar by any means, but despite all the differences in religions/beliefs (christian, pagan, muslim, etc. etc.) I found that the similarities they all taught were something that ended up strengthening my faith. I don't think I fit the mold of the classic Christian, but I still attend the church of my childhood and have a deeply rooted belief in Christ.

Grew up Christian, questioned my faith, stayed Christian.

IAMA_Trex

I like the quote, but if you think about it there are 2 main problems with it 1) How do you define a good life? Generally no- one thinks they are a 'bad guy' yet there are still hundreds of thousands of crimes committed every day on earth, most of them by people who rationalize their actions. So letting each individual person decide if what they do is ok probably isn't the best plan. 2) This is a more theological point and may seem pointless, but the quote is presuming to know the will of God/ the gods. With the ancient Roman view of the gods this was commonly accepted. However their religion was very different from 'modern' monotheistic religions. Probably the biggest issue this causes is cults, if everyone can decide what God thinks and wants than you get lots of cults, and do you really want more organizations like scientology? TLDR- If everyone went along with this (more than I would guess most people instinctual do) on average most people would act exactly the same. And do you want cults, because this is how we get cults.

I like the quote, but if you think about it there are 2 main problems with it 1) How do you define a good life? Generally no- one thinks they are a 'bad guy' yet there are still hundreds of thousands of crimes committed every day on earth, most of them by people who rationalize their actions. So letting each individual person decide if what they do is ok probably isn't the best plan. 2) This is a more theological point and may seem pointless, but the quote is presuming to know the will of God/ the gods. With the ancient Roman view of the gods this was commonly accepted. However their religion was very different from 'modern' monotheistic religions. Probably the biggest issue this causes is cults, if everyone can decide what God thinks and wants than you get lots of cults, and do you really want more organizations like scientology? TLDR- If everyone went along with this (more than I would guess most people instinctual do) on average most people would act exactly the same. And do you want cults, because this is how we get cults.

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t5_2qh1i

cem8poz

I like the quote, but if you think about it there are 2 main problems with it 1) How do you define a good life? Generally no- one thinks they are a 'bad guy' yet there are still hundreds of thousands of crimes committed every day on earth, most of them by people who rationalize their actions. So letting each individual person decide if what they do is ok probably isn't the best plan. 2) This is a more theological point and may seem pointless, but the quote is presuming to know the will of God/ the gods. With the ancient Roman view of the gods this was commonly accepted. However their religion was very different from 'modern' monotheistic religions. Probably the biggest issue this causes is cults, if everyone can decide what God thinks and wants than you get lots of cults, and do you really want more organizations like scientology?

If everyone went along with this (more than I would guess most people instinctual do) on average most people would act exactly the same. And do you want cults, because this is how we get cults.

Gabigail117

I am not religious. My mother is Jewish and my father is Christian. We all aren't very religious, we don't go to church but we celebrate both Jewish and Christian holidays. My father is the most religious out of any of us. The reason I am not religious is because when my parents were dating my dad's pastor told him that my mom will go to hell. That if he marries her and has children, her children will go to hell. Your children will go to hell. They won't accept Jesus Christ as their savior so they will be damned to hell. My dad believed him and then broke up with my mother and told her why. She was so angry. She couldn't believe it and she thought he was incredibly stupid and silly. They were broken up about a month and my dad was having a horrible time dealing with it, so he went to his best friend for guidance who is a non-religious Turkish Muslim. His Muslim friend told him, "why does it matter? Why should she go to hell? She's the most wonderful woman I have ever met and she would go to hell when a murderer, a rapist, a killer, could accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior and go to heaven, yet the woman you love who is the kindest woman you and I know, will be damned. I don't believe it. I don't like it. And I don't think it should be your reason to not be with her. Be with her." My dad thought about it and realized that he really does love her and religion shouldn't keep him from loving her. They got back together, dated for a few more years and then they got married and now my dad's Muslim friend is my godfather. My parents are the happiest and most in love people I've been able to witness. My sister and I are not religious in the slightest and I believe it's because of this background. Tl:dr my dad broke up with my mom when they were dating b/c she's Jewish. His friend told him how stupid he was being. Dad lost a little faith and got back with mom. I'm not religious.

I am not religious. My mother is Jewish and my father is Christian. We all aren't very religious, we don't go to church but we celebrate both Jewish and Christian holidays. My father is the most religious out of any of us. The reason I am not religious is because when my parents were dating my dad's pastor told him that my mom will go to hell. That if he marries her and has children, her children will go to hell. Your children will go to hell. They won't accept Jesus Christ as their savior so they will be damned to hell. My dad believed him and then broke up with my mother and told her why. She was so angry. She couldn't believe it and she thought he was incredibly stupid and silly. They were broken up about a month and my dad was having a horrible time dealing with it, so he went to his best friend for guidance who is a non-religious Turkish Muslim. His Muslim friend told him, "why does it matter? Why should she go to hell? She's the most wonderful woman I have ever met and she would go to hell when a murderer, a rapist, a killer, could accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior and go to heaven, yet the woman you love who is the kindest woman you and I know, will be damned. I don't believe it. I don't like it. And I don't think it should be your reason to not be with her. Be with her." My dad thought about it and realized that he really does love her and religion shouldn't keep him from loving her. They got back together, dated for a few more years and then they got married and now my dad's Muslim friend is my godfather. My parents are the happiest and most in love people I've been able to witness. My sister and I are not religious in the slightest and I believe it's because of this background. Tl:dr my dad broke up with my mom when they were dating b/c she's Jewish. His friend told him how stupid he was being. Dad lost a little faith and got back with mom. I'm not religious.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cem8tcj

I am not religious. My mother is Jewish and my father is Christian. We all aren't very religious, we don't go to church but we celebrate both Jewish and Christian holidays. My father is the most religious out of any of us. The reason I am not religious is because when my parents were dating my dad's pastor told him that my mom will go to hell. That if he marries her and has children, her children will go to hell. Your children will go to hell. They won't accept Jesus Christ as their savior so they will be damned to hell. My dad believed him and then broke up with my mother and told her why. She was so angry. She couldn't believe it and she thought he was incredibly stupid and silly. They were broken up about a month and my dad was having a horrible time dealing with it, so he went to his best friend for guidance who is a non-religious Turkish Muslim. His Muslim friend told him, "why does it matter? Why should she go to hell? She's the most wonderful woman I have ever met and she would go to hell when a murderer, a rapist, a killer, could accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior and go to heaven, yet the woman you love who is the kindest woman you and I know, will be damned. I don't believe it. I don't like it. And I don't think it should be your reason to not be with her. Be with her." My dad thought about it and realized that he really does love her and religion shouldn't keep him from loving her. They got back together, dated for a few more years and then they got married and now my dad's Muslim friend is my godfather. My parents are the happiest and most in love people I've been able to witness. My sister and I are not religious in the slightest and I believe it's because of this background.

my dad broke up with my mom when they were dating b/c she's Jewish. His friend told him how stupid he was being. Dad lost a little faith and got back with mom. I'm not religious.

FoolishHeathen

My parents are divorced, and have been since I was about 1 (I'm 25 now). I lived most of my childhood with my mother and she regularly went to church with her sister (who was/is married to a STRICTLY religious man), and so she always took me along with her. For most of my young life, I was a pretty devout Christian because of this, doing my best to "serve God" and do no sins so I could go to heaven, etc. I often went to visit my father during school summer vacations, and for a period of about 5 years I was legitimately afraid for my father because he would say "hell" or "crap." For whatever reason, around the time I was finishing middle school (7th and 8th grade where I was), my mother became much more relaxed about going to church, going only maybe once a month. I was totally ok with this, even though I still thoroughly believed in God, cuz, you know, I got to sleep in on Sundays and watch Angry Beavers, which would only come on during church hours. Anyway, fast forward to senior year of high school, and my mother and I hadn't gone to church in about a year, and I was taking a class simply titled "Humanities," which examined, among other things, religion. For about 6 weeks, the class had a guest speaker come and talk to the class about their particular religion and the class was able to ask any questions they might have. We had speakers from MANY different religions, such as Islam, Judaism, various different sects of Christianity, Mormonism, Buddism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Wiccans, and even a Scientologist (I think this was back before everybody knew just what a joke Scientology is), just to name a few. We even took a field trip to see a few religious buildings in the nearby areas. I started out this section of the class thinking it was extremely dumb...how could anyone really believe in something other than the Christian god that I believed in? But by the end, I was seriously doubting my religious convictions. If there are so many religions in the world how can just ONE be true? While I wasn't truly "deconverted" at this time, I slowly went from a die-hard Christian to someone who "believes there is a god somewhere out there." Then came college. I remained pretty much the same as after that Humanities class until I had a NASTY breakup with an ex that ended up being a bit to fanatical about God and how He must exist (I didn't break up with her because of this, just sort of a coincidence). After the breakup, in order to forget it ever happened I sorta went overboard doing a lot of things "the opposite" of what she would have done...she partied a lot, I became secluded and independent...she loved country, I grew to hate country...things like that. At some point I saw Richard Dawkins' *The God Delusion* in a book store and picked it up cuz I knew my ex would've hated it. While there are many people that hate the book for some reason or another, it really hit home with me and sort of finally made me realize that religion really isn't all it's cracked up to be. This sparked my curiosity in the subject, and I read many more books along the same lines over the next few years. After reading about a dozen books on the subject, and doing lots of other research, I have pretty much come to the conclusion that I'm an agnostic atheist. TL;DR With a combination of an enlightening class in high school and my own research after a while, I switched from being a devout christian in childhood to an atheist in my mid-20s.

My parents are divorced, and have been since I was about 1 (I'm 25 now). I lived most of my childhood with my mother and she regularly went to church with her sister (who was/is married to a STRICTLY religious man), and so she always took me along with her. For most of my young life, I was a pretty devout Christian because of this, doing my best to "serve God" and do no sins so I could go to heaven, etc. I often went to visit my father during school summer vacations, and for a period of about 5 years I was legitimately afraid for my father because he would say "hell" or "crap." For whatever reason, around the time I was finishing middle school (7th and 8th grade where I was), my mother became much more relaxed about going to church, going only maybe once a month. I was totally ok with this, even though I still thoroughly believed in God, cuz, you know, I got to sleep in on Sundays and watch Angry Beavers, which would only come on during church hours. Anyway, fast forward to senior year of high school, and my mother and I hadn't gone to church in about a year, and I was taking a class simply titled "Humanities," which examined, among other things, religion. For about 6 weeks, the class had a guest speaker come and talk to the class about their particular religion and the class was able to ask any questions they might have. We had speakers from MANY different religions, such as Islam, Judaism, various different sects of Christianity, Mormonism, Buddism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Wiccans, and even a Scientologist (I think this was back before everybody knew just what a joke Scientology is), just to name a few. We even took a field trip to see a few religious buildings in the nearby areas. I started out this section of the class thinking it was extremely dumb...how could anyone really believe in something other than the Christian god that I believed in? But by the end, I was seriously doubting my religious convictions. If there are so many religions in the world how can just ONE be true? While I wasn't truly "deconverted" at this time, I slowly went from a die-hard Christian to someone who "believes there is a god somewhere out there." Then came college. I remained pretty much the same as after that Humanities class until I had a NASTY breakup with an ex that ended up being a bit to fanatical about God and how He must exist (I didn't break up with her because of this, just sort of a coincidence). After the breakup, in order to forget it ever happened I sorta went overboard doing a lot of things "the opposite" of what she would have done...she partied a lot, I became secluded and independent...she loved country, I grew to hate country...things like that. At some point I saw Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion in a book store and picked it up cuz I knew my ex would've hated it. While there are many people that hate the book for some reason or another, it really hit home with me and sort of finally made me realize that religion really isn't all it's cracked up to be. This sparked my curiosity in the subject, and I read many more books along the same lines over the next few years. After reading about a dozen books on the subject, and doing lots of other research, I have pretty much come to the conclusion that I'm an agnostic atheist. TL;DR With a combination of an enlightening class in high school and my own research after a while, I switched from being a devout christian in childhood to an atheist in my mid-20s.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cem8z5x

My parents are divorced, and have been since I was about 1 (I'm 25 now). I lived most of my childhood with my mother and she regularly went to church with her sister (who was/is married to a STRICTLY religious man), and so she always took me along with her. For most of my young life, I was a pretty devout Christian because of this, doing my best to "serve God" and do no sins so I could go to heaven, etc. I often went to visit my father during school summer vacations, and for a period of about 5 years I was legitimately afraid for my father because he would say "hell" or "crap." For whatever reason, around the time I was finishing middle school (7th and 8th grade where I was), my mother became much more relaxed about going to church, going only maybe once a month. I was totally ok with this, even though I still thoroughly believed in God, cuz, you know, I got to sleep in on Sundays and watch Angry Beavers, which would only come on during church hours. Anyway, fast forward to senior year of high school, and my mother and I hadn't gone to church in about a year, and I was taking a class simply titled "Humanities," which examined, among other things, religion. For about 6 weeks, the class had a guest speaker come and talk to the class about their particular religion and the class was able to ask any questions they might have. We had speakers from MANY different religions, such as Islam, Judaism, various different sects of Christianity, Mormonism, Buddism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Wiccans, and even a Scientologist (I think this was back before everybody knew just what a joke Scientology is), just to name a few. We even took a field trip to see a few religious buildings in the nearby areas. I started out this section of the class thinking it was extremely dumb...how could anyone really believe in something other than the Christian god that I believed in? But by the end, I was seriously doubting my religious convictions. If there are so many religions in the world how can just ONE be true? While I wasn't truly "deconverted" at this time, I slowly went from a die-hard Christian to someone who "believes there is a god somewhere out there." Then came college. I remained pretty much the same as after that Humanities class until I had a NASTY breakup with an ex that ended up being a bit to fanatical about God and how He must exist (I didn't break up with her because of this, just sort of a coincidence). After the breakup, in order to forget it ever happened I sorta went overboard doing a lot of things "the opposite" of what she would have done...she partied a lot, I became secluded and independent...she loved country, I grew to hate country...things like that. At some point I saw Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion in a book store and picked it up cuz I knew my ex would've hated it. While there are many people that hate the book for some reason or another, it really hit home with me and sort of finally made me realize that religion really isn't all it's cracked up to be. This sparked my curiosity in the subject, and I read many more books along the same lines over the next few years. After reading about a dozen books on the subject, and doing lots of other research, I have pretty much come to the conclusion that I'm an agnostic atheist.

With a combination of an enlightening class in high school and my own research after a while, I switched from being a devout christian in childhood to an atheist in my mid-20s.

sc0tt454

I have a few questions. 1: We brutally torture and kill Jesus. He comes back and just forgives us. So why aren't we given a chance to earn this forgiveness? Why is the symbol of your faith arguably one of humanities worst moments? (Remember we did nothing but bad here and were still forgiven). Also isn't rising from the dead largely associated with witchcraft and satanism in your religion? If Romans thought Jesus was human why did they go to so much trouble by putting his body in a cave? If Jesus knew he was the son of God his whole life why did he wait until his early thirties before going public so to speak? ** Miracles** If people witnessed miracles then why they died wouldn't they go to heaven based on knowledge and first hand experience rather than faith? Did they cheat their way into heaven? Jesus didn't just make claims and told people to trust him or 'take it on faith'. He backed up his claims with miracles. **Editing** Religious people today heavily edit their own views to suit themselves. A christian today differs from one a thousand years ago. Hell (excuse the pun) a christian today differs from another christian down the street. How can this be if your beliefs are tied to reality? In your mind when I die I'll meet your god because in your mind he's real. **God** Is God capable of emotions? Remember he is an omniscient being. Literally 'all knowing.' So when you die and he expresses love to you then he will have also expressed it at the very moment he came into existence. For human beings emotions are spontaneous reactions. We feel anger, love, sadness etc in the moment. We don't plan it out years in advance. Why would an omniscient being do anything? Again in his mind the second he came into existence he would have known and experienced everything without having to do anything. **Faith** It feels like a toxic word to me when it comes to religion. It means don't question, don't experiment and don't verify. It means take my word for it and that's that. I could tell you lizard people invented Christianity to subdue the masses but you wouldn't believe me would you? Can't you just take it on faith that I'm right? Why am I wrong but an old book is right? tldr: I have no idea. Just pick and choose questions.

I have a few questions. 1: We brutally torture and kill Jesus. He comes back and just forgives us. So why aren't we given a chance to earn this forgiveness? Why is the symbol of your faith arguably one of humanities worst moments? (Remember we did nothing but bad here and were still forgiven). Also isn't rising from the dead largely associated with witchcraft and satanism in your religion? If Romans thought Jesus was human why did they go to so much trouble by putting his body in a cave? If Jesus knew he was the son of God his whole life why did he wait until his early thirties before going public so to speak? Miracles If people witnessed miracles then why they died wouldn't they go to heaven based on knowledge and first hand experience rather than faith? Did they cheat their way into heaven? Jesus didn't just make claims and told people to trust him or 'take it on faith'. He backed up his claims with miracles. Editing Religious people today heavily edit their own views to suit themselves. A christian today differs from one a thousand years ago. Hell (excuse the pun) a christian today differs from another christian down the street. How can this be if your beliefs are tied to reality? In your mind when I die I'll meet your god because in your mind he's real. God Is God capable of emotions? Remember he is an omniscient being. Literally 'all knowing.' So when you die and he expresses love to you then he will have also expressed it at the very moment he came into existence. For human beings emotions are spontaneous reactions. We feel anger, love, sadness etc in the moment. We don't plan it out years in advance. Why would an omniscient being do anything? Again in his mind the second he came into existence he would have known and experienced everything without having to do anything. Faith It feels like a toxic word to me when it comes to religion. It means don't question, don't experiment and don't verify. It means take my word for it and that's that. I could tell you lizard people invented Christianity to subdue the masses but you wouldn't believe me would you? Can't you just take it on faith that I'm right? Why am I wrong but an old book is right? tldr: I have no idea. Just pick and choose questions.

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t5_2qh1i

cem8zty

I have a few questions. 1: We brutally torture and kill Jesus. He comes back and just forgives us. So why aren't we given a chance to earn this forgiveness? Why is the symbol of your faith arguably one of humanities worst moments? (Remember we did nothing but bad here and were still forgiven). Also isn't rising from the dead largely associated with witchcraft and satanism in your religion? If Romans thought Jesus was human why did they go to so much trouble by putting his body in a cave? If Jesus knew he was the son of God his whole life why did he wait until his early thirties before going public so to speak? Miracles If people witnessed miracles then why they died wouldn't they go to heaven based on knowledge and first hand experience rather than faith? Did they cheat their way into heaven? Jesus didn't just make claims and told people to trust him or 'take it on faith'. He backed up his claims with miracles. Editing Religious people today heavily edit their own views to suit themselves. A christian today differs from one a thousand years ago. Hell (excuse the pun) a christian today differs from another christian down the street. How can this be if your beliefs are tied to reality? In your mind when I die I'll meet your god because in your mind he's real. God Is God capable of emotions? Remember he is an omniscient being. Literally 'all knowing.' So when you die and he expresses love to you then he will have also expressed it at the very moment he came into existence. For human beings emotions are spontaneous reactions. We feel anger, love, sadness etc in the moment. We don't plan it out years in advance. Why would an omniscient being do anything? Again in his mind the second he came into existence he would have known and experienced everything without having to do anything. Faith It feels like a toxic word to me when it comes to religion. It means don't question, don't experiment and don't verify. It means take my word for it and that's that. I could tell you lizard people invented Christianity to subdue the masses but you wouldn't believe me would you? Can't you just take it on faith that I'm right? Why am I wrong but an old book is right?

I have no idea. Just pick and choose questions.

boomchaos

I'm not religious. I went to Sunday school pretty much all of my childhood and was raised as a Protestant, but when I started to go to boarding school, I only went to church when I was home. I stopped going to Church because I didn't have time and just stopped caring about it. I could be doing so many other productive things than religion so I eventually just stopped engaging in religious activities altogether. TL;DR: Not religious cuz I want to do other shit with my life.

I'm not religious. I went to Sunday school pretty much all of my childhood and was raised as a Protestant, but when I started to go to boarding school, I only went to church when I was home. I stopped going to Church because I didn't have time and just stopped caring about it. I could be doing so many other productive things than religion so I eventually just stopped engaging in religious activities altogether. TL;DR: Not religious cuz I want to do other shit with my life.

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t5_2qh1i

cem8zze

I'm not religious. I went to Sunday school pretty much all of my childhood and was raised as a Protestant, but when I started to go to boarding school, I only went to church when I was home. I stopped going to Church because I didn't have time and just stopped caring about it. I could be doing so many other productive things than religion so I eventually just stopped engaging in religious activities altogether.

Not religious cuz I want to do other shit with my life.

OBear

I grew up without religion, so I was at best agnostic. I had earned a hate for religion in 2000, my freshman year of high school, when my math teacher (a Sikh leader in the area) had been shot and killed in his temple for not letting an extremist address the congregation. But the real moment that sealed it off for me forever, that made me hate religion, came on a school trip in 2002. I was on a big trip to study the Civil Rights movement, with some students from my school, and some other schools from the area. We flew to Washington DC before we were going to fly to the deep south. Our first night we went to the Lincoln Memorial, and our teacher played Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream speech to us from a boombox. Afterwards he asked for comments and questions from the students. These religious students (primarily black) kept getting up to thank Jesus for giving us MLK, and for giving him strength. This made my blood boil. Even as a white kid, MLK is my absolute hero. What he did, what he went through, what he accomplished . . . it's just insane. And there were all these students taking away what he did and attributing his accomplishments to Jesus. They were denigrating my hero right in front of me, making him less than he was. And they were doing so happily, with tears of joy in their eyes. I simply could not stand it. I made the decision then to no longer ignore religion. From that point on, I viewed religion as a poison on the mind that must be stamped out. By the time we went back to the bus, I was furious at everyone that talked about Jesus, sung about God, or in any way stripped mankind of its accomplishments. My vitriol has cooled over the years, but my conclusions have remained the same. I understand the irony of MLK being a religious leader himself, and I know it gave him strength, but I firmly believe that we must as a species move beyond religion, that it is a limiting force upon us. Not that I really do anything to affect this reality, but that is, at the very least, what I believe. tl;dr My adoration of MLK made me atheist.

I grew up without religion, so I was at best agnostic. I had earned a hate for religion in 2000, my freshman year of high school, when my math teacher (a Sikh leader in the area) had been shot and killed in his temple for not letting an extremist address the congregation. But the real moment that sealed it off for me forever, that made me hate religion, came on a school trip in 2002. I was on a big trip to study the Civil Rights movement, with some students from my school, and some other schools from the area. We flew to Washington DC before we were going to fly to the deep south. Our first night we went to the Lincoln Memorial, and our teacher played Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream speech to us from a boombox. Afterwards he asked for comments and questions from the students. These religious students (primarily black) kept getting up to thank Jesus for giving us MLK, and for giving him strength. This made my blood boil. Even as a white kid, MLK is my absolute hero. What he did, what he went through, what he accomplished . . . it's just insane. And there were all these students taking away what he did and attributing his accomplishments to Jesus. They were denigrating my hero right in front of me, making him less than he was. And they were doing so happily, with tears of joy in their eyes. I simply could not stand it. I made the decision then to no longer ignore religion. From that point on, I viewed religion as a poison on the mind that must be stamped out. By the time we went back to the bus, I was furious at everyone that talked about Jesus, sung about God, or in any way stripped mankind of its accomplishments. My vitriol has cooled over the years, but my conclusions have remained the same. I understand the irony of MLK being a religious leader himself, and I know it gave him strength, but I firmly believe that we must as a species move beyond religion, that it is a limiting force upon us. Not that I really do anything to affect this reality, but that is, at the very least, what I believe. tl;dr My adoration of MLK made me atheist.

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t5_2qh1i

cem91bp

I grew up without religion, so I was at best agnostic. I had earned a hate for religion in 2000, my freshman year of high school, when my math teacher (a Sikh leader in the area) had been shot and killed in his temple for not letting an extremist address the congregation. But the real moment that sealed it off for me forever, that made me hate religion, came on a school trip in 2002. I was on a big trip to study the Civil Rights movement, with some students from my school, and some other schools from the area. We flew to Washington DC before we were going to fly to the deep south. Our first night we went to the Lincoln Memorial, and our teacher played Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream speech to us from a boombox. Afterwards he asked for comments and questions from the students. These religious students (primarily black) kept getting up to thank Jesus for giving us MLK, and for giving him strength. This made my blood boil. Even as a white kid, MLK is my absolute hero. What he did, what he went through, what he accomplished . . . it's just insane. And there were all these students taking away what he did and attributing his accomplishments to Jesus. They were denigrating my hero right in front of me, making him less than he was. And they were doing so happily, with tears of joy in their eyes. I simply could not stand it. I made the decision then to no longer ignore religion. From that point on, I viewed religion as a poison on the mind that must be stamped out. By the time we went back to the bus, I was furious at everyone that talked about Jesus, sung about God, or in any way stripped mankind of its accomplishments. My vitriol has cooled over the years, but my conclusions have remained the same. I understand the irony of MLK being a religious leader himself, and I know it gave him strength, but I firmly believe that we must as a species move beyond religion, that it is a limiting force upon us. Not that I really do anything to affect this reality, but that is, at the very least, what I believe.

My adoration of MLK made me atheist.

octalblack

So, religion has always been something that's been in the background of my life. I was raised Episcopalian (which is a variation on Christianity) and I was an acolyte of my church for a good long time. I went through all of the usual steps too -- I did my version of "church class," which was a confirmation course, and then I was confirmed as a member by the bishop. But then, as I got older, I began embracing other aspects of my life -- mostly the fact that I was transgender. As I began really transitioning from a male to a female, I also began to become slightly disillusioned with Christianity as a whole. I loved my particular sect of it, especially as the Episcopal Church/Anglican Communion is pretty receptive to GLBT community. We have gay priests, even a gay bishop, and transgender people can be priests now too. But there was so much dislike for GLBT in Christianity as a whole that I just found myself out on the outside. My church was awesome, my congregation was awesome, but the teachings just didn't seem to mesh right. So, I had a pretty big crisis of faith for a while where I just didn't know what to believe. I began looking around at other faiths (many of which I already had studied through college courses on world religions) and I found myself drawn to -- of all things -- Wicca. Through my personal study of the religion, I've been more pro-active with it than I ever was with Christianity because I finally feel that it fits who I am spiritually. Having the religion's main guidepost, the Wiccan Rede (Do as thou wilt, an it harm none.), match with my own personal beliefs really helped me get into it. Also, being transgender really fits well with Wicca because of the love for both the male God and the female Goddess. It is divine to be able to embrace and emulate aspects of both genders, for they are both divine in different ways. Beyond that, the focus on personal spiritual growth, the focus on the environment/the world around us, and the calm nature of the religion as a whole really brought me fully into embracing it. It's not for everyone, but it was a great match for me. However, I will recommend generic meditation to everyone though, because meditation is so great and calming! TL;DR -- Christianity's teachings, as a whole, made me feel a little like an outsider. Wicca's teachings better matched with my personal morals, my transgender nature, and my outlook on life.

So, religion has always been something that's been in the background of my life. I was raised Episcopalian (which is a variation on Christianity) and I was an acolyte of my church for a good long time. I went through all of the usual steps too -- I did my version of "church class," which was a confirmation course, and then I was confirmed as a member by the bishop. But then, as I got older, I began embracing other aspects of my life -- mostly the fact that I was transgender. As I began really transitioning from a male to a female, I also began to become slightly disillusioned with Christianity as a whole. I loved my particular sect of it, especially as the Episcopal Church/Anglican Communion is pretty receptive to GLBT community. We have gay priests, even a gay bishop, and transgender people can be priests now too. But there was so much dislike for GLBT in Christianity as a whole that I just found myself out on the outside. My church was awesome, my congregation was awesome, but the teachings just didn't seem to mesh right. So, I had a pretty big crisis of faith for a while where I just didn't know what to believe. I began looking around at other faiths (many of which I already had studied through college courses on world religions) and I found myself drawn to -- of all things -- Wicca. Through my personal study of the religion, I've been more pro-active with it than I ever was with Christianity because I finally feel that it fits who I am spiritually. Having the religion's main guidepost, the Wiccan Rede (Do as thou wilt, an it harm none.), match with my own personal beliefs really helped me get into it. Also, being transgender really fits well with Wicca because of the love for both the male God and the female Goddess. It is divine to be able to embrace and emulate aspects of both genders, for they are both divine in different ways. Beyond that, the focus on personal spiritual growth, the focus on the environment/the world around us, and the calm nature of the religion as a whole really brought me fully into embracing it. It's not for everyone, but it was a great match for me. However, I will recommend generic meditation to everyone though, because meditation is so great and calming! TL;DR -- Christianity's teachings, as a whole, made me feel a little like an outsider. Wicca's teachings better matched with my personal morals, my transgender nature, and my outlook on life.

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t5_2qh1i

cem91u2

So, religion has always been something that's been in the background of my life. I was raised Episcopalian (which is a variation on Christianity) and I was an acolyte of my church for a good long time. I went through all of the usual steps too -- I did my version of "church class," which was a confirmation course, and then I was confirmed as a member by the bishop. But then, as I got older, I began embracing other aspects of my life -- mostly the fact that I was transgender. As I began really transitioning from a male to a female, I also began to become slightly disillusioned with Christianity as a whole. I loved my particular sect of it, especially as the Episcopal Church/Anglican Communion is pretty receptive to GLBT community. We have gay priests, even a gay bishop, and transgender people can be priests now too. But there was so much dislike for GLBT in Christianity as a whole that I just found myself out on the outside. My church was awesome, my congregation was awesome, but the teachings just didn't seem to mesh right. So, I had a pretty big crisis of faith for a while where I just didn't know what to believe. I began looking around at other faiths (many of which I already had studied through college courses on world religions) and I found myself drawn to -- of all things -- Wicca. Through my personal study of the religion, I've been more pro-active with it than I ever was with Christianity because I finally feel that it fits who I am spiritually. Having the religion's main guidepost, the Wiccan Rede (Do as thou wilt, an it harm none.), match with my own personal beliefs really helped me get into it. Also, being transgender really fits well with Wicca because of the love for both the male God and the female Goddess. It is divine to be able to embrace and emulate aspects of both genders, for they are both divine in different ways. Beyond that, the focus on personal spiritual growth, the focus on the environment/the world around us, and the calm nature of the religion as a whole really brought me fully into embracing it. It's not for everyone, but it was a great match for me. However, I will recommend generic meditation to everyone though, because meditation is so great and calming!

Christianity's teachings, as a whole, made me feel a little like an outsider. Wicca's teachings better matched with my personal morals, my transgender nature, and my outlook on life.

jaywunder

I was raised jewish, and eventually, around 15, I started to see the holes in the logic of the torah. My parents had raised me to only believe things that had evidence to back. And while I had been taught that the torah is completely true, I had also been taught that it has a lot of holes in it, that the stories don't always link up. Then I found out that the torah actually wasn't written by god and that a bunch of rabbi's just got together and said "we should write this stuff down" which made me think that there's even less evidence. Finally, I asked my dad "what evidence is there that there's a god?" and we talked for a LONG time, maybe four hours on a hike through the woods about evidence for and against. And how many reasons why god doesn't make sense. TL;DR: There's a bunch of paradoxes that disprove god, and the bible/torah isn't a valid source of information *grammar

I was raised jewish, and eventually, around 15, I started to see the holes in the logic of the torah. My parents had raised me to only believe things that had evidence to back. And while I had been taught that the torah is completely true, I had also been taught that it has a lot of holes in it, that the stories don't always link up. Then I found out that the torah actually wasn't written by god and that a bunch of rabbi's just got together and said "we should write this stuff down" which made me think that there's even less evidence. Finally, I asked my dad "what evidence is there that there's a god?" and we talked for a LONG time, maybe four hours on a hike through the woods about evidence for and against. And how many reasons why god doesn't make sense. TL;DR: There's a bunch of paradoxes that disprove god, and the bible/torah isn't a valid source of information *grammar

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t5_2qh1i

cem933c

I was raised jewish, and eventually, around 15, I started to see the holes in the logic of the torah. My parents had raised me to only believe things that had evidence to back. And while I had been taught that the torah is completely true, I had also been taught that it has a lot of holes in it, that the stories don't always link up. Then I found out that the torah actually wasn't written by god and that a bunch of rabbi's just got together and said "we should write this stuff down" which made me think that there's even less evidence. Finally, I asked my dad "what evidence is there that there's a god?" and we talked for a LONG time, maybe four hours on a hike through the woods about evidence for and against. And how many reasons why god doesn't make sense.

There's a bunch of paradoxes that disprove god, and the bible/torah isn't a valid source of information *grammar

colenotphil

When I was very young, about the time I was reading Magic Tree House books, my mother gave me a children's illustrated Bible. I thought the Bible was fake just like Magic Tree House. They both seemed very unrealistic to me. TL;DR: I thought the Bible stories were just fairy tales

When I was very young, about the time I was reading Magic Tree House books, my mother gave me a children's illustrated Bible. I thought the Bible was fake just like Magic Tree House. They both seemed very unrealistic to me. TL;DR: I thought the Bible stories were just fairy tales

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t5_2qh1i

cem94w1

When I was very young, about the time I was reading Magic Tree House books, my mother gave me a children's illustrated Bible. I thought the Bible was fake just like Magic Tree House. They both seemed very unrealistic to me.

I thought the Bible stories were just fairy tales

Damnaged

I prefer not to define parameters for my spirituality and morals, I believe morality is entirely situational and spirituality is, like our own consciousness, something that can only be understood by self-exploration. In other words, if we define religion as a set of moral values and spirituality as something that comes from within (where your spirit resides) to guide morality, and vice versa, then by definition, your religion has to come from you. TL;DR Create your own fucking religion!

I prefer not to define parameters for my spirituality and morals, I believe morality is entirely situational and spirituality is, like our own consciousness, something that can only be understood by self-exploration. In other words, if we define religion as a set of moral values and spirituality as something that comes from within (where your spirit resides) to guide morality, and vice versa, then by definition, your religion has to come from you. TL;DR Create your own fucking religion!

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t5_2qh1i

cem97gd

I prefer not to define parameters for my spirituality and morals, I believe morality is entirely situational and spirituality is, like our own consciousness, something that can only be understood by self-exploration. In other words, if we define religion as a set of moral values and spirituality as something that comes from within (where your spirit resides) to guide morality, and vice versa, then by definition, your religion has to come from you.

Create your own fucking religion!

DotBaphomets

I'm going to start off by saying that I am not religious. I was raised by very religious (southern baptist) parents. They aren't overly religious or crazy about it, but they are strong believers. I spent many years going to church and believing along with them, probably solely because they did. I never put much thought into it, simply accepting that there was an all powerful being who watched over everyone and if you lived following his rules, then you ended up with eternal happiness. But one time on a mission trip with my church when I was about 15, I sat down and really thought about it. Thinking about how all we have to go off of is a book and faith really doesn't make any sense to me. Anyone can write a book making ridiculous statements that get translated over a few thousand years. That doesn't mean that they're true. When I told my best friend about my logic behind it, he said something along the lines of "it doesn't hurt to believe just in case it is true." I can't just accept something that I personally have no proof of it being true. Logically, it doesn't make sense to me. I don't like to argue with people who do believe, but I really like to hear why people do. I find it fascinating hearing about the faith people have. I would rather just be a good person by my own morals, not following the rules of a book. If there is a "God" in the Christian sense, I feel like he would be smart enough to accept morally good people, or be a terrible god to condemn them to hell while simply taking anyone who "accepts" him. TL;DR - not religious because I think too much for religion. EDIT: Answering more questions from the original post: I grew up in Texas, so the school and community were both very religious.

I'm going to start off by saying that I am not religious. I was raised by very religious (southern baptist) parents. They aren't overly religious or crazy about it, but they are strong believers. I spent many years going to church and believing along with them, probably solely because they did. I never put much thought into it, simply accepting that there was an all powerful being who watched over everyone and if you lived following his rules, then you ended up with eternal happiness. But one time on a mission trip with my church when I was about 15, I sat down and really thought about it. Thinking about how all we have to go off of is a book and faith really doesn't make any sense to me. Anyone can write a book making ridiculous statements that get translated over a few thousand years. That doesn't mean that they're true. When I told my best friend about my logic behind it, he said something along the lines of "it doesn't hurt to believe just in case it is true." I can't just accept something that I personally have no proof of it being true. Logically, it doesn't make sense to me. I don't like to argue with people who do believe, but I really like to hear why people do. I find it fascinating hearing about the faith people have. I would rather just be a good person by my own morals, not following the rules of a book. If there is a "God" in the Christian sense, I feel like he would be smart enough to accept morally good people, or be a terrible god to condemn them to hell while simply taking anyone who "accepts" him. TL;DR - not religious because I think too much for religion. EDIT: Answering more questions from the original post: I grew up in Texas, so the school and community were both very religious.

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cem99o6

I'm going to start off by saying that I am not religious. I was raised by very religious (southern baptist) parents. They aren't overly religious or crazy about it, but they are strong believers. I spent many years going to church and believing along with them, probably solely because they did. I never put much thought into it, simply accepting that there was an all powerful being who watched over everyone and if you lived following his rules, then you ended up with eternal happiness. But one time on a mission trip with my church when I was about 15, I sat down and really thought about it. Thinking about how all we have to go off of is a book and faith really doesn't make any sense to me. Anyone can write a book making ridiculous statements that get translated over a few thousand years. That doesn't mean that they're true. When I told my best friend about my logic behind it, he said something along the lines of "it doesn't hurt to believe just in case it is true." I can't just accept something that I personally have no proof of it being true. Logically, it doesn't make sense to me. I don't like to argue with people who do believe, but I really like to hear why people do. I find it fascinating hearing about the faith people have. I would rather just be a good person by my own morals, not following the rules of a book. If there is a "God" in the Christian sense, I feel like he would be smart enough to accept morally good people, or be a terrible god to condemn them to hell while simply taking anyone who "accepts" him.

not religious because I think too much for religion. EDIT: Answering more questions from the original post: I grew up in Texas, so the school and community were both very religious.

Pancake-Tragedy

I'm not religious because nothing about it makes sense, and it seems that many religions use scare tactics to make its followers believe that if they don't devote themselves to the said the religion then bad things will happen. That's like my wife saying if I don't take out the trash then no more sexy times. She knows that I like sexy times so I will, of course, take out the trash. tl'dr: Religion is like a vindictive wife that threatens abstinence. I don't have time for that.

I'm not religious because nothing about it makes sense, and it seems that many religions use scare tactics to make its followers believe that if they don't devote themselves to the said the religion then bad things will happen. That's like my wife saying if I don't take out the trash then no more sexy times. She knows that I like sexy times so I will, of course, take out the trash. tl'dr: Religion is like a vindictive wife that threatens abstinence. I don't have time for that.

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t5_2qh1i

cem9ba3

I'm not religious because nothing about it makes sense, and it seems that many religions use scare tactics to make its followers believe that if they don't devote themselves to the said the religion then bad things will happen. That's like my wife saying if I don't take out the trash then no more sexy times. She knows that I like sexy times so I will, of course, take out the trash.

Religion is like a vindictive wife that threatens abstinence. I don't have time for that.

troll_wifey

Very well said! For me (a strong Christian), I was raised in a Christian household but was taught that God doesn't care what denomination we consider ourselves; what matters is our personal relationship with Christ. It's the same principle my husband was raise by and the principle our children will be raised with. I think the biggest reason I believe is as simple as faith. Faith is the belief in something without proof of its existence. Have I seen God's face? No. But I have seen His glory in the face of a child who medically shouldn't be alive but somehow is, and is thriving. I've felt His presence when going through a miscarriage and feeling His strength to get me through. I believe not because I have tangible, unarguable proof that God exists, but because in my life's experiences I've felt what I can only describe as a larger being who loves me and provides for me (not always in the way I want, but in the end it's always in the way I need) with unending forgiveness. People who want tangible proof of God's existence will never be satisfied because they don't fully grasp the concept of faith in something they can't see. If/when they understand what faith is and why it feels so free, they won't need the tangible evidence to convince them. TL;DR: To me it's as simple as faith, whether that make sense to anyone else. And in the end, really that's all that matters.

Very well said! For me (a strong Christian), I was raised in a Christian household but was taught that God doesn't care what denomination we consider ourselves; what matters is our personal relationship with Christ. It's the same principle my husband was raise by and the principle our children will be raised with. I think the biggest reason I believe is as simple as faith. Faith is the belief in something without proof of its existence. Have I seen God's face? No. But I have seen His glory in the face of a child who medically shouldn't be alive but somehow is, and is thriving. I've felt His presence when going through a miscarriage and feeling His strength to get me through. I believe not because I have tangible, unarguable proof that God exists, but because in my life's experiences I've felt what I can only describe as a larger being who loves me and provides for me (not always in the way I want, but in the end it's always in the way I need) with unending forgiveness. People who want tangible proof of God's existence will never be satisfied because they don't fully grasp the concept of faith in something they can't see. If/when they understand what faith is and why it feels so free, they won't need the tangible evidence to convince them. TL;DR: To me it's as simple as faith, whether that make sense to anyone else. And in the end, really that's all that matters.

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t5_2qh1i

cem9bkh

Very well said! For me (a strong Christian), I was raised in a Christian household but was taught that God doesn't care what denomination we consider ourselves; what matters is our personal relationship with Christ. It's the same principle my husband was raise by and the principle our children will be raised with. I think the biggest reason I believe is as simple as faith. Faith is the belief in something without proof of its existence. Have I seen God's face? No. But I have seen His glory in the face of a child who medically shouldn't be alive but somehow is, and is thriving. I've felt His presence when going through a miscarriage and feeling His strength to get me through. I believe not because I have tangible, unarguable proof that God exists, but because in my life's experiences I've felt what I can only describe as a larger being who loves me and provides for me (not always in the way I want, but in the end it's always in the way I need) with unending forgiveness. People who want tangible proof of God's existence will never be satisfied because they don't fully grasp the concept of faith in something they can't see. If/when they understand what faith is and why it feels so free, they won't need the tangible evidence to convince them.

To me it's as simple as faith, whether that make sense to anyone else. And in the end, really that's all that matters.

redparapluie

i was raised protestant, but at the start of highschool my family relocated to be part of a charismatic (now) megachurch. i adhered to all the beliefs that were presented to me (most without thinking because fitting in with my christian "family" was more important to me than critical thinking at the time). i was on the youth leadership team, as well as 4 other teams (worship, dance, prophetic, and prayer), so i spent 6/7 days at the church trying to glorify god. my brother and i even headed up a club at our school. we had a lot of "intimacy" retreats that were focused on creating and building a personal relationship with god. i always found myself thinking about other things, making to-do lists, or falling asleep during the "soaking" quiet times. three years of that level of involvement and commitment and i never heard god speak to me. i never saw visions of angels. i did feel great conviction in my soul and overwhelmingly peaceful emotions at times during the services. i danced (poorly) during worship to avoid having to raise my hands or cry or kneel down or start "manifesting" (shaking and involuntarily shouting - the only times i did this were faking it). i experienced some physical improvement and disappearance of minor pain, but i always doubted the legitimacy of other testimonies presented in the services (particularly crusade-style conferences for healing and "encounters"). i felt that the adult leaders played favorites with the youth leaders, and i felt left out, like i wasn't christian enough or that i was clearly not "pressing in" to god enough. so i tried harder and got fewer results. this left me terribly disillusioned and even marginalized within the community. what stuck out to me in all this is that "they will know we are christians by our love" was *never* modeled by anyone. my christian friends were the most divisive, backstabbing, gossipy, entitled people i knew. people identifying as atheists and agnostics were so much kinder and loving. this was a bit of a wakeup call for me. i quit all the teams i was on. people stopped talking to me. i rarely attended service, but when i did, my peers and leaders would see me and ask how i was doing with great concern and pity. i stopped going entirely, except for attending the youth summer conference (which draws a few thousand people). i wasn't terribly moved and i felt like i really didn't know anyone there. and then i went to college. i met people of different faiths who were kind and didn't gossip (which was evidence of total hypocrisy in my church), which made me realize that the value of a person is not their creed or faith, but how they treat others. part of my GE was a 6-quarter sequence of society and culture throughout history and around the world. this opened my eyes to a great variety of "ways of living" i didn't know existed. i also took some philosophy and psychology courses that really prompted to challenge my own beliefs against logic. i basically rejected everything i believed and tried to give myself a clean slate, only accepting the things that i have thought through. 7 years later, i don't consider myself religious at all. i believe humans are soulful beings and that there is some higher entity that ties all humans together. i believe this entity should be accepted and acknowledged, but not necessarily revered or worshipped for fear of wrath raining down. i believe that morality is relative. i don't feel the need to find a religion that expresses that for me, and i don't think putting my beliefs in a box makes sense because i feel they should be out in the open for questioning. that about sums it up, i think. **tl;dr** : raised in the church, burned out & disillusioned by a charismatic church, eyes opened in college, now not affiliated with any religion.

i was raised protestant, but at the start of highschool my family relocated to be part of a charismatic (now) megachurch. i adhered to all the beliefs that were presented to me (most without thinking because fitting in with my christian "family" was more important to me than critical thinking at the time). i was on the youth leadership team, as well as 4 other teams (worship, dance, prophetic, and prayer), so i spent 6/7 days at the church trying to glorify god. my brother and i even headed up a club at our school. we had a lot of "intimacy" retreats that were focused on creating and building a personal relationship with god. i always found myself thinking about other things, making to-do lists, or falling asleep during the "soaking" quiet times. three years of that level of involvement and commitment and i never heard god speak to me. i never saw visions of angels. i did feel great conviction in my soul and overwhelmingly peaceful emotions at times during the services. i danced (poorly) during worship to avoid having to raise my hands or cry or kneel down or start "manifesting" (shaking and involuntarily shouting - the only times i did this were faking it). i experienced some physical improvement and disappearance of minor pain, but i always doubted the legitimacy of other testimonies presented in the services (particularly crusade-style conferences for healing and "encounters"). i felt that the adult leaders played favorites with the youth leaders, and i felt left out, like i wasn't christian enough or that i was clearly not "pressing in" to god enough. so i tried harder and got fewer results. this left me terribly disillusioned and even marginalized within the community. what stuck out to me in all this is that "they will know we are christians by our love" was never modeled by anyone. my christian friends were the most divisive, backstabbing, gossipy, entitled people i knew. people identifying as atheists and agnostics were so much kinder and loving. this was a bit of a wakeup call for me. i quit all the teams i was on. people stopped talking to me. i rarely attended service, but when i did, my peers and leaders would see me and ask how i was doing with great concern and pity. i stopped going entirely, except for attending the youth summer conference (which draws a few thousand people). i wasn't terribly moved and i felt like i really didn't know anyone there. and then i went to college. i met people of different faiths who were kind and didn't gossip (which was evidence of total hypocrisy in my church), which made me realize that the value of a person is not their creed or faith, but how they treat others. part of my GE was a 6-quarter sequence of society and culture throughout history and around the world. this opened my eyes to a great variety of "ways of living" i didn't know existed. i also took some philosophy and psychology courses that really prompted to challenge my own beliefs against logic. i basically rejected everything i believed and tried to give myself a clean slate, only accepting the things that i have thought through. 7 years later, i don't consider myself religious at all. i believe humans are soulful beings and that there is some higher entity that ties all humans together. i believe this entity should be accepted and acknowledged, but not necessarily revered or worshipped for fear of wrath raining down. i believe that morality is relative. i don't feel the need to find a religion that expresses that for me, and i don't think putting my beliefs in a box makes sense because i feel they should be out in the open for questioning. that about sums it up, i think. tl;dr : raised in the church, burned out & disillusioned by a charismatic church, eyes opened in college, now not affiliated with any religion.

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t5_2qh1i

cem9ed4

i was raised protestant, but at the start of highschool my family relocated to be part of a charismatic (now) megachurch. i adhered to all the beliefs that were presented to me (most without thinking because fitting in with my christian "family" was more important to me than critical thinking at the time). i was on the youth leadership team, as well as 4 other teams (worship, dance, prophetic, and prayer), so i spent 6/7 days at the church trying to glorify god. my brother and i even headed up a club at our school. we had a lot of "intimacy" retreats that were focused on creating and building a personal relationship with god. i always found myself thinking about other things, making to-do lists, or falling asleep during the "soaking" quiet times. three years of that level of involvement and commitment and i never heard god speak to me. i never saw visions of angels. i did feel great conviction in my soul and overwhelmingly peaceful emotions at times during the services. i danced (poorly) during worship to avoid having to raise my hands or cry or kneel down or start "manifesting" (shaking and involuntarily shouting - the only times i did this were faking it). i experienced some physical improvement and disappearance of minor pain, but i always doubted the legitimacy of other testimonies presented in the services (particularly crusade-style conferences for healing and "encounters"). i felt that the adult leaders played favorites with the youth leaders, and i felt left out, like i wasn't christian enough or that i was clearly not "pressing in" to god enough. so i tried harder and got fewer results. this left me terribly disillusioned and even marginalized within the community. what stuck out to me in all this is that "they will know we are christians by our love" was never modeled by anyone. my christian friends were the most divisive, backstabbing, gossipy, entitled people i knew. people identifying as atheists and agnostics were so much kinder and loving. this was a bit of a wakeup call for me. i quit all the teams i was on. people stopped talking to me. i rarely attended service, but when i did, my peers and leaders would see me and ask how i was doing with great concern and pity. i stopped going entirely, except for attending the youth summer conference (which draws a few thousand people). i wasn't terribly moved and i felt like i really didn't know anyone there. and then i went to college. i met people of different faiths who were kind and didn't gossip (which was evidence of total hypocrisy in my church), which made me realize that the value of a person is not their creed or faith, but how they treat others. part of my GE was a 6-quarter sequence of society and culture throughout history and around the world. this opened my eyes to a great variety of "ways of living" i didn't know existed. i also took some philosophy and psychology courses that really prompted to challenge my own beliefs against logic. i basically rejected everything i believed and tried to give myself a clean slate, only accepting the things that i have thought through. 7 years later, i don't consider myself religious at all. i believe humans are soulful beings and that there is some higher entity that ties all humans together. i believe this entity should be accepted and acknowledged, but not necessarily revered or worshipped for fear of wrath raining down. i believe that morality is relative. i don't feel the need to find a religion that expresses that for me, and i don't think putting my beliefs in a box makes sense because i feel they should be out in the open for questioning. that about sums it up, i think.

raised in the church, burned out & disillusioned by a charismatic church, eyes opened in college, now not affiliated with any religion.

vs8

I grew up in church. Served this God person with all my heart. One Sunday at church, in the middle of the sermon it hit me. I knew what the preacher was going to say, the same old cliché, message of hope and how good God is, blah blah blah. After that, I stopped going to church and started to see things differently. Now I'm an atheist, but not the kind if atheist that treats it like religion. I'm the kind of atheist that doesn't care what god you decide to pray to. I respect everyone and try to be the best person I can be every day. I still study the bible from time to time, but I do it to stay sharp and debate Christians when they coke to me with religious talk. I like to press buttons from time to time, but I don't impose atheism to people. I like to make them think about what they are saying. Tl;dr: I learned to think rationally one Sunday at church and stopped believing.

I grew up in church. Served this God person with all my heart. One Sunday at church, in the middle of the sermon it hit me. I knew what the preacher was going to say, the same old cliché, message of hope and how good God is, blah blah blah. After that, I stopped going to church and started to see things differently. Now I'm an atheist, but not the kind if atheist that treats it like religion. I'm the kind of atheist that doesn't care what god you decide to pray to. I respect everyone and try to be the best person I can be every day. I still study the bible from time to time, but I do it to stay sharp and debate Christians when they coke to me with religious talk. I like to press buttons from time to time, but I don't impose atheism to people. I like to make them think about what they are saying. Tl;dr: I learned to think rationally one Sunday at church and stopped believing.

AskReddit

t5_2qh1i

cem9ely

I grew up in church. Served this God person with all my heart. One Sunday at church, in the middle of the sermon it hit me. I knew what the preacher was going to say, the same old cliché, message of hope and how good God is, blah blah blah. After that, I stopped going to church and started to see things differently. Now I'm an atheist, but not the kind if atheist that treats it like religion. I'm the kind of atheist that doesn't care what god you decide to pray to. I respect everyone and try to be the best person I can be every day. I still study the bible from time to time, but I do it to stay sharp and debate Christians when they coke to me with religious talk. I like to press buttons from time to time, but I don't impose atheism to people. I like to make them think about what they are saying.

I learned to think rationally one Sunday at church and stopped believing.