How did you become an atheist?

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   rickyliceaposted 12 years ago

   For me it was reading history books.
   I was a Catholic and I realized that the only reason I was a Catholic was that a Roman Emperor had forced the population to become Christian. That the Church had held meetings in which they changed their beliefs. All the horrible corruption and oppression in the Middle Ages, like the tithes and the luxuries of the Vatican.
   I realized that religion is just a social construct, that changes with the times and in order to favor elites, not the infallible truth, I had been told.

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      Uninvited Writerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      For me it was years of reading Greek mythology and history books. I used to love Bible stories when I was a kid but I never believed they were actually true stories

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         Paul Wingertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Neither do Catholics and Jews.

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      kathleenkatposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I never 'became' and athiest.
      
      I was never brought up in any environment that forced my hand to a certain religion (although, my parents are TOTALLY guilty of using churches for free daycare).
      
      I was brought up under that notion that I was to make my own decision about religion. My brother was, too.
      
      My brother chose and felt he believed what a Christian believes, so he has become Christian.
      
      I chose and felt I believed man's word has no real interpretation on gods and higher powers, and subsequently, become someone somewhere on the spectrum between atheist and agnostic.

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      Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not an Atheist.

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         rickyliceaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         

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            Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Why the sad face?

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               rickyliceaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Because I feel
               http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8xOMg6ca0U

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                  Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  We all feel. Some more than others.
                  
                  Don't worry you're not Mr. Lonely, there are plenty of Atheist in the world presently and I have no need to be one of them.
                  
                  

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                     rickyliceaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     

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                        Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        I take it you feel better now?

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                           rickyliceaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                           I do feel slightly better.

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      Sooner28posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Smart man. Just come to the Democratic party and you'll be set :p.
      
      I do like the fact that many libertarians have also shed the childish skin of religion.  It helps with finding common ground.

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         rickyliceaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the compliment and the invite.
         Yeah we have a lot in common, I can't stand all this religious talk and family values nonsense from the Republicans.
         Currently I prefer the Democrats to the Republicans, and the  Republicans don't practice the free market principles they preach.
         However  I don't think i'll feel at home in the Democratic party.

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            Sooner28posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Nah.  You probably won't.  But that's okay!

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      pennyofheavenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Don't read then. Just be.

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         Larry Wallposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Read the history books. Study Catholic teachings. Realize that one deals only with history and the other with history and faith. Then accept that as a mortal you are not going to have all the answers in this life and you will probably be a believer, at least you will not be an atheist.

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            Paul Wingertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            As if there's anything wrong wrong with being agnostic or athiest. What answers are you talking about?

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            pennyofheavenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            When you love unconditionally you have all the answers you will ever need. What then would one need to look for?

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               mariexotoniposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               But there's a lack of reason- at least there was for me. The things the came with Christianity just wasn't satisfying for me personally

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                  pennyofheavenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  I do not think Christianity (their leaders) teach unconditional love do they? Unconditional means no conditions at all.

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                     mariexotoniposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     i think they do.. in a way. i mean.. you should always love god even though the world is full of tragedies- an example.
                     
                     but just google unconditional love and the bible and there are many bible passage that encourage unconditional love. Some passages even encourage unconditional love for your parents.. Something I just can't wrap my head around, because there are conditions of my love for anyone and everyone.

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                        Sooner28posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        Well if conservative Christianity is correct, there is a huge condition for love, and it's simply affirmation of a belief.  Quite odd really.  Doesn't matter what actions you take, as long as you utter an insidious little prayer to save your eternal soul.

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                        pennyofheavenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        Yes it is written about in the bible a lot. However I don't think many have got it nor is it taught that God loves unconditionally. Perhaps that is because we are conditioned to be conditional and perceive God as being as limited as our mortal selves.. Letting go of conditioning is not that easy but achievable for the most part.

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                     mariexotoniposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     i guess it's how you interpret everything.

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                        pennyofheavenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        Always, I agree.

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               Max Shelleyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I love my family unconditionally, I love my girlfriend (mostly) unconditionaly, but that doesn't make me believe in the christian god, it makes me believe in the power of love and care and community. I don't love any god, gods goddess of goddesses, I personally believe that everyone is connected by an energy of sorts but it does not have thoughts of it's own, nor laws. I'm not immoral because I don't believe in a god, in fact most Christians that I know are much more immoral than most atheists I know, plus there's a hell of alot more christians that knock on your door at 7am asking if you've found jesus and telling you you're going to go to hell if you don't join whichever church they hail to, then there are athiest knocking on your door telling you god is a load of bullocks.
               
               P.S - whoever you are be you christian athiest agnostic or anything else, your place is not to tell other people what they should become, believe what you want to believe and be a good person, I'll do the same.

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                  pennyofheavenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  The power of love is a very powerful thing. I agree, no matter what one believes, telling another what they should or should not believe is not useful. Be as you are there is no other way.

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      Josakposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      For me I was a Catholic too, one day I got a mainly picture book from the library about biology (I was maybe 6) in the middle it had the ascent of man graphic, I  took it to friends place and was leafing through it, his mother saw it and burnt it. That was it for me, I sort of realized that nothing that burns books to hide their information from you has anything real to offer.

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         rickyliceaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Finally a thing we agree on

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      writeronlineposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I was born an atheist (we all are). Luckily I was able to avoid  being tainted by any religious dogma, and have managed to live a life of rational-based freedom of thought.

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      twosheds1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      After learning about other mythologies, I came to realize that the followers of the Greek, Norse and other religions believed just as fervently as Christians that their gods were only true ones. So then I thought "What makes Odin a false god but Yahweh a true one?" And the answer, I soon realized, was... nothing!
      
      So I was on the fence for a long time, then I read The God Delusion and that pretty much cemented it for me. Reading more science, particularly about the origins of the universe, has made it even easier to not believe, but I still have to be quiet about it, since I'm a Boy Scout leader. I could get kicked out for being an atheist.

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      Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      For me it was spending more than a decade in a born again Christian church, studing the bible, praying endlessly, observing Christians, and just eventually working out that there couldn't possibly be a God and that everything these people attributed to miracles had another explanation. Also, during that time, I eventually began to research just exactly how much of secular history tallied with Biblical history and I couldn't find one secular objective source for Jesus Christ ever having lived. It didn't help that I also discovered that there were thousands of different bibles and versions of Christianity within the first 500 years and there was no 'true' christianity.

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       FlowOfThoughtposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Personally, I never even had an imaginary friend, when suddenly I was told I needed to have one or he would punish me, my mother and I had issues for awhile. I never bought into religion, even in elementary school.

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       TMDHemsley17posted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I have been an atheist all my life, as I was brought up in an irreligious environment. I would say I've grown up in a household that is indifferent to religion. It played no role in my life or my families, and as such religious belief was never thought about. I now identify myself as an anti-theist, as I have come to the conclusion that religion is harmful for society.

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   Emile Rposted 12 years ago

   I considered atheism, but when I found out they didn't really eat babies and that was just a vicious Christian lie, the fascination wore off.  I decided agnosticism was the life for me.

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      rickyliceaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      

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         Paul Wingertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I'm into physics, chemistry and mathmatics. Need I say more?

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      twosheds1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Who says we don't eat babies? (BTW, cookout at my place this weekend!)

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         Emile Rposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Aw man. And I just paid for a two year membership in agnosticism (I saved five dollars off of the second year paying ahead)
         
         Post pictures of the party. I can live vicariously through them in the interim.

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   mariexotoniposted 12 years ago

   Well when I was a Christian- if I could even call myself that, I just had so many unanswered questions. I then learned about Darwin's idea, and  learned about the origins of the universe. Then i completely rejected the idea that god created the earth in seven days- just didn't make sense. But I still considered myself a Christian and thought the bible wasn't meant to be interpreted literally.
   
   I ended up doing lots of reading and developed my own understanding. I don't believe in unconditional love, that things happen for a reason and that a god who is supposed to be so loving would send sinners to a place of damnation- fathers are supposed to be forgiving right? Isn't that why Jesus died on the cross ?
   
   And then there's other questions like... Why do babies die? Why are children prostituted out? Why did something like 9/11 happen? I don't think a loving god should be that cruel.. And a little creepy- knowing my every though.
   
   Religion is good, imo, for setting up some general kind of life guidelines to follow - (you should not steal). I'm not sure if it is still needed because now we have laws, where crimes are punished.
   
   I don't know if I'm completely atheist - I don't KNOW that there is no god, but I believe that there isn't one. I'd think by now that there would be a littttle but of evidence at least. Maybe I'm an agnostic atheist
   
   Anyways, there are just too many unanswered questions and close-mindedness I saw when believing in something supernatural. My mind has never been happier- my life makes more sense to me, and I think that's what I wanted. I don't need the mystery.

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   dzephaniahposted 12 years ago

   The Roman Empire was Jewish in its entirety, and Emperor Titus converted them to Christianity, which is a pagan religion. However that doesn’t change the fact that God is real. The right way of life, is to become Jewish, and/or practicing the Ten Commandments. Jews are the ones that practice God, in the way that God wants. I strongly believe that this is a temporary world, which will be replaced with the different world, which will be without pagans. Jews have ONLY one version of the original Bible. For Jews, changing even one letter in it is a sacrilege.

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      Josakposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      "the Roman empire was Jewish in it's entirety... no not at all the Romans had their own version of Greek mythology and were never Jewish though they later became christian, everything else was as wrong or more wrong.

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         Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Hey Josak,  most Christians just read the book(and not even thoroughly) and don't bother to research it.

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            Paul Wingertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Any research would be considered critical thinking which would lead to asking questions. Can't have any of that!

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   Silver Fishposted 12 years ago

   I was lucky because I was brought up in a non religious way. Although athiesm was not really discussed, I lived in a non faith family, and went to a non faith school. Lucky me!!

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      pennyofheavenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      So you are neither here nor there and just are. I like it.

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   Druid Dudeposted 12 years ago

   I started life as an atheist. Didn't know anything about God. Then, I grew up, came to hubpages, met all of you, and bingo! I will grant you an outside chance of there not being something equatable with GOD, but, That's an outside chance of hell, too. Price is too high. Call me when erroneous logic comes back into style, and we'll see if we can make a deal!

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      Disappearingheadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Oh it feels like family here

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         Druid Dudeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I like bedevilment!

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   KEV84posted 12 years ago

   Im an atheist simply because I can't stomach the hypocrisy of religion and those that follow it. I was brought up a staunch Catholic and even at a young age I could see gigantic flaws in the teaching and in those that claimed to have religion.
   I have tried to embrace Christianity but fail when anything tests the faith it expects. So, rather than join the ranks of falsehood, I choose to be totally honest and open and publically state that I have no belief in religion.
   Evolution, the big bang and Darwin are almost as flawed as creation. What are we left with? A nothingness!

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   HeadlyvonNogginposted 12 years ago

   Not to sound too much like a proponent of titles, but it sounds to me like you might fit better under the 'agnostic' category than 'atheist'...
   
   a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience.

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   Leela Rainelleposted 12 years ago

   I was, as I consider it, born athiest as that is both my mom and dad's view. It was nice actually, as it allowed me to grow up forming my own ideas on "what's out there," etc. Now an adult, while I identify with pantheism (respecting nature, animals, and other people) more than atheism, I choose to not believe in a higher power simply because having a "big brother" figure 24/7 for your entire life, is a disturbing thought to me.

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    weFTLposted 12 years ago

    How did you become an atheist?
    
    In R.E.

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    kerrygposted 12 years ago

    My parents weren't very religious (you could probably say they're both agnostic, though I think only my dad identifies as such and then only when pressed) so I didn't grow up being told that there was a god. They had various books of Bible stories lying around that I liked to read, but they also had lots of Greek mythology, fairy tales, and so forth, so I read them all without discrimination and it never occurred to me as a child that one set of stories was supposed to be true while the others were false. Actually, the Greek mythology was my favorite and the one I always *wanted* to be true.
    
    As I got older, I developed a deep respect for the teachings of Jesus, but the whole God business just never left the realm of fairy stories for me. I like the idea that every deity humanity has ever believed in exists somewhere (ideally with some pegasi, dryads, and such for good measure ), but I've never seen the slightest shred of evidence for any of them, so while I'm technically agnostic, I definitely lean atheist. Wanting something to exist doesn't make it exist - if it did, I'd have a pegasus in my backyard right now!

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