New user here :)

[orogenicman]

Just a short introduction:
My name is Kathryn but most people call me Kat. I grew up in a Mennonite family-my mom is a Mennonite pastor. Needless to say I went through a phase when I was a kid where I was deeply religious. However, when I was about 13 or 14 my beliefs began to change. I slowly began to question myself and realized that Atheism makes more sense to me than any other religion-especially the one I grew up with. Unfortunately, I spent the last 6 years in a very small town filled with Christians...zealous Christians. I then moved away to college (where I am now) and...somehow got myself mixed up in a group of all Christians...again, very zealous in their beliefs.

I'm currently at the university and will be 20 in January...I have a lot of resentment toward religion but I try not to let it get the best of me. I want to keep the mind set that anyone is free to believe what they want to and that nobody knows the truth of what happens after death. It's just tough to keep the mind set when you're surrounded by people who are convinced they know the truth and are overwhelmed with a desire to spread it in any way they can.

I also feel utterly lonely in my beliefs...I'm joining this forum looking for other Atheists to talk to so I don't feel like some freak. It's very lonely to know other religions have church and their religious families...but Atheists feel so spread out and so few (from my limited experience) that it's very easy for me to feel incredibly alone.

I hope this place can help me with that and I'm interested in what people here have to say. While I may not be religion's #1 fan I'm also fascinated by it.

Oh and just for the record-I'm not an Atheist to spite my family and friends. That's a stupid reason for anyone to be in any religion. I genuinely feel like this is what I believe...it's what makes the most sense to me. So please don't go bashing me and saying I'm in a religion out of spite. Trust me...I've asked myself this question a thousand times and the answer is always the same.

-Kat

Hello Kat. Welcome to the forum. I'm a lot older than you, but I know what you are going through, as I've been there myself. I grew up in a very devoutly Catholic family. I went to Catholic schools for the first nine years of my education. I guess it was when I went through a time of physical abuse with the nuns at my school that I decided that I had had enough and insisted on finishing highschool at a public school. It was then that I decided that I wanted to persue a life learning about science. I majored in Anthropology for four years before I decided to change majors and become a geologist. My science training was the real clincher for me. One simply cannot study geology and stick to any sort of belief that the Bible is true. YOu come to realize that those stories told in genesis were written by tribesmen who for the most part never ventured further than about 50 miles from their place of birth. So what did they actually know about the world? It's a big planet after all.

The only advice I can give you is to not compromise on your beliefs. You aren't alone. No one said it would be easy, but I believe that you are a good person. You just need to know in your heart that this is true. As for your persuit of photography, I've been an avid photographer for most of my life. One bit of advice I can give you that might help you meet people who think more like you do and also help you with your photography is to seek out an astronomy club at your school. Yeah, we are geeks, that's true. But then, who knows more about photography than astronomers? Right? You'd be surprised what they can teach you, and it only costs you a small yearly membership fee. While you are browsing the forums, be sure to check out my astrophotos in the science forum. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask. The only bad question is the one you don't ask.