My Conversion Story

[Rancid]

Thank you all so much for your replies and support!

Thanks so much for sharing your story. I'm really sorry you have had to go through that. Your family should be looking out for you, not threatening you into conforming to their delusions. I'm glad that truth finally won out for you. Truth needs no threats or people preaching it.

This is a little bit of advice I picked up: if you're worried about the Catholic God existing and what he may do, how long have you spent worrying Allah is mad at you? Or Odin?

Religion is all just stories people have made up to control people. Sadly, it works. If you read what theists write on this site, you'll often see them performing mental contortions to desperately cling to their beliefs. Even if it means giving up their own intellectual honesty and humanity in the process.

I hope things will improve for you now, and that you can find many atheist friends who won't be judging you on 2000 year old warmongering standards.

It makes sense to hold off telling people until you're in a position to handle the possible fallout.

That's a great bit of advice, thank you I sort of had the same idea in mind while I was sorting through this mess, but I was so overwhelmed with the natural fear, as KevinM1 put it, that I couldn't easily take comfort in it. I also fell for the whole "look how many believers we have though!" argument, which contributed to holding me back. Now I compare the fear I felt then to a fear of the dark, or of monsters under the bed. I feel like facepalming when I think back on all this!

I read some of the conversations with theists on here before I registered; it's really interesting. And somewhat maddening

Was your devout Catholic mother also open to the possibility that her religion was a pile of shit?

Didn't think so. It's always a one way street with these clowns.

She'd be thoroughly convinced it's all Satan putting logic in her head.