Sure yes, I agree. The amount of harm and persecution caused worldwide in the name of religion makes me furious. I'm very aware how easy I have things, in this regard. It's one of the reasons I'm here, to speak out against this harm, and to support those affected by it.

OP could you please repost your testimony,here in the forum on this thread if indeed it isnt copy/pasted all over the internet?

I think it's worth writing a book on the discord that religion creates amongst family and interpersonal relations. For instance when I deconverted, I had a lot of misconceptions thrown my way by my family that I think could be remedied by simple understanding and education. I'd have family members throw in preconceived nktions in their sentences to me like, "I know you think it's a crazy idea, but I think God has a plan for everyone and everything".
Looking through their eyes, they must think that I've concluded that they are indèed crazy for praying to themselves and believing in apropos of nothing! To be quite honest, I don't. But it's a really tough subject to bring up! I've had to reach out to them in other ways, like when I saw them watching that show Ghost Adventures, I sat down and watched it with them. Of course they couldnt help saying stuff like "I know you don't believe in ghosts but the documekted evidence these guys get.." -- and I'd have to stop them and ask them why I necessarily don't believe in ghosts if I don't believe in god? I'd tell them I don't know if ghosts are real or not, and I think ghost hunting would be fun, but I can't say they aren't, just like I can't say god isn't real either. I'm still actively seeking proof for both, and until I do then the jury's still out. I'm not going to condemn someone for believing in god, though. And I'm not going to take the bible or any other religious text at anything but face value: edited versions of ancient texts written at least a generation after the fact. 
As a matter of fact, Ghost Adventures to this day and hour and minute, is a bonding experience for me and my family because it's fun to get lost in possibly believing in the super natural. 

More intolerant family members like my brother, mentioned that I shouldn't come crawling to him when I'm a puke slathered corpse on the side of the highway (apparently he thought I had a drinking problem that was now uncontrolled without god in my life). For the record, I'm allergic to most alcohol and fight hard just to finish all of the drink I paid for on the rare occassions I get out to restaurants! 
He also said that he couldn't stajd being in the same room as non believers, and that my non belief was reason for why he couldn't come visit me. He also cited my mother, who is a Christian ad lesbian, as another sin he could not bear to be aro7nd, even on her death bed in the hospital having had a heart attack! 
I had a couson recently ditch her girlfriend of 4 years for frivolous violations, in turn removing this very kind heart from the life of her son, who looked at the girlfriend as his only parental role model since he'd been raised by her. "Dundee" was his father figure for the entirety of his 5yr old life, and now has zero contact allowed by his mother. She's taken back her doctrine based life as a Catholic, and the family albeit split half on her side halfsaying it's not right--is already washing off the stain as nothing ever having happened. I think thats the worst, when it comes to religionis the purposeful closing of one's eyes, ears, and mouth in matters that leave them conflicted in their beliefs. At least when I was a Christian, I believed the OT was irrelevant and I didnt judge people on how they lived their lives but rather focused on judging myself! No, that didn't go over very well and I'm now recovering mentally from the anxiety disorders that that caused. Luckily O did give up the ghost beliefs, in the emd, because now I don't go around my home thinking I'm being watched--and am fine being in the same room with my step sister, whose a witch! Had a lovely Christmas, I did. After I got my mom past the fact that I do celebrate my favorite holiday still.

Ayways theres so much more, I'll try to think of it and come back here. Hopefully you too come back and share your testimony!

Well, a few of my atheist friends on facebook told me to give you guys another shot I will post my testimony. Please bear in mind this is not why you should believe, but it is why I believe.
This is kinda like a journal for me, I update it as I go thats why I like to keep it in the cloud so people can go back to it if they want and read any updates. But here you go

This isn't my whole life story, im trying to keep it concise.

I was born in 1995. To my mother Jody she was married to Tom at the time, but she had slept with my father Joseph, getting herself pregnant. She also had in the past Children from another man, Ely Cody and Amber. Because of her life's choices she relied on drugs and alcohol to get through her daily struggle. She did these while I was in her womb. Which inevitably led to mental and physical problems both for her, and myself. Because of these problems she had in her life I was going to be taken away by family services with Eli Cody and Amber.

When Jody had me, she had help taking care of me, by Tom's mom Barbara. Who made the choice to adopt me (making me my mothers, and fathers brother, Its montana give me a break lol) And they brought me up under a Christian household, and I made my decision to give my life to Christ at Five years old.

My brothers and sister were not so lucky, they went through social services to a family known as the bakers. There was much physical, sexual and mental abuse leading them to have many of the same problems that my mother had.

Ron and Barb were called by the holy spirit to move away to montana on a mission, to spread the word of Jesus Christ, and to help the local Churches. In bozeman we were a part of what is called Rocky Mountain Bible Mission, which was a headquarters of operations for missionaries all over the world. So we moved from a town with a population of over I estimate one hundred thousand, to a town of a population of maybe two thousand. I was about nine at the time.

Once we got there we started to work with local churches, I got intertwined with Awanas and Boy Scouts and grew up your stereotypical Christian childhood. Because of this I was looked down upon, even in the Christian school, I was bullied had chocolate milk dumped on my head. But I made it through grade school. But it paid its price on me, I started gaining weight, hating school, and everything to do with it. Something I still despise.


I moved to public school, and because of my weight and my beliefs I was still bullied so I took up martial arts. And that gave me the courage to carry on. Along with the help of a friend I made in awanas, austin grabel. I ended up dropping out of highschool my sophomore year because I was deep in depression, I had completely rejected society. I had what I thought was the armor of God, I only let humor though, I grew very good at hiding my feelings or what you would call stoicism. But inside I was spiraling deeper and deeper into depression even going so far to contemplate suicide.

During my time with austin we had many adventures together, but we were opposite personalities, he was deep into sports I was deep into video games, but we made it work. One night we were up late playing minecraft, and I saw what looked like a skeleton hand rake across the screen, we looked at each other our faces turned white, and we looked back and there was a transparent skull over the screen. I got what felt like a kick in the gut, but the feeling didn’t go away my spine felt like it was tingling and I felt like I was on fire. A feeling that I didn’t recognise until year later.

I Re-Dedicated my Life to God one night. When I was crying the holy spirit came to me, and I felt like I was on fire once again. All I felt was joy and I know that I am saved, and I want to continue my life working for him. And doing His will.

After 2 years of trying different things I decided to get my HISET wich is basicly a GED, I had a choice of two more years of highschool at the age of twenty or to get my GED, I obviously took the smarter choice and got my GED, I went to the class about 12 days and I had passed all the tests with flying colors, and graduated second of my class.

After about a year my dog died, and I got in contact with a woman named darianne, she was 21 at the time and I was 20, she showed me empathy, and we started going to Church together, She was living with her parents at the time, and had a past of sexual abuse from older men. Which gave her what I would call a mental block, very similar to what I experienced from my time in school, we got closer and closer, however she was going through a divorce with a man who had left her to join the military, during their relationship he had some spousal abuse, much that I won't get into but gave her religious grounds for divorce. This was when I came into the picture, because of my past I could sense her pain and we fell into love. But we promised we would not date till the day she planned to go through the divorce. A day that her parents had lied about. They saw her as the mentally retarded child. And treated her very poorly, she started to rely on me for emotional support and spent much of her time on a skype call from her phone and the way they treated her made me furious, I was ready to charge in their and do things I will not admit. This drove us closer, and we ended up necking, kissing or what some may know as making out, she got a hickey her parents saw then forced us apart. We had planned to get back together after the divorce on valentine's day, on that day she left me.

After that I went back into my downward spiral, but this time it drove me to God. I felt his presence, but I did start to pray for death. I felt what is the point of living in this world when it is so crazy. So I started to look for other things to take my mind away from the pain, and I found politics, and dived deep into religion. I started to learn about occult practice and realised that I was in a hotspot. Everything from wiccan practice to a satanic cult of azeroth. That had attacked a local church I went to.

Before valentines day, I was hanging out with a member of my youth group at my pastors house, and somehow demonology came up. He was a converted wiccan, he believed and practiced magic. We started talking to him and his eyes went black, he went into the fetal position and his voice went very low. He was possessed, Both my pastor and his wife lept into action, they started immediately praying, and talking to him. He cried out for Jesus, and we started praying. I felt like I was on fire again. The power of the holy spirit was at work. Then their was what felt like a shock wave went off on my friend. The demon was banished to hell. And my friend gave his life over to Christ. And that was the first experience with what I knew was a demon. I knew that I was a weapon of the holy spirit.

Tuesday August 16th I heard about a black mass taking place in oklahoma, I got a feeling in my gut that I had not felt for a long time. My spine felt like it was tingling. I was being driven by the holy spirit to action. I sent a email to the main prayer group of rocky mountain bible church then I called local pastors and went to my own church and prayed with the pastor's wife. Then I went to a christian's house and asked them to spread the word. The next day I had learned that their was a massive march on the black mass, Christians had shown up and prayed, there was low attendance. And their was an earthquake the next day. The holy spirit had answered our prayer.

This is my testimony, my life's story, it will constantly be updated as I live longer and gain more experience. But I shall live for Christ, and continue fight against evil. And allow him to work through me as his servant.

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(December 31, 2016 at 12:19 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: I think some of the responses from ppl were a little rude to him, to be honest. He made it very clear in his OP that he's not trying g to preach, merely trying to write a book about how some Christians treat atheists badly, in hopes of calling attention to this issue to stop it. I don't really blame him for leaving.

Thankyou, And it is nice to meet you. I had thought I made this abundantly clear.

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(December 31, 2016 at 12:33 pm)chimp3 Wrote:

(December 31, 2016 at 12:19 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: I think some of the responses from ppl were a little rude to him, to be honest. He made it very clear in his OP that he's not trying g to preach, merely trying to write a book about how some Christians treat atheists badly, in hopes of calling attention to this issue to stop it. I don't really blame him for leaving.

I hope he sticks around. Maybe he is just giving up this thread. I wonder what his motivation for easing relations between atheists and christians? Good will or does he think being nice is a better way to evangelize ? Perhaps we will find out.

To fully admit my bias, On one hand, Christians are shunned from society. Especially the public sphere. There is a bit of the Bible modern Christians seem to forget, it is the Fruits of the Spirit. And when they come online in places like this anonymity gives them a Big head. Furthermore "Cults" like the westboro baptist church with their "God hates Fags" don't help relations much. A Lot of times when I am debating atheists or even just talking over theology it seems that they have never had a good experience with a Christian. And the stories they tell don't exactly give me a good taste in my mouth either. Maybe I want to wright this book to make it easier to evangelise, I don't know. That's why I'm not sure if I am going to write the book or not. But for now I see a problem. Christian Bigotry and pure vitriol. I see a corruption in the church. And it makes me... well angry. The message you guys are getting, and the message we want to send does not seem to be the same. And it needs to be fixed. To be honest, I have seen this during the american election at plain work. There is a gigantic schism between what is perceived about a person or a group. And what they intend, or the meaning behind what they are trying to send. It may be just tribalism at work. But I think both sides would benefit of just some good discussion. With the book I'd like to show my side that you are not a bunch of satanic monsters looking to steal their Children away from them. And your side that we are not all bad.

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(December 31, 2016 at 12:47 pm)Brian37 Wrote:

(December 31, 2016 at 12:19 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: I think some of the responses from ppl were a little rude to him, to be honest. He made it very clear in his OP that he's not trying g to preach, merely trying to write a book about how some Christians treat atheists badly, in hopes of calling attention to this issue to stop it. I don't really blame him for leaving.

CL what can and does bother us is that people often come in here with some sort of preconceived notion as to what will occur here. But not just here, on this website, but with atheist pages and social media anywhere. 

Rest assured if anyone as a theist, like you whom have spent long period of time here, already know by now, we are not going to stab you to death.

I think humans should be more offended by violence and death than getting offended. 

It's not a matter of his preaching or intent for that matter, it is about logic. Same with you. We've gone after you too, sometimes with the harshest of words, and you are still here and you still know we are not going to call for your murder.


To be fair, even many atheists can and do have different comfort levels as much as theists can have different comfort levels. I think it is more important to understand that everyone is different than to claim their is only one right way to converse.

If we all got to silence or murder each other because we read or hear things we don't like, there is not one human on this face of the planet that could not think, even if only in mind, of things they would rather not hear or see.  Civility isn't ever in never offending or getting offended, but in how one responds in the face of those situations.


Ultimately you can only control you, not others. In the context of this board, only the owners and admins conduct the rules and behaviors here. The rest of us as mere guests can make requests to each other and or the admins, but we cant dictate as mere guests to each other.

But trust us, we are not out to get him or you. Your logic sure, your claims sure, but not in any revenge or law context.

Well im glad you guys don't have a fantasy to act out Julius Caesar. But that's not why I was going to leave. Some times the anonymity of the internet makes it harder to have real discussions.

Ayy what a mess! I'm sorry you had such bad experiences. But, if a bit of criticism is allowed, the exorcism stuff can be dangerous if you are dealing with people who have an actual psychological breakdown. Also, your march on whatever you thought was a black mass is just harrassment...

My dad tried to force religion down my throat when I was young. He wasn't insane about it but he definitely tried to fill my head with that nonsense. We didn't have to like go to church or pray before meals or anything but he certainly pushed it a lot. Besides that I don't think I've really been treated poorly by Christians.

(December 31, 2016 at 3:26 pm)Macoleco Wrote:

(December 31, 2016 at 12:19 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: I think some of the responses from ppl were a little rude to him, to be honest. He made it very clear in his OP that he's not trying g to preach, merely trying to write a book about how some Christians treat atheists badly, in hopes of calling attention to this issue to stop it. I don't really blame him for leaving.

Stop it? When has religion/the Church ever stopped attacking its enemies? Lol.

Crusades aside, I do have a argument for that but i'll ignore it. When else has there been a organized Christian attack on others, by a Church?

I remember hearing something about a guy bombing a abortion clinic but thats about it? Oh and I have heard arguments attributing the salem witch trials to Christians. Am I missing any?

(January 1, 2017 at 6:35 am)Dragonspride1995 Wrote:

(December 31, 2016 at 3:26 pm)Macoleco Wrote: Stop it? When has religion/the Church ever stopped attacking its enemies? Lol.

Crusades aside, I do have a argument for that but i'll ignore it. When else has there been a organized Christian attack on others, by a Church?

I remember hearing something about a guy bombing a abortion clinic but thats about it? Oh and I have heard arguments attributing the salem witch trials to Christians. Am I missing any?

Well...I heard about a march some church in montana organized to harrass people...

(December 31, 2016 at 9:19 pm)Brian37 Wrote:

(December 31, 2016 at 9:00 pm)robvalue Wrote: Christians haven't done more than mildly annoy me, personally.

Being fair to ALL religions here, they go way beyond annoying me with all the divisions they cause worldwide and the attempts at pulpit politics and religious laws that deny rights to others. But again, that is worldwide and every religion for me.

But no, not seeking a godless world as if you could force one anyway. But we do need to get more humans to shift their priorities to education and less poverty and stop letting religion go unchecked as far as ability to challenge it.

All 7 billion of us are still the same species.

The finer points of Sharia law aside... What rules or laws that have been made by Christianity/Judaism/Catholicism are you speaking of?

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(December 31, 2016 at 9:31 pm)robvalue Wrote: Sure yes, I agree. The amount of harm and persecution caused worldwide in the name of religion makes me furious. I'm very aware how easy I have things, in this regard. It's one of the reasons I'm here, to speak out against this harm, and to support those affected by it.

I agree with this. Power corrupts, and many times in history the Church has been given to big a role in government.

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(December 31, 2016 at 11:02 pm)Luckie Wrote: OP could you please repost your testimony,here in the forum on this thread if indeed it isnt copy/pasted all over the internet?

I think it's worth writing a book on the discord that religion creates amongst family and interpersonal relations. For instance when I deconverted, I had a lot of misconceptions thrown my way by my family that I think could be remedied by simple understanding and education. I'd have family members throw in preconceived nktions in their sentences to me like, "I know you think it's a crazy idea, but I think God has a plan for everyone and everything".
Looking through their eyes, they must think that I've concluded that they are indèed crazy for praying to themselves and believing in apropos of nothing! To be quite honest, I don't. But it's a really tough subject to bring up! I've had to reach out to them in other ways, like when I saw them watching that show Ghost Adventures, I sat down and watched it with them. Of course they couldnt help saying stuff like "I know you don't believe in ghosts but the documekted evidence these guys get.." -- and I'd have to stop them and ask them why I necessarily don't believe in ghosts if I don't believe in god? I'd tell them I don't know if ghosts are real or not, and I think ghost hunting would be fun, but I can't say they aren't, just like I can't say god isn't real either. I'm still actively seeking proof for both, and until I do then the jury's still out. I'm not going to condemn someone for believing in god, though. And I'm not going to take the bible or any other religious text at anything but face value: edited versions of ancient texts written at least a generation after the fact. 
As a matter of fact, Ghost Adventures to this day and hour and minute, is a bonding experience for me and my family because it's fun to get lost in possibly believing in the super natural. 

More intolerant family members like my brother, mentioned that I shouldn't come crawling to him when I'm a puke slathered corpse on the side of the highway (apparently he thought I had a drinking problem that was now uncontrolled without god in my life). For the record, I'm allergic to most alcohol and fight hard just to finish all of the drink I paid for on the rare occassions I get out to restaurants! 
He also said that he couldn't stajd being in the same room as non believers, and that my non belief was reason for why he couldn't come visit me. He also cited my mother, who is a Christian ad lesbian, as another sin he could not bear to be aro7nd, even on her death bed in the hospital having had a heart attack! 
I had a couson recently ditch her girlfriend of 4 years for frivolous violations, in turn removing this very kind heart from the life of her son, who looked at the girlfriend as his only parental role model since he'd been raised by her. "Dundee" was his father figure for the entirety of his 5yr old life, and now has zero contact allowed by his mother. She's taken back her doctrine based life as a Catholic, and the family albeit split half on her side halfsaying it's not right--is already washing off the stain as nothing ever having happened. I think thats the worst, when it comes to religionis the purposeful closing of one's eyes, ears, and mouth in matters that leave them conflicted in their beliefs. At least when I was a Christian, I believed the OT was irrelevant and I didnt judge people on how they lived their lives but rather focused on judging myself! No, that didn't go over very well and I'm now recovering mentally from the anxiety disorders that that caused. Luckily O did give up the ghost beliefs, in the emd, because now I don't go around my home thinking I'm being watched--and am fine being in the same room with my step sister, whose a witch! Had a lovely Christmas, I did. After I got my mom past the fact that I do celebrate my favorite holiday still.

Ayways theres so much more, I'll try to think of it and come back here. Hopefully you too come back and share your testimony!

When I was adopted, my new parents are Protestant and my birth mom, and well lets say estranged father are Catholic. There is some bad blood in my family between the two. My Biological father blames Protestantism on my mother cheating. It's hard. But I'm trying to relate. I hope to hear more in the future.

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(January 1, 2017 at 6:32 am)Alex K Wrote: Ayy what a mess! I'm sorry you had such bad experiences. But, if a bit of criticism is allowed, the exorcism stuff can be dangerous if you are dealing with people who have an actual psychological breakdown. Also, your march on whatever you thought was a black mass is just harrassment...

My old pastor would have said that psychological breakdowns are a result of demonic assault. My parents however liberally use the word crazy. From my past especially with Darrian I don't think its much of either. Forgive my one year of highschool psychology (one of the few subjects I payed attention in) I don't think many people just go crazy. I think there are times when their life is just going to crap, and they have been dealt with so harshly that they put up a front to scare people off. I kinda had this effect back in my grade school days. But I agree its dangerous, exorcisms are very uncommon, and there are very strict rules about them. This one worked because he called on Jesus.

As for the black mass well. It was a real black mass, It happened in oklahoma, the guy was a registered sex offender. He planned to desecrate a catholic figurine of saint mary.  And something about raw pig hearts if I remember correctly. I'd normally link it but your going to have to google it in this instance. As for the march, I think it was a silent protest. So if you could go into why you think it was harassment I would appreciate it.

Something I have been dealing with lately is weighing the balance of freedom of religion, I have some... fairly hostile views on the religion of islam. And while I support trump, I am curious to see how this "muslim ban" plays out even if I think it's justified for other reasons, it will still require a law that discriminates on basis of a certain ethnicity. And gets dangerously close to what happened with American Japanese during world war two. (Japanese Americans, but I am trying to switch it)

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(January 1, 2017 at 6:33 am)operator Wrote: My dad tried to force religion down my throat when I was young. He wasn't insane about it but he definitely tried to fill my head with that nonsense. We didn't have to like go to church or pray before meals or anything but he certainly pushed it a lot. Besides that I don't think I've really been treated poorly by Christians.

I don't know how to respond to this without touching on theology for a second. From our point of view we are pleading with you for your soul. Do you believe that we should not try to convert others?

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(January 1, 2017 at 6:39 am)Alex K Wrote:

(January 1, 2017 at 6:35 am)Dragonspride1995 Wrote: Crusades aside, I do have a argument for that but i'll ignore it. When else has there been a organized Christian attack on others, by a Church?

I remember hearing something about a guy bombing a abortion clinic but thats about it? Oh and I have heard arguments attributing the salem witch trials to Christians. Am I missing any?

Well...I heard about a march some church in montana organized to harrass people...

Could you give me a bit more info? It sounds like a organised protest but not a organized assault. And yea I have heard some of these street preachers going way overboard, and even stepping out of bounds of the Bible. Saying God hates people and stuff like that.

(January 1, 2017 at 6:40 am)Dragonspride1995 Wrote: I don't know how to respond to this without touching on theology for a second. From our point of view we are pleading with you for your soul. Do you believe that we should not try to convert others?

I believe you should keep your religion to yourself for the most part and this is especially true when concerning children. It's not right to attempt to indoctrinate a child into thinking the way you do, as a parent, just because you believe your religion is "the right one." Had I not grown up to be the moderately intelligent, self aware individual that I am, I may very well have turned out a Christian.

(January 1, 2017 at 6:35 am)Dragonspride1995 Wrote:

(December 31, 2016 at 3:26 pm)Macoleco Wrote: Stop it? When has religion/the Church ever stopped attacking its enemies? Lol.

Crusades aside, I do have a argument for that but i'll ignore it. When else has there been a organized Christian attack on others, by a Church?

I remember hearing something about a guy bombing a abortion clinic but thats about it? Oh and I have heard arguments attributing the salem witch trials to Christians. Am I missing any?

Have you heard of the inquisition.
Or how the South Americas were brutally forced to convert with their entire religions being erased.
Or indeed the centuries of warfare in europe over religious differences.
Or the conflict in Northern Ireland that still rumbles on.
Or the persecutions of different faiths or the punishment for not attending church.
Oh and of course the holocaust was religiously motivated and carried out by Christians even more explicitly in the case of the Ustase who even developed a unique throat slashing tool to save the killers repetitive stress.

Quote:The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Roman Catholicism and Croatian nationalism.[3] The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span the Drina River and extend to the border of Belgrade.[6] The movement emphasized the need for a racially "pure" Croatia and promoted genocide against Serbs, Jews[7] and Romani people, and persecution of anti-fascist or dissident Croats and Bosniaks.[8]

The Ustaše were fiercely Catholic, identifying it with Croatian nationalism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usta%C5%A1e