What were your first questions?

[The Grand Nudger]

To a kid that never believed this shit but went to all the meet and greets..yall seemed liked the rabble in indiana jones....................kali motherfuckin ma...you scary sons of bitches.

[Angrboda]

A couple of years back, I was a fervent and dedicated Hindu, but Iwasn't overly steeped in the legends and stories that make up typical Hindu belief. I had decided that I wanted to develop in my beliefs, and that entailed studying the stories and incorporating what pieces fit for me into my own belief. However it occurred to me that the only way I had of determining which pieces to add and which pieces to reject from the stories was to reason about them. The question I had was why I should apply reason to my learning of the stories, but not to other aspects of my belief. Up to that point, my Hinduism had been based upon intuitions about the world and the meaning of my life as a woman. Once I made the choice to depend on reason instead of intuition, then my belief fell away pretty fast.

[GrandizerII]

As a "born again" Christian (only few months in):

Why am I having a hard time defending the Bible or Christianity in general? This could've been so easy to do, but it's like I'm defending a convoluted mess of contradictions and atrocities and improbabilities and absurdities. Where are you, God/Jesus, when I need your help?

As a deist:

If God is logically necessary, why is it so easy to come up with alternative and plausible explanations that don't require a God at all? Even as a deist, I'm struggling with defending a God who's not even the indefensible Trinity. Fuck this shit. I'm out.

[Whateverist]

How old were you when you read it?  What was the indoctrination process that preceded trusting you with the text?  (Well done.)

Eight when I started doubting.

About ten or eleven when I first read it all the way through.  Thirteen when I officially became a heathen.

Standard Catholic training.  I expressed doubts so my mother gave me a copy to get inspiration.

Oooops!

How did you parents react and when did you tell them?

---

A couple of years back, I was a fervent and dedicated Hindu, but Iwasn't overly steeped in the legends and stories that make up typical Hindu belief.  I had decided that I wanted to develop in my beliefs, and that entailed studying the stories and incorporating what pieces fit for me into my own belief.  However it occurred to me that the only way I had of determining which pieces to add and which pieces to reject from the stories was to reason about them.  The question I had was why I should apply reason to my learning of the stories, but not to other aspects of my belief.  Up to that point, my Hinduism had been based upon intuitions about the world and the meaning of my life as a woman.  Once I made the choice to depend on reason instead of intuition, then my belief fell away pretty fast.

Were you raised in a hindu household or any particular brand of belief?

[Angrboda]

A couple of years back, I was a fervent and dedicated Hindu, but Iwasn't overly steeped in the legends and stories that make up typical Hindu belief.  I had decided that I wanted to develop in my beliefs, and that entailed studying the stories and incorporating what pieces fit for me into my own belief.  However it occurred to me that the only way I had of determining which pieces to add and which pieces to reject from the stories was to reason about them.  The question I had was why I should apply reason to my learning of the stories, but not to other aspects of my belief.  Up to that point, my Hinduism had been based upon intuitions about the world and the meaning of my life as a woman.  Once I made the choice to depend on reason instead of intuition, then my belief fell away pretty fast.

Were you raised in a hindu household or any particular brand of belief?

I was raised in a nominally Christian household, but I had become an atheist by my teens. At 17 I converted to Taoism. Over the course of the next 15 years, I became convinced of the truth of a greater reality as reflected in the person of the goddess Kali, and that as a woman, her existence was reflected in me.

[Whateverist]

Were you raised in a hindu household or any particular brand of belief?

I was raised in a nominally Christian household, but I had become an atheist by my teens.  At 17 I converted to Taoism.  Over the course of the next 15 years, I became convinced of the truth of a greater reality as reflected in the person of the goddess Kali, and that as a woman, her existence was reflected in me.

That sounds a bit like my beginning, except that my father was a religiously obsessed guy who lacked the people and communication skills to get the results he wanted.  (Being gone for about half the time for many months in a row helped to limit his effectiveness as well, fortunately for me.)  Were either of your parents religiously obsessed, and were you regular church goers?  I'm reading "nominal" as meaning church was rare.

[The Valkyrie]

Eight when I started doubting.

About ten or eleven when I first read it all the way through.  Thirteen when I officially became a heathen.

Standard Catholic training.  I expressed doubts so my mother gave me a copy to get inspiration.

Oooops!

How did you parents react and when did you tell them?

---

A couple of years back, I was a fervent and dedicated Hindu, but Iwasn't overly steeped in the legends and stories that make up typical Hindu belief.  I had decided that I wanted to develop in my beliefs, and that entailed studying the stories and incorporating what pieces fit for me into my own belief.  However it occurred to me that the only way I had of determining which pieces to add and which pieces to reject from the stories was to reason about them.  The question I had was why I should apply reason to my learning of the stories, but not to other aspects of my belief.  Up to that point, my Hinduism had been based upon intuitions about the world and the meaning of my life as a woman.  Once I made the choice to depend on reason instead of intuition, then my belief fell away pretty fast.

Were you raised in a hindu household or any particular brand of belief?

My father was fine with it, being an atheist himself. My mother, not so much. In fact it's still my fault my brother became an atheist, apparently.

Told them when I was thirteen.

[Angrboda]

I was raised in a nominally Christian household, but I had become an atheist by my teens.  At 17 I converted to Taoism.  Over the course of the next 15 years, I became convinced of the truth of a greater reality as reflected in the person of the goddess Kali, and that as a woman, her existence was reflected in me.

That sounds a bit like my beginning, except that my father was a religiously obsessed guy who lacked the people and communication skills to get the results he wanted.  (Being gone for about half the time for many months in a row helped to limit his effectiveness as well, fortunately for me.)  Were either of your parents religiously obsessed, and were you regular church goers?  I'm reading "nominal" as meaning church was rare.

My mother was involved in church, including teaching Sunday school, until my sisters were confirmed. Then she kind of lost interest and we stopped attending church. My mother remained a believer. My father was never particularly religious. As Presbytarians, my mother's religious beliefs were generally liberal.

[Amarok]

I was never not an atheist

[AFTT47]

Mine were probably along the lines of "Seriously? You really believe that shit?"

Yeah; me too.

I was not raised by particularly religious parents but I was sent to Catechism (Catholic indoctrination) as a young child - and I rejected it utterly.

I'm not trying to paint myself as some intellectually superior being here. I wish I was but I'm not. I may be more intelligent than the average person but not significantly so and that has nothing to do with it. At 5-years old, I was NOT forming a logical argument comparing empirical evidence to faith-based belief. My brain is just wired to favor empirical evidence.