Good Afternoon All,
My name is Dan; I'm 27 from Manchester in the UK.
Thought it best to introduce myself here before trawling through previous topics and posts etc, as per the admin request.
Anyway, I think I've always been an atheist without necessarily knowing it as a child. I was raised in a fairly relaxed home on the religion front although attended C of E (Church of England) primary schools (assuming most of you are American I think you refer to these as Elementary Schools?) and High Schools. Although I would refer to myself (previously) as a protestant, the idea of religion just never sat right with me.
My Mum was from a Catholic background although the Catholic side came from here Irish Dad (obviously my granddad) who unfortunately died at the age of 35. My Gran then raised 3 kids on her own running 3 jobs to keep things moving and I presume never really had time to follow religion. Well to be honest according to my mum she "hated god" for taking my Granddad from her.
My Dad's side of the family are not very religious either, although in his aging years my Granddad is attended church since losing my Grandma a few years back. Maybe more for the social side, I'm not sure. Either way he seems to like it and I wouldn’t be-grudge him enjoying his self by attending a Christian church.
Hopefully I'm not boring everyone, haha? Anyway I had further doubts in religion at my grandma's funeral looking round the room at broken hearted family members whilst the vicar rambled on about how she had gone to a better place with the people who loved her.
I think whilst emotional with grief I remember becoming very, very angry thinking “who is this condescending man telling my family that she is in a better place with the people who loved her”, when everyone that meant the most to her was in that room!? I think this was a major turning point towards me shaking off any form of ties to a religious background.
I must admit I thought I believed in a god as a child, but looking back now I think this was purely down to the way I was taught at school as a child and when I actually sat down and thought about it, I found that I couldn’t justify any reason for following a religion / any justification for a divine creator watching over me.
As I got older taking Biology at school and then A Level Biology reading about evolution and Darwin things began to fall into place for me. An Atheist emerged.
Reading Dawkins’s “The God Delusion” pretty much word for word put into context my own views on the world / religion and opened my mind to a few other things I had never thought of. So, I would certainly like to thank him for his book.
So there you go that’s where I am right now, hopefully you managed to stay with me through my ramblings to this point? Look forward to speaking to you in the future.
Dan
My name is Dan; I'm 27 from Manchester in the UK.
Thought it best to introduce myself here before trawling through previous topics and posts etc, as per the admin request.
Anyway, I think I've always been an atheist without necessarily knowing it as a child. I was raised in a fairly relaxed home on the religion front although attended C of E (Church of England) primary schools (assuming most of you are American I think you refer to these as Elementary Schools?) and High Schools. Although I would refer to myself (previously) as a protestant, the idea of religion just never sat right with me.
My Mum was from a Catholic background although the Catholic side came from here Irish Dad (obviously my granddad) who unfortunately died at the age of 35. My Gran then raised 3 kids on her own running 3 jobs to keep things moving and I presume never really had time to follow religion. Well to be honest according to my mum she "hated god" for taking my Granddad from her.
My Dad's side of the family are not very religious either, although in his aging years my Granddad is attended church since losing my Grandma a few years back. Maybe more for the social side, I'm not sure. Either way he seems to like it and I wouldn’t be-grudge him enjoying his self by attending a Christian church.
Hopefully I'm not boring everyone, haha? Anyway I had further doubts in religion at my grandma's funeral looking round the room at broken hearted family members whilst the vicar rambled on about how she had gone to a better place with the people who loved her.
I think whilst emotional with grief I remember becoming very, very angry thinking “who is this condescending man telling my family that she is in a better place with the people who loved her”, when everyone that meant the most to her was in that room!? I think this was a major turning point towards me shaking off any form of ties to a religious background.
I must admit I thought I believed in a god as a child, but looking back now I think this was purely down to the way I was taught at school as a child and when I actually sat down and thought about it, I found that I couldn’t justify any reason for following a religion / any justification for a divine creator watching over me.
As I got older taking Biology at school and then A Level Biology reading about evolution and Darwin things began to fall into place for me. An Atheist emerged.
Reading Dawkins’s “The God Delusion” pretty much word for word put into context my own views on the world / religion and opened my mind to a few other things I had never thought of. So, I would certainly like to thank him for his book.
So there you go that’s where I am right now, hopefully you managed to stay with me through my ramblings to this point? Look forward to speaking to you in the future.
Dan
Gods don't Kill People! People with Gods Kill People!!!!
![[Image: attemptingtogiveadamnc.gif]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=img824.imageshack.us%2Fimg824%2F7042%2Fattemptingtogiveadamnc.gif)
