I called a friend who is a believer...

[MTL]

I think that the minimum required to be a christian would be affirmation of christ, wouldn't it?  God loves you..hell...that could be Krishna loving you.  Did you explore other faiths or go from christian to non directly?  Actually, that's something I'd love to know about anyone willing to share.  Whether there were any "alternative" faith periods between christianity and atheism..and what those were.

I never committed to any other religions, but I researched them a bit, and it helped me along my way to Agnosticism.

The total transition took about 20 years to become what I'd consider "complete".

My personal transition...if anyone wants to be bored by it:

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I went through stages:

Somewhere between 13 and 15,
I first rebelled against going to church because the people there were hypocritical and judgmental,
but I wasn't sophisticated enough, yet, to really meet them in argument.
So I just acted-out, rebelled, was a typical teenager.

By age 20, I was openly scornful and dismissive of Christianity,
but didn't yet really understand the religions of the world.
I just knew there were 'other religions' but I was not yet interested in learning....only partying.
I wouldn't have been able to identify the differences between a Buddhist,
a Muslim, a Hindu, an Orthodox Jew, or a Sikh, for example.
(However I was briefly intrigued by Satanism and Wicca....being a goth chick).


By 25, I understood the fundamentals of the major world religions,
despised them for their evil,
and resolutely called myself an "Atheist" and declared scornfully, "God Doesn't Exist. Period."

By about 35,
I had figured out that the concept of "God" could exist independently from the concept of "Religion"
and basically learned the concept of Deism.
It was my "Eureka" moment.
I backed off of calling myself an "Atheist" (even though the term still technically applies)
preferring instead to call myself "Agnostic" and "Anti-Theist"
because I realized that this concept of Deism had the potential, IMO,
to "de-fang" the nasty side of Religion,
while demonstrating to Theists that it was both possible to hang onto their God,
and advisable to dispense with their Religion/Dogma.

Hence, I called myself Agnostic....allowing God may, or may not exist,
and promoting the idea of Deism amongst Theists
because I find Religion unacceptably noxious and malignant.

(I feel that when Theists are confronted with hardline Atheism
it is far more likely to just result in a stalemate).

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There's a good quote about exploring other religions,
although, forgive me, I don't know who originally said it:

" Study only one Religion, and you're hooked for life.
But, study two or more Religions...and you're done in an hour. "