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August 31, 2011 at 10:10 am (This post was last modified: August 31, 2011 at 11:07 am by Loading Please Wait.)
Hello. To begin, I'm not a newbie to different types of forums, so hopefully it won't take me long to get acquainted with most of you.
I know this is the atheistforums, but I like to talk about all sorts of things about life, not just theism itself.
Age: 20 Location: Louisiana, United States Occupation: Student, Geomatics Major Hobbies: Paintball, Gaming, Hunting, Fishing, Marching Band, etc.
This is a long post so for those of you who like reading, here is why I am an atheist today.
I grew up in a Catholic family. I was baptized 3 weeks after I was born to be a Catholic son. I can't remember much before I was about 3. I do remember as a small child, around 3 or 4, my Mom made me start saying Hail Mary's and Our Father's at night before bed. I still didn't know much at that time, but I was a small child and learning each and every day.
At 4, I went to a Catholic elementary school. It was the typical Catholic school, church every Friday, catechism in the classroom etc.
I never really understood the Bible that much, but I did believe in all the stories, and the doctrines like the 10 Commandments. The reason I believed was because my Mom taught me since before school to pray to God to be saved and the school drilled it more into my head.
In the 5th grade, my Mom took me and my brother (who was in the 6th grade) out of the Catholic school for reasons I'm not really to sure about. I went on to public school from 5th to 12th grade. It really changed my life going through that phase. In Catholic school, they shelter you, and don't really teach you how life is outside of this Catholic school. I never heard curse words before, we didn't have bullies, and we respected everyone, especially adults.
When I entered 5th grade at a public school for the first time, I literally shit my pants. The children were so rude, and selfish. It was like I was in Hell! But now looking back, I much rathered the public school. In public school, I learned more about life, how the real world is. I wasn't sheltered as much, and I heard things that happen on the street, I heard the curse words, and I saw the bullies beating on the smaller kids. Public school taught me that real life can be horrible sometimes. Catholic school taught me that if you believe in God, life will be a prosperous and wonderful place. Didn't take me long to find out they were wrong.
Since I went to public school in 5th grade, I had to go to my Church's catechism. I was the only student in my class to take anything the teacher said serious. I was the best student in the class. All the other kids were there because their familys' forced them to be there. They didn't want to be there. I actually liked catechism at the time. Also, I was an alter boy at the time all the way until 12th grade.
As I progressed through the years tho, my faith in God and religion grew less and less. I confirmed my 11th grade year of high school. The only reason I did it was because my family forced me to confirm. If I made it this far, my ass better confirm they would tell me.
So after I graduated high school, I now go to the local college, which is closer to my house than my high school. I really learned a lot about religion in this time. When people would ask my why I believed in God, I would tell them, I don't know. It was because my family, and the Church told me to. I didn't believe in it because I wanted to. My family would disown me if I told them I didn't believe in God.
Well now, I do not believe in God. Not only did history help me to find the truth, but science and just plain logic did too.
I asked myself, why are there so many religions, all who claim to have these Gods and claim to be the one true religion?
Religions exist for power. Just take a look at history. Religion was used as a scare tactic to make those believe and follow you. If you did not follow, or believe you were going to eternal misery in Hell. Or if you did not believe they would kill you. The only way to make killing someone justifiable was to say it was God who sent them to kill any non believers. If God said it was ok, then they are not guilty of murder of thousands.
Today, it's not so much about power, but more about tradition. I asked my parents, why are we Catholic? They answered, because they're parents were Catholic. I asked friends, why are you Catholic. They responded because my parents are Catholic.
I can go on, and on about how I don't believe in God, but I now call myself an atheist.
