Yes. My parents were both atheists and my father staunchly anti-religious.
In retrospect, I was kept amazingly isolated from Christianity, growing up in such a bright red state. I attended church services only for weddings and funerals. Looking back, I was actually much more versed in pagan religions than I was in Christianity. For example, I'd read the Iliad and Odyssey but only highlights of the Bible. I was much more versed with the stories of Hercules, Gilgamesh, Beowulf and Siegfried than I was with Jesus.
Up until my 30s, I had only a fuzzy understanding of Christianity. I knew Jesus preached a doctrine of peach and love, I knew the Christmas story of how he was born of a virgin and shepherds and wise men came bearing gifts and how he was Resurrected after his crucifixion. This religion also promised an afterlife. My fuzzy understanding of it at the time was good people went to Heaven and bad people went to Hell. There were also goofy people on TV raving about God.
It wasn't until I was in my 30s that I gained any interest in either religion or the freethought movement. I started going to church because I heard it was a good way to meet women. The dating pool was starting to thin out so I took such a drastic step. I was curious about learning more details so I looked into the matter. I'll never forget my first reaction (said internally):
"So let me see if I got this straight, God sent himself down to earth as his own son to sacrifice himself to himself because bleeding on a cross was the only way he could convince himself to forgive all of us or being such sinful beings, which we are because an ancestor of ours ate a magic fruit after speaking with a talking snake and anyone who doesn't believe this story will be tortured forever by the god who loves us so much."
So how I managed to avoid religion for so long, at least until my critical thinking skills could be honed sufficiently to pick it apart, is beyond me but I'm thankful for it.
In retrospect, I was kept amazingly isolated from Christianity, growing up in such a bright red state. I attended church services only for weddings and funerals. Looking back, I was actually much more versed in pagan religions than I was in Christianity. For example, I'd read the Iliad and Odyssey but only highlights of the Bible. I was much more versed with the stories of Hercules, Gilgamesh, Beowulf and Siegfried than I was with Jesus.
Up until my 30s, I had only a fuzzy understanding of Christianity. I knew Jesus preached a doctrine of peach and love, I knew the Christmas story of how he was born of a virgin and shepherds and wise men came bearing gifts and how he was Resurrected after his crucifixion. This religion also promised an afterlife. My fuzzy understanding of it at the time was good people went to Heaven and bad people went to Hell. There were also goofy people on TV raving about God.
It wasn't until I was in my 30s that I gained any interest in either religion or the freethought movement. I started going to church because I heard it was a good way to meet women. The dating pool was starting to thin out so I took such a drastic step. I was curious about learning more details so I looked into the matter. I'll never forget my first reaction (said internally):
"So let me see if I got this straight, God sent himself down to earth as his own son to sacrifice himself to himself because bleeding on a cross was the only way he could convince himself to forgive all of us or being such sinful beings, which we are because an ancestor of ours ate a magic fruit after speaking with a talking snake and anyone who doesn't believe this story will be tortured forever by the god who loves us so much."
So how I managed to avoid religion for so long, at least until my critical thinking skills could be honed sufficiently to pick it apart, is beyond me but I'm thankful for it.
Atheist Forums Hall of Shame:
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
