Deconversion of a prospective priest
June 16, 2015 at 5:33 am
(This post was last modified: June 16, 2015 at 5:35 am by Aaran.)
Hi,
My name is Aaran. I've been browsing your excellent forum for a while, but until now I've been strangely hesitant to declare for atheism. Now that I have, I've been taken aback by how nice honesty feels, and I'm inclined to sample it further.
A little bit about myself. I'm from the United Kingdom. I was born in a grubby little town called Southall, which is the closest thing this country has to a ghetto, into a family of irreligious Sikhs who broke pretty much every sacred injunction that exists. My grandfather and my father are both extravagant alcoholics, but the amiable sorts. Crippling alcoholism is like a family heirloom where we're concerned, passed through successive generations like one of those swords in Game of Thrones. My grandmother and mother are both hysterical obsessive compulsives. Between the two of them, they seem to embody every negative female stereotype that exists. I've a brother too. He's a dick. I like weightlifting, rock and metal, and drawing bearded men.
When I was 13 years old I became extremely devout, of my own volition. A year and a half ago, I was actually going to become a priest of the Sikh religion. But these ambitions were exploded when I felt cocky one day and decided to read The God Delusion. I don't think I'd ever honestly engaged my critical faculties before reading this book. Everything it said was so right. I'd always felt my religion was less stupid than all the rest, but after reading Professor Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and A.C. Grayling, I knew that Sikhism was just as hidebound and retrograde as the others. I'd been humbled. My whole life changed thereafter. I abandoned the trappings of my faith and went on a massive bender, sampling all the things that had previously been prohibited to me. All those awful years of sobriety were made up for in a matter of weeks.
And now, here I am. I don't know very many vocal atheists, and I'm looking forward to finally being able to talk to some and learn from them.
My name is Aaran. I've been browsing your excellent forum for a while, but until now I've been strangely hesitant to declare for atheism. Now that I have, I've been taken aback by how nice honesty feels, and I'm inclined to sample it further.
A little bit about myself. I'm from the United Kingdom. I was born in a grubby little town called Southall, which is the closest thing this country has to a ghetto, into a family of irreligious Sikhs who broke pretty much every sacred injunction that exists. My grandfather and my father are both extravagant alcoholics, but the amiable sorts. Crippling alcoholism is like a family heirloom where we're concerned, passed through successive generations like one of those swords in Game of Thrones. My grandmother and mother are both hysterical obsessive compulsives. Between the two of them, they seem to embody every negative female stereotype that exists. I've a brother too. He's a dick. I like weightlifting, rock and metal, and drawing bearded men.
When I was 13 years old I became extremely devout, of my own volition. A year and a half ago, I was actually going to become a priest of the Sikh religion. But these ambitions were exploded when I felt cocky one day and decided to read The God Delusion. I don't think I'd ever honestly engaged my critical faculties before reading this book. Everything it said was so right. I'd always felt my religion was less stupid than all the rest, but after reading Professor Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and A.C. Grayling, I knew that Sikhism was just as hidebound and retrograde as the others. I'd been humbled. My whole life changed thereafter. I abandoned the trappings of my faith and went on a massive bender, sampling all the things that had previously been prohibited to me. All those awful years of sobriety were made up for in a matter of weeks.
And now, here I am. I don't know very many vocal atheists, and I'm looking forward to finally being able to talk to some and learn from them.
