I was born into a Catholic family. We went through all of the motions; baptism, communion, confirmation. My father attands church almost every week, but my mother almost never does. When (somewhere between the ages of five and twelve) I would ask why she didn't, she would say that she prayed every night before going to bed, and this made up for it.
For the longest time, I didn't really think about religion and god. I would probably be one of those "uh, sure, I believe in god" people. To me, religion meant little more than agonizing church attendence every once in a while. Finally, in *gasp* eleventh grade, one of the students in my english class mentioned how he was an agnostic. At the time, I didn't even know what agnosticism was, but when he explained it, it made sense. After all, how can we know that god exists? How can we know that our religion was the right one, as opposed to the hundreds of others?
At that point, I became agnostic, but I didn't tell anyone. In the preceding months there were times when I considered atheism, but the stigma held me back. The only atheist my mother (or anyone else in my family) had ever known was an intolerent jerk, and I (wrongly) assumed that meant they were all like that. After about six months, the stigma, the hazy feeling of dread in the back of my mind, dissapeared mysteriously. It's true, I realized, we can't prove that god doesn't exist, but the odds of him existing are so small that they should realistically be considered zero.
Still, I told no one (and I still haven't, at the time of this writing). My parents are not fundamentalists (thank g- er... something), but I know for a fact that at least one of my parents interprets the bible literally, and refuses to consider any flaws in that interpretation.
In short, I was an apathetic Catholic who didn't think about religion, so I didn't realize god was not real until later, because I didn't think about it. I didn't think about it not because I didn't want to not believe, but because I didn't have much interest in the subject. (Ironically, I am much more interested in religion as an atheist than I ever was as a Catholic.)
For the longest time, I didn't really think about religion and god. I would probably be one of those "uh, sure, I believe in god" people. To me, religion meant little more than agonizing church attendence every once in a while. Finally, in *gasp* eleventh grade, one of the students in my english class mentioned how he was an agnostic. At the time, I didn't even know what agnosticism was, but when he explained it, it made sense. After all, how can we know that god exists? How can we know that our religion was the right one, as opposed to the hundreds of others?
At that point, I became agnostic, but I didn't tell anyone. In the preceding months there were times when I considered atheism, but the stigma held me back. The only atheist my mother (or anyone else in my family) had ever known was an intolerent jerk, and I (wrongly) assumed that meant they were all like that. After about six months, the stigma, the hazy feeling of dread in the back of my mind, dissapeared mysteriously. It's true, I realized, we can't prove that god doesn't exist, but the odds of him existing are so small that they should realistically be considered zero.
Still, I told no one (and I still haven't, at the time of this writing). My parents are not fundamentalists (thank g- er... something), but I know for a fact that at least one of my parents interprets the bible literally, and refuses to consider any flaws in that interpretation.
In short, I was an apathetic Catholic who didn't think about religion, so I didn't realize god was not real until later, because I didn't think about it. I didn't think about it not because I didn't want to not believe, but because I didn't have much interest in the subject. (Ironically, I am much more interested in religion as an atheist than I ever was as a Catholic.)
John Adams Wrote:The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.
