Yeah. The god-botherers make light of the Santa argument, but too many years ago it actually WAS what deconverted me.
Raised RCC, but not looney RCC. My mother was a believer but tolerant of pretty much anyone. My father was devout, but the nightly rosary fiasco beat it out of him. Basically he decided it would be a fantastic idea to have a nightly rosary service. (this was back when I was a teen). I and my three siblings came up with any excuse to be urgently elsewhere at all costs. Occasionally, one or other of us would be trapped and did the whole "nurr, nurr, nurr" muttering and mumbling. Then it went pear shaped altogether. A competition arose amongst us to actively trap each other into having to do the rosary thing. It got so extreme that eventually Dad called a halt and abandoned all pretense that his kids were anything other that godless heathens.
Around the time that I was still in single digits yearswise, I found out that Santa was not real as all kids do. And the logical penny dropped.
Isn't god the very same?
Beardy bloke in the sky? Check.
Can be everywhere at once? Check.
Creepily watches your every move and thought? Check.
Rewards you if you are "good" and punishes you if you are "bad"? Check.
Has a wonky moral compass? Check.
And so forth.
40 years later, here I am a happy atheist of 40 years standing.
In godnut world I should be horribly depressed, but I am certainly not. Tomorrow, I will be going for my first full day of training as a counsellor on the phone to people in need. (Don't call me you wingnuts LOL).
The jebus crew claim that I have no reason to do that. Fukkem. I don't need their approval, nor jebus' approval, nor that of their imaginary deity. I am doing it for free because I care about real people and their real problems.
Raised RCC, but not looney RCC. My mother was a believer but tolerant of pretty much anyone. My father was devout, but the nightly rosary fiasco beat it out of him. Basically he decided it would be a fantastic idea to have a nightly rosary service. (this was back when I was a teen). I and my three siblings came up with any excuse to be urgently elsewhere at all costs. Occasionally, one or other of us would be trapped and did the whole "nurr, nurr, nurr" muttering and mumbling. Then it went pear shaped altogether. A competition arose amongst us to actively trap each other into having to do the rosary thing. It got so extreme that eventually Dad called a halt and abandoned all pretense that his kids were anything other that godless heathens.
Around the time that I was still in single digits yearswise, I found out that Santa was not real as all kids do. And the logical penny dropped.
Isn't god the very same?
Beardy bloke in the sky? Check.
Can be everywhere at once? Check.
Creepily watches your every move and thought? Check.
Rewards you if you are "good" and punishes you if you are "bad"? Check.
Has a wonky moral compass? Check.
And so forth.
40 years later, here I am a happy atheist of 40 years standing.
In godnut world I should be horribly depressed, but I am certainly not. Tomorrow, I will be going for my first full day of training as a counsellor on the phone to people in need. (Don't call me you wingnuts LOL).
The jebus crew claim that I have no reason to do that. Fukkem. I don't need their approval, nor jebus' approval, nor that of their imaginary deity. I am doing it for free because I care about real people and their real problems.
