Hi,
My deconversion from catholicism was a very slow one, catholic,christsian,agnostic,deist, etc. Here's an old post copied from the Atheist Ireland forum which puts it in a nutshell.
"I found it liberating, for one very specific reason. I described myself as agnostic for years, I had rejected organised religion and with it many of the religious concepts of god, but I held on to a belief in a creative force of some kind (more a deist view really). Then one day I asked myself WHY?. The answer was selfishness, I WANTED there to be a meaning and purpose to life, I WANTED to believe in the possibilty of eternal life, etc, etc.
Once I realised that any "faith" I had was based on purely selfish reasons I was free to reject those beliefs, it felt like the first time in years that I wasn't lying to myself.
I must confess that I'm a little confused about why you would feel any sense of de-motivation. When may I ask did you reject your belief in god?, I've heard that some people who loose their faith suddenly, after a jarring realisation, can feel somewhat overwhelmed. I imagine that people who are strongly religious and define themselves in terms of their faith can find that their concept of self is altered. For me the process was gradual and as simple as changing a hat, and I don't miss that old hat in the slightest."
My deconversion from catholicism was a very slow one, catholic,christsian,agnostic,deist, etc. Here's an old post copied from the Atheist Ireland forum which puts it in a nutshell.
"I found it liberating, for one very specific reason. I described myself as agnostic for years, I had rejected organised religion and with it many of the religious concepts of god, but I held on to a belief in a creative force of some kind (more a deist view really). Then one day I asked myself WHY?. The answer was selfishness, I WANTED there to be a meaning and purpose to life, I WANTED to believe in the possibilty of eternal life, etc, etc.
Once I realised that any "faith" I had was based on purely selfish reasons I was free to reject those beliefs, it felt like the first time in years that I wasn't lying to myself.
I must confess that I'm a little confused about why you would feel any sense of de-motivation. When may I ask did you reject your belief in god?, I've heard that some people who loose their faith suddenly, after a jarring realisation, can feel somewhat overwhelmed. I imagine that people who are strongly religious and define themselves in terms of their faith can find that their concept of self is altered. For me the process was gradual and as simple as changing a hat, and I don't miss that old hat in the slightest."
