Have you ever gone back?

[Bad Writer]

Once a person realizes that the gaps in which "god" resides are simply getting smaller and smaller as we learn more about the universe, a return to religion seems an improbable (and, for some, impossible) journey to make. Why try to believe in something that you have no reason to believe in anymore?

A couple years before I made the realization that I was an atheist (but well after I left the Mormon Church) I decided I needed to go and see once and for all if my old faith really was a lost cause (spoiler alert: it was!). On my first visit back, I was greeted with smiles and warm welcomes (no one knew me, as I was living in a different state when last I had attended). The designated speakers were spouting off the same old boring rhetoric that got all the members teary-eyed and spiritual, and I had to suppress my gag reflex.

Then the fun began. As we finished up the first hour of the meeting, we separated into classrooms so as to have a more intimate learning session among smaller groups. The topic was on the Holy Ghost, and I did not keep quiet. The teacher went on for a bit about the different properties and attributes of this mystical being, and I challenged him with questions about him/it. The questions went unanswered (surprise, surprise), but it also left the room very silent in regards to what had been asked. Nobody could give me a straight answer, as they had never before considered what I had brought to the table.

I never went back, but I left feeling pretty vindicated in my decision to leave in the first place. Have any of you ever done the same or similar?

[Terr]

Cheek of you, asking questions. FAITH !!!

Granted I'm only an ex catholic but at age 14 I started asking questions, still no answer. Was told it's "a mystery", "he works in mysterious ways" and of course "it's a matter of faith". It's the nature of religion, blind unquestioning obedience, which begs the question of why people do it. Answer is they are too scared of hell, death, etc. to ask that question, Kudos to you sir.

[Captain Colostomy]

Nope, sorry. I just...stopped. I rarely put myself in a situation to hafta deal with the mentally challenged*. I accept the consequences of my actions without apology.

*I.e. 'Religionists'.

[Violet]

Things just seem so... absurd. That's how.

[Minimalist]

Never.

Once you sniff bullshit you watch where you step.

[catfish]

Never been "there"... Did you guys really believe all that crap?

[Bad Writer]

Never been "there"... Did you guys really believe all that crap?

They still do. I don't. Min's bullshit analogy is apt here.

[catfish]

Never been "there"... Did you guys really believe all that crap?

They still do. I don't. Min's bullshit analogy is apt here.

I meant did you really believe things like the virgin birth or did you just go along with it for appearances?

[Foxaèr]

Once I officially left the church, I never returned.

[Bad Writer]

...did you really believe things like the virgin birth or did you just go along with it for appearances?

Mormons don't believe in a Virgin Birth. They believe she was a virgin before God got her preggers, but that's about where that one ends.

But to answer your real question, as to whether or not I believed the bullshit, that would be a yes.