Raised Christian, converted by internet

[Chad32]

I spent much of my childhood going to a baptist church that my grandmother wanted me to go to. Of course being a child, and loving my grandmother, what possible reason could I have to say no? After all, I was fed all kinds of stories about Jesus' love, and there are some genuinely good life lessons that can be found in the bible. Just ignore the parts about slavery, and treating women as inferior, and killing people for just about anything that bible says is wrong...It's a book about love, peace, and kindness, you see.

My parents were not religious, but didn't hold me back, except for one time when my mother said going to some religious event four days a week was a bit much.

It was really until my adulthood, when my parents decided to bring the internet to our home, that I began to talk to people with divergent views from my own. People from outside my bubble. Now before this, I already knew about some of the nastier parts of the bible, but everyone around me just said I was interpreting it wrong, or those parts were just a "cultural" thing. When I met people online that actually shared my views, it drew me out of my bubble.

There are videos talking about things pertaining to the bible that you will never hear in sunday school. Things that make christianity seem a lot like any other religion. So now I'm an atheist. I also just call the guy Yaweh now. God is not a personal pronoun. My name is not Human. I didn't call my former pets Dog.

I still have a good relationship with my grandmother, though of course she worries about me going to hell. My sister was raised in the same thing too, and she stuck with it. They're teaching the nieces christianity too. The cycle continues.

[Mister Agenda]

Welcome, Chad!

I was too old and slow to adopt new things to be de-converted by the internet. I bet it would have gone a lot quicker that way, though.

[Minimalist]

I began to talk to people with divergent views from my own. People from outside my bubble.

Yeah... fucking churches hate it when that happens.

[LastPoet]

Welcome Chad, I was raised catholic, but then, magic is not my thing. Its cool for me to indulge in it, playing D&D or other fantasy games, not sufficient to be taken seriously in my life.

[Chad32]

I began to talk to people with divergent views from my own. People from outside my bubble.

Yeah... fucking churches hate it when that happens.

Obviously if I come across anything that says the bible is wrong, I need to ignore it, and go back to reading that book. The good parts, of course. Not the parts that say I can rape and marry someone as long as I give her father fifty bucks or whatever. Let me tell you, there wasn't any "love your enemies" stuff in the old testament. Christianity would be a much better religion if the guy it revolves around wasn't working for someone who wipes out the whole world because they aren't worshiping him enough.

[The Valkyrie]

Welcome.

I was raised Catholic by my mother but my father, an atheist, insisted we - my brother and I - be free to make our own decisions.

I honestly think that the internet is a major nail in the coffin of religions.

[Chad32]

Religion relies on control, and it's really hard to do that in the information age unless you ban the internet or something. Also phones, and any other handheld device like that.

In my neck of the woods, I don't think people even put catholics in the same category as protestants, despite both groups worshiping the same guy.

[The Valkyrie]

Religion relies on control, and it's really hard to do that in the information age unless you ban the internet or something. Also phones, and any other handheld device like that.

In my neck of the woods, I don't think people even put catholics in the same category as protestants, despite both groups worshiping the same guy.

Of course it does. Without control they'd lose membership. It's part of the reason so many conservative religions are so opposed to education beyond the basics.

I'm still amazed, though I shouldn't be, just how brainwashed many of these people are.

I just read an article on the Friendly Atheist blog about an opinion piece in Charisma magazine about the "atheist agenda"

Reading the comments is a real eye opener. One atheist responds to the nonsense in the article and it seems every idiot theist and his brain-dead dog starts replying with prosletyzing, strawmen, and every other fallacy you can name.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyath...our-faith/

Link is to Hemant Mehta's blog, not to the article directly.

[Chad32]

Well I would assume that most christians are that way because they were raised in it, or because they hit a low point in their life and someone consoled them with religion. Why else would you be drawn into it? Are there any happy, educated adults that weren't brought up into it at an age where disobedience warrants punishment, that decide to become fundamentalists?

[freedomfromforum]

Do I get a cookie for calling it early?