Did you ever believe?

[Welsh cake]

Yes I once believed whole-heartedly. I invested so much time, life and emotion in that nonsense. Letting go of that conviction to a non-demonstrably proven deity and deconverting to the default position of non-belief was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do.

I prayed for things as a kid. I knew nothing about God and wasn't a Christian as kids can be. None of my selfish prayers were answered.

Except my last prayer before converting from theism to deism wasn't for selfish gain, it was simply for a mile-long traffic jam to clear faster so we could get to the hospital in time to see my beloved aunt once last time before she died of cancer.

We didn't get there in time. She was pronounced clinically dead an hour before we got there. I didn't put this "holier than thou god" to some silly test and hope she would magically recover, I'd lost two other close family members that same year from cancer, I knew death was inevitable, I just wanted to speak to her one last time, that was all. I'll never see or speak to her ever again... if there's really all powerful, all knowing god out there he's proven who the selfish bastard is quite nicely, all by himself too.

I now faced up to reality and realised it was no one's fault, the god I once loved, then hated, then was apathetic to didn't even exist. Traffic jams caused by accidents simply cannot be helped.

[fr0d0]

So why did you want to get there and see her if not for your own benefit Cake?

[Minimalist]

That's the Catholic church for you. The services are always so incredibly boring.

Oh, yeah!


http://comedians.jokes.com/richard-jeni/...p-catholic

[JohnDG]

I was skeptical at a young age, but still prayed in the hope that god would help me through long horrible part's of my life. As a grew up I realized there was no god and that I was on my own, ever since then ive been better for it. Even if there was a god, he would be no god of mine because if he was real he's just as sick and twisted as his evil counterpart and deserves nothing from me.

[Kyle]

I was forced against my will to go to Sunday school and church every Sunday as a child by my grandma. I believed up until around 13. I remember many nights as a kid, the anxiety and depression I felt because my parents didn't attend church and I thought they were going to burn in hell. At the age of 13 I went on a class field trip to the science center, and noticed there wasn't anything about God at all, and all the answers were there and there was proof, unlike religion. I would come up with questions for my grandma, like Noah's ark, where did they get food? How did Noah avoid Scurvy? The only answer she knew was "God took care of them" it was then I seen the ignorance in religion and set off on my own journey or knowledge and here I am, 10 years later.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

I figured out that catholics were scumbags by age 11.

Well, AT age 11 actually.


I had been taught (if you'll forgive the expression) by nuns from age 5. Those gentle creatures would scare the bejabus out of us with stories about the martyrs and belt us with canes and bits of electrical flex. I though they were bloody 'orrible and hated them. I rarely got hit at home, even though I was a real little stinker.

At age 11 was sent kicking and screaming to the De La Salle brothers.(I had those cunts number at the interview) The good brothers did not use a cane or electrical flex, indeedly doodly not! They had custom made straps which they used with gay abandon and as their preferred teaching aide. Strangely, I found their cruel and vicious behaviour to be somewhat at odds with the gentle faith they taught.

THAT was the beginning of my loss of faith. It took another 9 years before I finally left the church and another 20 before I realised I simply no longer believed in god(s). My atheism has never been a choice for me. Rather,it was an inevitable conclusion I could deny for only so long.


Today, one of my irrational (?) beliefs is that it is NOT OK to hit a child,ever. This is a visceral belief, and one I do not argue or even discuss. Ironically, I don't even like children.(apart from at babycues of course).

[Eudaimonia]

I never believed in Jesus.. (and later the various Gods that were put before me in Islam and the demigod of Buddism - Siddhartha - the god that people worship but don't call "god" ) I never believed in a personal God.. I prayed to the universal consciousness that would help end the horrific things I viewed in life.. There was no objective standard with which to measure the outcomes to my prayers.. so I could never be really sure that they were answer..

Ironically, if I did something "wrong" I was always immediately held accountable for the consequences that I were liable for.. Natural consequences follow me.. So, I believed less in God and more in Karma for a long while.. lol.. and realized that if there were a God HE/SHE only seemed to be interested in keeping me in my place rather than giving me the tools necessary to avoid strife in the first place..

The truth is I've never believed.. and as a child that was a frightening thing..

[OnlyNatural]

I wasn't raised religious, but as a teenager I jumped wholeheartedly into what I now see as a rather cultish Christian community. I invested a great deal of time and emotion into it, and for a while I really did believe. And because I believed, these people surrounded me with tons of love and support. I interpreted the wonderful feelings that came from this social inclusion as 'God,' 'Jesus,' 'the holy spirit,' etc.. I was young and naive, so having that 'warm, fuzzy feeling' was all the proof I needed that my beliefs were true.

But education and life experience soon put an end to that. Some writings in an ancient book, some strong emotions, and the mutual reinforcement of beliefs in a closed community... I soon realized that this was not nearly enough to justify my faith, especially since every other religion or cult has the same ingredients, and the same arrogant assumption that only THEY are right, and everyone else is wrong.

And by the way, once I stopped believing, all my 'wonderful, supportive, loving Christian friends' no longer wanted anything to do with me. Wouldn't even speak to me. Made me completely despise the in-group vs. outsider mentality they have, which of course wasn't a problem when I was a member of the exclusive in-group. Like them, I also used to look at non-Christians with condescension and contempt, or as lost people in desperate need of salvation. But I'm so happy to have escaped. I'm certainly a less bigoted and more tolerant person now that I'm an atheist.

[Cinjin]

So why did you want to get there and see her if not for your own benefit Cake?

How the hell is that a fair question????????

The man wanted to say goodbye ... that's sentiment not benefit. WTF Frodo?!?

Are you implying that your god thought his request was SELFISH??? Even from you, that's repugnant.

[Doubting Thomas]

I'm certainly a less bigoted and more tolerant person now that I'm an atheist.

Me too. I've become far more compassionate since I lost religion than I was when I was religious. I think maybe a lot of that came from my mom, though. But I was one that thought if an unmarried woman got pregnant, then she deserved to have to raise the kid by herself for being such a slut. If people were out screwing around, they deserved to catch an STD. Poor people were poor because they didn't want to work. Gays were evil perverts who deserved AIDS.

I'm glad I'm not like that any more.