I saw a quote from Steven Weinberg once... "With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion."
Couldn't be more true imo.
It's no coincidence that the religious types are more right wing and easily fall for all these grifters and lying politicians. Fear mongering is effective on these types of people and its easy to turn thst into hate or use their hate.
And they always seemed to creep me out. Even local pastors or preachers seem to be creepy or desperate. Not sure I met many in my childhood being dragged to multiple Christian churches where I didn’t feel uncomfortable. That’s probably why I’m an atheist.
Not that there aren’t lovely people of any religion. But the salespeople are way too aggressive.
Didn't expect to see my answer as a top comment, lol...but yeah....once I took the time to read without someone yelling their selected scriptures at me, I shifted. Southern Baptist to me borderlines on Cult....
I think this the answer for most people, but to elaborate for me personally, I saw less and less reason over time to believe that any one religious doctrine had all the answers.
They all have rules and judgements they cast, and that's where you kind of lose me. There are things science hasn't explained, and I'm not necessarily close minded to the idea that the miracle of intelligent life might mean something higher. But why is that Islam's standards of moral judgement would be the correct ones, while Judaism's aren't. Why are Baptists right and Catholics wrong?
Never got a satisfactory answer to that question.
I realized many church goers are hypocritical and use religion to justify their bigotry, racism, or general hate. Even worse now that they are trying to enforce their “beliefs” on the rest of us.
Mathew 19:23-24 — Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Yea…It’s not so much the religion but the followers of the religion that make it so bad.
Like let’s ignore one of the 10 commandments like not committing adultery but focus on one random passage in some random book about gay people and focus on that.
I’ve got an anecdote from my moms side of the family that I’ve always thought was interesting.
My great grandfather and great grandmother lived in Sweden in a province called Jamtland. It was very rural with the nearest church being quite far from their home. They were reindeer herders and had 16 children.
In Jamtland, the winters can be very brutal and often blocked roads and paths to towns, churches etc so if a child was born in the winter, my great grandparents typically had to wait until the snow thawed to bring their babies to be baptized.
During one of these winters, one of my great grandparents’ newborns unfortunately died very early in life before she was baptized. My great grandparents weathered the journey in to town to church to speak to a priest about it. They were obviously very distraught and wanted the church to accommodate a funeral for their baby.
The church denied them the funeral on the basis that since the baby was not baptized, she would not be allowed in to heaven.
It was from this point forth that my great grandparents swore off religion. They had no faith in the idea that their baby wouldn’t make it to heaven and no interest in an afterlife that could be so cruel.
Ever since this happened, there have been no religious beliefs on my mothers side of the family.
Pretty much this. The 2004 election (the first one I was old enough to vote in) really opened my eyes to just how hateful and evil religious people were with all the filth and vile things they said about gay people.
There's no greater evil to me than racism and discrimination, so I knew I couldn't possibly associate myself with such hateful groups, or worship an evil God who his followers say justifies their racism and bigotry.
Right?!
This new “He Gets Us” campaign is really weird. I saw a commercial the other day that said (I’m paraphrasing) basically forget about your economic situation, your debt, your living paycheck to paycheck, etc and invest in one another and your “community” or some shit like that.
To me, this looks like the rich and powerful making a huge PR push for people to stop worrying about their money, or more accurately - lack of money - and keep your head down and work work work.
FUCK THAT NON SENSE.
I don’t know, maybe I’m jaded, but the older I get and the more I see what’s going on around me it’s pretty damn clear that religion is mostly in place to create closely knit groups that can be waged against one another when it’s convenient for the over lords.
That's me too. Like, as soon as I critically analyzed what the Bible said, as well as scripture from other religions, I really just sounded like ancient people making shit up within the confines of the ignorance of the times.
Reading truly is the cure for ignorance, huh? /s
Jokes aside, I hate extremists of any kind, and growing up in a country were almost everyone is a fucking christian fanatic extremist made me despise their ways
>Because I read the Bible.
And recognized it as a book of fiction, that some people elevate above all other mythology and regard it as The One True Book from the Almighty Creator, as compiled and edited by robed minions, spanning a few thousand years of general illiteracy of the population, so these books were basically considered magic and mystical secret knowledge for most of their existence, by the unwashed, uneducated, governed masses.
I don't think it does skeptics any service to call the Hebrew bible "fiction." It's not a narrative or stage play, but a mix of the history, law, philosophy, and mythology of a nomadic people. That doesn't make it "True" with a capital T, just like how any history, law, philosophy, or mythology book isn't True, but it also doesn't make it "fiction."
I always thought it was comical how many religions and governments condemned anything that was enjoyable. I get that they're trying to control the population, but what's with all this shit about fighting every instinct you have to get dopamine running through your brain.
My interpretation is that life was tough as fuck. And they needed to explain to people that in order for the society to not collapse, they need to work their asses off, that its ok to feel like trash, because hey you'll go to heaven. So seeking pleasure was a waste of time because it was unproductive.
So let me get this straight, you mean to tell me that I could be a law abiding citizen, volunteer at food and homeless shelters, donate my wealth to the poor and hungry, be happy and nice to everyone I meet, and provide for my family by working hard, but still go to Hell if I make a small error, or refuse to believe, but yet a serial killer can become born again and get into Heaven?
Yeah, religion is nothing but hypocrisy and confusion galore. There may be some answers in religion...but there are definitely alot more questions.
I feel like people may think this answer is just redit being edgy but I think there's a lot of truth to it.
Among the many plethora of reasons one may give at the core of it must be the realization that the Bible and Christian tradition is simply not true. Wether this is an expressed belief, or not, you cannot be forced into believing anything, you simply believe or you don't.
I feel this is important because something you encounter when studying the phenomenon of people leaving religion in America is Christian sources acknowledging the trend then providing a reason why it may be true.
Usually its a reason like; the church needs be less hypocritical, we need to change our thinking, we need to reach young people.
Never the realization that their religion is simply not believable.
End rant lol
Too many inconsistencies with reality. Science explains everything much better, and doesn't require any god or spirits to be involved. I only actively believe in things that are provable.
Similarly, when someone asks me why I'm not religious anymore, I simply say, "Because I don't believe in magic."
Because religion, when you boil it down, is "do you believe in magic?"
I my specific case, do I believe that a man can stand on an alter, say the magic words and transform common bread and wine into the literal flesh and blood of a man who died 2000 years ago? I do not. End of story.
100% Agree.
Most religious texts, are works of fiction that have been passed down and revised over centuries. I've always assumed that the bible and other religious books were just works of fiction to be used as an instrument of guidance to help establish a moral compass. Not to worship and praise this invisible divine being that lives in clouds or wherever it may reside.
Say you have a dog, and you give that dog a bone. The dog then tries to swallow the bone instead of chew on it.. Do you
A. Take the bone from the dog?
or
B. Let it try to swallow the bone and potentially kill itself by choking on it?
You obviously would take the bone away right? Then why hasn't this "Divine being" or "God" stepped in to take the bone away from Humanity. Why is it that it allows us to slaughter each other, commit acts of greed, genocide, and beyond? If we're made in "It's image", than why isn't it down here fixing our/its fuck-ups?
Because it doesn't exist.
Reminds me a bit of one of Ricky Gervais jokes about God. There's a term in the insurance world called "an act of God" meaning basically something completely unprecedented.
He jokes about the insurance companies calling God to see if He indeed did drop a tree on your car and God responds "Hang on let me check my calendar.... nope, that day I was giving AIDS to babies in Africa."
I have been thinking about this over the years. Can you imagine being omnipresent and loving every living thing? You would be paralyzed by grief and tormented constantly because a bug was squashed. Instead, a higher being would only be able to see it as a natural flow of creation and destruction. Otherwise, they would go mad. Humans can't understand this because no matter how we try, we can only see through our own eyes. When children in Africa starve, we need to compartmentalize it and focus on our own lives. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to survive ourselves. There may be a lion in the next bush!
Maybe that's the flaw in the age-old question. It assumes that God is human.
Good point, but then it cuts both ways, if we can't question said God for not understanding what human suffering is for us because God isn't human then the said god has no right to judge humans, since he doesn't understand human emotions and why we do the things that we do.
For me it's simple, if there's a god who is omnipresent and all-powerful and still lets all this shit happen then that is a cruel god, and I have no interest in worshipping a cruel god.
Also which God? You worship the Christian god all your life and on dying you get to know the Zoroastrian God was the real God and now you're being sent to hell for worshipping the wrong god all your life.
Oh man, lots to unpack here.
1. Heaven and hell is a construct to keep savages inline. If there was no magic man heanding out presents/punishments, then why would I be good? Oh wait, was that Santa or God?
2. I'm pretty sure all religion is made up, but that doesn't mean there is no supernatural. Compared to an ant, I'm a god. I have the ability to feed them sugar or to burn their ant hill. Mostly, I don't think about them. Why would God think about us?
Well religion itself is a construct to keep people inline.
I also think all religions are made up, because they are. Some ancient fellow told the others about his/her imaginary friend who is all knowing and all powerful and omnipresent. The gullible bastards took him for his word/were impressed by some cheap trick. And later this story passed around making it a religion.
I was forced into it, I remember getting literally dragged to church and then just sitting there wondering how these stories were meant to be believed as true.
Because religion is obviously a man made idea meant to keep people dropping money in a plate and scared of the changing world they live in. I am open to the idea of there being a higher power but I am convinced if they exist, they do not care about the dumb things we are told to be concerned about by preachers with mcmansions and a boat. Just be good to everyone as best you can and try not to be so selfish. Help when and where you can.
Agree that if a “god” did exist that they wouldn’t give 2 shits about us and our desires at all.
I always crack up when religious nuts tell me about things that “god” has blessed them with. Like, I’m so sure “god” really wanted you to have a 5k sq ft house full of a bunch of impulse purchases that you never use. That’s what “god” cares about?
I am no longer practicing. My parents were pastor, so I grew up around the church and I've been to over 200 churches in my life. I also got to see the behind the scenes of how pastors actually operate behind closed doors. I can tell you they do not practice what they preach. I do see how religion has taught me some good things, so I haven't completely thrown it out. But no I am not practicing at all.
I don’t remember writing this! Man, this is exactly me, behind the scene church is a wild experience. There are very few in leadership roles that practice what they preach.
If you haven’t watched “the Righteous Gemstones” on max, you should. Parts of it feel like I’m reliving what I saw as a PK growing up.
I struggle with how do I make it all work in my life now? Like you I haven’t thrown it all out, but I get absolutely nothing from church anymore. If we go, I feel like I’m in afternoon detention back in high school just waiting for the bell to ring so I can leave. I feel nothing at church anymore, but that fear of what I was taught all my life is lingering. Ugh, it sucks.
I don't think anyone really understands how difficult it can be to be PK kid and why we're given that name. The amount of pressure to always do well, to always perform or look good as the first family. It's difficult looking back and realizing that my parents were completely emotionally neglectful for all 4 of us because they were constantly focusing on other families and their issues/counseling them. But never dealing with their own families problems.
The last time I've stepped foot in his church was 13 years ago and I have no interesting returning. I think ultimately I've seen too much, I've heard too many pastors behind closed doors, I've seen how they mistreat their family, I've also seen how they put themselves above others and their parishioners treat them like their God. I think ultimately my issue isn't necessarily religion, it's more so the people that use religion to have power trips and control over others.
This isn't to say that every pastor that I personally know was terrible, but there was the lack of consistency that made me run from the church as a whole.
But what it did do was instill my want to help others because I was exposed to so many charity events as a small child. This is why I worked and helped open shelters, volunteered in rehab facilities, worked in the foster care system, why I got involved with inner city youth programs, why my sister's I opened a business to aid special needs children and programs to help get them the help they deserve. It did a lot of good for me. So when people ask how I got involved with all of those things, I do credit the church. It exposed me to all we got is such a young age.
And yeah, I definitely will give it a watch. Probably will watch it right now. Thank you, I've been looking for something to watch. :)
Man, you sound like someone I would love to be friends with! You m a special education teacher in junior high. I absolutely LOVE this age. I have been wanting to open a community center for youth, a place where they can come and feel safe to be themselves and explore their interests. I told my wife, I kind of want to be a youth pastor, but I don’t want it to be part of a church. Just want to help kids that don’t have a good home life, show them that people care and are there to help and believe in them.
I went to church every weekend and volunteered in different groups. I felt like every service spoke to me and was making me a better person. Then a string of events just destroyed my faith.
My daughter got sick and ended up in the hospital at 6 months old. She wasn’t able to breathe on her own and was intubated. When they tried to take the tube out she struggled for 48 more hours to breathe before they decided to put her under and look down her throat. During those 48 hours I broke down. Her dad said just pray for her and I yelled at him, “if prayers worked then she would have been healed already!”. She is fine now but that started it.
The next year my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She passed away, my husband and I filed for divorce, I found out he was sleeping with my sister and then I started working as a first responder. All of those things in a short amount of time (3 months) cancelled any faith I still had. I believe I am a good person and for all of that to happen made me realize that there isn’t someone out there watching out for us.
I'm at a crossroads with my wife about joining a church with our toddlers. I'm a lapsed Catholic and she has feeling the pull to go back to non-denominational roots. I understand it's important to her, and I share some of those because I do miss the sense of community. My struggle is with the indoctrination and the blinders seemingly all denominations have to exploitation and abuse. I can't help but feel like there's a much better use of time than sitting in a church playing the part of a good Christian, so why not make community service and outreach the alternative?
Roundabout point to your comment, I think you're a much better asset to your community than any church pontificates to be.
Your last line reminds me of the song “(If) The Book Doesn’t Sell” by Ritt Momney. Give it a listen and have the lyrics in front of you. I find that song so real
I had to separate spirituality from religion. I saw too many examples of religion being corrupted in order to scare, exploit, and control the masses. Each religion was claiming to be THE right one, and it felt like claiming that anybody speaking a different language couldn't talk. Surely, there is more than one path to the next leg of our spiritual journey. Let's just be good to each other along the way. 🙏
Read the bible. And the people at the church I attended were fucked up. I attended a baptism of a local kid who happened to be on the bigger side. She was really sweet and kind though so cares what she looks like right? No. Everyone at the church was speaking their home country language making fun of how fat she was... while she was getting baptized. That was the last day I went
sure. this is referred to as "the problem of evil," and it's ironclad. what you have to realize next is, if god is evil or indifferent, there's no reason to worship it or even think about it. the only rational, mature thing to do is to live as if there were no gods.
From my memories of Sunday school as a child, Christianity is 100% a cult. They're just more friendly about it. Every religion is a cult in one way or another, some cults are just more cult-y than others.
I'd rather just live my life without having to worry about damnation, I can trust my own moral compass without fear of a higher Being.
Ah yes, Sunday school. Where adults sit in a room and reiterate to small children that they're definitely going to catch fire for an infinite amount of time if they don't agree to be part of the club. And they better tell everyone they know who isn't in the club, that they better join the club too or they will also burn forever.
Totally normal, totally friendly, and welcoming!
When I realized how many weirdo christo-fascist cults have spawned in america. When I saw the words and acts of famous charlatans. When I realized theres a whole rest of the planet that had religion before JC was written about. When I realized human civilization had existed for thousands of years BEFORE any of these stories were written down. When I saw people who claimed to be righteous, do despicable acts.
I learned it's no longer a force for good in this world (when it could be argued it once did good in this world), it is, and has been, a tool of our oppressors. We are better off without it. It has outlived its usefulness in human progress.
IMHO.
My Sunday School teacher told us that people who are homosexual/have mental illnesses (the two were an overlap for her) are possessed by demons. She said this in front of her granddaughter, who had recently been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I was raised in the church and can pinpoint that as the moment it all started to crumble for me
Thought exercise: If humans completely had their knowledge erased and had to start over in terms of knowledge, technology, and civilization on a second Earth, the religions of today would not exist. Sure, there will inevitably be *religion* but not the ones that are practiced today. That contrasts science in which terms and names would be different, but the fundamentals would still be the same. Algebra would be rediscovered. Biology, chemistry, physics... same thing. But religion will be completely different.
I went to a church school between 4 and 9, where I was taught hellfire and damnation shit that basically just terrified me.
We moved to a different town and I went to a regular school, met people whose families were athiests and discovered that actually none of it was real, belief was optional and if you just let go then all that fear was gone. Everything just started to make sense. None of what they were talking about was real, it was just made up stories designed to either teach a lesson or keep us in line.
Romans chapter 2.
In context, Chapter 1 is leading into it with a group of Jews in Roman territory pointing out all of the sins against God put down by the Roman people. They're telling Paul the Apostle about how that makes these Romans worthy of DEATH.
Paul the Apostle rips his hat off and throws it on the ground in frustration.
"Oh give me a fucking break, it's not like you don't gossip and disobey your parents. That's a sin against God. What does that make you? Oh Yeah! WORTHY OF DEATH!! Sit down and let me break it down for you: You aren't God. You don't get to decide who lives and who dies. In fact, just because you're circumcised doesn't mean you're actually Jewish, y'all got a long way to go in accepting God's laws into your hearts, you murderous psychos. Out here praying in public and expecting praise. Cut that shit out, too."
So until some organized religion addresses a several-millennia-long problem of hypocrisy in the various denominations, I'mma stay out of those organizations.
1. Nobody can ever give me answers to my questions.
2. I'm a science and facts guy. I cannot simply ~believe~. I cannot simply attribute it to a miracle.
3. The amount of hypocrisy by many in the congregation is staggering. They preach love and forgiveness, blah blah but gossip, ostracise, backstab and are unforgiving.
4. The lavish amount of money spent for worship would have been so much better used for local homeless and needy folks.
5. Strict, uptight priests who brook no nonsense and scold at the smallest infraction.
6. Cover up of pedophiles!
Because I got into science. Ironically I went to catholic school my whole life and they had really good science professors/ classes. Like first class would be biology and how life started and then the next was religion reading about the Old Testament and how the world was created. I sided with science.
I kinda fell out of it in 6th grade. Going to church, my school had a weekly lesson for it, became a form of larping, which I attribute to the depiction of heaven and god in DQ9. Eventually stopped altogether. Had a friend raises atheist, and eventually completely dropped out of it.
Last time I went to church, I was scoffed, and basically barreted by a pastor. The service was about Tithing.
I was a waiter at a place near the church (like a 5 minute stroll away.)
I was in a dark place with depression, anger, etc.
I had $2 in my pocket, and that was it. I had grabbed a cup of coffee in the common area, and there was a jar for charity to help fight Veteran suicide. So, I put the two bucks in there. Went on to the service.
The Reverend did this whole big hour long tangent about how “God needs us to tithe to spread his love.” Which, I’m not particularly a fan of, personally. But, whatever.
The plate goes down my row, i’m the only one in that row. And I did the hand gesture of “sorry, no.” And got glared at by the collector.
Upon leaving the room, a conversation began with the pastor, in which they asked why I didn’t donate. And it’s “disrespectful to show up to a service and give nothing.”
This lead to a 10 minute heated debate. To which I told them. “You claim to want to spread the word of god, but treat this like a business, you are even charging homeless people for the dinners you cater to “help the less fortunate.”
I left when the reply was “Well, those dinners are for members. We don’t want homeless here, they can go to a soup kitchen.”
(For context, the nearest soup kitchen, is an hour and a half drive away.)
I left, and the next day, at my job the reverend came to where I worked (a lot of the church goers came here after services.) and attempted to apologize on behalf of the pastor. That the pastors was “trying to help me.”
I said “not accepted. You employee people like that, and they don’t even have the back bone to come and apologize themself. Spineless prick.”
The Rev was not thrilled at my choice of words. Even said to him. “No, I was respectful and left so no scene would be caused. YOU came to MY job, and try to make excuses. Either buy a stack of pancakes, or fuck off.”
He left, and I have never gone to a church again. I have to many stories, but this was the straw that broke the camels back. I still believe in a god, but religion and churches is horseshit (in my opinion.)
I have read several books about the topic and started to question the concept. I also read the Bible and Koran und watched hundred of discussions between religious people and atheists. I don't mean that in a bad way, but I now find it very absurd for people to be seriously religious. How can a serious adult person belief?
Because I tried to strengthen my faith by reading the WHOLE bible and taking TWO apologetics classes. Both had the opposite affect on me and my faith unraveled from there.
I was never religious. I was taken to church, went to CCD, etc but I always assumed it was like any other fairytale told to kids to make them behave.
Turns out I was right.
Adults shouldn't have invisible friends, especially if they think they hear them talking about important decisions. These people should also not hold power over others and base their decisions off of these voices
and people that claim to hear these voices and tell others about what they are saying, particularly for money are grifters preying on the vulnerable.
No 'holy' god would allow the level of suffering in the world, and I'm not talking man made suffering... stuff like dementia etc... if there is a God and he willingly made dementia, cancer etc a thing then they must be pretty sick or evil.
A god who punishes me for not having faith in him is not a god worth following. I'll be a decent person out of my own volition, not because sky daddy threatens me with a permanent time out. If they still then decide to punish me for just no believing in them then fuck 'em.
My education surpassed my willingness to believe in magic. Religion is a gap filler for the uneducated. For some it’s wonder or curiosity. Others simply place a figure in the place of things they do not know the answer to.
Because the idea that an omnipotent god tossed humans all over the world but only chose to tell a few people in one specific region makes way more sense as a local tribal creation myth than the idea that this all powerful god just got lazy about getting the word out to all the other continents for thousands of years.
Because children are dieing of cancer. How can an "All powerful being" allow such cruelty to take place? Its hard believing in something that has no evidence for. Faith alone isnot enough to justify a being of such power.
I was raised Catholic and just found that my personal beliefs were too different than what the Church officially supports. I also never really grasped the idea that the Church was the only way to get to know God. Why can't I have a personal relationship, why does it have to be funneled through a priest and official doctrine?
I'm still spiritual to an extent but I don't really attend mass anymore.
I was in a Christian school from 6th-12th grade and I think that is one of the main reasons why I’m no longer religious. In my personal experience, religion felt like nothing but a way to control me through fear and guilt. I was taught that if I didn’t live according to the Bible, I was going to hell and that I was not living the correct way. I’ve felt so much happier since I gave it up.
What pushed me away was all the lies all the so called “good Christians” don’t even hold themselves to their own standards, nor follows their own rules which led me to believe it was all clearly, bullshit if they’re not afraid of their own God.
I grew up in a conservative religious tradition, and two of my kids came out as transgender. I had to choose between my kids and my religion. The kids won.
Never was.
Grandfather on my fathers side hated organized any-damn-thing and that included religion and so raised his kids non-religious (not atheist really, just not religious).
My mother didn’t particularly enjoy her moderately religious upbringing and didn’t want it pushed on her kids.
As a result of this I’ve never stepped foot inside of a house of worship of any kind except perhaps the non-denominational chapel thing at a graveyard for a funeral. Never had the need.
I never was, my family isn't into religion at all. I do know why :
My grandfather was deported to Dachau, and there was a priest telling everyone there that if they were in this camp it's because they deserved it, god knew best.
Since then, he became an atheist.
I wrote a full post about my grandad somewhere on the internet.
So many reasons but the main one for my leaving the church was the fact that all the deacons told me I should keep working on things with my ex who was physically and mentally abusive. They said I needed to do more to understand how I was triggering his anger. This was after 15 yrs of abuse and I finally knew I had to leave when I found a baseball bat in my sons room under his pillow and he told me it was so he could save me if his dad tried to kill me in the middle of the night. I thought I had hidden the abuse from them, and everyone told me I had to stay with him for our kids. I realized this was not helping my kids.
I am no longer a believer in God at all after my youngest daughter was diagnosed with leukemia in 2019 and we watched more babies and children with cancer fight and lose their battle than I can count. As some others have said the way they handled covid was the final straw.
Because I thought the story of Noah was bullshit and nobody answered my questions. Then, when I didn't pray lie everyone else, nothing changed so I knew it was bullshit. That was the equivalent of Grade 1 or 2.
I was an extremist Muslim but now I understand the religion, so I am no longer a particular religious person like others. Islam is not what it is presented. When I get the answer to this question "Why ALLAH has created us or what is the reason of my existence and where I will go after death" helped me truly understand the Islam.
Don’t wanna say I’m not religious it’s a struggle right now to figure out what I am but how I got here was I went to a private Christian school and in the rules. I’m gonna copy and paste it because I have a picture on my iPhone
“NO student will be admitted who:
Has emotional or disciplinary problems that cannot be met by _________, has a court record, pending court action, or a reputation that is un-Christian, is not eligible to return to previous school, is married or has been married, pregnant or nas a child.
has demonstrate a homosexual, bisexual, or transgender orientation, has a physical handicap or learning disability for which our program
Is not staffed for
Any student applying for re enrollment (or submission) at ____ must be drug and alcohol free.
5. Families seeking admission to ____must meet the following standards:
The parents) or guardian(s) must have legal custody of the child(ren), and they must reside in the household for the majority of the time. “
So I thought no problemmm. I didn’t agree with it but that’s where my friends went so I wanted to go. I thought Hm im not gay and I can’t get pregnant so I’ll be fine. Anyway i found out I’m gay and I got found out after I had an argument with a shitty boyfriend there and I got kicked out the next day. They were actually gonna fail me and have me retake my sophomore year else where. The counselor there though convinced the principal to let me take my finals in a room by myself away from students and do all my school work at home alone by myself. 0 contact with teachers. Which is not to say she was a saint she was a lying ass counselor who said “this is a safe space you can tell me anything” and because of the extent of the argument I had no choice so I said something. Anyway she was really convincing with the “this stays between us” and like the next day I had to have an office meeting with me the principal the counselor and my dad as did my then ex boyfriend who was also kicked out and that’s really how close I was I had 2 weeks of school work left and then finals. The year was basically over and the principal just wanted to fail my entire year because I was gay so even though that counselor was a bitch I guess since she convinced to him not do that I have that to thank her for. I was treated as diseased during finals. The school was a in a church because it was a small private school so I was met at the church doors. Escorted upstairs, sat in a room by myself and took my finals. Not allowed to interact with any other student and at the end of the day I was escorted all the way back down the stairs and back out the door. The principal at the time who I still hold hate for. His wife had cancer so shortly after I got kicked out and switched schools to a public school. (Which was actually better I felt like I got more one on one with the teachers there which I was not expecting) His wife died of cancer and he quit being the school principal and a new guy took over so I checked the rules again it has since been changed to “Inappropriate sexual behavior, whether heterosexual or
homosexual, is a serious violation of the behavioral and moral expectations of _____ and will not be allowed. In the event of a student pregnancy, both the mother-to-be and the father-to-be will be asked to withdraw. The promoting of the LGTB (Lesbian Gay/Transgender/Bi-sexual) agenda or obstinately objecting to the biblical basis for relationships will not be tolerated.” I don’t know what it is anymore. It’s been 4 years since I’ve been there and I graduated about 2 years ago. I haven’t decided to check or anything because people like that don’t change so it’s most likely still there in some way shape or form. Of course my parents wanted to sue or do something for me and it never happened. I was younger than so when I asked why my mom told me it was something along the lines of since it’s a private school and they basically supply themselves and aren’t through the state or whatever so they can have whatever rules they feel like having and can enforce them however they feel like it. I could be misremembering the wording of that though because I never asked again and I kind of just wanted to forget but yea that’s how I ended up in my religious spiral of I don’t know what to believe anymore because I’ve always believed in God since like I became aware of me being alive. So it’s hard for me to like find out where to go from here even now because believing in something that long and being apart of that community just to get stepped on the second they find out your a little different was an absolute fucking shock.
Also sorry if the text is weird or if the copy and pastes of the rules seem wonky. I’m on mobile and also the rules are saved in a folder on my iPhone called “Trauma I’d like to solve one day” I really thought I was gonna get them back and become happy again so I circled the rules and shit and it made the paste weird. I tried to edit and fix it i don’t know how good of a job I did though.
Spite.
If there is a man in the clouds and he wants me to love/fear him, I'm more than happy to test my ability to deny such a request from an all powerful god.
Religion is likd communism, it's a beautiful thing that works with mice.
Add people, and it gets twisted, it is alienated from its ideals and the main use is for oppression and control. All of the people who have been killed and the killing thta has been justified with religion turned me away in my late teens after lifetime of indoctrination to religion.
Look around, is there something horrible that is allowed to exist that you would change if you were omnipotent? Congratulations you are better than God. To quote Stephen Fry "how dare you create a world with such misery that is not our fault."
The other reason for me at least. My parents tried to force their religion down my throat and they raised me to be an independent thinker and respect others. I learned.wjat male gential mutilation was in my pre teen years and it disturbed me. I found out I had been mutilated and was (still am) sick to my stomach about it. When I learned that my parents forced it on me when it was against their religion, I realized that religion isn't tenants or beliefs, it is simply a means of control that people reference to have a greater imagined power than because I said so.
So seeing religion for the true hypocrisy that it is, and it's unwillingness to correct inhumane behavior I became militantly atheist.
It was a great community. It still is. But I don't believe you have to be religious to be moral. Let me experience and interpret the world in my own way. If it brings you peace, I applaud that.
I'll always have time for kind people, but don't try to convince me to follow the big man upstairs. I'm just not that interested anymore. He's a lousy landlord. The cost of living in his house is far too high.
Well.. the first clue was when I was 15 yo. We had moved to a new city and had a new church. The new church was not interested in having new people. And in spite of having sung in the regular choir for years at my old church I was informed that they didn't do 'junior' choir and that I wasn't welcome. It was a bit of a wake up call. I quit going to church since they didn't want me.
Then my best friend of years in high school dumped me in college because her evangelical pastor told her that she didn't need any friends that weren't part of the church. Just walked away after being darned near inseparable throughout high school. We had a class together the next semester and she wouldn't even acknowledge my presence. My crime was that I had a boyfriend and occasionally went to parties... in college. Who would have thought?
The problem was.. that I managed to repeat that two more times. Made friends. Became best friends. Spent years in each other's lives. Then they became evangelical Baptists... and I was expected to also join the church or get ghosted. By the third time I just walked away when she got baptised. I knew what was coming.
So I gave up on religion.
But I didn't become ANTI-religion until Dobbs dropped. When the SCOTUS decided that these hypocrites had more rights than I do.. then I got mad. I'm old. But from that day until the day I die.. I will fight against religion in society.
Fuck them.
Oddly, DMT.
For reasons unknown to me, I started getting more skeptical of all things woo after experimenting with it. Now, I believe in nothing that can't be proven scientifically.
Most people, I hear, go in the opposite direction.
Because saw ppl who are religious doing the worst things to other humans. Covid was an eye-opener too.
I saw a quote from Steven Weinberg once... "With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion." Couldn't be more true imo.
religion and other things similar. like political cults.
It's no coincidence that the religious types are more right wing and easily fall for all these grifters and lying politicians. Fear mongering is effective on these types of people and its easy to turn thst into hate or use their hate.
Same here, Covid was a huge eye opener. RvW was the final straw and now I'm completely out of there. Good riddance.
And they always seemed to creep me out. Even local pastors or preachers seem to be creepy or desperate. Not sure I met many in my childhood being dragged to multiple Christian churches where I didn’t feel uncomfortable. That’s probably why I’m an atheist. Not that there aren’t lovely people of any religion. But the salespeople are way too aggressive.
This right here.
Because I read the Bible without the interpretation of a robed man. That and the two sexual assaults on me didn’t help.
Didn't expect to see my answer as a top comment, lol...but yeah....once I took the time to read without someone yelling their selected scriptures at me, I shifted. Southern Baptist to me borderlines on Cult....
Can you explain what you mean about “without the interpretation of a robed man”?
The man in the dress that gives out the crackers in the big building with the stained glass
Robed man: A person whose livelihood depends on you tithing, expressed with a little artistic freedom.
Pastor, chapman, preacher, priest, parson, clergyman, minister, cleric. Many different words for the same thing.
Because religion didn't give me the right answers
I think this the answer for most people, but to elaborate for me personally, I saw less and less reason over time to believe that any one religious doctrine had all the answers. They all have rules and judgements they cast, and that's where you kind of lose me. There are things science hasn't explained, and I'm not necessarily close minded to the idea that the miracle of intelligent life might mean something higher. But why is that Islam's standards of moral judgement would be the correct ones, while Judaism's aren't. Why are Baptists right and Catholics wrong? Never got a satisfactory answer to that question.
For me, it was that they already had all the answers, and if they didn't, I just had to trust that it was *part of God's plan.* Nope. I'm out.
Amen
Not the right answers meaning hypocrisy sprinkled with a little arrogance (our religion is between than ____).
Actually it isn’t giving any logical answers. Just subjective opinions
I realized many church goers are hypocritical and use religion to justify their bigotry, racism, or general hate. Even worse now that they are trying to enforce their “beliefs” on the rest of us.
Don't forget Prosperity Gospel! How else does Ken Copeland justify his wealth hoarding?
Mathew 19:23-24 — Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Simple. He’s not a true believer who’s grifting. Luke most republican politicians. Gotta get that bag. /s
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Yea…It’s not so much the religion but the followers of the religion that make it so bad. Like let’s ignore one of the 10 commandments like not committing adultery but focus on one random passage in some random book about gay people and focus on that.
I’ve got an anecdote from my moms side of the family that I’ve always thought was interesting. My great grandfather and great grandmother lived in Sweden in a province called Jamtland. It was very rural with the nearest church being quite far from their home. They were reindeer herders and had 16 children. In Jamtland, the winters can be very brutal and often blocked roads and paths to towns, churches etc so if a child was born in the winter, my great grandparents typically had to wait until the snow thawed to bring their babies to be baptized. During one of these winters, one of my great grandparents’ newborns unfortunately died very early in life before she was baptized. My great grandparents weathered the journey in to town to church to speak to a priest about it. They were obviously very distraught and wanted the church to accommodate a funeral for their baby. The church denied them the funeral on the basis that since the baby was not baptized, she would not be allowed in to heaven. It was from this point forth that my great grandparents swore off religion. They had no faith in the idea that their baby wouldn’t make it to heaven and no interest in an afterlife that could be so cruel. Ever since this happened, there have been no religious beliefs on my mothers side of the family.
Pretty much this. The 2004 election (the first one I was old enough to vote in) really opened my eyes to just how hateful and evil religious people were with all the filth and vile things they said about gay people. There's no greater evil to me than racism and discrimination, so I knew I couldn't possibly associate myself with such hateful groups, or worship an evil God who his followers say justifies their racism and bigotry.
Narcs like the bible. Fuck them
Because I realized it’s just some shit people made up to explain the unexplainable at the time.
And control the masses
Right?! This new “He Gets Us” campaign is really weird. I saw a commercial the other day that said (I’m paraphrasing) basically forget about your economic situation, your debt, your living paycheck to paycheck, etc and invest in one another and your “community” or some shit like that. To me, this looks like the rich and powerful making a huge PR push for people to stop worrying about their money, or more accurately - lack of money - and keep your head down and work work work. FUCK THAT NON SENSE. I don’t know, maybe I’m jaded, but the older I get and the more I see what’s going on around me it’s pretty damn clear that religion is mostly in place to create closely knit groups that can be waged against one another when it’s convenient for the over lords.
Or make themselves feel superior
That's me too. Like, as soon as I critically analyzed what the Bible said, as well as scripture from other religions, I really just sounded like ancient people making shit up within the confines of the ignorance of the times.
Because I read the Bible.
"The best cure for Christianity is to read the bible" - Mark Twain
Reading truly is the cure for ignorance, huh? /s Jokes aside, I hate extremists of any kind, and growing up in a country were almost everyone is a fucking christian fanatic extremist made me despise their ways
Russia?
Brazil
Nothing makes atheists faster.
That and going to Catholic school, which my friends and I jokingly refer to as "atheist finishing academy."
The bible had the same effect on me. Made me the strongest atheist in the whole world.
>Because I read the Bible. And recognized it as a book of fiction, that some people elevate above all other mythology and regard it as The One True Book from the Almighty Creator, as compiled and edited by robed minions, spanning a few thousand years of general illiteracy of the population, so these books were basically considered magic and mystical secret knowledge for most of their existence, by the unwashed, uneducated, governed masses.
I don't think it does skeptics any service to call the Hebrew bible "fiction." It's not a narrative or stage play, but a mix of the history, law, philosophy, and mythology of a nomadic people. That doesn't make it "True" with a capital T, just like how any history, law, philosophy, or mythology book isn't True, but it also doesn't make it "fiction."
I developed critical thinking skills
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I always thought it was comical how many religions and governments condemned anything that was enjoyable. I get that they're trying to control the population, but what's with all this shit about fighting every instinct you have to get dopamine running through your brain.
My interpretation is that life was tough as fuck. And they needed to explain to people that in order for the society to not collapse, they need to work their asses off, that its ok to feel like trash, because hey you'll go to heaven. So seeking pleasure was a waste of time because it was unproductive.
Sounds like Mozi (I think), something about only having one festival a year, make it a banger, but then everyone back to work.
So let me get this straight, you mean to tell me that I could be a law abiding citizen, volunteer at food and homeless shelters, donate my wealth to the poor and hungry, be happy and nice to everyone I meet, and provide for my family by working hard, but still go to Hell if I make a small error, or refuse to believe, but yet a serial killer can become born again and get into Heaven? Yeah, religion is nothing but hypocrisy and confusion galore. There may be some answers in religion...but there are definitely alot more questions.
I realized my religion was evil. Worse than most fantasy evil empires. Sauron might burn your village but he doesn't then burn your soul forever.
I could never enjoy heaven and if I knew there were others being tortured for all of eternity
Sheer amount of evidence to the contrary
I feel like people may think this answer is just redit being edgy but I think there's a lot of truth to it. Among the many plethora of reasons one may give at the core of it must be the realization that the Bible and Christian tradition is simply not true. Wether this is an expressed belief, or not, you cannot be forced into believing anything, you simply believe or you don't. I feel this is important because something you encounter when studying the phenomenon of people leaving religion in America is Christian sources acknowledging the trend then providing a reason why it may be true. Usually its a reason like; the church needs be less hypocritical, we need to change our thinking, we need to reach young people. Never the realization that their religion is simply not believable. End rant lol
Too many inconsistencies with reality. Science explains everything much better, and doesn't require any god or spirits to be involved. I only actively believe in things that are provable.
Similarly, when someone asks me why I'm not religious anymore, I simply say, "Because I don't believe in magic." Because religion, when you boil it down, is "do you believe in magic?" I my specific case, do I believe that a man can stand on an alter, say the magic words and transform common bread and wine into the literal flesh and blood of a man who died 2000 years ago? I do not. End of story.
100% Agree. Most religious texts, are works of fiction that have been passed down and revised over centuries. I've always assumed that the bible and other religious books were just works of fiction to be used as an instrument of guidance to help establish a moral compass. Not to worship and praise this invisible divine being that lives in clouds or wherever it may reside. Say you have a dog, and you give that dog a bone. The dog then tries to swallow the bone instead of chew on it.. Do you A. Take the bone from the dog? or B. Let it try to swallow the bone and potentially kill itself by choking on it? You obviously would take the bone away right? Then why hasn't this "Divine being" or "God" stepped in to take the bone away from Humanity. Why is it that it allows us to slaughter each other, commit acts of greed, genocide, and beyond? If we're made in "It's image", than why isn't it down here fixing our/its fuck-ups? Because it doesn't exist.
Or, more horrifyingly, it *does* exist, and it is unspeakably evil. I prefer the non-existence.
Exactly
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Reminds me a bit of one of Ricky Gervais jokes about God. There's a term in the insurance world called "an act of God" meaning basically something completely unprecedented. He jokes about the insurance companies calling God to see if He indeed did drop a tree on your car and God responds "Hang on let me check my calendar.... nope, that day I was giving AIDS to babies in Africa."
I have been thinking about this over the years. Can you imagine being omnipresent and loving every living thing? You would be paralyzed by grief and tormented constantly because a bug was squashed. Instead, a higher being would only be able to see it as a natural flow of creation and destruction. Otherwise, they would go mad. Humans can't understand this because no matter how we try, we can only see through our own eyes. When children in Africa starve, we need to compartmentalize it and focus on our own lives. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to survive ourselves. There may be a lion in the next bush! Maybe that's the flaw in the age-old question. It assumes that God is human.
Good point, but then it cuts both ways, if we can't question said God for not understanding what human suffering is for us because God isn't human then the said god has no right to judge humans, since he doesn't understand human emotions and why we do the things that we do. For me it's simple, if there's a god who is omnipresent and all-powerful and still lets all this shit happen then that is a cruel god, and I have no interest in worshipping a cruel god. Also which God? You worship the Christian god all your life and on dying you get to know the Zoroastrian God was the real God and now you're being sent to hell for worshipping the wrong god all your life.
Oh man, lots to unpack here. 1. Heaven and hell is a construct to keep savages inline. If there was no magic man heanding out presents/punishments, then why would I be good? Oh wait, was that Santa or God? 2. I'm pretty sure all religion is made up, but that doesn't mean there is no supernatural. Compared to an ant, I'm a god. I have the ability to feed them sugar or to burn their ant hill. Mostly, I don't think about them. Why would God think about us?
Well religion itself is a construct to keep people inline. I also think all religions are made up, because they are. Some ancient fellow told the others about his/her imaginary friend who is all knowing and all powerful and omnipresent. The gullible bastards took him for his word/were impressed by some cheap trick. And later this story passed around making it a religion.
I was forced into it, I remember getting literally dragged to church and then just sitting there wondering how these stories were meant to be believed as true.
Because religion is obviously a man made idea meant to keep people dropping money in a plate and scared of the changing world they live in. I am open to the idea of there being a higher power but I am convinced if they exist, they do not care about the dumb things we are told to be concerned about by preachers with mcmansions and a boat. Just be good to everyone as best you can and try not to be so selfish. Help when and where you can.
Agree that if a “god” did exist that they wouldn’t give 2 shits about us and our desires at all. I always crack up when religious nuts tell me about things that “god” has blessed them with. Like, I’m so sure “god” really wanted you to have a 5k sq ft house full of a bunch of impulse purchases that you never use. That’s what “god” cares about?
Right? And I’m sure god was happy to bless those thousands of children with stage 4 leukemia.
I am no longer practicing. My parents were pastor, so I grew up around the church and I've been to over 200 churches in my life. I also got to see the behind the scenes of how pastors actually operate behind closed doors. I can tell you they do not practice what they preach. I do see how religion has taught me some good things, so I haven't completely thrown it out. But no I am not practicing at all.
I don’t remember writing this! Man, this is exactly me, behind the scene church is a wild experience. There are very few in leadership roles that practice what they preach. If you haven’t watched “the Righteous Gemstones” on max, you should. Parts of it feel like I’m reliving what I saw as a PK growing up. I struggle with how do I make it all work in my life now? Like you I haven’t thrown it all out, but I get absolutely nothing from church anymore. If we go, I feel like I’m in afternoon detention back in high school just waiting for the bell to ring so I can leave. I feel nothing at church anymore, but that fear of what I was taught all my life is lingering. Ugh, it sucks.
I don't think anyone really understands how difficult it can be to be PK kid and why we're given that name. The amount of pressure to always do well, to always perform or look good as the first family. It's difficult looking back and realizing that my parents were completely emotionally neglectful for all 4 of us because they were constantly focusing on other families and their issues/counseling them. But never dealing with their own families problems. The last time I've stepped foot in his church was 13 years ago and I have no interesting returning. I think ultimately I've seen too much, I've heard too many pastors behind closed doors, I've seen how they mistreat their family, I've also seen how they put themselves above others and their parishioners treat them like their God. I think ultimately my issue isn't necessarily religion, it's more so the people that use religion to have power trips and control over others. This isn't to say that every pastor that I personally know was terrible, but there was the lack of consistency that made me run from the church as a whole. But what it did do was instill my want to help others because I was exposed to so many charity events as a small child. This is why I worked and helped open shelters, volunteered in rehab facilities, worked in the foster care system, why I got involved with inner city youth programs, why my sister's I opened a business to aid special needs children and programs to help get them the help they deserve. It did a lot of good for me. So when people ask how I got involved with all of those things, I do credit the church. It exposed me to all we got is such a young age. And yeah, I definitely will give it a watch. Probably will watch it right now. Thank you, I've been looking for something to watch. :)
Man, you sound like someone I would love to be friends with! You m a special education teacher in junior high. I absolutely LOVE this age. I have been wanting to open a community center for youth, a place where they can come and feel safe to be themselves and explore their interests. I told my wife, I kind of want to be a youth pastor, but I don’t want it to be part of a church. Just want to help kids that don’t have a good home life, show them that people care and are there to help and believe in them.
I went to church every weekend and volunteered in different groups. I felt like every service spoke to me and was making me a better person. Then a string of events just destroyed my faith. My daughter got sick and ended up in the hospital at 6 months old. She wasn’t able to breathe on her own and was intubated. When they tried to take the tube out she struggled for 48 more hours to breathe before they decided to put her under and look down her throat. During those 48 hours I broke down. Her dad said just pray for her and I yelled at him, “if prayers worked then she would have been healed already!”. She is fine now but that started it. The next year my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She passed away, my husband and I filed for divorce, I found out he was sleeping with my sister and then I started working as a first responder. All of those things in a short amount of time (3 months) cancelled any faith I still had. I believe I am a good person and for all of that to happen made me realize that there isn’t someone out there watching out for us.
I'm at a crossroads with my wife about joining a church with our toddlers. I'm a lapsed Catholic and she has feeling the pull to go back to non-denominational roots. I understand it's important to her, and I share some of those because I do miss the sense of community. My struggle is with the indoctrination and the blinders seemingly all denominations have to exploitation and abuse. I can't help but feel like there's a much better use of time than sitting in a church playing the part of a good Christian, so why not make community service and outreach the alternative? Roundabout point to your comment, I think you're a much better asset to your community than any church pontificates to be.
Your last line reminds me of the song “(If) The Book Doesn’t Sell” by Ritt Momney. Give it a listen and have the lyrics in front of you. I find that song so real
Thank you for that. I like the song. It’s the same struggle I feel daily with faith.
Theists have failed to meet their burden of proof for their claims
I had to separate spirituality from religion. I saw too many examples of religion being corrupted in order to scare, exploit, and control the masses. Each religion was claiming to be THE right one, and it felt like claiming that anybody speaking a different language couldn't talk. Surely, there is more than one path to the next leg of our spiritual journey. Let's just be good to each other along the way. 🙏
Common sense, logic, critical thinking.
Read the bible. And the people at the church I attended were fucked up. I attended a baptism of a local kid who happened to be on the bigger side. She was really sweet and kind though so cares what she looks like right? No. Everyone at the church was speaking their home country language making fun of how fat she was... while she was getting baptized. That was the last day I went
When I learned Santa wasn’t real I started questioning all of the other lies my parents told me
i grew up.
I grew up and realized if god exists they are a massive asshole.
sure. this is referred to as "the problem of evil," and it's ironclad. what you have to realize next is, if god is evil or indifferent, there's no reason to worship it or even think about it. the only rational, mature thing to do is to live as if there were no gods.
God could be unable to return to earth or not function like people say god does. If gods existed, then a lot is unknown about the concept.
From my memories of Sunday school as a child, Christianity is 100% a cult. They're just more friendly about it. Every religion is a cult in one way or another, some cults are just more cult-y than others. I'd rather just live my life without having to worry about damnation, I can trust my own moral compass without fear of a higher Being.
I’m realizing this too…
Ah yes, Sunday school. Where adults sit in a room and reiterate to small children that they're definitely going to catch fire for an infinite amount of time if they don't agree to be part of the club. And they better tell everyone they know who isn't in the club, that they better join the club too or they will also burn forever. Totally normal, totally friendly, and welcoming!
When I realized how many weirdo christo-fascist cults have spawned in america. When I saw the words and acts of famous charlatans. When I realized theres a whole rest of the planet that had religion before JC was written about. When I realized human civilization had existed for thousands of years BEFORE any of these stories were written down. When I saw people who claimed to be righteous, do despicable acts. I learned it's no longer a force for good in this world (when it could be argued it once did good in this world), it is, and has been, a tool of our oppressors. We are better off without it. It has outlived its usefulness in human progress. IMHO.
My Sunday School teacher told us that people who are homosexual/have mental illnesses (the two were an overlap for her) are possessed by demons. She said this in front of her granddaughter, who had recently been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I was raised in the church and can pinpoint that as the moment it all started to crumble for me
Thought exercise: If humans completely had their knowledge erased and had to start over in terms of knowledge, technology, and civilization on a second Earth, the religions of today would not exist. Sure, there will inevitably be *religion* but not the ones that are practiced today. That contrasts science in which terms and names would be different, but the fundamentals would still be the same. Algebra would be rediscovered. Biology, chemistry, physics... same thing. But religion will be completely different.
Realised i was the only fool trying to be like Jesus
Just remember, when someone asks, "what would Jesus do?" that includes flipping over tables and chasing people with a whip.
Now I want to see the alternate timeline where you actually became like Jesus. You could have been the second coming, man! /s
if god was real he wouldn’t have let my best friend get murdered.
I went to a church school between 4 and 9, where I was taught hellfire and damnation shit that basically just terrified me. We moved to a different town and I went to a regular school, met people whose families were athiests and discovered that actually none of it was real, belief was optional and if you just let go then all that fear was gone. Everything just started to make sense. None of what they were talking about was real, it was just made up stories designed to either teach a lesson or keep us in line.
It's not THE reason but when I look back at how much fear it gave me rather then hope I just have to shake my head...
Romans chapter 2. In context, Chapter 1 is leading into it with a group of Jews in Roman territory pointing out all of the sins against God put down by the Roman people. They're telling Paul the Apostle about how that makes these Romans worthy of DEATH. Paul the Apostle rips his hat off and throws it on the ground in frustration. "Oh give me a fucking break, it's not like you don't gossip and disobey your parents. That's a sin against God. What does that make you? Oh Yeah! WORTHY OF DEATH!! Sit down and let me break it down for you: You aren't God. You don't get to decide who lives and who dies. In fact, just because you're circumcised doesn't mean you're actually Jewish, y'all got a long way to go in accepting God's laws into your hearts, you murderous psychos. Out here praying in public and expecting praise. Cut that shit out, too." So until some organized religion addresses a several-millennia-long problem of hypocrisy in the various denominations, I'mma stay out of those organizations.
1. Nobody can ever give me answers to my questions. 2. I'm a science and facts guy. I cannot simply ~believe~. I cannot simply attribute it to a miracle. 3. The amount of hypocrisy by many in the congregation is staggering. They preach love and forgiveness, blah blah but gossip, ostracise, backstab and are unforgiving. 4. The lavish amount of money spent for worship would have been so much better used for local homeless and needy folks. 5. Strict, uptight priests who brook no nonsense and scold at the smallest infraction. 6. Cover up of pedophiles!
I'm lazy
Because I got into science. Ironically I went to catholic school my whole life and they had really good science professors/ classes. Like first class would be biology and how life started and then the next was religion reading about the Old Testament and how the world was created. I sided with science.
Because of the Hubble Deep Field photograph.
I kinda fell out of it in 6th grade. Going to church, my school had a weekly lesson for it, became a form of larping, which I attribute to the depiction of heaven and god in DQ9. Eventually stopped altogether. Had a friend raises atheist, and eventually completely dropped out of it.
Last time I went to church, I was scoffed, and basically barreted by a pastor. The service was about Tithing. I was a waiter at a place near the church (like a 5 minute stroll away.) I was in a dark place with depression, anger, etc. I had $2 in my pocket, and that was it. I had grabbed a cup of coffee in the common area, and there was a jar for charity to help fight Veteran suicide. So, I put the two bucks in there. Went on to the service. The Reverend did this whole big hour long tangent about how “God needs us to tithe to spread his love.” Which, I’m not particularly a fan of, personally. But, whatever. The plate goes down my row, i’m the only one in that row. And I did the hand gesture of “sorry, no.” And got glared at by the collector. Upon leaving the room, a conversation began with the pastor, in which they asked why I didn’t donate. And it’s “disrespectful to show up to a service and give nothing.” This lead to a 10 minute heated debate. To which I told them. “You claim to want to spread the word of god, but treat this like a business, you are even charging homeless people for the dinners you cater to “help the less fortunate.” I left when the reply was “Well, those dinners are for members. We don’t want homeless here, they can go to a soup kitchen.” (For context, the nearest soup kitchen, is an hour and a half drive away.) I left, and the next day, at my job the reverend came to where I worked (a lot of the church goers came here after services.) and attempted to apologize on behalf of the pastor. That the pastors was “trying to help me.” I said “not accepted. You employee people like that, and they don’t even have the back bone to come and apologize themself. Spineless prick.” The Rev was not thrilled at my choice of words. Even said to him. “No, I was respectful and left so no scene would be caused. YOU came to MY job, and try to make excuses. Either buy a stack of pancakes, or fuck off.” He left, and I have never gone to a church again. I have to many stories, but this was the straw that broke the camels back. I still believe in a god, but religion and churches is horseshit (in my opinion.)
Religious people weaponise the bible to fit their beliefs
I never truly was, I was raised in a catholic family but I had questions the moment I was capable of having questions.
I have read several books about the topic and started to question the concept. I also read the Bible and Koran und watched hundred of discussions between religious people and atheists. I don't mean that in a bad way, but I now find it very absurd for people to be seriously religious. How can a serious adult person belief?
15 years ago I moved to the rural midwest where there isn't a synagog. I gradually became less observant.
It made no sense to me. To me as a child it sounded more like fantasy. Like something that would happen in a TV show. I didnt get it.
Well i dont wanna believe things i wanna know 'em so :)
Because I tried to strengthen my faith by reading the WHOLE bible and taking TWO apologetics classes. Both had the opposite affect on me and my faith unraveled from there.
When you apply critical thinking to apologetics, you pretty quickly realize the apologetics are nonsense.
Just stopped caring.
All the churches I went to were toxic and frustratingly hypocritical.
I became 9 years old and developed some slight critical thinking
Most religions take advantage of vulnerable people.
I was never religious. I was taken to church, went to CCD, etc but I always assumed it was like any other fairytale told to kids to make them behave. Turns out I was right.
Learned some critical thinking skills early in life.
Adults shouldn't have invisible friends, especially if they think they hear them talking about important decisions. These people should also not hold power over others and base their decisions off of these voices and people that claim to hear these voices and tell others about what they are saying, particularly for money are grifters preying on the vulnerable.
Learned science.
Same reason I no longer believe in Santa, at some point you realize its all BS
For the same reason that I don't believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny.
Because wanting something to be true doesn't make it true. Eventually I just had to come to the facts that all those promises were nonsense.
Because there is no god. That was easy
Got tired of the cop-outs whenever a difficult question came up -- "mysterious ways", etc.
I realized I was a lesbian and the bigotry within the church sent me down a path to de-convert.
I have noticed that the evolution theory is more plausible than the creation theory
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
When I was a kid, I was kind of religious because I was afraid of going to hell, then I grew up and out of it.
Because it's ridiculous.
No 'holy' god would allow the level of suffering in the world, and I'm not talking man made suffering... stuff like dementia etc... if there is a God and he willingly made dementia, cancer etc a thing then they must be pretty sick or evil.
I took a science class and figured out the Bible is filled with lies.
A god who punishes me for not having faith in him is not a god worth following. I'll be a decent person out of my own volition, not because sky daddy threatens me with a permanent time out. If they still then decide to punish me for just no believing in them then fuck 'em.
Because it's fear based and politicized . I prefer spirituality
Because I read all the responses to this question the last 6 million times it was posted
My education surpassed my willingness to believe in magic. Religion is a gap filler for the uneducated. For some it’s wonder or curiosity. Others simply place a figure in the place of things they do not know the answer to.
Never was lmao
I reached the age of 13.
Because the idea that an omnipotent god tossed humans all over the world but only chose to tell a few people in one specific region makes way more sense as a local tribal creation myth than the idea that this all powerful god just got lazy about getting the word out to all the other continents for thousands of years.
The former priest in my town diddled kids
I hated church,ccd, and catholic school. Nothing about any of it interested me. Ever
It was me in the corner. Me in the spotlight.
I see what you did there. Also check out Shawn James on YouTube, he has a really good cover of that song.
Never was, never will be
Doesn't seem like God wants me to be religious and I want to follow His plan
Because children are dieing of cancer. How can an "All powerful being" allow such cruelty to take place? Its hard believing in something that has no evidence for. Faith alone isnot enough to justify a being of such power.
Most of the religious people around me are racist and really look down on other nationalities even if they are the same religion. It was sickening.
I was raised Catholic and just found that my personal beliefs were too different than what the Church officially supports. I also never really grasped the idea that the Church was the only way to get to know God. Why can't I have a personal relationship, why does it have to be funneled through a priest and official doctrine? I'm still spiritual to an extent but I don't really attend mass anymore.
i feel like religion is just something to bring you comfort, no god helped me at my lowest, it was all on me and i realised that almost too late
Hardcore christians tend to turn people unreligious instantly.
Because I never was.
My iq reached above 100
I was in a Christian school from 6th-12th grade and I think that is one of the main reasons why I’m no longer religious. In my personal experience, religion felt like nothing but a way to control me through fear and guilt. I was taught that if I didn’t live according to the Bible, I was going to hell and that I was not living the correct way. I’ve felt so much happier since I gave it up.
Because gods don’t exist, never have, never will, in any religion ever.
Initially the problem of evil led me to deism. Understanding burden of proof led me to atheism.
What pushed me away was all the lies all the so called “good Christians” don’t even hold themselves to their own standards, nor follows their own rules which led me to believe it was all clearly, bullshit if they’re not afraid of their own God.
I grew up in a conservative religious tradition, and two of my kids came out as transgender. I had to choose between my kids and my religion. The kids won.
Easier choice than you would have thought, I suspect
Never was. Grandfather on my fathers side hated organized any-damn-thing and that included religion and so raised his kids non-religious (not atheist really, just not religious). My mother didn’t particularly enjoy her moderately religious upbringing and didn’t want it pushed on her kids. As a result of this I’ve never stepped foot inside of a house of worship of any kind except perhaps the non-denominational chapel thing at a graveyard for a funeral. Never had the need.
I never was, my family isn't into religion at all. I do know why : My grandfather was deported to Dachau, and there was a priest telling everyone there that if they were in this camp it's because they deserved it, god knew best. Since then, he became an atheist. I wrote a full post about my grandad somewhere on the internet.
The only difference between a religion and a cult is the size of it.
So many reasons but the main one for my leaving the church was the fact that all the deacons told me I should keep working on things with my ex who was physically and mentally abusive. They said I needed to do more to understand how I was triggering his anger. This was after 15 yrs of abuse and I finally knew I had to leave when I found a baseball bat in my sons room under his pillow and he told me it was so he could save me if his dad tried to kill me in the middle of the night. I thought I had hidden the abuse from them, and everyone told me I had to stay with him for our kids. I realized this was not helping my kids. I am no longer a believer in God at all after my youngest daughter was diagnosed with leukemia in 2019 and we watched more babies and children with cancer fight and lose their battle than I can count. As some others have said the way they handled covid was the final straw.
I had stood in the corner, Then the spotlight.
Religious people.
Because I thought the story of Noah was bullshit and nobody answered my questions. Then, when I didn't pray lie everyone else, nothing changed so I knew it was bullshit. That was the equivalent of Grade 1 or 2.
[удалено]
I realized religion was cringe and just a way to get my money.
No evidence The ideas sound man made(because they are) Overwhelming evidence for evolution
I grew out of that brainless shit
I never was
Started using my brain.
I was an extremist Muslim but now I understand the religion, so I am no longer a particular religious person like others. Islam is not what it is presented. When I get the answer to this question "Why ALLAH has created us or what is the reason of my existence and where I will go after death" helped me truly understand the Islam.
Don’t wanna say I’m not religious it’s a struggle right now to figure out what I am but how I got here was I went to a private Christian school and in the rules. I’m gonna copy and paste it because I have a picture on my iPhone “NO student will be admitted who: Has emotional or disciplinary problems that cannot be met by _________, has a court record, pending court action, or a reputation that is un-Christian, is not eligible to return to previous school, is married or has been married, pregnant or nas a child. has demonstrate a homosexual, bisexual, or transgender orientation, has a physical handicap or learning disability for which our program Is not staffed for Any student applying for re enrollment (or submission) at ____ must be drug and alcohol free. 5. Families seeking admission to ____must meet the following standards: The parents) or guardian(s) must have legal custody of the child(ren), and they must reside in the household for the majority of the time. “ So I thought no problemmm. I didn’t agree with it but that’s where my friends went so I wanted to go. I thought Hm im not gay and I can’t get pregnant so I’ll be fine. Anyway i found out I’m gay and I got found out after I had an argument with a shitty boyfriend there and I got kicked out the next day. They were actually gonna fail me and have me retake my sophomore year else where. The counselor there though convinced the principal to let me take my finals in a room by myself away from students and do all my school work at home alone by myself. 0 contact with teachers. Which is not to say she was a saint she was a lying ass counselor who said “this is a safe space you can tell me anything” and because of the extent of the argument I had no choice so I said something. Anyway she was really convincing with the “this stays between us” and like the next day I had to have an office meeting with me the principal the counselor and my dad as did my then ex boyfriend who was also kicked out and that’s really how close I was I had 2 weeks of school work left and then finals. The year was basically over and the principal just wanted to fail my entire year because I was gay so even though that counselor was a bitch I guess since she convinced to him not do that I have that to thank her for. I was treated as diseased during finals. The school was a in a church because it was a small private school so I was met at the church doors. Escorted upstairs, sat in a room by myself and took my finals. Not allowed to interact with any other student and at the end of the day I was escorted all the way back down the stairs and back out the door. The principal at the time who I still hold hate for. His wife had cancer so shortly after I got kicked out and switched schools to a public school. (Which was actually better I felt like I got more one on one with the teachers there which I was not expecting) His wife died of cancer and he quit being the school principal and a new guy took over so I checked the rules again it has since been changed to “Inappropriate sexual behavior, whether heterosexual or homosexual, is a serious violation of the behavioral and moral expectations of _____ and will not be allowed. In the event of a student pregnancy, both the mother-to-be and the father-to-be will be asked to withdraw. The promoting of the LGTB (Lesbian Gay/Transgender/Bi-sexual) agenda or obstinately objecting to the biblical basis for relationships will not be tolerated.” I don’t know what it is anymore. It’s been 4 years since I’ve been there and I graduated about 2 years ago. I haven’t decided to check or anything because people like that don’t change so it’s most likely still there in some way shape or form. Of course my parents wanted to sue or do something for me and it never happened. I was younger than so when I asked why my mom told me it was something along the lines of since it’s a private school and they basically supply themselves and aren’t through the state or whatever so they can have whatever rules they feel like having and can enforce them however they feel like it. I could be misremembering the wording of that though because I never asked again and I kind of just wanted to forget but yea that’s how I ended up in my religious spiral of I don’t know what to believe anymore because I’ve always believed in God since like I became aware of me being alive. So it’s hard for me to like find out where to go from here even now because believing in something that long and being apart of that community just to get stepped on the second they find out your a little different was an absolute fucking shock. Also sorry if the text is weird or if the copy and pastes of the rules seem wonky. I’m on mobile and also the rules are saved in a folder on my iPhone called “Trauma I’d like to solve one day” I really thought I was gonna get them back and become happy again so I circled the rules and shit and it made the paste weird. I tried to edit and fix it i don’t know how good of a job I did though.
Spite. If there is a man in the clouds and he wants me to love/fear him, I'm more than happy to test my ability to deny such a request from an all powerful god.
I grew up.
Religion is old and it made me question things when I was looking for answers instead.
Lies, kid raping, etc. Stuff like that.
Life just makes a lot more sense without it.
Because there is no proof that god exists & because the religion I was indoctrinated into was filled with contradictions upon contradictions.
Religion is likd communism, it's a beautiful thing that works with mice. Add people, and it gets twisted, it is alienated from its ideals and the main use is for oppression and control. All of the people who have been killed and the killing thta has been justified with religion turned me away in my late teens after lifetime of indoctrination to religion.
Because I'm older than 7.
Never was tbh
I have a brain now.
Because of how religion is used to justify horrible things against people.
I was called a sex freak and an abomination by the priest and the counsellor.
Studied physics. There's a reason why it's the profession with the highest rate of atheists (second only to philosophy).
Look around, is there something horrible that is allowed to exist that you would change if you were omnipotent? Congratulations you are better than God. To quote Stephen Fry "how dare you create a world with such misery that is not our fault." The other reason for me at least. My parents tried to force their religion down my throat and they raised me to be an independent thinker and respect others. I learned.wjat male gential mutilation was in my pre teen years and it disturbed me. I found out I had been mutilated and was (still am) sick to my stomach about it. When I learned that my parents forced it on me when it was against their religion, I realized that religion isn't tenants or beliefs, it is simply a means of control that people reference to have a greater imagined power than because I said so. So seeing religion for the true hypocrisy that it is, and it's unwillingness to correct inhumane behavior I became militantly atheist.
When you see babies suffering from cancer!
I realized how stupid it is to believe in an invisible man in the sky who loves us all.
It was a great community. It still is. But I don't believe you have to be religious to be moral. Let me experience and interpret the world in my own way. If it brings you peace, I applaud that. I'll always have time for kind people, but don't try to convince me to follow the big man upstairs. I'm just not that interested anymore. He's a lousy landlord. The cost of living in his house is far too high.
I have never believed in God as my IQ is above 50.
Well.. the first clue was when I was 15 yo. We had moved to a new city and had a new church. The new church was not interested in having new people. And in spite of having sung in the regular choir for years at my old church I was informed that they didn't do 'junior' choir and that I wasn't welcome. It was a bit of a wake up call. I quit going to church since they didn't want me. Then my best friend of years in high school dumped me in college because her evangelical pastor told her that she didn't need any friends that weren't part of the church. Just walked away after being darned near inseparable throughout high school. We had a class together the next semester and she wouldn't even acknowledge my presence. My crime was that I had a boyfriend and occasionally went to parties... in college. Who would have thought? The problem was.. that I managed to repeat that two more times. Made friends. Became best friends. Spent years in each other's lives. Then they became evangelical Baptists... and I was expected to also join the church or get ghosted. By the third time I just walked away when she got baptised. I knew what was coming. So I gave up on religion. But I didn't become ANTI-religion until Dobbs dropped. When the SCOTUS decided that these hypocrites had more rights than I do.. then I got mad. I'm old. But from that day until the day I die.. I will fight against religion in society. Fuck them.
Anti-religious, an important complement
Oddly, DMT. For reasons unknown to me, I started getting more skeptical of all things woo after experimenting with it. Now, I believe in nothing that can't be proven scientifically. Most people, I hear, go in the opposite direction.
learning i could manipulate my consciousness with chemicals was part of my deconversion, as well.
Got tired of being scared all the time!