Atheism/Agnostic

Growing up I always had an internal conflict believing in the religion I was taught to believe in. I was taught that god loves us all and blah, blah, blah... This internal conflict grew and grew and GREW. I oftened questioned everything about it, How could god be all loving and at the same time send billions of people to hell because they believed in the wrong thing, who created god, how can the religion I believe in be correct when there are many more out there, etc... So in early in 2010 I decided Agnosticism was the right thing for me. Accepting this was hard, being raised to believe in god and to worship him. I eventually accepted it and I am much more happy now than ever. So I have a question for you ex-religious Athiest/Agnostics. How did you become Agnostic/Atheist and was it hard for you to accept it at first.

As an Agnostic (and because of the ambiguity between terms like "atheist" and "anti-theist", I will continue to consider myself an Agnostic), I didn't have all that much trouble slipping into the mindframe. I was raised Baptist, but I had a hard time buying the whole organized religion deal - pretty much for some of the same reasons you touched on. There were just too many contradictions. Too many "WTF??" moments. This, then, grew and grew, and I started looking into other lines of thinking, which only opened up further possibilities of my initial teachings being wrong.

So, at this point in my life, I'm very comfortable with saying "you know what? I have no idea what's actually up there." And I don't feel uncomfortable with not knowing, or not feeling pressured into placing my faith in one idea. I don't assume that there is not a sort of 'super-consciousness' out there somewhere - some sort of Supreme Being, if one wants to call it that - but I definitely don't think it's something that you will find defined, with clarity, in any man-made/altered religion.

Welcome to the club.

As for not believing in big G, the transition wasn't hard. It just kinda happened, like puberty. In fact, I was kinda hoping the Christian god didn't exist, so the chances of me being some type of "higher" being could exist. I also disliked the idea of there being a "superior" being that I must be obedient to.

Wasn't hard for me. As a kid I was a non-practicing Catholic, like the rest of my family. As the years went on I slowly but surely moved away from the religion. I like to think my atheism stems from a common hatred of going to church. I hated going to CCD, and really didn't like the practice of sitting on uncomfortable wooden benches for hours on end in the event my family actually went to church. Despite not caring much for practicing religion, I didn't like it when people criticized religion. I remember being on these forums in 2006-2007, being 14 years old or so, and reading some of the posts.

Then, of course, I reached the age of reason it seems. I got confirmed by the church at 15-16 (mainly because, while I was not yet fully atheist or even agnostic, I didn't care enough to put up a fight to stop my mom from making me finish CCD and get confirmed. Plus my sister had been confirmed and it would look rather odd if she got confirmed while I didn't). Shortly after abandoned religion entirely. I've been fairytale free for three or so years now.

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Originally Posted by BLUELINE976

I hated going to CCD, and really didn't like the practice of sitting on uncomfortable wooden benches for hours on end in the event my family actually went to church. Despite not caring much for practicing religion, I didn't like it when people criticized religion.

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Sounds familiar.

For me, it was actually a two-step process. First, I went from theist to deist, and then I went from deist to agnostic.

In reality, these changes are a lot more organic than that. Your decision to slap a different label on it does not mark the "moment" you became agnostic. This is why it wasn't such a shock to me. It's kinda like when you get a promotion at work: If you properly earn your promotion, then you're basically already doing the job before you get the title. So, by the time I slapped the "agnostic" label on there, it's not like I shockingly decided that I was going to become one... I just did some introspection, and realized I was already there.

My parents weren't really strict about the catholic upbringing. We were definitely a "go to church on easter and xmas" type of family, and I never felt like some poor fellow friends I have, who were shunned by their parents for their beliefs. So there was no "closet" to come out of. I am me, and that's that.

The transition to deist slowly happened in high school (catholic high school), where I had a really cool religion teacher. I'd actually go to his office after classes were over, and just talk about all sorts of stuff. What is hell really, what are cults like, etc. It ended up expanding my mind a bit, and I realized that with all those other religions out there, there's really no "knowing" which one, if any, is correct. So I eventually slapped the "deist" label on.

But that was short-lived, because while part of me was still stuck with the inability to imagine a world without a god, I was juts going through the motions, and the more I polished off my own worldview, and the more I straightened my own issues out, the more comfortable I was with a world that may or may not have a "divine creator."

Now, I'm fully comfortable and happy, and have greater appreciation of life. Each moment matters more.

Welcome, glad you could join us.

I was never religious myself, but upon learning about religions and the various alternatives, the idea that this god stuff was nonsense immediately made more sense to me, so it wasn't hard at all. Probably helps that my parents never indoctrinated me, and that I was pretty much immune to any indoctrination from schools.

I'm very happy. There are no conflicts in my world-views, and can come to my own decision on new things without worrying what the opinion of my religion is. Nor do I have to worry about what a religion says on an issue when it comes to choosing how to live my own life (or feel constantly guilty for deviating from it).

I also don't have to pretend to know answers I don't, or rationalize things away. If I don't know something, I can happily admit it.

Well... I never had parents repeatedly telling me that God existed, so naturally I never came to believe anything so silly in the first place.

I stopped believing in God around the same time as Santa Claus. It seems surprising to me that some people couldn't make that obvious leap.

My teacher was agnostic and he would always be asking us philosophical questions. That could have been due to he's profession more then he's person. Do agnostics think outside the box? Just wondering..

My parents never indoctrinated me with anything, never told me to believe in god or to pray or to go to church (which we never did). The full extent of my religious upbringing was what little came with the Boy Scouts. It was about the age of seven that I told my sister I'm an atheist. Since then, I've tried out some different things. I jived with Shinto for a week or two, but it didn't feel right, and I knew that it was utter bollocks. I think, more than anything, I liked the idea of coming back as a sort of Kami or ghost. Haunting people would be fun, but I somehow doubt I'll ever get to. Since then, I've remained firmly grounded in atheism. Recently, I've taken up a sort of stance of anti-theism.

I always thought the Star Trek style logo was a bit cringey though, to be honest. The leggy fish or empty set symbol are cooler.

I wasn't raised as anything. My Mom got me an illustrated kids Bible and I just thought it was a story book. I remember in the book they were saying how great Samson was by all the people he killed. I didn't get it.
When I was around 10 years old I would stay up feeling who I was. I didn't know it then, but I was meditating. This is when I learned to WILD. I became interested in Jesus and other saints. I really liked the book Jonathon Livingston Seagull and Illusions by Richard Bach. I related to Jonathon Livingston Seagull since I practiced flying in lucid dreams and wasn't interested in the things other children were.
In my meditations I found I could erase the outline of my ego that made me feel like I was separate. I found out that I had no real individuality that was independent. I came up with a philosophy that was basically Buddhist even though I had never heard of Buddhism. Maybe I saw little statues of fat Buddhas or something, but I didn't know anything about it. I felt that we all lived in a field of consciousness and that we were just waves in this ocean of consciousness. I called that ocean of consciousness "God". I remember bringing up philosophy with my Mom and she was surprised by what I said I felt. Then when I was around 13 I met a cool person who I felt like knew the secret. I asked him who he thought God is. His answer changed my life; he said "Some say this, some say that, try to figure it out for yourself. I can tell you what I think, but you need to find out for yourself."
I never liked organized religion and thought it was all bullshit. I dabbled in the occult but I didn't like the occult scene and I felt that it was just another belief system. Then in my early 20s I got very much into yoga philosophy and felt like it was the same conclusions I had reached on my own experiments with lucid dreaming as a kid. But the Hindu yoga scene was too far-out with all these different superstitions and blah blah blah. I was disillusioned by the Hindu Sadhus who just begged and smoked cigarettes and did tricks for money or mutilated their bodies. They didn't seem to know anything about the secrets of the Universe. But I respected the Himalayan yogis and then I came across Tibetan Buddhist Tantra and I felt liberated from everything. I felt that the Buddha was the only guy who had the courage to cut out all the Bullshit. And I liked how he asserted that there is no individual soul or self also. Also he taught that the Universe is not created by any God and even if there was a God he would be powerless to do anything for us anyway, because it is us that creates our destinies. I agreed with him 100% even from my own experience. Also the Buddhist guys were all humble and weren't doing tricks for attention and money.
Anyway, What I was calling God the Buddhists call Rigpa which is the unconditioned mind without borders. I realized that it is us that creates this universe and there is no God. If there is, he is just a demiurge who is just like a big person, not some kind of Creator who has power over us.
But all this is just my opinion based on my experience.

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Originally Posted by Xei

I always thought the Star Trek style logo was a bit cringey though, to be honest. The leggy fish or empty set symbol are cooler.

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You mean like this?

Lack of anti-aliasing and the fire layer is also cringey. May I suggest for you sir some cool Scandinavian class?

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:M...-Black.png&t=1

Oh, but that's so boring. At least give me colors.

I was raised in a Christian household, but, for the same reasons as you, I questioned this belief. I questioned it when I was 5 years old! I'll never forget that day. I was looking at my dad's fish tank, and I asked God to prove himself by turning me into a fish. He obviously didn't, and I was left so confused, though I had an innate feeling that he wouldn't do it before I even asked. I could not and still cannot grasp how God can send people whom he loves unconditionally to Hell. I remember when I told my mom I wasn't a Christian when I was a teenager, and she cried her eyes out. It was very hard. I also used to date a Church of Christ boy around that time, and at their church one morning, they preached that Lutherans, Baptists, and the like were all going to Hell. I was FUMING in the sermon. I asked him if he thought I was going to Hell, and he said yes. His mom tried to talk to me about it, but I was so mad I couldn't say anything. "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." After that, I rejected any kind of religion or spirituality.

Over the years, I've learned that I believe in a little bit of everything. Last year, I had a HUGE spiritual awakening, interestingly enough, through a book about Christianity. I was finally able to accept myself for who I was. I started studying the Bible and going to church, but I slowly started to see that a lot of the people in church were just putting on a facade. Not all of them, but many of them were. I knew that wasn't what the Bible taught, and I started seeking more answers. I've finally come to this: I believe in an all-loving God, like the one that Christians worship, but I also believe in reincarnation, like the Buddhists. I don't see this God as an "old man in the sky", but just an all-encompassing light, one that exists always, in the realm of past, present and future. This consciousness will never die, it is eternal. It is us, in a sense, but it is us after we have all joined with it. We are all of the same consciousness. I also believe that our beliefs are all constantly changing and being shaped by what we experience in life. I know mine have been, and I fully expect them to keep morphing and changing.

Above all, I believe in love; it is the most important aspect of my belief system, and I believe that's how it should be. You damn yourself when you reject love. Hell is a mindset, and so is Heaven. My beliefs are constantly changing, but I'm not a fan of organized religion. I do go to church sometimes, because I do get messages out of the sermons, and I believe the Bible is true, but not "literally". It's very symbolic, just like every other book on spirituality out there. I also believe that all religions are true, it's just that some people need different things in their lives, because we are all different. Different, but the same. We are all of one consciousness, learning and absorbing different aspects of everything. It's a complicated thing to explain, I actually tried explaining it to my brother yesterday, but I kept getting tongue-tied, because a lot of what I'm trying to say cannot be put into words. He understood though, which made me happy. I still have so much to learn, but I believe that none of us really know for sure what we will find upon death, nor will we ever until we die.

I questioned what I was taught to believe by my school and parents from just about the very begining. I remember when I was 5 sitting in church wondering what if the bible is just made up and all these people are going to church wasting a beautiful sunday morning singing dull songs for nothing. I mean who the fuck is Mark? Why should I believe him if he won't even put his last name on the book he wrote. Many of the stories in the bible seemed impossible even if there was some kind of miracle involved. Even if you do have some kind of miracle how can you fit 2 of every animal on a boat, it would have to be the biggest boat ever, by far, and it was made out of wood by one person.

When I was thirteen or so I began to seriously scrutinize religion in general. For a while I was of the mindset that all this was rather unlikely but I don't know for sure. Maybe there could be a god but if there is I doubt he is this much of an asshole, sending people to hell for not believing something and forcing little children to sit through boring rituals that don't even do anything for most of the adults who supposedly understand whats going on.

For a while I was open minded to the idea of god but I realized that if you can't point to something directly, if you can't interact with it, if you can't know what it is, then why believe in it.

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

I didn't have much trouble not believing in Santa or the Easter Bunny anymore either. ;)

Hmmm... That previous post sounded somewhat cynical. I suppose it would be better to point out that what changes isn't truth, but our way of looking at it.

I believe we should be cautious to attribute characteristics of what God must be or is supposed to be, less we put something that isn't on a pedestal and force God to prove itself by those specific standards even to save ourselves...

As an agnostic my only real trouble is where people make faith an excuse not to take responsibility for their own actions and real problems or threats that exist in our environment.

I don't think I ever stopped believing in SOME higher power. Just like it's impossible for me to imagine a Universe that isn't teeming with life...

I believe its just been a natural consequence of learning more and more science. The more I learned over the years about how things work, the less I saw a need for a god. I do remember still believing in god when I got confirmed though (my family is also mostly non practicing catholic).

Having said that, I still cling to the hope of some kind of afterlife. Thinking about there not being one doesnt "enrich" life for me as many atheists claim it should because of appreciating this life more, rather it pulls me down in to thinking about all the things I will miss in the future once Im gone...all the things I wont be able to experience anymore...it really gives a "whats the point" feeling to my mindset sometimes these days. Though I refuse to be emo and let it show on the outside or in my work. I have lost many a nights sleep over the thought of ceasing to exist. But even for all that, I cant simply force myself to believe in one, so I remain unsure.

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Originally Posted by tkdyo

I believe its just been a natural consequence of learning more and more science. The more I learned over the years about how things work, the less I saw a need for a god. I do remember still believing in god when I got confirmed though (my family is also mostly non practicing catholic).

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Ditto to that, it was right about the time I got confirmed that I first started having doubts. I also think learning about science trains your mind to think differently. Accepting things on faith eventually becomes unacceptable.

If my mom found out I was no longer a Christian I would never hear the end of it. I believe in the possibility of a god, I also believe in the possibility of there not being one but I believe in the impossibility of predicting such thing, I am agnostic. I think that is the most logical way to look at this sort of thing, I believe most people would have a hard time arguing with that.

Dont you find it strange more and more people have started not beleiving in religeon or are now agnostic, maybe this is a good thing. I reckon a soul quest is needed more than religeon its self causes to much violance than piece yet most religous books preach piece yet it never happens. Go watch book of ELI good film. all that violance just for a blind mans bible! hehe

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Originally Posted by tkdyo

Having said that, I still cling to the hope of some kind of afterlife. Thinking about there not being one doesnt "enrich" life for me as many atheists claim it should because of appreciating this life more, rather it pulls me down in to thinking about all the things I will miss in the future once Im gone...all the things I wont be able to experience anymore...it really gives a "whats the point" feeling to my mindset sometimes these days. Though I refuse to be emo and let it show on the outside or in my work. I have lost many a nights sleep over the thought of ceasing to exist. But even for all that, I cant simply force myself to believe in one, so I remain unsure.

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The fact that we exist in a universe for a mere 60-80 decades and have the ability to attempt to understand it does it for me. I wish I could live long enough to be able to travel to other planets and see and meet whatever is out there. I envy those who will be born in 100 years.

"A still more glorious dawn awaits. Not a sunrise, but a galaxy rise; a morning filled with four hundred billion suns: the rising of the Milky Way."

Yeah, I have a hard-on for Carl Sagan.