How many atheists/agnostics/pagans/ect were raised in christianity?

reply to post by Stovokor

. . .being my only chance at life gives it more meaning.

I think you said that.
I'm having trouble knowing what to do with that or how to get to where I could share in that feeling.

I was a young man in the experimental and experiental sixties, and though much of what happened followed standard trial-and-error situations (the errors later formalized into what's called 'new-age' now), it was a great time with some fascinating jumps in human knowledge and understanding.

I grew up in a lukewarm nominal christian background (christening, confirmation, wedding etc in church, but nothing else) and I actually never thought much about christianity one way or another.

But then when the sixties broke out, the sour and rigid faction of christianity suddenly profiled itself, and soon became the representative (together with the political right) of self-proclaimed authority and the 'values' of this authority.

Said 'values' already a few years earlier having an impact on my young life, when a combination of hormones and curiousity led to me to depraved 'sin', lust and other ungodly activities.

I sneaked into a shady little movie-theater (hoping not to meet anyone I knew) and looked at a 'anthropological' movie with some pacific-island women dancing around with naked tits. Believe it or not, that was 'daring' then.

Since the sexual (and other similar) 'revolution' I've felt an increasing irritation with people trying to direct my life "for my own good"; a personal attitude which is brilliantly portraited by Al Pacino's Satan monologue in 'The devil's advocate'.

When has arbitrarily chosen 'values' ever done mankind any good? Those of you old enough may remember Dave Allen, who speculated on how it would have been, if NOSES were the forbidden thing. Women wearing provocative nose-knickers maybe.

So I've never had the heart-rendering negative experiences with religion, which some of you describe, but my free mind rebels just as much as yours.

reply to post by CaDreamer2

i saw daily hypocrisy and generational family dynasties controlling the congregations.

That does it for me, to keep me from warming a pew.
I get that, that any sort of religion or social organization is going to be like that.
It was so blatant and in your face, the cliques and favoritism that it turned my stomach to just be in the same building as these people.
That does not cause me to not believe in God, who I don't feel commands me to line up at the door of my local church.
Anyway, I did go to a very nice church when I was young but those people who made it so are dead and gone and are not around to worry if I am going to church or not.

Originally posted by JesusisTruthh
Couldn't you just of asked the questions. Seems like the OP is a way to take shots from a personal opinion.

edit on 26-6-2011 by JesusisTruthh because: (no reason given)

If I am going to ask a question of others, it's only fair that I answer it first.

If I am going to "take shots", it will be most obvious and there will be no doubt about it.

reply to post by megabytz

Originally posted by megabytz
I was raised a christian, eventually became part of the leadership in my church, and then went on to seminary school. I can't say what exactly changed my mind and made me leave the church. There were many issues but it basically boils down to me valuing rationality and independent thought. Which isn't exactly promoted within the christian religion

I don't know if you saw this great thread about Preachers Who are Not Believers, but there was something there I found intriguing and that is that many of these preachers became atheists in seminary school. They still went on to practice, which I find terribly inconsistent. I don't know how people can live with themselves, pushing religious dogma they don't believe in... Snake oil salesmen, I guess...

reply to post by JesusisTruthh


religion is not a person...religion is the fear that has been pulled over the peoples eyes to control and manipulate them. i do not hate you or any other christian/ religious person.

your ignorance of what you worship is a reason to pity you not hate you.

peace be well and live to love not worship

Originally posted by LHP666
Then, one day, the scales fell from my eyes and I saw it for what it was. Instead of glossing over these things, it all became obvious. My belief is that this was the natural end result of all that questioning and searching for answers, and refusing to be satisfied until I found those answers. Now I know too much to ever go back into it. It finally sunk in.

I don't think I can say it better then you have.

My search for God lead me to acknowledge I am Atheist.

Although not Christian I was sent to a convent purely because it was the best school in the area Mother thought. Step Father being a newspaper reporter was somewhat keen on facts, so you can imagine RI at school. 'How did they manage to get the lions in without being bitten, was the roof high enough for the giraffes, how big were the stalls and what about feed they all eat different things. What about fresh water Sister? This was just the Ark, I swear that Nun hated me every bit as much as I hated school. I did get confirmed and went as and when.

Like most I floated along had two boys but left the religion decision to them as I wasn't having either indoctrinated. Then one day I had to attend a service in a High Church with the boys. There were a number of frocked men all very busy at the altar, choir, incense, which I love and...... bells ringing. In fact the bells fascinated us. Aftewards I asked one of the unfrocked what he was ringing his bell for and why the intervals. He hadn't a clue.

It struck me then that religion is about my belief and the values I have in my life and what happens when I die. It hit me really hard how important those things were and then I started studying and joined the local Theosophical Lodge, best thing I ever did as they had a fabulous library from religions across the board as well as some of the most interesting talks. One was on reincarnation, the speaker was a local retired surgeon. He mentioned people's near death experiences and then went on to reincarnation and finally said it was deliberately taken out of Chistianity. I had my first real experience of the power of the church and what it was prepared to do. Of course it had to come out because if you reincarnate, you don't go to heaven or hell.

Eventually realising that the first part of the bible was purely made up from other cultures and times and radically altered politically, I decided to research those earlier pagan beliefs and noticed how closely Christianity had glued itself to the Past beliefs. I found I understood and related far better to the Mystery Schools and its teachings and that's where I have contentedly settled. Christ's teachings will always be a part of my value system but Christian itself not.

reply to post by Lynda101

. . .ringing his bell for and why the intervals. . .

Maybe if they told him why, he would find it so ridiculous that he would fall over.
It is the result of an insidious agenda in the fading empire to bring the churches into conformity with the Roman style of service, which was the pontifical service where the pagan emperor invoked the presence of the gods.

reply to post by JesusisTruthh


Yes religion is evil. No one said you were evil but your religion is. I know you will not objectively look at it but it has been the motivation behind a lot of suffering throughout history. It also causes a lot of anti-intellectualism in the U.S. Christianity actively discourages people from thinking.

"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."
-Steven Weinberg

I was baptised;

I don't think i will be "un-baptising" myself as some of these Americans have been doing; i feel that's just as farcical and dogmatic as baptism to begin with.

I'm certainly not angry because a vicar poured some water over my head.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


You know what. I was just reading an article about that and was going to comment on it. There is an organization called Sea of Faith that is full of priests and pastors who do not believe. They teach religion as a human invention. It is a rather strange position to take and I'm not sure how they can do it. One of the members stated that they view Jesus in the same way others view Father Christmas. I suppose they just enjoy the traditions.

I was raised in a Protestant household, sorta religious. But after my father died when I was 8, I felt so alone in the world, and the church could not fill that void. But when I found this site a few years ago, thats what really turned me off from all religion. I learned to use my brain and think about stuff, not just take what is handed to me as the complete truth. So, I salute ATS for opening my eyes.

reply to post by LHP666


on my paternal grandma's side i'm descended from Sephardi Jews
who were forced to convert to roman catholicism or go back to spain

had a few mystical/supernatural experiences at age 7 [not including a Valerie Moment]

assiduous study of the bible led to becoming a judaic-heretic at 8 going on 9

by twelve i was an atheist,

followed by my 1st "revelatory parting of the veil" which led to me becoming a Conspiracy Theorist.

nowadays, i'm a Shamanic-Kabalistic-Gnostic-Pantheist

or whatever i'm calling my self this week.

reply to post by BlackStar99


naw, thats "the study of the bible is the best school for atheists" [or something like that]
Voltaire

reply to post by JesusisTruthh


"Much that was called religion has carried an unconscious attitude of
hostility toward life. True religion must teach that life is filled with joys
pleasing to the eye of God, that knowledge without action is empty. All men must
see that the teaching of religion by rules and rote is largely a hoax. The
proper teaching is recognized with ease. You can know it without fail because it
awakens within you that sensation which tells you this is something you've
always known."
***
We are daily confronted
by the terrifying instability of all things human, yet we permit our religions
to grow more rigid and controlled, more conforming and oppressive. What is this
shadow across the highway of Divine Command? It is a warning that institutions
endure, that symbols endure when their meaning is lost, that there is no summa
of all attainable knowledge."
***
"Religion must remain an outlet for people who say to themselves,
'I am not the kind of person I want to be.'
It must never sink into an assemblage of the self-satisfied."

Bomoko's Legacy
from Frank Herberts Dune

Originally posted by CaDreamer2
reply to post by JesusisTruthh

 

religion is not a person...religion is the fear that has been pulled over the peoples eyes to control and manipulate them. i do not hate you or any other christian/ religious person.

your ignorance of what you worship is a reason to pity you not hate you.

peace be well and live to love not worship

You said religion is evil. Don't sugar coat it. I know what i worship. these teachings.

Love God, and love your enemies.

Sure ignorance isn't it? I'm a 30 year old man. I aint no kid who doesn't know what i worship. I used to live without religion. It was my choice to convert. My ignorance is your bigotry.

Fear is not even biblical. God specifically said, you no longer have a spirit of fear, and also to have confidence in your salvation.

peace and be well back. I do live to love and worship.

later.

Originally posted by megabytz
reply to post by JesusisTruthh

 

Yes religion is evil. No one said you were evil but your religion is. I know you will not objectively look at it but it has been the motivation behind a lot of suffering throughout history. It also causes a lot of anti-intellectualism in the U.S. Christianity actively discourages people from thinking.

"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."
-Steven Weinberg

No it's not evil. Evil people are evil. Hypocrites are evil. They exist in Atheist communities and communist regimes. For you to say religion is evil, then include every society or group of people have evil in them.

It's been the motivation for alot of evil, in your eyes, in my eyes, they are called hypocrites. Hypocrites would use and can use ANYTHING to act out their deeds.

Our Core teachings and Christ don't teach that.

I don't really agree with Weinbergs qoute. if they do evil they aren't good are they? That's kind of a oxymoron isn't it?

Religion is also responsible for the Worlds leading sick and food shelters throughout the World, especially Christian countries.

I wonder why.

But anyways, you got a right to your opinion, which is what it is.

I was raised in a Christian home. My family began going to protestant and evangelical churches, and eventually ending up in a Roman Catholic church. I am now an Atheist. Religion is a very poisonous and divisive tool. I began "falling away from the church" when i was in my early teens. It caused moments of severe depression, 3 to be exact, a few of them spanning months. I became very angry, as i learned that the world was severely messed up, and the ideology that i had been indoctrinated with was a lie. I began using drugs as a means of escapism and avoidance. I am a naturally inquisitive person, and the more i learned, the more depressed i got. Eventually i let it all go, but it was a struggle. Now i learn about religion as a hobby. I have read the bible (obviously), the Qu'ran, The Egyptian Book of the dead, the Tibetan Book of the dead, Half of the Vedas (for anyone whos read it, youd know why, its a very difficult read) and the Bhagavad Gita, I find now that i am far more knowledgeable about religion then most religious people (that seems to be a general trend with atheists). I have even converted a Catholic priest into an Atheist, something i am very proud of. I am now what you may call a militant atheist, as i enjoy debating this topic, but i try to do so in a loving and respectful manner, the other side usually not so much, as im usually threatened with hell and the wrath of God.

What i have realized is that, religion is like a drug, and being addicted to that drug. When you are on it you feel amazing, but you dont think clearly. You live your life in denial constantly having to battle. Coming off of the addiction (withdrawl) is a terrible experience, as many former theists can probably understand, as reality starts to sink in, and you've realized what you have surrounded your life with. Then once you are clean and sober, it is a very joyful and awakening experience. You can let go off all the negative baggage, the guilt and shame, the ego, the condescending nature and the fantasy. You can then give your life purpose, and forge your own identity.

Atheism is amazing, everyone should give it a go.

I grew up in the midst of holy men and women and prophets who spoke the word of God.
But that's just me and I realize the vast majority of people do not have that sort of experience and loose faith because they really weren't given much to have faith in. The things I learned are what the truth movement of today is just getting a glimpse of, and that was fifty years ago. So it is hard, or it would be hard to turn my back on a thing that has proven itself over and over to be true.
I'm not trying to be snarky but I feel truly sad to hear these heartbreaking stories.
I lived in a town with no industry or actual economic base and would have been nothing except for the number of people who were attracted to it for a retirement place. I had the opportunity to be around these old timers who somehow found each other and there was a lot interesting discussion. They were tuned into something and were, I suppose, mystical in their own way. This little church in the country in a place that was a virtual nowhere with a phenomenon that I am left to think about, being a witness to it. They knew they would be gone when the things they spoke of would come about but they continued, and I suppose for the benefit of myself and a few others maybe.
Probably the main theme from what was at the forefront of the prophecy was the planned demise of Christianity by the agents of Satan. So here is the result, an institution run by people who don 't even believe in what they are preaching. From there it devolves into less and less meaningful messages until church become just another form of entertainment.
Satan wants us to be divided and to have us thinking we are isolated, wanting to be good but surrounded by evil. We should take opportunities while we can, to meet on the internet and tell each other, "We are many, who disregard what falsely represents itself as our authorities and we go out on our own but we are not alone."