ENTP Logician
Advocate for Reason
Correction: Any religion with supernatural claims.
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Non-religious people: What convinced you to stop believing in God?
- Thread starter JeremK
- Start date
Correction: Any religion with supernatural claims.
The_Evelyonian
Old-School Member
I was raised generic Christian and after spending nearly a decade and half plagued by doubts I decided to set my parents and pastor's recommended answer of "just have faith" aside and take a serious look at why I believed what I believed. It wasn't a short process and there was never really an "Aha!" moment, but (to shorten down to the cliff notes version) after looking at the arguments both for and against the existence of God, I couldn't find any compelling reason to keep believing.
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Rational Agnostic
Well-Known Member
Title. Please answer the question and have a good day!
Well, I am agnostic, simply because I decided to stop pretending to be convinced of the existence of something whose existence I cannot actually verify. I suppose I have technically been agnostic my whole life but never admitted it to myself until relatively recently.
Naganami
Member
Title. Please answer the question and have a good day!
The truth is within yourself and your DNA. Delve (mediate) within yourself to find the Truth. Only your personal Truth counts, not anyone else's. In truth you are God and the Universe. But you will not understand this unless you delve within yourself. Meditation is the key to spiritual knowledge, spiritual power, immortality, ect.
How?
Let's assume for argument's sake that meditation leads to you feeling convinced of God (it never did for me, but regardless); why should we consider this feeling to be an accurate reflection of reality?
Sha'irullah
رسول الآلهة
Islam. That is literally it.
Araceli Cianna
Active Member
I started studying religious history, first biblical history, then religious history in general, and realised it was all mythology and none of it was real at all.
What initially turned me away from religion is religious people. I'm dyslexic and as a child was effectively written off as stupid by the Christians of the church i attended. I eventually got so sick of the abuse metered out and left the church as a disappointed believer. Age 14 my dyslexia was diagnosed, prismatic glasses prescribed and a new world of words and education exploded in my hungry mind. My faith went the way of the dodo at uni, first year elective i chose history, the professor was hot on the middle east. That's when i begun to realise I'd been lied to and much of the Bible was in fact, babble, mythology, a series of stories based on older religions which in turn derived from power hungry control freaks.
As confirmation i have been hurt (physically and emotionally) 3 additional times in my life, each time those causing the hurt were christian. So i researched why Christianity produces so many inhuman human beings, it turns out that when read as a book rather than selectively the bible itself is the sauce. Genocide, child murder, theft, slavery, rape, subjugation, intimidation, mysogeny are all taught as good religious virtues in the good god book.
As confirmation i have been hurt (physically and emotionally) 3 additional times in my life, each time those causing the hurt were christian. So i researched why Christianity produces so many inhuman human beings, it turns out that when read as a book rather than selectively the bible itself is the sauce. Genocide, child murder, theft, slavery, rape, subjugation, intimidation, mysogeny are all taught as good religious virtues in the good god book.
CogentPhilosopher
Philosophy Student
Title. Please answer the question and have a good day!
I was raised by a Baptist mother. Around when I was 14 about to be 15, I was appalled by many of the strange rules and claims that it made. I knew that it contradicted science and honestly felt that it contradicted basic morality.
My first assement was that there was something I was missing. So I started reading more of the Bible and when that just made the contradiction worse I started to see what other people thought of the Bible online. And me in my childish naivety figured that I could not have been fooled about the stuff in the Bible happening and that if anyone could fool me that it would be So whn I was around 15 I followed Luciferianism for a few months, keeping it to myself and a few friends. After that I spent some time there, I began to realize that modt people really only believed in the Bible becuase of how they where raised and figured it out that I was doing the same thing.
Around this time an art teacher that was into energy working, a kind of "magical" practice, said that I drained energy from around me and that I was an energy vampire. So I looked it up and found that it was pretty cool to me and a lot of the traits attributed to than where attributable to me so I believed it and was really into it.
So I went looking through the interwebs looking for a religion that would be a good expression of me. This was becuase I was still even more young than I am now, being around 15 or 16 at the time, and I felt a need for a sense of expression and identity. And during that stage of my life I found Wicca. A peaceful, ethical, and magical religion that embraced symmetry, karma, reincarnation, and lots of things I liked. So I was Wiccan all of the way through the rest of High School and I was open and productive about it, I even got a pentacle and wore it in school. Though I kept this from my mom. She did find out by accident one day and she was deeply disappointed though she was less so after over time I showed her that it was not satanic but nature venerating. And I was Wiccan in the beginnings of college but then I started to have my crisis of faith.
Due to my childish nature at the time and due to the way I was sometimes treated for being Wiccan, not to mention having a little bit of an echo chamber with my two Wiccan friends at the time, I had found my self not just disliking Christianity but disliking many Christians before I got to know them which was very wrong. Do due to that I would often look at Christian debunk videos on the YouTube, many of them where done by atheists.
These atheists started pointing out things like logical fallacies and using philosophical arguments which made me curious, so I started looking them up and slowly began to realize that my beliefs where based on what I wanted to be true rather than what was true. So for my first semester in college I was what could be described as bouncing between a Wiccan and an atheist who did Wiccan holidays and still believed in some of the magic stuff. Also even though I had learned that it was a four way chart of gnostic, agnostic, theist, and atheist. I still often told people I was just agnostic due to having a sense of shame in being an atheist due to my upbringing.
I still believes in magic, I spelled it "magick" back then, becuase I thought that it was causing real effects and that these other atheists had just not tried it. And I started looking at other idealogies and such and began to practice Chaos Magick for a while. Due to some Chaotes arguments I kind of wavered between pantheism and atheism for a while. But soon I began to realize that all of the "magic" I did could easily be explained through natural explanations and that since it did not reliably work it was more likely to be caused by natural things. Around this time I began to suspect the energy vampire thing as well for similar reasons.
Eventually after learning about the core of logical processes and the value of skepticism in my second semester of college. I finally cast of the shackles I had placed in my mind and have been striving to thing about the world in a logical manner ever since. I became very interested in philosophy and I now plan to transfer to a university after I complete my basics and major in it. I currently have completed Intro to Philosophy, Ethics, World Religions, and Humanities.
I currently consider myself a freethinker, skeptic, humanist, transhumanist, and a agnostic atheist.
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Welcome to RF.
Ayjaydee
Active Member
Cheers
Brookhousek
Member
I have pretty much never believed in a god. I was sent to Sunday school as a child and carried a little bit of fear of thunderbolts through my teenage years for not believing. However, even then I didn’t have sufficient evidence to justify belief.Title. Please answer the question and have a good day!
In later life I have studied more about religious arguments and historicity of religions and this has made religions seem even more superfluous.
Pattylt
New Member
I grew up in Orthodox Judaism and in my late teens came to the horrible discovery that I just didn’t believe in God. I spent the next four years trying to believe again, having long discussions with my rabbi, parents and friends. I went through a phase of thinking it was just the wrong religion and explored Christianity. I found out that many Christian groups love to convert Jews! I felt vey used by them but also discover that the Jesus story not only didn’t make sense but, as a Jew, the idea that a man could become God just felt impossible.
I’m 68 yo. Back then with no internet, I thought I was the only non believer...I didn’t even know there was a name for it! I still held a fascination for religion and why I couldn’t believe and others did with such certainty. Then, BBS happened...and the internet...and I discovered a wealth of information and realization that I wasn’t alone. I also realized that I don’t believe there is a supernatural layer on our reality. I don’t believe in God because I don’t believe the supernatural exists.
ive always claimed that a personal experience of the divine would change my mind. If there’s a God, He knows where I live and the balls in His court. Here I am 45ish years later and nothing. I don’t dislike religion, however. Many atheists do but I actually have wonderful memories and respect religious views...for thee, but not for me. I know some brilliant believers, I’m just not one of them. One nice thing is jews aren’t as bothered as Christians are about non belief. When I walked away, I left all of it behind. I refused to be a hypocrite and still practice the culture and not the faith. I’m pretty happy with my choices and I still think I’m correct...there is no supernatural and there is no God.
I’m 68 yo. Back then with no internet, I thought I was the only non believer...I didn’t even know there was a name for it! I still held a fascination for religion and why I couldn’t believe and others did with such certainty. Then, BBS happened...and the internet...and I discovered a wealth of information and realization that I wasn’t alone. I also realized that I don’t believe there is a supernatural layer on our reality. I don’t believe in God because I don’t believe the supernatural exists.
ive always claimed that a personal experience of the divine would change my mind. If there’s a God, He knows where I live and the balls in His court. Here I am 45ish years later and nothing. I don’t dislike religion, however. Many atheists do but I actually have wonderful memories and respect religious views...for thee, but not for me. I know some brilliant believers, I’m just not one of them. One nice thing is jews aren’t as bothered as Christians are about non belief. When I walked away, I left all of it behind. I refused to be a hypocrite and still practice the culture and not the faith. I’m pretty happy with my choices and I still think I’m correct...there is no supernatural and there is no God.
WalterTrull
Godfella
SBNR here. Sort of. Labels never seem apt. It is evident to me that I am not the center of thought. Dogma is sometimes a useful crutch. The psyche heals, slowly.
Yerda
Veteran Member
Genesis is totally bonkers. Probably be my favourite book of the bible if you were to cut out the stretches of "and x begat y and had a hundred-and-twenty-seven bairns and lived to a squillion years old" (paraphrasing loosely but you know the bits I mean).
People_Lack_Integrity
Member
For me, it started with some confusion as to why all the stuff I was taught in church, was inaccurate, such as that prayer works. I prayed for my grandfather to be healed from cancer..didn't happen. Prayed for my sick cat to get better, she didn't. Stuff like that. I was always told, "prayer works", so when it didn't...pretty much ever and especially when it mattered the most, the answers given by family and church members went from "It works" to "well, sometimes the answer is no" or "god works in mysterious ways" or "god has a plan". So, it made me have doubts as I saw this as an excuse and contradictory to what they taught me prior. A church member challenged me to read the bible and that I would find all my answers there. I took up the challenge and right from Genesis, I started finding problems. I wasn't looking to pick apart the bible, or be skeptical, but literally the first thing that made me do a double take was Cain's wife appearing out of nowhere. I went back and thought I missed something...but nope, just no explanation as to where she came from. Then that kind of peaked my interest more and I started writing notes every time I found there was something weird, or out of place, or immoral. Next thing I know, I have 8 pages of notes (and I wrote very small at the time) and I was only through Exodus. I took the notes to my pastor and he was very dismissive of the problems and recommended some books. It was taking too long writing notes and reading, so I just committed to reading the rest of the bible. By the end, I was now convinced that christianity was not true, was clearly man-made, but decided to continue my studies looking into the historicity of Jesus, the bible itself and religions in general. After years of study and research, including minoring in science in college for my undergrad, I determined that there was simply no good reason to believe in any god, let alone a specific one.
Ashoka
श्री कृष्णा शरणं मम
It was gradual. Basically, I began studying. Our universe is so vast and infinite. We humans hold such a high opinion of ourselves, as if we are somehow the crown jewel of creation. But the truth is, we are just a blip. If there is a God, an anthropomorphic deity, why would he/she/they be concerned about the goings on of a minor planet? And why would this God reveal so many different religions that contradict each other?
Furthermore, how can an omnibenevolent God exist, who is all powerful, all knowing and all seeing, and allow such suffering in this world? Epicurus said it best:
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
I've begun to study nontheistic ways of looking at the world, and for the first time in a while...I feel at home. I believe that God, what we call God, is consciousness. It's life. It's existence. It's not some person in the sky. It's the whole universe, expressing itself as human for right now. My religion, my spirituality, is to know myself and to love others, without the threat of hell or promise of heaven. I am thankful for the life I have now.
Furthermore, how can an omnibenevolent God exist, who is all powerful, all knowing and all seeing, and allow such suffering in this world? Epicurus said it best:
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
I've begun to study nontheistic ways of looking at the world, and for the first time in a while...I feel at home. I believe that God, what we call God, is consciousness. It's life. It's existence. It's not some person in the sky. It's the whole universe, expressing itself as human for right now. My religion, my spirituality, is to know myself and to love others, without the threat of hell or promise of heaven. I am thankful for the life I have now.