Religious hangups

[Soandso]

This is a question for atheists here that come from a religious background. Do you have any religious hangups from the past that you still fall back on from time to time? Fears of hell or the supernatural? Behavioral patterns you still feel yourself fall back on or drawn to?

It took a long time for me to shed the indoctrination I grew up with, but I do feel I've successfully pulled out the worst of it. I still catch myself from time to time falling back into old thought patterns, especially in terms of what I should or shouldn't be doing in accordance to what I think is morally right - this especially happens with things I havent stopped to think about too deeply why I feel the way I do on a given subject

For example, I used to be very anti-assisted suicide without realising wholly why, but after thinking about it more deeply, I've been able to change my thoughts on that

What about you? Do you have any hangups you notice from time to time due to your religious past?

 

[Mock Turtle]

This is a question for atheists here that come from a religious background. Do you have any religious hangups from the past that you still fall back on from time to time? Fears of hell or the supernatural? Behavioral patterns you still feel yourself fall back on or drawn to?

It took a long time for me to shed the indoctrination I grew up with, but I do feel I've successfully pulled out the worst of it. I still catch myself from time to time falling back into old thought patterns, especially in terms of what I should or shouldn't be doing in accordance to what I think is morally right - this especially happens with things I havent stopped to think about too deeply why I feel the way I do on a given subject

For example, I used to be very anti-assisted suicide without realising wholly why, but after thinking about it more deeply, I've been able to change my thoughts on that

What about you? Do you have any hangups you notice from time to time due to your religious past?

I think my religious past effectively stopped at the end of primary school, when I discovered there were so many different religious beliefs (hence suspicions), and where whatever was taught in RE during secondary school (Protestant Christianity) didn't make much of an impression on me. I obviously still went to church on various suitable occasions (formal affairs with the Scouts perhaps or a wedding/death) but apart from the grandeur and assumed air of authority these didn't affect me that much. Such that any effects from my early childhood just began to be discarded as I grew older. It was probably in my late teens that I could say that I had been free of religion completely.

I suppose the only areas where religious thoughts might have encroached later would have been in the various somewhat dangerous activities that I did in my twenties and thirties (mostly rock-climbing and mountaineering), but even here I can't recall ever having any doubts or doing any clandestine praying. As for many no doubt, I think the 'atheist praying in the trenches' is mostly fiction or perhaps because these didn't have fully worked out reasoning as to why they were atheists in the first place. But we are all human and often have doubts in all sorts of areas, so it is understandable that we might have doubts at times over a very fundamental issue.

But as mentioned elsewhere, I didn't have much religion in the home, and this is probably why I found it easier to abandon any beliefs that just didn't make any sense to me as I grew older.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

This is a question for atheists here that come from a religious background. Do you have any religious hangups from the past that you still fall back on from time to time? Fears of hell or the supernatural? Behavioral patterns you still feel yourself fall back on or drawn to?

It took a long time for me to shed the indoctrination I grew up with, but I do feel I've successfully pulled out the worst of it. I still catch myself from time to time falling back into old thought patterns, especially in terms of what I should or shouldn't be doing in accordance to what I think is morally right - this especially happens with things I havent stopped to think about too deeply why I feel the way I do on a given subject

For example, I used to be very anti-assisted suicide without realising wholly why, but after thinking about it more deeply, I've been able to change my thoughts on that

What about you? Do you have any hangups you notice from time to time due to your religious past?

My Mom's side of the family were Baptists and Quakers. My Dad's side of the family were Methodist Orangemen from Belfast.

Probably the only religious hangup I can think of is an occasional feeling that I'm letting my ancestors down. On my Mom's side, for homebrewing and for enjoying a glass of whisky from time to time, and on my Dad's side, for having gotten married to a Catholic in a Catholic Church.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

My Mom's side of the family were Baptists and Quakers. My Dad's side of the family were Methodist Orangemen from Belfast.

Probably the only religious hangup I can think of is an occasional feeling that I'm letting my ancestors down. On my Mom's side, for homebrewing and for enjoying a glass of whisky from time to time, and on my Dad's side, for having gotten married to a Catholic in a Catholic Church.

Quakers and Orangemen sound like a somewhat unique mix?!

 

[Aupmanyav]

This is a question for atheists here that come from a religious background. Do you have any religious hangups from the past that you still fall back on from time to time? Fears of hell or the supernatural? Behavioral patterns you still feel yourself fall back on or drawn to?

I am a strong atheist, but still a Hindu. My religion has space for atheists too. I have no hangups except the concept of 'dharma' (duties), but that is a social requirement and does not have much to do with religion. 'Honor the elders', 'Be loyal to your spouse'. No God is necessary for these recommendation or others like it. However, I do not slight the feelings of my fellow Hindu theists.
Fear of hell, damnation, supernatural; desire for life after death; wishing for a God when I have problems - absolutely not.

 

[ChristineM]

From leaving the church to atheism took aa couple of years. I didn't miss much in that time, much of which i spent reading my bible.

Reading with open eyes and not skipping over the nasty bits confirmed for me what i thought wrong with religion, or since coming to RF i realise it was the CofE Anglican religion and probably Christianity in general

I can't say i have any hangups, but i am glad to be out of it ;-)

 

[Orbit]

From frequenting a message board specifically for Ex-Christians, I can say that fear of hell was a frequent concern for leavers.

 

[Soandso]

I am a strong atheist, but still a Hindu. My religion has space for atheists too. I have no hangups except the concept of 'dharma' (duties), but that is a social requirement and does not have much to do with religion. 'Honor the elders', 'Be loyal to your spouse'. No God is necessary for these recommendation or others like it. However, I do not slight the feelings of my fellow Hindu theists.
Fear of hell, damnation, supernatural; desire for life after death; wishing for a God when I have problems - absolutely not.

I like how you say "reccomendations" rather than "commandments." Is this how Hindus regard religious morality more or less, or is this just the way you regard it personally?

 

[Aupmanyav]

From frequenting a message board specifically for Ex-Christians, I can say that fear of hell was a frequent concern for leavers.

For me, it was abandoning the worship of Gods and Goddesses which I considered correct (though did not indulge much in it).
My ego asked: "Is what I believed for so many years so absolutely wrong?"
I could not escape the answer: "Yes, it is wrong. There is not even a shred of evidence."
From that time on, everything was OK.