(Via Ryk)
I wasn’t actually raised an atheist. Both of my parents technically professed a religion. Dad was Methodist, Mom was southern Baptist. However they never went to church or talked about God or the Bible. Religion was strictly a label and not a very frequently worn one.
I figured out early on that my friends believed in God. At first I didn’t really see it. I went to Sunday school with them sometimes and it was fun but it never occurred to me that anybody actually believed it. When I figured that out I though it was weird and silly. I soon learned to keep that opinion to myself.
I was about fourteen when I finally “came out” I was in a rebellious stage anyway, and I just stopped keeping quiet about it. At first I got a little flack about it. This was particularly funny coming from friends with pentacles on their jackets and Slayer tapes in their stereos. However it didn’t take long before people just accepted it.
No one really seemed to care. It has only been in the last few years that my atheism has been an issue with anyone. Lately people have started to ask questions, sometimes positively other times less so. Recently I have become a “Militant Anti-Theist” I blog about atheism, argue with Christians, belong to atheist groups. For the first time in my life I am seeing it as a part of my identity as well as just a lack of belief. I can’t say if it is good or bad, but I know I am not ashamed of being Godless I embrace it.
(Via Brother Richard)
I pretty much grew up a “heathen.” My Mother was raised Catholic so occasionally we would attend Midnight Mass at Christmastime, and my Father was raised Methodist, so we went to a few Easter Sunrise Services. Other than that, I only walked into churches for weddings, funerals, and every once in a while, one of my cousin’s First Communion.
I had an extreme “born again” religious conversion as a teenager. I had run away from home and was somewhat manically depressed. (although never diagnosed). On my return home, I found God—like many people do—watching religious television. Make no mistake; it was very much a “real” experience. I physically felt a change, and it saturated my entire life. I became one of those annoying Christians who passed out salvation tracks on the streets. I started going to a Charismatic (tongue speaking) church and immediately felt the call to prepare for ministry.
When I graduated High School, I enrolled in a Bible College that was run by a 12,000 member mega-church. While I attended school, I met just about every televangelist (Jim and Tammy Bakker, Oral and Richard Roberts, Pat Robertson, Robert Tilton, Jimmy Swaggart, etc.). Looking back, I think I was “Forrest Gump” of religion.
Not long after I graduated, I began doing God’s work. A couple years later, I found myself in a church surrounded in controversy. Several of the pastors were caught up in sexual scandals. There were lawsuits and news reports almost daily, and Sally Jessie Raphael, Inside Edition, and Larry King dedicated entire episodes to our predicament. I stuck by the ministers through the hard times and didn’t leave the church until I stumbled upon what I felt was money mismanagement. I could no longer condone this ministry by remaining in leadership. My wife, newborn daughter, and I, walked away and had to start a new life.
Over the next few years, I attended a handful of churches and continued to study the Bible. I slowly evolved into what I now know is a deist. I wouldn’t even consider—not believing—my personal experiences were very real, and I was scared to go to Hell. So I kept God in a little box at the back of my mind and went on with life.
About two years ago, I decided to rededicate myself to the study of the Bible and Theology. This time, however, I would do so without any preconceived beliefs or theological presuppositions. Surely, I thought, if God was real and the Bible was His Word, they both would stand up to reason, doubt, and logic.
It was not a pleasant experience. I was shocked to find out how many contradictions were in the Bible and how much it had changed over the centuries. I didn’t allow these revelations to change my mind about God, but, I did allow myself to let go of the idea that the Bible was inerrant.
Next I decided to study the Creationism vs. Evolution debate. I had always been a strong believer in evolution, and simply thought that we didn’t understand Scripture. I was amazed to discover that there really was no controversy; Creationism and Intelligent Design were not scientific theories at all. They were so bad they were not even wrong. The entirety of their argument was irreducible complexity, which says that some things are so complex that it is impossible they could have evolved. That’s it; end of discussion. Creationists spend the rest of their time focusing on unresolved evolutionary components and inserting God as the explanation.
The final nail in my “faith coffin” was the last Creationist book I read. The author after hundreds of pages, made one last desperate plea for believers not to be tempted by evolution. His argument went something like this:
“There are many Christians who wrongly accept evolution and are not aware that it is in direct conflict with the basic tenants of their faith. Christianity teaches us that all death and suffering entered the world when Adam sinned. If man evolved, then by definition, his predecessors lived and died. I ask you, if sin did not cause death and suffering, why do we need Jesus? The Bible is very clear, just as sin came into the world through one man, Adam; salvation came into the world by the second Adam, Jesus.”
The author’s words terrified me. He was right; I couldn’t have it both ways. With those words—which I’m sure he prayed over—knocked me into non-belief. It was like blinders had been removed from my eyes. Suddenly, I realized that it was just as easy to believe that the Universe (in some form) had always existed as it was to believe that God had always existed.
It wasn’t until I read Dawkin’s book “The God Delusion,” that I accepted the fact that I was an atheist. All the books that followed helped solidify my beliefs and gave me the courage to “come out of the religious closet.”
Being a former minister, I immediately realized a great lacking in the non-believing community. When we had our first daughter, young families from our church brought meals to us every night for two weeks. When a brother or sister in Christ needed help moving, we were there. If one of us ended up in the hospital, we visited them and gave support to their family. It was wonderful. I am convinced the church pews are full every Sunday with individuals that are there only because of the friendships and structure it gives their families.
Science teaches us that the need for rituals and inspiration are an important part of our evolution. However, when believers give up their religious superstitions, often they don’t have anything to put in its place. I don’t think this needs to be the case. Why can’t we find inspiration in music, art, literature, and the beauty of the Universe? Why shouldn’t we honor traditions and celebrate holidays without the irrational beliefs? Why can’t we teach our children morals with stories and parables (even from the Bible) without teaching absurdities? And most of all, why can’t we enjoy the benefits of community with like-minded individuals? As the old saying goes, “We don’t have to throw the baby out with the bath water.”
My wife and I feel that this is our new “calling.” If you live in the Atlanta area, help spread the word and let’s get active. If you live elsewhere, contact us and we can try to help you establish community in your area. If you already attend a similar group, tell us about it. We can all work together with common cause.
If you need an officiant for any traditional event and you want it religion free, I’m available. I have been ordained secularly and would love to help out. I am also available for speaking engagements and debates.
Finally, let me encourage you to come out of the atheist closet. Many of us have been blogging that being an atheist today is like being gay in the 80s. All joking aside, it is true. It is time for us to not be ashamed and to let our family and friends know the truth. We can’t let our society fall back into another Dark Ages. Spread the word. Contact your representatives. Write letters to newspapers and comment online. If you have a blog or web page, I ask that you provide a link to our site. We have provided various buttons on our site. I provide on my site and do the same for the others you enjoy.
Thanks for letting me ramble.
(Via Ungodly Cynic)
I grew up pretty much secular/agnostic, but essentially went with the flow growing up. Looking back, I remember reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in school (public) and now resent it. I never gave any thought to religion or spirituality until I started doing drugs (namely LSD) in college (Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale). I’ll add that I haven’t traveled down that road in quite a long time.
Religion was always a non-issue up until that point.
I’ve dabbled in mostly new age and pagan stuff; Wicca and Qabala for the most part. With all seriousness I was considering Qabala to be a system I could believe in, down to getting the robes, athame, and accessories. Then, I met my wife and all that dwindled away being replaced by agnosticism.
My in-laws are church-goers and I went to Christmas with them for a few years (Methodist). I didn’t care for it and knew it was a bunch of crap, my wife knew I felt that way, but I just didn’t care about church. It didn’t matter whether I went or not. I was just there.
Later, the in-laws decided they wanted to change their denomination to Episcopal (after some “goings-on” within the Methodist church there). My wife wasn’t happy. She wasn’t angry, she just didn’t like the change. Anyway, there was a little bit of friction regarding this “change”. Needless to say it all kinda ticked me off, I guess because of the whole situation in general, and I said, “To hell with all of it, no more.”
Since. I have only gone to church once, and that was a Christening, which I would not attend today. Note: I had not “come out” to anybody yet, but only in general conversations whereas I never said: “I’m an atheist. I don’t believe in God.”
A couple years down the road my father-in-law is over and we are partaking of some beers (I rather enjoy having a few beers with him and discussing politics and current events). Most of what I remember is just flat out telling him “I’m an atheist. I don’t believe…”, after getting into some debate about a secular issue. His answer was “I feel sorry for you.” My retort: “I feel sorry for you.” And I honestly do. That was the first time I ever came “out” and told somebody. Him and I are still on speaking terms and we still love to engage in political discussions. He’s pretty open-minded about that. Though he’ll never change his stance as a true-blue Blue Dog Democrat.
I might add that the whole religious issue arising within the political spectrum in the run-up to the 2000 presidential election really got me riled up. This prompted me to find out what these particular people stood for. And I found dirty truths that drove me further to disregard such jack-asses and…to tell the truth, this (religion and politics/separation of church and state), above all else drives me ideologically.
NOT whether a god exists or not, I could give a rat’s ass about that debate. I get so incensed reading blogs written by ex-Christians debating with Christians about the existence of god. What the hell is to be proven? Or disproven? One thing remains untouchable: faith. If one wants to believe in some fairy-tale, then so be it. One other thing remains untouchable: Don’t frickin’ shove it down my throat. Because I am free to believe what the hell I damn well please to believe.
Sorry, getting heated. Why am I getting heated? Because Christians (and I am lumping them altogether) do not see the cultural implications. They don’t see that the “foundation” of religion has influenced almost every aspect of society. That their inaction and complacency enables the problems that arise from putting trust into the hands of “faithful” politicians. I don’t know how to put it any other way. When our president starts speaking in code about a “crusade”, that should tell you something unless your brain-dead about history. When our dumb-ass president says “I looked into his eyes and saw a kindred spirit.” (speaking of Putin), the same man who said “I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn’t do my job.” Who does he think he is? The messiah? Seems some people do.
(Via Jamie G.)
I wasn’t raised in a religious home. My parents divorced when I was five and my dad, my little brother, and I, moved to OK in 1990. I can’t say that I ever thought about a god or religion, at least not until I started dating a girl who went to church. Since I really didn’t fit it socially to any group I had a lot of fun at church, and so I got saved at 14.
Looking back I think if I would have had better critical thinking skills I never would have bought into religion, in the same way my dad didn’t. Unfortunately, I didn’t have those skills, and I bought into all the fascinating claims about Christianity right off the bat.
Thinking that it all was real I couldn’t think of anything more important to pour my life into. From the beginning I was hardcore and lived the life. I also dived head first into reading my Bible, or reading only books that supported the Bible. My world view focused to the precision of a laser, I narrowly blocked out anything else.
The next year I told my dad that I believed God was calling me to be a pastor. It was one of the few times my dad voiced his extreme disappoint with me. He later came to accept it, but we never talked about religion.
For the next few years, especially during high school, there was no doubt that I was a ”Jesus Freak”. I occasionally did suffer a few questions after experiencing cognitive dissonance. There were some things I couldn’t wrap my head around, but that made me want to dig deeper.
I started in the United Methodist Church, but couldn’t get over the fact that they were about to condone homosexuality in the leadership. I moved to the Assemblies of God after getting ”baptized in the Holy Ghost” and started speaking in tongues.
I was there a few years until I felt that they weren’t doing everything that God had wanted them to be doing, so I moved to a non-denominational Word-of-Faith church that was starting up in my town. I got plugged into people like Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, John Hagee, Joyce Meyer, and Jesse Duplantis.
I was there a few years until the new pastor and me just couldn’t get a long. I thought he was a bully, so my wife and I went to another similar church 45 miles away.
It was during this time that I began to have some serious cognitive dissonance. It got to the point where I couldn’t stomach any sermons anymore, it all just sounded ridiculous. I loved the praise and worship (the music and the emotion), but everything else just got obnoxious.
I basically started thinking that the only ”real” Christianity had to be how Jesus and his disciples lived in the 1st century. They lived Jewish, so I started looking into Messianic Judaism. We dived into that for about two years until I started questioning the deity of Jesus and how the Jews of Jesus day, and even today, viewed him and what they were expecting in a messiah. I also started looking more into biblical criticism and early church history.
I ended up doubting that Jesus could even be the Messiah, and so I left Christianity and started considering Judaism. I still believed that there had to be a god, so I figured since I went back to the roots of Christianity I should keep going back, back to the roots of Judaism. I ruled out Orthodox Judaism, my wife wouldn’t go there, and thought about Reform Judaism, but it seemed too syncretistic so I didn’t go there. I also found out that Judaism had hidden polytheistic roots.
It was during December of 2006 that my whole worldview came crashing down. I don’t think I ever felt so hollow and numb in my life. I didn’t believe in any gods and was confused about my purpose in life. I wanted answers to some really tough questions about my existence. So I turned to the internet, and started reading about atheism, since I knew that was what I was now. This lead me to all kinds of different places and resources. I changed drastically not only religiously, but politically and socially as well.
I would have to say that I have a deep appreciation for science and reason. I consider myself not only an atheist, but a secular humanist, philosophical/metaphysical naturalist, objectivist, freethinker, Bright, scientific skeptic, and even a libertarian to a degree.
My wife, though no longer a Christian, takes an agnostic theist position….for now. She has told me that she thinks that I am so much a better husband now. That makes me glad. It has been difficult for our extended family, but so far it has been okay. I am glad we have made this change since we are expecting the birth of our first child next month.
The only challenge now, now that I have slowly settled into my new found position and am not so angry any more, is how much should I be active in atheism/secular humanism? I am looking for that balance, but I am interested in start going to the monthly AOK meetings, especially since there is so much that needs to change in Oklahoma.
I left out quite a few details, but I’ll keep it short. The longer version is on my blog. Thanks.