How did come to be a believer or non-believer?

[hrmjustin]

I am curious how people here have come to believe what they do.

My non-practicing Catholic parents sent the three of us to Catholic School for a good education and to instruct us in the faith. My sister and brother were just not into religion at all and I did not get into until high school. At the same time I came out about my being gay. I decided at 18 to join the Episcopal Church because they were inclusive and welcoming. I have been at the same parish since I was 18.

But what makes me believe in Christianity I would have to say in high school I walked by my church and decided to go to mass and I felt a calling that I should be here. I felt the Holy Spirit calling to my heart. I have since then decided to answer as best as I can. It is very hard to explain. It certainly is not logical yet I still believe it. Like all I have had moments of doubt and despair, yet I have always come back to where my heart is, my church.

I am curious how you have come to believe what you do. Thoughts?

[CBGLuthier]

1. My parents mostly sent us to church to get us out of the house as they never attended

when I was a child. Saw my grandmother speaking in tongues when I was five but never much for the Holy Rollers. Usually Baptist or Nazarene when I noticed an emphasis on the Christ person to the exclusion of this god creature which I thought odd and by the time I was 18 lost my faith but only on faith. In the ensuing 30 years have seen enough science to convince me there is no real need for magic.

Reality is awesome (the real meaning of the word) enough as it is.

[rrneck]

2. I'm still a believer.

Now I just believe in things that work. Most religions create more problems than they solve.

[edhopper]

3. I used my mind

with reason and logic. Carefully reading many sources to understand there is no God.
I realized that feelings and senses could be interpreted many ways and they were no path to any particular truth.
I also came to understand the way religions have learned to manipulate the human mind and emotions to get believers to accept their ideas.

You might think about all those people who have have the same or stronger experiences that you had that have lead them to believe in things diametrically opposed or inconsolably different than your beliefs.

[dimbear]

4. I hadn't really made a concrete decision before middle school. At that time our family went to live

amongst the Mormons in Salt Lake City. That opened my eyes as to how religions work. Being around one which is going great guns and IMHO a scam settled me for good. Haven't run across any compelling reason to reconsider.

[mike_c]

5. as far as I can remember, I have never believed the christian nonsense my family pushed....

Conservative, evangelical christians. My parents once did some sort of prison ministry. I remember when they decided to quit the Southern Baptist Church because it was "too liberal," presumably in a theological sense. They were attracted to bible pounders and brimstone promises. Theirs was an angry white god.

I don't ever recall believing it, not ever. My earliest memories of religion are forced church attendance and Sunday school indoctination. During my "troubled youth" stage I was carted around to "counselors" and "therapists" that I later recognized as pastors and church youth outreach sorts at different churches-- the sessions were invariably in church offices or basements.

One of the first expressions of personal determination that my parents allowed me was non-attendance at church-- by my teenaged years it was probably more work forcing me to attend and dealing with my angry behavior than it was worth to them, so they stopped insisting. But I never believed any of it. Ever.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Not sure - I just sort of drifted into agnosticism.

I was raised in a liberal Christian church (UCC), regularly sang in church choirs for years, but religion just never stuck. I don't hate it; I just don't get it. Religion has caused people to do horrible things and wonderful things: Some of the greatest art, music and architecture was inspired by religious faith - as were some of the worst wars and acts of oppression and persecution. So I guess I came to view religion as a human creation, something that is only as bad or as good as the people who are part of it. It doesn't make good people good or bad people bad. Good people will be good regardless of their religion, but religion can provide a structure for doing good. Bad people will not be prevented from being bad by religion; unfortunately, religion sometimes provides a justification for bad deeds, even if the justification comes from a warped view of doctrine.

I can go to a church service and find it beautiful and uplifting but I still can't find a "god" in it. I can understand why people would find comfort in religion; after all, why wouldn't one want to believe that after you die you will be reunited with your loved ones in a condition of eternal joy? But I've never been able to make that leap of faith. I think Jesus, whoever he was, advocated a philosophy of compassion and selflessness that many people who claim to be Christian would do well to take seriously. But if I don't really believe in "god" I can't believe he was the son of "god," any more than anyone else is.

But I call myself an agnostic rather than an atheist because I have no absolute proof that there is no supreme being. I just don't think there is. But I could be wrong. Maybe there is something - the Force, if you will - that is so far beyond human understanding that we can't get our heads around it, so in order to try to understand the universe we humans invented a god in the image of humans. If there is a god I doubt it's anything like that. Or maybe there's nothing at all. Or maybe we are all ants in an alien child's ant farm. I don't know, but I'm OK with not knowing. And I think Richard Dawkins is an arrogant ass.

[DesertFlower]

7. my mom was catholic -- my dad was agnostic.

i went to catholic school and so did my younger sisters. i gave up my faith in my early 20s -- so did my sisters.

i'm spiritual and consider myself a neo-pagan. don't believe in god.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. raised by agnostic/atheist parents who encouraged me to think for myself.

so I did, and it was clear that the iron age christian mythology was about as real as the bronze age greco-roman mythology it replaced, that we emerged from 1000 years of intellectual stagnation as a civilization around 500 years ago, and that in doing so we reconnected with the incredibly rich philosophical traditions of the stoics and epicureans and others that rejected irrationalism and religiousity, that embraced skepticism and humanism, and that the enlightenment, the renaissance, is still very much a work in progress with no guarantee of success, and that we all need to choose sides.

[northoftheborder]

9. Raised in fundamentalist church, attended regularly through early adulthood.

Along the way, I lost belief in much of the exclusivity and narrowness of what I was taught there, but have found other churches which are much more liberal in their interpretations, not legalistic at all. So, I still am a Christian and have belief in the Creator; however I doubt the efficacy of prayer used as supplication; believe in meditation and a personal spiritual connection with something some people call the holy spirit. I believe in the rational, humanistic, scientific worldview also, not antagonistic to religion, but existing along with it.

I accept that wherever goodness is found, God is there, no matter the name of the "religion". If I had been raised as a Buddist, or Muslim, I would have accepted that brand of belief; I do not hold my Christianity as the only belief system, it is just what is part of my culture. I do not evangelize anyone, and my beliefs are private. i answered this question because someone asked it in an honest inquiry of those who read and post in this place.

[Promethean]

10. History Class

All the things taught in history class made me doubt. First learning about how the protestant movement came about made wonder. Then I learned about the atrocities and how they have the backing of the major powers at the time. Then the king who started his own church. And so on and so on. Every atrocity and cruelty inflicted in the name of god made me think "why does God allow this to happen? hes struck down people for worse according to the bible". Doubts firmly in place the rise of the internet brought easy information and the rest just fell into place.

[Gore1FL]

11. I went from born again to atheist in about 15 years.

I was a member of one of the chapters of The National Lutheran Fraternity. One night there was a presentation, and we were invited to accept Christ as our personal savior. I did so. I took it pretty far at times. I carried that faith with me at some level until 1999. Everything hit the fan and instead of turning to God like I always had, I took the anti-Job approach and rejected God. I didn't turn into and atheist at that point--that came later. This was more like a (then 33-year-old) kid throwing a temper tantrum. I tried to come back, but it never really took. I still went to the trough from time-to-time over my son, and then at the death of my mother. It never felt right, though. What I discovered is that when it came to re-accepting the faith, I found that I truly questioned it. I had taken some things for granted from my childhood, re-enforced them over the years, and never really had an occasion to question.

Then I saw this:

I found the science "creation story" (at about 10:50) to be far more beautiful and powerful than the one in Genesis.

And this:

It really struck a chord with me.

And finally this:

It gave a plausible argument for a "Universe from Nothing."


At that point I made a discovery about myself. It seems there were a couple of reasons I could never find the answers that I sought. 1> I wasn't asking the right questions. 2> I was relying on revelation rather than discovery.

I can't say I found the key to happiness, but I'm comfortable now in a way that I never really was before. I don't know if I actually fear death so much as I fear not knowing what happens next.

[Meshuga]

12. I've been brought up in a religious setting

But never taught to believe in anything specific. I was told that we do the things we do (including blessings and rites) because it was a thing of the folk.

That is why I had no issues with my son going to Jewish schools because (at least in the reform and conservative shuls) the kids are taught to embrace their heritage as opposed to a doctrine.

My 10 year old is a kid who embraces his heritage and he would likely be considered an atheist when it comes to conventional belief. And, as a Jewish parent, I am happy that is the case so far.

[Apophis]

13. I used my mind.

I saw the inconsistencies in the Bible and how much it sounded like bs. I then majored in the sciences in college and saw that science explains everything better because of evidence.