who was it came in here and asked atheists what happened to us in our childhoods

[tiddlywinks]

that made us lose gawd. I have looked for pages and pages for that post but couldn't find it.
I occured to me that i just wanted to ask her what part of the BS from religion is it convenient for her to believe.
ah well mebbe it will surface

[lizerdbits]

1. I can't lose something that I never had

So being an atheist is due to something bad happening in childhood? Sad.

[Heddi]

2. I'll tell ya what the hell happened to me

I used to go to Methodist church/sunday school with my great grandmother when I was young. It was never required, just something to do on the weekend. The youth group was fun, and they gave us Pizza. And the pot lucks after church were SUPER. mmm....

Anyway, the first thing was that I was in sunday school, maybe about 9 or so, and we were doing BIBLE TRIVA!!!

One of the questions was "in which book of the bible are dinosaurs mentioned?"

I thought, and raised my hand, and said "Exodus". We had studied genesis pretty much and I knew they weren't in there. I thought it was a trick question.

Anyways, the teacher says "No, actually, dinosaurs AREN'T mentioned in the bible. That means they didn't exist"

I immediately said "But TV's aren't mentioned in the bible either, and they exist"

silence.

That was the first time I ever had pause to question, and I did from that point onwards.

Sooooo horrendous. :eyes:

I kept going to church until I was about 12 or 13, but got so disgusted with the whole thing, the lies, the inconsistencies, the inability to provide food for the poor in our community but the ability to go to the Philipines and build massive churches there bothered me. The way they treated my great-grandmother when she was gravely ill and unable to make her tithing, which she did religiously, even though she lived on only $300 a month SSI. WHen her medical bills and prescription costs were too much, she cut out the tithing out of necessity. That's when the friendly visits from the pastor stopped happening, and she began to be excluded from the Lady's Outings, etc.

That's when I stopped going. They told us about how we're to watch out for the "least of us" yet when the least of us was related to me, I found that there weren't many people in that church watching out for her at all.

[amyrose2712]

3. Yep, the hypocrisies and contradictions did it for me too...

along with the silence and stares I got when asking questions.(not so much in church, but to believers) However, my experience with religion is a different one than most. I was never indoctrinated as a child. My mother always told me she believed in god and the evidence was in nature. She also was open to many ideas(reincarnation, karma,etc..) and always bought me science books. Books that ask Why? And How? When I was 13, I had myself baptized and confirmed in the episcopal church. It was the religion my mother was raised in. But, within a few years I began questioning and the hypocrisies became apparent. To this day, I still question everything and believe nothing. What a terrible thing to have happen to me, critical thinking!

[Heddi]

4. my upbringing was the same

My family is pretty non-religious. When I was younger, I'd spend weekends with my great-grandmother. She started going to the methodist church down the street when I was maybe 7 or 8 or so, just for something to do. I was never forced to, and she was not a holy-roller type. Outside of church, religion was never discussed, really, except that I was always encouraged to "do what you want to do, believe what you want to believe". Several times my mom & great-grandmother reminded me that I was never under any obligation to go to church if I didn't want to, and when I didn't want to, I didn't, and when I did, I did.

My mother is quite metaphysical herself but doesn't prescribe to any one set of ideas. She's kind of out there with her beliefs, which I guess is okay, she can just be a bit wacky sometimes with the whole UFO abduction, humans are a virus from aliens kick she gets on once every few years.

Although now that I think about it, my aunt is (was...she's dead now) Jehovah's Witness, and she lived a couple of states away...but she visited often but never preached to us. I got the golden yellow Children's bible book when I was younger, and I liked looking at the pictures, and knew the "big" bible stories...ark, jesus, etc. , but it's not like we ever said grace at home, or talked about the birth of jesus at Christmas.

[Joe the Liberal]

9. Interesting......

Speaking of Jehovah's Witnesses, my mom was/is a Jehovah's witness. She used to go to the Kingdom Hall (which is their version of Church I suppose) every Sunday. She would always bring me and my brothers there, I did not like going because it seemed to take forever. As a child 2 hours was a long time for me, and I really did not care for it. My mom got me all kinds of books including the little yellow book with pictures you mentioned. On top of all that we had a bible study twice every week. I used to actually believe in all of it, but I was still a kid so I really didn't question anything they preached I just accepted it and took their word for it.

Eventually as I grew older I started to question everything about religion and soon enough just became an atheist. The lies, the exaggerations, the false hopes, the hypocrisy, and just facing reality did it for me. My mom is still a Jehovah's Witness but she does not attend the Kingdom hall like she used to. My brothers don't go either but I don't know if they still believe in it all, come to think of it we never talk about religion at all anymore. That's how I became and atheist.

[hyphenate]

17. ....

>>>>>My mother always told me she believed in god and the evidence was in nature. She also was open to many ideas(reincarnation, karma,etc..) and always bought me science books. Books that ask Why? And How? <<<<<

Sounds like your mom was more spiritual than religious, which is a good thing. I always think that people who find their strength within themselves, and who prefer to look outside the organized religions are the real winners in this world. And that kind of goes for anyone willing to question the stories, the books, the dogma. I came to agnosticism deliberately and to atheism gradually, because I saw people were left too often questioning what the churches were teaching. I found my way across a landscape littered with the efforts of too many people who didn't have anywhere to turn when they uttered comments against their church's "carved in stone" dogma. Religion needs to evolve, and to take on a progressive tone--otherwise, it will become irrelevant, just as so many are trying to find a place for it in their lives today, and it can't always be factored in.

[cynatnite]

5. Well, it could be that being told I'd go to hell and burn for an eternity...

might have something to do with it.

I always had doubts that I struggled with throughout most of my childhood. My mother told me once that if a gun was put to my head and she was told to forsake gawd, that she'd let me die. If that doesn't put a kid's self-esteem down the toilet I don't know what will.

Eventually, I just said enough is enough. There is no god. That's the only peace I've ever had when it comes to religion.

[frogmarch]

6. My dad read my sisters and me

children's bible stories every night at bedtime, and he always let us - actually, encouraged us - to ask questions, or express doubts, if we thought something in a story didn't make sense. He told us to never be afraid to question things, and to always seek the truth. My step mom was a staunch Presbyterian, but as I look back, I think my dad (he died when I was 14) was either an atheist or an agnostic.

Me:

[Synnical]

7. Who hasn't?

-Cindy in Fort Lauderdale

[JI7]

8. i don't think i ever believed in God

[Union Yes]

10. Education happened. And I cast down the myth of religion.

I have been free ever since.

Peace

[Deep13]

15. Me too. Once I knew evolution was real...

...no Biblical explanation was beyond suspicion for me.

[moggie]

11. My cat died

Up until that point, I suppose I was an apatheist. I don't recall ever really believing, but it wasn't a question of great interest to me, and I hadn't given it a lot of thought. Then our beloved cat died, and I found myself praying for her to be happy, a very unfamiliar experience. I'd never heard of Pascal's Wager (I was still a kid), but I was consciously using it: and realising, as I did, what bullshit this wager is. I set aside my apatheism and started thinking: about the lack of evidence, about the inconsistencies, about the hatefulness of much of the bible, about how so many people who claimed to believe behaved as if they didn't. I thought: ok, I don't know 100%, but this bullshit seems highly unlikely, and I'll call myself an atheist until evidence to the contrary comes along. 36 years have passed, and I haven't seen that evidence yet.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

12. What a fucked up question and condescending too -

I am so happy I missed that lesson is bullshit.

How's this.... "What happened to you as a kid that made you so convinced that some big blue guy in the sky molded some dirt into a person and that snakes talked to people?"

It just gets dumber and dumber.

sigh

[Auggie]

13. What happened to us in our childhood?

We had adults who encouraged us to question and learn, and empowered us to create our own happiness. That's what happened.

[Deep13]

14. My wife was raised without religion.

She didn't lose gawd because she never thought she had him.

For my own self it was caused by by Catholic asshole stepfather letting me watch Cosmos without considering its implications. Rationality is like a ratchet. Once one learns how to be a critical thinker, there is no going back to unquestioning faith.

[amyrose2712]

16. Unlearning is nearly impossible nt

[deepthought42]

18. Paid too much attention in science class I guess...

and I used my brain (sometimes ;) ). Woe is me.... :sarcasm:

[immoderate]

19. I was always encouraged to question.

My mother professed a belief in god. My father would only say, "nobody knows!" (Yes, he said it with that exclamation point.)

I've told this story before, but I remember well a meeting of our group of seven year olds, by our rendezvous spot, the "comfortable tree," where we held a conference deciding on what was real in the world and what was not. We decided that god was make believe.

Family pressure forced me to endure religious training until I was Bar Mitzvah. I complained all the way, professing my unbelief, but the rabbi said that didn't matter. "You think I believe all this?" he said. I had to promise to continue my religious education until confirmation, age 16. But I had no problem walking out on that as I wouldn't honor a promise that was coerced.

I've never thought that god was real, any more than I thought Mighty Mouse was real.

--imm

[Deep13]

20. What happened in your childhood that made you accept the impossible?

You were told you'd burn forever if you didn't? That explains it.

[FiveGoodMen]

21. "You were told you'd burn forever"

Child abuse if ever there was.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

22. Yep.

Emotional and mental abuse for sure.

And I keep stirring up shit when I talk about this in the religion fora.

They can't believe that I hit on the truth. Telling people they are going to hell, that they are worthless and sinful without Jeebus, is abusive as hell.

Wonder if these good churchgoers have ever met anyone who was tormented and suicidal because they made the mistake of taking that original sin BS seriously????

[ozone_man]

23. I became 12?

I think I stopped believing in Santa and the tooth fairy at 6, and God at 12. I think it's developing critical reasoning, which is (should be) a normal part of growing up.