A question if you want to answer. What caused you to deconstruct from your religion.

[Duncanpup]

My reasons several yet not all . One reason over the years reading the books that were kept from the Bible by the early church.

If Jesus was real then he was teaching us that the divinity is within us not an organized religion.

And in my thoughts if you were to bring Christ into a modern church service at any moment through the last two thousand years.

I’m thinking Jesus would ask what is this place you call church you really missed my message you all must lead not follow.
Another reason is growing up among the evangelical community.
And today we’ve seen branches of this sect exchange the cross for power.
And in this observation of mine and i could be wrong and if offended tell me to piss off Dunc in this old man dyslexic bad punctuation ramble.
In that we as a country and our predominant religion from youth we were taught to worship a single God do not ask questions total obedience.
A lot of these evangelicals are just fine with being ruled by a king here in this country because they were groomed to think this way by their religion.

I often ask myself today do i have faith and if i do is it rooted in spirituality or in science.

And there is a part of me that still strongly wants to believe in spirituality.
Yet I’ve never seen actual evidence of a higher power so my questioning or search for answers continues in my head.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. 1984. I was sitting with my family in synagogue on Yom Kippur,

the Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Jewish Calendar.

And I was mindlessly intoning the words from the prayer book, at least the English stuff.

And I had an epiphany: There is no God/god and nobody's listening to me. And I wasn't sorry for anything. I had spent the year apologizing and making amends for my "transgressions" and "sins" and I didn't need to do it now. And I was hungry. Why was I fasting?

And I got up and walked away from Judaism. And I became a Humanist, later a freethinker and ethical culturalist.

[Haggard Celine]

2. I was raised Southern Baptist, which is enough in itself.

They stress reading and learning the Bible, which is just fine, but they believe the Bible is without errors, which I thought early on was a bunch of bullshit. Most of them don't even know what the Bible means when they read it. They think it's all literally true. You don't hear the words "allegory" or "symbolism" from them very much. But I think what really topped it all off was being gay and listening to homophobic sermons. I said back then that when I grew up I would leave that hateful religion and never look back. That's one promise to myself that I have kept.

[ShazzieB]

75. I was raised Southern Baptist, too!

Was fine with it as a kid, but pulled away during my later teen years. There was a heavy emphasis on making sure you were "saved" and going to the right place when you died, and part of that was the idea that anyone who hadn't heard about the "plan of salvation" was automatically going to hell, so we all had a responsibility to "witness" to as many people as possible and try to "lead them to the lord." (All words in quotes were Baptist buzzwords that had very specific and significant meanings.)

As a socially awkward, introverted, teen girl, there was no way I was going to run around trying to convince people to change their beliefs, but I felt guilty about it because I was the kind of kid whose natural inclination was to do what I was told and if I couldn't, I saw it as a personal failing.

Add to that the messages I was being given about how the music I loved (the Beatles in particular) was the "devil's music" and listening to it was "sinful," and you have a perfect recipe for my becoming alienated from the kind of religion I grew up with. I eventually stopped attending church, which my mother didn't like but eventually learned to live with.

I did not become an atheist, however. The existence of God always has been and still is something that's too real to me to deny. Religion, including the idea that there was a creator who loved me, had sustained me throughout a difficult childhood, and I had no desire to ditch the whole thing just because I didn't like some of the trappings that a certain type of religion came with.

For the next few years, I looked for something I could commit to without having to give lip service to things I didn't really agree with. I still felt like a Christian in a lot of ways, but I was done with the biblical literalness I'd been raised with, as well as the idea that everything we'll ever need to know, the answers to every possible question about life were to be found in the Bible, and nowhere else. I stopped believing that in high school, after reading about how Martin Luther King -- an actual Baptist preacher! -- took a lot of his ideas about nonviolent resistance from Mahatma Gandhi. (He drew on some of the teachings of Jesus as well, but it was from Gandhi that he learned how to put nonviolence into practice as a catalyst for change.) That was an eye opener for little ex-Baptist me, that there were many sources of wisdom in the world to draw upon, not JUST the Bible.

My search for another way to connect with God stayed with me into my early 20s, when I learned about the Baha'i Faith and fell in love with its message about working for world unity and the idea that "the earth is but one country and mankind its citizens." I eventually embraced its teachings fully, became a Baha'i, and married a Baha'i man who is still my husband (51 years and counting!). For over 30 years, we both remained fully committed to that way of life, but as time went on, we began to disagree more and more with certain aspects of it.

The thing that eventually pushed both of us over the brink was the teachings on sexuality. Sex was to be reserved strictly for marriage (3 guesses how many Baha'is ever manage to fully live up to that), and marriage was between a man and a woman, no exceptions allowed. Gay people were warmly welcomed into the Baha'i fold but counseled to regard their same sex attractions as a sort of spiritual defect, and to remain celibate if they couldn't bring themselves to marry a member of the opposite sex. Ugh.

Long story short, we both left that religion a long time ago. My husband is just fine not bring affiliated with any religion, but I have continued to look for something that's a better fit for me, and I am now getting ready to join the Episcopal Church, which has the inclusivity and emphasis on reason (as opposed to blind belief) that's I need. In a way, I've come full circle, back to my Christian roots, but this is a very different flavor of Christianity, and I feel at home there.

In a way, my life might have been a lot simpler if I hadn't continued to feel a need to have religion as a part of it, but I do have that need, and pretending otherwise would never have worked for me. My belief in God is not something I've chosen intellectually; it's something that comes from a place deep inside me and has never left. If I was capable of being an atheist, I'm sure I'd be one by now, but I'm not.

At this point in my life, I do not believe there is any "one, true" religion and the others are all wrong. All I know is that being part of a religious community that reflects my own deeply held values is good for me in a way I can't really explain. It gives me something that I seem to need, and it feels like the right choice -- for me, not necessarily for everyone.

[Girard442]

3. I was born without a religion gene.

That's why I've been a lifelong atheist despite being born in the Bible Belt to an Evangelical family.

[70sEraVet]

11. Or perhaps within your genes, there is an inate immunity to religion?

Either way, it sounds like 'salvation' from many problems that have plagued the rest of us!

[moonshinegnomie]

4. Raised Jewish

Had a tradition of going to yiskor on Yom Kippur. Last time we went the temple asked if we had tickets. For a service only a few went to. Wouldn’t let us in.
Last time I went to a temple. All organized religions are only in it for the money

Nowadays I’m actively anti religion.

[OldBaldy1701E]

5. The absolute hypocrisy.

My father was a deacon in the Baptist church for many years. Well, we decided to move to another house that was outside of town in the country. And, there was another church much closer to us than the one that was in town. So, with our being pretty poor, the parents decided to attend that church instead of trying to go to the previous one.

The preacher did not like this AT ALL. I still have no idea why this was such a big deal to him, but he proceeded to spend not one... not two... but three sermons in a row to denounce 'disloyal' people and to rail against 'deceivers' and so on. I was too small to even know about this until later on. This guy was someone I had felt was a decent enough person. Then, years later, my mother explained why my father never went to church any more and why he did not want to talk about it.

That was the day I formally left the lunacy that is modern religion and started on a different path. Ever since then, I always remember what this 'man of the cloth' did to my father solely because he did not like being left for another church.

I have regretted many things over my failed life, but that decision is not, nor will it ever be, one of them.

[Joinfortmill]

15. I suspect he wanted the tithes.

[OldBaldy1701E]

53. He just thought that gawd made him lord over men.

I never did try to find out what happened to the guy, but I am betting he either finally messed up and got removed from ministry, or he became a high ranking figure in the SBC. Either would make sense with that religion.

(SBC=Southern Baptist Convention)

[Fiber Lady]

6. In High School

I learned a lot in high school over 50 years ago- opened up my world.

[dlilafae]

7. Lunch time at Catholic school

The dugout. Three boys. (Groped, fondled). I went and told the (principal), head nun. The priest came to the house to tell my parents how the whole thing could not have happened like I said. I abandoned the church and my adoptive parents after that. As soon as I could find an out, I left it all behind.

[Lonestarblue]

8. I too have struggled with religion since I was a teenager.

For years I thought something mysterious be wrong with me. As a college student, I explored different churches and Christian denominations. Nothing. I could not rationalize what I saw as an unquestioning belief in something that was essentially manmade. It was men who wrote the ancient religious texts, claiming divine inspiration. It was men looking for ways to organize—and yes control—people in eras of little education and much poverty and violence as a way of life for many people.

Years ago, I gave up any belief in organized religion or in any specific doctrine—Christian, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. Rather, I realized that what I have (partly thanks to my parents who did believe in religion) is what I see as a moral framework for my life. That framework is pretty simple, and I believe that morality without religion is entirely possible.

Be honest.
Treat all people decently.
Do not reject or hate people based on nationality, skin color, or sexual orientation and do not accept that it’s ok for people to do so.
Be considerate of both friends and strangers.
Seek to help others in need when I can.

I can’t say that I’ve always lived up to this framework, but it’s a goal.

[Javaman]

9. I was nine and my catechism teacher told me that dogs don't go to heaven.

that was all I needed.

granted it wasn't only that, but it was the spark that started my deliberate switch to atheism.

[mgardener]

41. I was about to make my Confirmation

Was told only Catholics went to heaven.
My next door neighbors, Episcopalians, held my family together right after my father died. They would not go to heaven?
I was 12. That is when the doubt started.

[LuckyLib]

80. Eight years of Catholic school. The second grade teacher

told us that you had to be a baptized Catholic to go to heaven, and because my parents were in a “mixed marriage” (Dad was Catholic, Mom Lutheran) Mom would be going to hell. Right then the wheels of my bullshit detector started up. Went to church on holidays as a family thing after I was out of high school, but nothing more. I decided, along with my siblings, that the RCC was a cult, like other organized religions.

[Permanut]

77. Will Rogers said..

"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went."

[EverHopeful]

10. You could say my parents believed in freedom of thought

They allowed, even encouraged, attending as many different churches and religious organizations and deciding for ourselves if any of them spoke to us.

I became involved with an organization that focused on Bible study. Figured if that was what you based your faith on, you ought to study it but we came to a point when the "teachers" finally said that asking so many questions was a sign that Satan was working on my mind and I left.

Saw that thinking wasn't part of their faith and seemed to me that their aggressive need to convince others to believe as they did, showed a personal lack of belief in what they were preaching.

Nowadays I still long to understand our universe but look to the scientific explorers to seek understanding. My take on religion is best expressed by the tale of the 6 blind men and the elephant. Many religions may grasp a part of the mysteries of our world, but don't seem to realize that they don't have the full picture.

[RVN VET71]

82. By their preachers shall you know them

I was only partially Catholic. My parents less so. I had good and bad experiences with the church's uniformed representatives.

It was clear to me from early on that while some of them were regular people who felt free to explore and think independently, most were tied to a procrustean table which had no room for freedom and ease of spiritual thinking.

These latter are the, shall I call them assholes or just misguided spiritual cowards? are the ones who will tell you that any questions or doubts about the so-called "teachings" of the "church" can only come from an evil spiritual source., namely Satan.

I call it "soul control", and it is absolutely cultic.

[indigoth]

12. Plain and simple

There is no evidence of any deity.

[multigraincracker]

13. Locus of Control.

I have an inner locus of control..If it's a card game, I have no control over the cards I am dealt. Only on how I play those cards.

Outer locus of control...you can influence the cards dealt by wishing or praying what cards you are dealt.

I see the world as random.

[Joinfortmill]

14. Catholic girl. I was divorced in my 20s.

Church said, "You're a bad girl, no Holy Communion for you "
I said, "Ok, see ya."
Never did find another church/religion. I consider myself spiritual, but I know nothing for certain, and I can live with that.

[3Hotdogs]

16. The Rev. James Cheek was the beginning for me. He was my Western Civ. instructor at Union Junior College.

When he got to the topic of Christianity and the Roman Empire, he explained that Jesus was one of the many Jews who were executed by the Romans for fomenting tension against the Romans. The difference was that Jesus's followers kept together and expanded the myth around his birth, life and death. Others had followers who gave up after their leader died or was killed. He then went on to point out that there were/are many religions that have special births, miracles and deaths as part of their belief framework.

So if there were many virgin births and such, why was mine, special?


What I remember about his course.... I sat there in awe of his teaching voice - similar to that of an English lord in the House of Lords. I guess it was his preaching voice when he became pastor at several large churches. He later became President of Howard University.

[Lonestarblue]

18. Once I was old enough to study human biology, any belief in a virgin birth disappeared.

[OC375]

17. Alcoholism

Caused me to deconstruct Catholicism, agnosticism and atheism. I came away with a lovely, caring God, and much better sense of my place in the world.

[markie]

19. Going to seminary :-)

Well that opened my eyes to many things, however I really didn’t have “religion” even then. Grew up with strict Methodist grandparents and mother and just never really bought into the whole thing. I did believe though that people needed community and the church offered it. I thought I could be the one to facilitate that 😏

[SLClarke]

20. I grew up in a convent

.... and left it just before my 11th birthday. The nuns were great, way better than my family.
After leaving the convent I lived with my father and stepmother and went to Sunday mass regularly, depending on my stepmother to wake me early, so I could get to the stables by 10:00 am. One Sunday she didn't. That was the last time I went. I was 15. Riding horses was, by then, way more important than mass.
Looking at what is going on in this country, and others, Iran, Israel, et al., and seeing how the powerful use religion to inflict damage; use religion to justify cruelty; use religion to steal and kill; I cannot stand with any of them.

[Woodwizard]

21. Was raised Catholic

None of it stuck and reading the bible left me feeling that the god in it was a thin skinned psychopath.

Later in life doing a lot of church restoration work the amount of hypocrisy I ran into reinforced it even more.

The funny part is the amount of work I have done for Catholic churches building furniture and other woodwork, people assume I am a devout Catholic.

The only mass I go to is weddings and funerals.

[BattleRow]

22. Do unto others as you would have it done unto you.

Pretty much covers all the bases of any creed..or screed,IMHO.

[beemerphill]

23. Many of us have a very strong faith.

BUT, we have learned to be leery of any "organized religion". There are numerous and varied reasons for this. Religious schools, clergy who bend the rules and make up whatever they want to teach as the mood hits them. Seeing the damage that "churches" have done in religious wars. Cover-ups of bad clergy instead of accountability. The current trend for certain "religions" to become involved with politics. The list is very much longer, but these are some of the main points. God is in all of us. That little voice that tells us what is right and wrong is God's way of speaking to us. If we all listened to it, the world would be a better place.

[lastlib]

24. Hoping to impress a girl in college, I went to her fundamentalist church...

Those people were friggin' LUNATICS! Waving their hands in the air as they prayed--I asked Janice later if that helped to improve reception between them and God, and I think that was the end of our relationship.

There were other things along the way, too many to go into.

[Trueblue Texan]

25. I tried for many years to be a Christian.

I wanted to be part of the tribe, but I never could feel comfortable with it, never could make it feel authentic. For one thing, it just never made sense--and I'm sure you are familiar with all the ways it doesn't make sense, so I won't go into all that. And then there is the thing about the "Creator's" total incompetence. George Carlin covered a few of those, such as His inability to handle money despite His omnipotence; As for omnipotence I had to conclude He was either completely incompetent or evil do leave undone so many things that have led to such horrible injustices and agony of the masses.

But finally, it was the behavior and obviously malicious hearts of those who profess to be "Christian" that finally convinced me I didn't want to be part of that tribe anyway, so I could embrace my doubts and common sense about the absence of a "Creator".

Though I have no belief in any "God," I often suspect there is an intelligence comprised of a collective consciousness that includes all things. This suspicion may be no more than an artifact from being raised in a culture where "God" is woven into the fabric of our every experience. At any rate, I am now free to have an open and curious mind, an open heart, and a lack of arrogance requiring a defense of my own beliefs and my own concepts of "God." A much happier place than I was in when I was so desperate to believe in a "God" for which I could see no convincing evidence.

[rubbersole]

37. "...I could see no convincing evidence."

That's why it's called "faith". Based on "teachings" that were written by men who didn't know where the sun went at night.

[Trueblue Texan]

43. I respect all belief systems.

But I reject "faith" without evidence. Speaking only for myself, whose "spiritual" reality only I am responsible for, if faith alone is the criteria, I could choose to have "faith" that a clipping of my right picky fingernail is "God." Teachings of politicians and liars are no more convincing.

[usaf-vet]

26. When it gets used as a political WEAPON. Which seems to be always.

[purple_haze]

27. Raised Catholic

Now just a "regular" Christian. I wasn't impressed with all of the pomp and circumstance, and their interpretations of the word. Now I just read my Bible and discuss it with my friends and family, which is how I believe God intended it to be.

[orangecrush]

28. Reason

[twodogsbarking]

29. Nuns and priests were mean, physical and mental. Picked on "slow" kids.

Threatened to send small children to hell. I could go on but you might get the idea that I am bitter.

[2MuchNoise]

66. Eight years of Catholic school.

In first grade the nun grabbed a boy by his collar and belt then held him out the window and shook him because he didn't know the answer to a question. I'm 66 years old and still can't forget that.

[twodogsbarking]

69. Rest easy my friend, they are all dead by now. We survived, but there are scars.

[Chasstev365]

30. Recovering Catholic:

* Strike One: Even as a student in Catholic HS, it really bothered me that the Church equaled Birth Control with Abortion.

* Strike Two: In a semester class on the Holocaust in public university, I learned many high level Nazis, including the key architect of the Holocaust, Adolf Eichmann, were given fake passports by the Vatican to escape to South America.

* Strike Three: The horrific priest sexual abuse scandal and the cover-up.

While I am a committed Deist today, I did have my daughter baptized in the Episoplal Church.

[cpamomfromtexas]

45. I didn't know about the passports!!!

That is good to know,, I do wonder what really happened to Hitler

[Chasstev365]

49. No able to post links

However, google it and you will find documentation

[Bluestocking]

31. The hypocrisy of organized religion

Unfortunately I have found that the more religious a person is the less moral and honest they are. Also, science doesn’t support the theory of a deity. The nicest most ethical people I know are atheists.

[Srkdqltr]

32. Never really belived. Went to Catholic school for 12 years, did all the stuff with respect but no real faith.

Sent my kids to catholic school for a while than realized I was doing that for show and they weren't getting what they needed. I look at religion now like a social club. Join or not. I'm a not.
No religion gene.

[BobsYourUncle]

33. Born and raised a Roman Catholic...

In my early thirties, I finally came out to myself. During an early summer Sunday Mass as the priest droned on I heard him speaking about sin and confession and forgiveness. His ‘lesson’ was you sin-confess-receive absolution-do penance…and live the rest of your life bearing the guilt of your sin. I still consider that last part heretical (against church teachings).

I realized that I had been taught to hate myself as a gay man. I hate that they made my life hell for as long as I let them.

I am a recovered catholic. Call me an atheist or a humanist…there is no religion for me.

Do no harm.

Thanks Dunc.

[mgardener]

34. I formally left the Catholic church almost 15 years ago.

12 years of Catholic school and I was a Lay Minister.

I left because of the child sexual abuse scandal and because of the roles women were not afforded in the Catholic church, simply because they were women.

Since then I have done a lot of reading and joined book groups that read books by progressive Christian writers.

I am amazed a my depth of ignorance about the Bible and also the weapon the Bible has become.
I question everything that I was told to believe.
And I am not sure I could ever be part of a church an organized religion, ever again.
I may be wrong about what Jesus wants me to do for others, but I volunteer at a food shelf, try to be kind to others ( although I am having a difficult time with Trump and Republicans!).
It is hard to trust " religion" when you see how it is twisted and manipulated it becomes to be so cruel to others.

[Layzeebeaver]

35. I grew up. Became an adult...

Learned critical thinking and stopped believing in fairies - or anything supernatural.

Replacing faith with evidence. That’s the ticket.

[mwb970]

36. I never believed a word of it myself.

I must be one of those who are missing the religion gene. Right from the beginning the Bible stories at Sunday School were patently impossible and contradicted all my science books. The only thing more obviously false was the Santa Claus story. (Reindeer being able to fly would have been mentioned in my nature books. Chimeys don't go straight down. Toys are made in factories, not elves' workshops. And so on.) I struggled to understand why the adults in my life appeared to believe these things.

I have listened to religious people spout the most extraordinary blather for all of my life. It still baffles me.

I am not saying we have all the answers to the mysteries of life. I am saying that the answer does not involve an invisible, undetectable male "god" and (good grief) his human child (also a male) delivered by a virgin. At best it is all an awkward allegory.

I will add that when I was in high school I had one Sunday School teacher (a sports coach at the high school) who gave us life lessons and new ways of looking at things that I have never forgotten. I had him for a full year and he never once so much as mentioned God or Jesus or the Bible or any of that. (Some Sunday School teacher right?) I never missed a class.

[Trueblue Texan]

55. Now there is a strategy!

Infiltrate the churches with critical thinking coaches!

[TommieMommy]

38. I went to Catholic school. As I grew up I'm thinking if God is all love why is there so much hate.

Why is there so much pain, fighting and torture. Why?? My dad was abusive and my mom was not a loving mom. I saw similar situations in other families too. That's when I left the church. I feel you should try to be thoughtful and pleasant to others and love all living creatures 💙

[Ritabert]

39. As soon as I went away to college I stopped attending Mass

Then the rank hypocrisy of forbidding birth control while enabling pedophile priests was the end for me.

[LSparkle]

40. I haven't: I practice Christ's teachings on my own

I haven’t been to a church for 10 years but I still have my beliefs and practice them daily not just once a week for show. And my father was a Protestant minister so I learned from the inside that a church is a business like any other. That’s why I’ve cut out the middle man and am a DIY Christian.

[2MuchNoise]

72. "I've cut out the middle man and am a DIY Christian." Love it!

[Qanisqineq]

42. I was a teenager going to confirmation classes

For an ELCA Lutheran church, pretty progressive. I doubted the Bible and a higher power: creation in 6 days? The pastor explained that they didn't literally mean 6 days. They didnt have a concept of millions of years. Nothing was to be taken literally. Ok, I'm cool with that.

Then the last day of confirmation classes, he described all religions as different paths up the same mountain. I thought, then why believe all this silly stuff? Got confirmed that Sunday, never went back to church, stopped believing. Still loved the pastor though. Wonderful man.

[NoMoreRepugs]

44. The people I was sitting next to in church were not good people outside of church.

[LoCo Cat Lady]

46. Raised Catholic

While I did enjoy learning the teachings of Christ, I realized around 14/15 years old that the church wouldn't allow my mother to receive communion because she was divorced. My dad left my mother with a 4 children, one of them just 3 months old to "find himself". But somehow my mother, who was raised Catholic, could not participate fully in the church because her husband left her. It was at that point I realized the bullshit dogma of organized religion. I still adhere to the teachings of Christ...but I am not a "Christian" nor do I belong to any religion. I am also disgusted by the sexual abuse and cover up by the church. It's also sexist. Yeah, there's a lot to unpack over the years.

[barbtries]

47. i was lucky I think.

i did believe in gawd as a child, but my parents did not raise us in a religion. Catholicism was the primary religion in the neighborhood where we grew up, with a fair amount of mormons. My sister and her first husband became catholic before they got married; i was 11 and for a minute thought i wanted to be a nun (kind of hilarious in retrospect). I prayed nightly when I went to sleep until I was about 18, and that's when I date my affirmative loss of belief in gawd.

i don't believe in any gawd that gives a rat's ass about me personally. however I am still a spiritual person, and this has never changed. I will say that when Bekah died I experienced a spiritual crisis but after a lot of writing and dabbling (astrology, tarot, open circles, numerology, etc), i found that my core belief, my faith, in a lasting soul still endured within me.

When I was 15, a friend of mine was seeing some guy who had given her a book to read. And she said to me, "It says here that I don't HAVE a body, I AM a body," and I immediately said, "Bullshit, I HAVE a body."

I acknowledge that it behooves me to believe as I do. I am as confident as I can be that I will be with Bekah and so many other loved ones when I die. I don't need to go into it all, but it is a fact that after she died suddenly and unnaturally, she provided evidence of her presence to me and others in many ways. I have listed them and the title is The Bekah Church of Wonder Book of Unexplained Phenomena and Amazing Small World Stories.

I'm rambling on. Religion largely sucks, particularly fundamentalism of any sort. It's used for control of humans. the bible is a book it was written by men. they made their gawd in the image of themselves. I will give it this: they do ritual well.

Lastly, I am more christian than those fascists running around with their crosses and flags, because I live by the message: the golden rule. I care about people and I believe in Love as the spiritual force that moves me and is all that stands a chance of saving this human race.

[SARose]

48. Old School Methodist here

At church every time the door was opened - Sunday school, MYF, youth choir you name it.

Seventh grade Sunday school only three of us attended each Sunday. A new Sunday school teacher walked in the door. He threw away our Sunday schools books; brought in a black board and said “Okay - we can talk about anything you want as long as we spend the last 10 minutes on how a Christian responds to the World.” You mean no more memorizing the Begats? No more dumb exercises? Count me in.

We talked about everything - is God dead? What does it mean to “be the face of Christ to the World?” And more. He brought in a Catholic priest, an Orthodox priest, an Imam, a rabbi, and other religious teachers. We studied world religions for two years.

What did I learn? We all basically believe the same thing. The dogma is packaged differently - and that’s what most of it is - human teachings not those of the Christ.

The Vietnam War basically ended my participation in organized religion. How can a baptized and confirmed member of the body of Christ support atrocities like My Lai?

I tell folks I am spiritual but not religious.

[yellowdogintexas]

81. I had those experiences at Methodist Summer Camp

Some of my most impactful experiences on religion in general came from camp and later my college.

I went to a United Methodist college; we could not be classified as Juniors until we had taken the two required religion courses: a semester of Old Testament and a semester of New.

Our OT professor walked into the room and declared that some of us were going to have our faith disturbed greatly and debate was welcomed. Then he said that Genesis is actually the mythology of the Hebrew tribes, until the narrative gets to events which are recorded.
Then he defined mythology as the attempt of primitive peoples to explain things which they do not understand (like day and night; seasonal changes and other natural things).
That was my favorite college class!!! He knew that there were students from very conservative backgrounds so he warned them.

Anyway we were not raised as Biblical literalists, or God makes everything happen good or bad and it is for a reason.

I dropped away from church after observing a lot of hypocracy surrounding social issues. I started going back after watching a local (Methodist) pastor on TV. His sermons were intellectual, educational and very progressive. So I went to visit..and am still there after 33 years!

[SARose]

83. Awesome!

Your prof’s definition of mythology was dead on!

👍

[Chasstev365]

50. Not mocking religion. However,

I've been met with stunned silence when I've post the question to people who look at God/Jesus like Santa Claus:

So God helped you find your car keys, but didn't stop the Holocaust?

[Trueblue Texan]

59. That is FABULOUS!!!

When I was working in healthcare, I had to bite my tongue SO many times when people would tell me, after suffering a horrible, debilitating event, that "the Lord was with" them. I wanted to say, "Really? This is what happens to you when the Lord is with you? Seems like floating around heaven with eternal joy might be a better gig for you, but ok." But then, Christianity, or any religion doesn't really appreciate critical thinking skills. So I kept my mouth shut and consoled myself with thinking about the peace their ideas hopefully gave them.

[Aaeia]

51. Good Question

I never really "had" religion per se. But I did a complete one-eighty when I discovered that most of the "bible" stories are actually ancient stories dating even past the Egyptions. Many were stolen from the various indigenous religions to convert locals, like Christmas's date which corresponds with Winter Solstace, a Druid celebration.
From there it was a matter of research that moved me away from formal religion.
But, I am deeply spiritual from many 1st hand experiences that I won't go into on this platform.
I believe too, that Jesus was a real scholar but not how they sell him in the New Testament. The same for Mohammed, Buddah etc. that teach resilience, peace and love from your soul.
Good luck on your search and may you find peace. I do love you Dunc stories.

[Aaeia]

57. I read all the responses

What a terrific, thoughtful and generous tribe the D.U.er's are. I knew I found the right place for me!

[Conjuay]

52. First week of school

Sister Louise started telling us about how a woman got hoodwinked by a snake, and how everyone is doomed to hell because of it.
She lost me at the talking snake bit.
Snakes don't talk.

[bfoxmatt]

54. She told me in a dream

Raised Baptist, too. My mother was very religious and we went to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, Girls Auxiliary on Monday after school, and when anything else was going on at the church. She died of breast cancer when she was 38 and I had just turned 11. Shortly after she died, I had a vivid dream about her and I asked her if she went to heaven. She said "No" and that's when I decided there was no heaven or hell. I lapsed when I was 18 and for a short while, was "born again." But the thing about no one is going to heaven unless they are BAPTIST and BAPTISED -- so, the rest of the world's religious people are all damned. I don't think so! Shortly after she died, I talked my dad into letting me stay home on Sunday night to watch My Favorite Martian! From then on, I only had to put up with Sunday mornings until I went away to college. No church and no religion works for me!

[niyad]

56. Being excommunicated at 18 was but one step in a process that had

started a very long time prior. Not being one who followed rules or patterns. Having some weird group out of the vatican telling me what I could and could not, read or watch (telling me Bob Hope was immoral!!!). Figuring out how friggin' patriarchal and sexist the church was. Learning about the shameful behaviour of the church during WWII. Realizing all the patriarchal belief systems annoy me. Mark Twain's "Letter From The Earth". Heinlein's "Stranger In A Strange Land". And on, and on.

We are spiiritual beings having a physical experience. Well, some of us, anyway. And I am guessing that my particular experience may not be the least bit helpful.

[brush]

58. How does one reconcile a 'sky god-trnity' with vast endlessness of the universe?

And while were at it, how does one reconcile the whole 'big bang' theory? We have no idea of either.

[mountain grammy]

60. Too many traumas to remember from

my Jewish mother, raised by orthodox Jews, in her words, religious fanatics. My Catholic dad raised by his dad who was excommunicated..

My dad converted to Judiasm so my mom's dad wouldn't declare her dead. He did anyway.The rest of the family defied him, including my grandmother.

My parents had little to do with religion, but threw some at us. Of ourse, it didn't stick except for the guilt. Ugh!

[Jirel]

61. It happened in my single digits.

All it took was my father reading genesis to me as a bedtime story. I already knew what a crock talking snakes were, and that Eve (had she existed) was a hero, and that god (if he existed) was a stupid, angry, torturing fiend that everyone should fight. Some people in my life tried to make me religious through the next 10 years or so, but all they managed to do was turn me into an agnostic satanist who pledged to fight god for all his insanity and hatred and cruelty. Nothing causes that like reading MORE of the bible and wondering WTF is wrong with people, that they’d worship that horror. Then I got better and trashed the whole concept as a bad fantasy, and got on with my life.

[Clouds Passing]

62. Nasty malicious gossiping church "ladies" and their equally nasty daughters.

Pastors intentionally looking the other way.

[Tbear]

63. I once read that most people leave their church because they feel misunderstood and rejected.

I have had experiences of Gods presence that I can not deny.
But I have given up on attending church. Can’t stand the trump-humpers and hypocrisy.
“How to read the Bible for all its worth” is a fantastic book, small but dense, that will blow holes in modern misinterpretations. Example: a passage cannot mean something now that it didn’t when it was written. So, that means you need to know the original intent within its culture.
Heaven is right here on earth. We’re just fucking it up.

[Americanme]

64. I was raised to be a believer, but it never really took.

Even as a child, I was doubtful. I became aware that the fairy tales from my children's books were not real, magic was not real, Santa, and the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy were not real, but the church stories? Oh yeah, those stories about an invisible, magical, eternal creator, yeah, those stories are real. I was doubtful my whole life, but left room for possible acceptance. I stopped going to church, but after I became a father, I felt like I should take my kids, so we started attending church. The preacher and the church accountant came to my home, wanting to know how much money I made, and wanted a commitment for a firm donation every week. I had been dropping a 20 in the collection plate, but that wasn't good enough. So I stopped going to church, but decided to read the bible. The whole thing, every page. I read every day, took months to get through it. I learned that half of the bible is never mentioned in church sermons or sunday school. They have preferred parts that they preach about, and they pretend the weird parts don't exist, and sometimes they will revise the bible to change it into less weird, more acceptable language. Then I learned about the history of the bible, how the council chose which books to include, which to exclude, how they changed the names of the apostles to European names so the religion could spread more easily, how they took over all the old pagan holidays, how all the different denominations we have today are watered down versions, because only radicals like the way it used to be. And now millions of Americans worship a watered down, revised, edited version of an ancient middle-eastern religion, believing all the characters were white, and spoke english. There have been thousands of creation stories, this one was spread across the world by force. That doesn't make it true. And another thought, with all the billions of people that have lived and died, if there was a heaven and hell, ain't they full by now? Yet another thought, say a young lady married, and a few years later her husband was killed in the war. 10 years go by, she marries again, lived happily for years, but her 2nd husband is killed in an accident. Then in her older years, she marries again, this husband lives to be an old man before dying of cancer. When the lady makes it to heaven, who will she be reunited with? She loved all three. Could be awkward. Anyway, I just think the bible stories were written for a different time, anything they didn't understand was attributed to a creator, any big event was later written about with supernatural explanations, like a city being destroyed, or a huge regional flood. I find myself back where I was as a child. Magic is not real. Life is good. I will enjoy it while I can, I will not worry about an afterlife. If I find myself in one, I will handle it, just as I handle this life.

[Delarage]

65. Nothing

Still a very active Presbyterian. I was just thinking in church on Sunday how my church must be very different from many others....we really seem to focus on helping the community. We are small, old, and very active.

Not uniformly liberal though, unfortunately. We got invited to a Memorial Day cookout. Pulled up and there were Trump signs all over the house, people wearing red hats, the whole shebang. We left as early as politely possible.

[2MuchNoise]

67. Eight years in Catholic school. Enough said.

[sinkingfeeling]

68. I gave up being my rural church secretary at age 14 and have only returned for weddings and funerals. It just got

to me how every sect of Christianity claimed to be the 'correct' one and they're lack of tolerance for others. I haven't regretted my decision. I also think if there were a god, he/she would have more direct contact with humans and wouldn't be in our image.

[angrychair]

70. Lifelong atheist

Though I've always been fascinated with religion.
Even graduated from a Catholic university and minored in religion.
My next personal journey is to understand how religions take hold and grow like they do. I fail to understand the staying power of Christianity and how otherwise intelligent people fall into its trap.

It's wild how people let it take over their entire personality. How two people can take the same sentence or paragraph and walk away with two completely different perspectives on it.

[cksmithy]

71. It began when I was 8 years old sitting in church,

listening to a prayer being said, by a man, and I repeated in my head until he was finished, "Shit, shit, shit." I had never even said shit out loud, ever. From that point on I was repeating shit, shit, shit in my head while sitting there listening to the bs I was hearing every sunday. I never even said shit out loud until I was a teenager. It took a long time for me to become an atheist. I am very happy now.
My psychologist/therapist told me when i was in my 30's (I am now 74) told me how my story was very similar to Carl Jung story. Apparently, Jung had a dream about god defecating on a cathedral. Anyway my psychologist was impressed and got a good chuckle from my childhood story. It still happens to me when I inadvertently hear a prayer, like at a grandchild's graduation.

Being spiritual is a very good thing. I have spiritual connections to nature, my pets, and all sorts of animals over the years, and of course my family. I am the only child out of a family of 6 kids, 2 deceased parents, that is now an atheist. My 3 brothers are true believers and my one sister, who is still alive, thinks there is a higher power but is not sure what it is. I think that's fine and we get along great. My brothers are Trumpers, or that type, woman are just for procreation and housework.

[snot]

73. Reason,

including Occam's razor.

Also, for me, the various doctrinal absurdities promulgated by most organized religions undermine their credibility generally.

[ret5hd]

74. about 12 yrs old: this shit don't make sense.

[Polly Hennessey]

76. Common sense.

[CloudWatcher]

78. I was eight

I remember it clearly. I was about 8 when I mentally reviewed what we knew vs. the stories being told. Realized then that while we didn't know how the universe was created, there was no reason to believe that any of the religions were based on facts and not just made up.

Since then I've slowly changed from atheist to angry atheist. I'm so angry at what religion has done to us I have difficulty respecting anyone of faith. Sorry it's not very generous of me, but it's true.

[JPK]

79. For me, I am 71

There were two books. Both paperbacks. I was raised, sort of, as a Catholic. Also, I was always interested in astronomy. Deep space astronomy, galaxies etc. Then, back in around 1972-73 I read a book that seemed like it was more plausible than any idea I had ever heard of. The book was Erich von Daniken's, Chariots of the Gods. I also read a book on the then theory of Black Holes. "Black Holes: The End of the Universe? Their theoretical existence and what it means for the eventual end of the universe. Both books, founded on actual research into those two thing forever changed my spiritual view from one of superstition based to one founded in science.