Freethinkers United
Hello, world!
My name is topherchris and I'm an atheist.
I did the whole sunday school/youth group thing as a kid, mostly because it was just the thing to do. The family did it, although I must say I never felt forced into it. Certainly indoctrinated into it as being the norm, but if I had cried "uncle" I think it'd have been no big deal.
While I didn't have or develop deep personal beliefs during this time, I would certainly have called myself a believer. I still remember being in a sunday school class and learning what an atheist was. It was an uncomfortable concept to me at the time. (Kinda funny to think about this now...)
Over time, I slowly faded from regular church activities to pursue other things like girls, but I still kept some kind of faith in me. It's hard to explain now, but I still just was uncomfortable with any kind of critique of religion. I certainly wasn't acting as though I was committed to religion, but I was acting as offended as if I was.
I'm honestly not sure when the tide started to turn. Surely it was a slow process, and it happened throughout high school. Maybe it was the friends I had, maybe it was just me growing up and learning to think for myself.
At that point, I'd have said I was agnostic. I finally admitted to myself that I didn't know.
Something eventually did click in my brain to turn me into the full-blown atheist that I am today. I was reading something that Douglas Adams had written about religion (not a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, some obscure opinion piece), and something snapped in my head. I realized I was an atheist, but had been afraid to take the plunge into self-identifying as one.
Now don't get me wrong, if you're agnostic and happy then I'm happy for you. I don't believe in proselytizing for atheism any more than I do for the Flying Spaghetti Monster. But I had realized I was kidding myself. I was an atheist, part of me was still afraid of the lightning bolt that might strike me down if I admitted it.
Well, I did, and no lightning came.
More later....
I did the whole sunday school/youth group thing as a kid, mostly because it was just the thing to do. The family did it, although I must say I never felt forced into it. Certainly indoctrinated into it as being the norm, but if I had cried "uncle" I think it'd have been no big deal.
While I didn't have or develop deep personal beliefs during this time, I would certainly have called myself a believer. I still remember being in a sunday school class and learning what an atheist was. It was an uncomfortable concept to me at the time. (Kinda funny to think about this now...)
Over time, I slowly faded from regular church activities to pursue other things like girls, but I still kept some kind of faith in me. It's hard to explain now, but I still just was uncomfortable with any kind of critique of religion. I certainly wasn't acting as though I was committed to religion, but I was acting as offended as if I was.
I'm honestly not sure when the tide started to turn. Surely it was a slow process, and it happened throughout high school. Maybe it was the friends I had, maybe it was just me growing up and learning to think for myself.
At that point, I'd have said I was agnostic. I finally admitted to myself that I didn't know.
Something eventually did click in my brain to turn me into the full-blown atheist that I am today. I was reading something that Douglas Adams had written about religion (not a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, some obscure opinion piece), and something snapped in my head. I realized I was an atheist, but had been afraid to take the plunge into self-identifying as one.
Now don't get me wrong, if you're agnostic and happy then I'm happy for you. I don't believe in proselytizing for atheism any more than I do for the Flying Spaghetti Monster. But I had realized I was kidding myself. I was an atheist, part of me was still afraid of the lightning bolt that might strike me down if I admitted it.
Well, I did, and no lightning came.
More later....
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by luisventura on -
I am with you Chris, going to church was the popular thing back then all the cool kids went. Back to the topic I felt that believing was an obligation they never gave me a choice, either I believe or burn in hell. Later I develop this idea of what believing was, to my surprise the church had nothing in common with my beliefs thats when I went in my own way. All I have to back up my claim "Just be a good person".
Some times when I am in a really bad situation god comes to mind, "its sad".
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