Agnostic.com

33 3

If You Were A Former Believer, What Was The Last Religion You Were Affiliated With?

For the sake of us all getting to know each other better,
Please share what your Former religion was. Odds are we, or our family was associated with religion at some point in time, no matter if we chose to embrace it personally or not.

If you happen to have been raised as an atheist or non believer, please share your story!!!

My apologies however it would be impossible to list all religions.

  • 23 votes
  • 7 votes
  • 8 votes
  • 0 votes
  • 1 vote
  • 0 votes
  • 1 vote
  • 28 votes
twshield 8 July 4
Share

Enjoy being online again!

Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.

Create your free account

33 comments

Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.

7

I was raised to be a catholic.
We ALL know how that worked out.

"I was a Catholic until I reached the age of reason"--George Carlin

5

I was (technically still am since they never got around to excommunicating me) a Mormon. Holy socks, did I ever fail miserably at that!

5

I went from Catholic, to Baptist, to non-denominational, to evangelical, to wiccan/pagan. I finally realized that none of the religions made sense and let go. I'm happier for it.

4

I was raised a Christian but quickly grew out of it as I asked more questions about passages in the bible they were unable to answer.

4

I was raised Catholic. I was made to take religious lessons but nothing overly pushy. By age 16-17 I stopped taking it seriously, and by early 20s I recognized myself as an atheist. I studied biology in my undergrad and loved evolutionary theory... still do. The more I learn about science and evolution in particular the harder I find it to ever fathom believing in the supernatural. The natural world is so much more beautiful!

4

Catholic. Atheist ex Seminarian dad. Minister of the Eucharist mum who voted on the liberal side of all the Irish referenda (on divorce, abortion, and same sex marriage) Leaving aside the God debate, it's hard to understand how she sticks with a Church that considers her progressive beliefs to be heretical and that treats women so badly. She admits that she's hanging on by her fingernails.
I stopped going to Sunday mass in my teens. Was agnostic for a while. My gut as much as my intellect told me there was no God. I see the benefits and pitfalls of belonging to a community of like minded people. Uniting around dangerous superstition isn't my thing.

4

Non-practicing apathetic non-denominational christiany something-or-other.

3

Roman Catholic. But very much on the road to recovery...??

3

I was raised in a strict atheist family. Not the usual.

My dad once said ironically while we were celebrating a secular Christmas, “Don’t even think of bringing religion home.” Fundamentalist atheists.

@Shelton It was definitely not the norm. It made me more curious about religion growing up.

3

I was raised in a Mennonite church, but a more secular one than most. It was a small congregation in a suburb of Cleveland, OH with about 130 members or so. There were a couple of families with extended family members attending, mine included, so a lot of people were related in some way. Nothing like spending 3+ hours in church as a teenager, when all you wanted to do was sleep. I haven't gone in almost 20 years now. Not even "for the family", as my mother puts it.

LizL Level 5 July 4, 2018
3

Im not sure how it was labled!

3

I was going to a nondenominational church that you could describe as Pentecostal. It was crazy sometimes. There were times I felt very out of place.

2

Recovering Anglican priest

Dion Level 2 July 7, 2018
2

I was raised in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church dogma. The Orthodox Church was started by the Greeks or more specifically the Byzantine Empire (centered around Constantinople, now Istanbul), while Rome was the epicenter of catholicism.

2

I was confirmed in the Episcopal church in the 1980's as that was the church my step-father went to. My real dad used to beat my mom when we were young if she took us to church. I just went through the motions in the 80's but later, in the early 1990's I seriously studied the bible, concordance and all. Still thought something was missing or I just didn't get it. I haven't gone to church since I attended the Vineyard church in 2012. It's a huge relief to not worry about that anymore!

2

I grew up in, and for a time was a minister of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Fun times...

2

Baptist as a child, converting to Mormonism 30 (13 yrs.), back to Baptist, converted to Judaism (10 yrs), back to Baptist, on to Methodist and finally a non-denominational mega church. I finally got the nerve to realize I was simply looking for community not a diety. Took me another 5 years of 'practicing' in private to be able to say I'm "Good without a God". I live in a bybull belt state so I'm not too outspoken about it.

I've lived in the bible belt most of my entire life. I'm very open about being atheist.

2

Church of Christ

@twshield pretty conservative literalist bunch.

2

Presbyterian

Nuke Level 5 July 4, 2018
2

I am sure I am not utterly alone in this but asking what religion I was last in seems to me odd, and kind of useless.
I was born into an Anglican (Congregationalist Christian) Family in America, so like most of us I was surrounded by and drenched in Judeo-Christian ethics and tales.
At Nine I began to read the Bible, by age ten the Rev had come to my home to say I was no longer to attend sunday school, "I was a seeker and would therefore find", I was free to attend adult services.
Those pesky pointed questions.
Instead I talked with a Family friend who was a Priest and sought to learn the nuts and bolts of why Christians did not agree on Dogma by learning the Cathechism.
I continued this trend for nearly twenty years. I did not 'join' anything, but I might sit in for weeks or months to try and grasp how some sect or other of one religion or other looked at the world. I read a lot, a lot a lot.
I evolved from a Christian worldview, to a Deist model, which gradually lost steam and one day fell apart because I had no actual evidence, and without that what was I doing but believing someones 'jack in the beanstalk' with no evidence?

I am an Ignostic these days.

Think the point was to get to know each other. While the overall back stories may be similar, the details can be rather different. Learning what a person went through to get to where they are today can teach you a lot about them.

@twshield Im not upset, but could have worded that response better.
My appologies.
What I meant was, as getting to know you wise, what religious background you left in your wake seems of less importance than what you see ahead of your Bow. That is who folks are now seems of more import than what they were born into.

How or why they left might be more revelatory rather than which sect they left, to me at least.

@twshield, @Reydereyes227 Kind of my point, what they went through, how they evolved into who they are now. Whether they statred on home base, on first or second, seems of less import to me than why they quit the game.

@Davesnothere sigh The particulars of which religious sect they left can have a huge impact on what they went through to leave. For those of a universalist background for example, the transition may have been very simple with no major life repercussions. While those of an Islamic background may have dealt with threats to their lives, or from a JW background like myself where I had all my friends and the majority of my family shun me.

Those specific sects matter as their varying levels of fundamentalism will have had major effects on each persons experience.

2

It was just called the Christian Church till l was 14. My mother and father divorced when l was seven. She never went and l think my father went because of business, and then he stopped going when l was 14.

@twshield You are welcome.

2

Wicca was my last serious affiliation but I do attend a Buddhist group now. No Gawd required.

2

My family was Protestant. I went to church for years. Most of the family are still church goers but I think the younger generation not as much

1

I was raised Episcopalian from the age of 9 years.
My mother,and her family, was Catholic. Mom was excommunicated from the church because she was divorced twice. After she married my stepfather, (my Dad died) we became Catholic-lite, ie. Episcpalian.

I have been an Atheist since my early 30's. Prior to that I was agnostic.

1

I was raised Baptist. My mother was the church pianist and organist. I was at every church services Sunday morning, afternoon and evening, all the choir practice, Wednesday prayer meetings…. As a child I set through 2,808 Hellfire and brimstone preaching sermons . Got "SAVED" by Jesus at the age of 13, was baptized at 14 and again in my early 20s because I didn’t think I was old enough to fully understand the first time. Every year I was at vacation bible school and summer church camp on Kelly’s island. My Mother was concerned about Hell. Why would she lie? In my 20s I joined up with the Pentecostals looking for the power of God. They told me the Baptist had it all wrong. I just didn’t fit in with the charismatic no matter how hard I prayed about it. I moved from denominations to denomination looking for the right church. In my mid 40s at a non-denominational church a pastor there pointed out to me that the bible says we are predestined and salvation is not a choice. After studying the scripture I said “oh my God he is right” Salvation is not a choice. I then became a Calvinist; it was what the scripture was saying. In my 50s I became painfully aware of all the paganism taught in Christianity and to save my faith I move into the messianic camp. Here is where things became interesting. The very first thing what made me stop and start really looking at everything I had been taught over the years was the "Rapture" teaching. I found it's a relatively new teaching and it's mostly just taught in the U.S.A. and its being pushed by Freemasons like Hal Lindsey Knights of Malta and Timothy Lahaye ‘Left Behind" also Knights of Malta... I tracked the original idea to two Jesuits in the 18th century. It’s all a word game. The Greek can't bare it out. The next shocking revelation came from Beth Tikkun messianic fellowship Pastor Grant Luton he told me there is no Hell. After much study and prayer in the Greek and Hebrew I found he was right! There is no Hell. It’s a catholic teaching that got put in the English bible. Then I begin to ask myself what else have I been lied to about? I tracked down all the doctrines did word studies for a year and a half until I saw it’s all made up… none of it is true.

Write Comment
You can include a link to this post in your posts and comments by including the text q:122284
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.