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When did you first doubt religion?

Admin 9 June 19
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24

From about the age of three.

Religion just NEVER made sense to me.

Oh...very smart. Hahaha 3 years old..

Same

Me too. I thought that I'd somehow understand it more when I grew up, but I only got more doubtful.

Lmfao you freaking genius!!!

So you gave up on Santa very early?

Yeah ... gave up on santa early too

16

when I saw poverty in the streets and children starving globally yet the churches sit on copious amounts of wealth....

15

I think I was 9 years old and wondered "if God created man, who created God?"

Man created God

There is no god, YOU are your own god. Believing in god is the same as believing in yourself ! After all, if you want to achieve something, YOU have to get off your arse and achieve it, it is no good to pray to god to make it happen !!

and who created the deity that created God and so on and so on

Man created a God which possesses a number of human traits, good and bad. Man truly made God in Man's image.

13

During ethnic cleansing in Africa a couple of decades ago, I began losing faith in the Christian god of my younger years. The Sandy Hook murder of children was it for me. What kind of god can't or won't protect the innocent? There is no god.

agree

I agree there is no God but I do however believe in something that created the Big Bang I don't know what

13

Around the age of 8/9, I found a book at my Catholic elementary school "The Egypt Game" and I fell in love with Ancient Egypt. I read as much as I could about the culture, the gods, the history; and realized that the biblical story of Moses had to be wrong because there was no large population of Hebrew slaves in Egypt at anytime. After that I began looking at all of Catholicism and realized that I didn't really believe most of what they said (transubstantiation come on). It took me until I left home and was in college to fully remove the chain of faith and religion, however.

I enjoy learning about ancient Egypt also.

I also joy it. Eye of Horus on the right aid of my chest, and the left is waiting for Anubus. I have a calavera in the middle.

Darn autocorrect! enjoy it

10

I Was 6 years old . My mother was a Jehovah's witness . I asked her , What the Word , " Bastard " ment , as i had heard older kids using it in the street ,,, She told me that it was the name given to a child born out of wedlock .. I thought , for a moment and then said ..innocently.. So dose that mean Jesus was a Bastard , ??

I was made to get down on my knees to ask for forgiveness . I had no idea what i had done wrong ...

But even at that young age , i decided that i didn't like the big grumpy man that lived in the sky .. and that the Lady who looked after our planet and all the furry animals was much nicer ,

Now Mother Nature is my goddess , and i am happy to call myself a Pagan .. <3

Garic Level 2 Nov 25, 2017

My stepson is a pagan which is fine with me you have a right to believe what you want Even though a pagan is a religion and I am a skeptic/ a gnostic. do you have problems talking to Christians

@RCAngel That is one of my major beefs with Christianity -- hostility to questioning and free-thinking.

@RCAngel i was told "you think too much" more often than i could count. I have realized since that that also meant "you feel too much" as well. The culture i grew up in was not comfortable with expressing ones own thoughts or feelings.

10

When I was younger, I used to wonder how could other religious believers go to hell just because they don't believe in what I believe in. Even though they are good people and do the right thing. I used to wonder how we have so many different races, even though we only started with 2 people. Why does rape and murder happen if god knows what we plan to do before we do it. Why does god want to punish us for how he made up?

As I got older and began college, I quickly realized that religion was man made because people desperately needed something to believe in since they did not have the scientific instruments that we have available today. They didn't understand quantum, biochemistry, genetics, or any degree of scientific logic.

Before completely concluding that religion was fallacious, I would ask myself "But how were they able to have information about the embryo in the Quran and all of these other scientific data that could potentially support creationism?" I quickly realized that it's not that hard to dissect an animal these days for cell testing, I'm sure they dissected animals back then and realized that there is an embryo and is the beginning of a new life. You see, that's not that hard to agree with that statement, because human beings are innately curious, so it's not impossible that dissection was done and whoever wrote the Quran was very good at observation.

I now am an atheist because the idea of god doesn't make sense.

A great deal of medical science originated within pre-middle-ages Islamic nations. I doubt dissection was limited to animals.

10

As a child, I went to Catholic school. I always had questions, some of which really bothered the nuns. The first one I remember was when we were being taught about free will, but God already knew before you were born, whether you'd be going to heaven or hell. I couldn't fathom (at about 9 years old) why God would make people he knew would be going to hell. Then there were what they called "ejaculations", which were very short prayers, that gave you indulgences, which were, like, anywhere from 30 days to thousands of days off purgatory, which you could keep for yourself or offer up for a poor soul in purgatory. Sounded like bargaining to me, and how long were we going to be in purgatory anyway? So that was the start, and I became an atheist, and then slid toward agnostic, and back and forth between the two ever since.

Nor48 Level 4 Sep 8, 2017

You can be agnostic and atheist at the same time, so slide no more! 🙂

Hi Nor48... almost same experience (8 or 9), aah the good nuns, asking questions for clarification... “you accept it on faith... “ failed religion, followed by some sort of punishment, kept asking, kept failing. Heck of a start, went down hill from there... associated punishment with religion. Feel like MLK, ...“free at last”...
I only realized the freedom from religion, maybe 10 years ago, harbored a certain amount of old catholic guilt for a lot of years... no more.

9

When the collection plate started going around

@atheist I would have been grabbing up some money LOL how stupid could he get

9

After I learned Santa wasn't real. No direct connection but once that myth fell away I don't remember giving the notion of God and thought.

8

My first crisis of faith started in high school. Everyone around me kept telling me to reach out for God and I'd feel him in my life. I used to pray and beg him to be in my life, and I still felt abandoned and empty. That continued through college, and I was full of self-loathing and the thought that I would never be good enough. I went to seminary after college, and while I was there I learned to value myself more than I valued an imaginary deity, and I left the church. I still struggle with self-esteem issues, but I'm happier & more confident than I ever was during my time as a Christian.

My experience was somewhat similar... i thought if i pleased god i would feel happy. At about 25 (i know... im a late bloomer), i said "fuck it. I give up." I still actually believed in satan and hell until one day, i realized i couldnt comprehend a god who would set us up to burn in hell. I also decided that the idea that i was born in sin was inconsistent with my personal experience of a persisten desire to be a good, loving human being even tho i no longer believe in heaven and hell.

8

Going to a Christain private school for 7th and 8th grade. Paternal grandfather Atheist. Dad Agnostic. Mom Evangelical as were her parents. I was confused and the reverend/principal was mean and embarrassing. We had chapel on Tuesday and I became his target. "Would I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior?" I went to that school for 1 1/2 years and my answer was No. At first, I felt I hadn't studied enough and it was a serious commitment. Then it became fun to say no to the jerk. He got so mad! I was even paddled for being obstinate! On my last day, I gladly went to Chapel. He asked - I answered. "I will never agree if asked by you!" I thought, what God would make a child be threaten to believe? None I wanted to know.

Venka Level 2 Oct 22, 2017

Good on you, Venka! Those 'christian' school teachers are a pack of bullies !

8

Not sure what age I was but I know that when I asked who did priest tell their confessions too and was told they confessed to God. I then asked why can't we do the same thing and illiminate the middle-man? I never got an answer to that one....

I remember asking a similar question... "sooo...if this god is everywhere and all powerful, why do I have to talk to this dude in a robe in order for him to hear me?" Just doesn't compute.

6

when the snake started talking

6

Sometime in High School. I was raised Presbyterian, but had not been to church in years. While filling out bio info on standardized tests, many asked for religious information. My first instinct was to check Presbyterian, but I started to question if I qualified as a Presbyterian if I wasn't practicing. I started to question if I was still a Christian, and if I still believed what they did. In college was the first time I heard the term 'Agnostic', and I decided that I was Agnostic.

6

Since Catholic school and even just going to church with my family before I went to Catholic school, I had my doubts. I remembered the first time I had the thought that the Bible didn't make any sense was the Noah's ark story. I'd been to the zoo and knew that not all animals got along. Also there were so many animals and it seemed impossible for them to all fit on one boat.

Most of people are not very sharp.
A well serve lie goes long ways.

@tonia how DUMP got to be president

6

I was 16. My best friend had a hard life and was taken under wing by Jevoah witnesses. I attended kingdom Hall and study groups with her out of curiosity but quickly decided it was ludacris although it benefited my friend to have a "family" and for that I was grateful. The very last youth group I attended at my church consisted of an hour long bashing of OTHER religions, particularly Jehovah's witnesses. The ugly hypocrisy made me sick and was the last straw. I never looked back.

good girl !

6

I was 6 and realized sitting in church that this was not real. I just felt it deep down that this was silly.

and the seats are too hard and there is no heating or cooling either..

5

I first doubted religion when I was asked to be a treasurer of a little baptist church in rural Northern Calif. When I asked of we could buy 10 very poor families shoes and coats for Christmas, I was told by the pastor that the 12.000. in savings was to build a new church, Meanwhile he and wife had a beautiful three bed 2 ba. provided by the church for $150.00 per month and his son who was estranged for years, also lived in a "church investment home" for $200.00 per month. That Christmas the Pastor gave out Federal blocks of cheese to all who were hungry.. I quit in January 1985 and never looked back.

wow

Good for you that your heart is in the right place!

4

My first doubts were in early childhood, though I don't recall my exact age. I remember hearing people say that god spoke to them or showed them signs and wishing that I could have that experience. I definitely thought it was suspicious that it didn't ever happen to me. One time when I was still in elementary school our garage door was malfunctioning and my mom prayed for it to work and sure enough the next time she pushed the button it worked. She thanked god but I remember thinking to myself that it was probably just coincidence. Looking back it seems like a classic case of counting the hits and ignoring the misses.

One time (for me), sitting in church, I was questioning things (I don't remember what age either, I know it was pre-teen)... This was at Peace Lutheran in Bremerton, it had south-facing stained glass windows... This was a particularly dreary day, as everyone else was doing the normal worship thing, I was in my own head, praying "God, if you exist, please show me a sign", just then, the clouds broke (which happens all the time in the PNW), but at that age, I was like "ok then..." (I was still skeptical, but not willing to rock the boat).

The road away from indoctrination is a long one, with all of it's twists and turns, and the friends and family left in the shadows...

4

When i was enrolled at sunday school as a kid. It all felt fake and there was no debate. Couldn't question it either just had to endure it and stopped going after about 2-3 months. My father didnt seem to mind so it all fell apart. Religion was dead to me.

Nardi Level 7 May 8, 2018

funny. my mom actually taught sunday school maybe once. only thing i remember was her complaining the kids dunked their potato chips in their kool aid. cutting out crosses and stuff and gluing them on pictures was fun tho.

Sorry to go off topic, but your profile picture is great!

4

My mother was an atheist; one of her good friends was worried about my salvation and convinced my mother to let her take me to church. I went a few times and came to the conclusion that the experience had to value or place in my life. In my teens, many folks tried to convince me to join their religion; I would listen for a while, then tell them I was bored.

Good for you

4

I think it was when i was around 7 or 8. I was obsessed with dinosaurs and couldn't figure out where they fit in any bible story time lines. My Sunday school teachers never had any real explanation for them either and i realized they had no clue what they were talking about. Dinosaurs were definitely real and i wasnt going to stop believing in them so i started questioning Christianity instead.

Smart girl.

I think Dinosaurs killed the bible/noah's ark story for many of us..

Best move you could have made. As science continues to make new discoveries, thousands of things previously attributed to a god are now understood. The Holy Fables are just ancient superstitious mythothology. Isn't it amazing how many people like to play make-believe?

The pastor at a nearby church STILL doesn't believe in dinosaurs because they're not in the bible. It really bothers me when people confuse beliefs with facts.

4

I have doubted that religion was anything more than a bunch of elaborate stories ever since I was first read bible stories by my godmother. I was four.

4

I was maybe 7 years old, although I enjoyed going to church and listening to "inspirationals" from the Bible, I was always confused and uncomfortable with the church ceremonies and rituals. I think that was the time I heard the phrase "practice what you preach" which is sort of an integrity issue to me. My father, then, as in now, keep reminding me that integrity is doing the right thing even if nobody's looking. Be true to yourself.

I often use that, " integrity is doing right when nobody is looking."

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