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Did something bad that happened to you as a child turn you away from religion

When I was in my 20's I was looking for answers about my life and why I never seemed to be at peace. I talked to preachers and anyone that would talk to me about the dark reality of human nature (Why seemingly decent people could hurt children for example) one preacher I spoke with about my disbelief asked me right off the bat "if I had been molested as a kid" I told him yes and he immediately said that was the reason I turned my back on God. He was wrong but I never forgot his way of thinking..ive heard it in different ways from others since then..i don't believe it and never will. I was already aware to some extent of the problems I had with a god before. My first memories are of sunday school lessons and my doubt. So to answer my own question- I do not believe that my rough childhood lead me to turn my back on religion but it did lead to the critical thinking at a young age that ultimately lead me to what I feel is the truth (That there is no god) I can be a loving caring person without God and probably more so..so how did any bad experiences lead you to your ultimate truth?

River-david 5 May 12
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59 comments (26 - 50)

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4

My husband did. He was 8, 9ish I think? He was very studious and religious, haing read the entire bible twice over by that time. His church caught on fire and he couldn't reconcile how a good, just God would just let that happen. It all went downhill from there...

3

Watching too many people arguing about issues in Bible...I used to love to talk with preachers..and I believed and still believe Jesus was about love...If you don't get that concept you've missed the boat...I can not stand a person going to church all the time and are hateful, arrogant and just down right mean......then have the nerve to judge me cause I said fuck.....huh

Wezzy Level 4 May 24, 2018
3

Nope. Like you I began questioning the narrative early on. It never made sense to me and the questions I asked were never answered. The hard part was learning to live around those who bought into it, including my parents.

3

They made me go to Sunday School once (it was a condition of membership of a youth organisation I was part of.) I dropped out of the organisation rather than attend a second time. School was something I was already forced to do 5 days a week. I wasn't going to volunteer to do it again for one of the remaining two.

I've never really been religious, but I suppose there were times when I was younger that I didn't question it. We sang hymns in school that were all about how lovely God was and how he makes our crops fertile and stuff, but I never gave it too much thought either way. I'd recite The Lord's Prayer parrot fashion along with everyone else. (Great fun when they move you to a Catholic school, and you continue into "For thine is the kingdom" after everyone else has shut up.) But I think once I seriously started to debate God with myself, none of it ever made sense.

3

If anything, my bad experiences in life led me to turn to God early in life. It was reason that turned me away from God. My father, a lukewarm believer, always said, "God gave us a brain for a reason."

3

The only bad thing that happened to me in church was that I got married, and that was my own stupidity.

I never really accepted religion, god, or biblical fairytales. I remember thinking at a young age that they were absurd.

JimG Level 8 May 14, 2018
3

No - just common sense.

3

As afamily when I was very young, we were not religious at all." At seven, my mother became a JW. Parents divorced almost immediately. I was forced to participate in JW and resented it greatly.I was very observant of how other faiths manifested, and quickly came to the realization that they ALL were nothing but mind games with no factual basis.

3

Actually something good happened I just didn't know it at the time. My mother was a fundy in the Nazarene church but she always allowed me to question everything. Big mistake, I left god and the church at 18 and never looked back. I am 75.

3

Never believed so didn't have to have anything bad happen. But always knew that good without god is the best way to be.

3

Over religious people who tried to talk “God” into me 24/7. Going to church with my grandparents. My over religious friends. My athiest family/friends.

If God wanted us to follow all these rules and “not commit sins” (which if there was such thing as God condemning us for sins, I woulda been smited 7 times by God himself like 5 years ago) he could’ve made us all the same. We have choices, were not FORCED to follow any rules. I don’t believe in the bible for this exact reason. “You’re going to hell if u breathe” pretty much what it’s saying in my opinion.

3

No. something good happened. i discovered reality

I like that alot.thanks

3

Yes.

3

Honestly I looked for god didn't find either him or anything else so I looked harder and saw the truth gave up hope embraced nihilism

3

I was raised Mormon (my mother converted after marrying my dad, he never has converted). I don’t remember anything specifically bad about church, other than it taking FOREVER and people always handing me babies to hold. I do remember when I was 8 and getting baptized that I begged my dad not to make me do it. To the point of a crying tantrum. He eventually talked me into it to make my mother happy. I’ve always been resistant to church and I don’t really know why. Now that I’m an adult, I’ll stand quietly while people pray but I avoid any and all religious buildings and activities as much as possible, regardless of the denomination.

2

Yes, I think it was because Jesus didn't bring me a pony one year for Christmas. No, wait. That would have been Santa Claus.

2

Absolutely none. I read about other myths before I read the Abrahamic ones. They were just stories and I have seen nothing about them that makes them real... or contributes to someone being a loving and caring person. My ex wife has a ton of issues, and I can't tell you how many stem from catering to domineering parents that were pointing her to different denominations and telling each other they were wrong.

2

Yes

2

Something bad? Oh, yes. Horrible. It was all the stupid. It burned. It hurt.

Okay, that was a little tongue-in-cheek, but it really was the reason for me to walk a different path. I asked questions and got dumb in return. Sometimes I got a little sputtering and not even an attempt at dumb.

2

I had a rough childhood...being shuffled from one relative to the next...but Ive always been curious and asked questions...I was brought up for the most part...strict christian.....Im STILL curious and asking questions...thing is...the answers to many of my questions have led me in a different direction than I was taught as a kid.

2

The turning away from religion thing just always made sense to me. It was logical. The bad somethings that happened to me as a child only turned me into an A-hole. 😉

2

Yes I was introduced to God and that ruined my free will so I let god go.

EMC2 Level 8 May 13, 2018
2

It’s hard to say. For me it’s a combination of my childhood experiences, my personality, and the family situation I grew up in. I can look at all those things and see ways in which each one of them influenced my decision to leave organized religion behind.

2
2

No

Marz Level 7 May 13, 2018
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