No. Actually, i felt kind of angry and pissed off that that they put me through their religious indoctrination all through my growing up.

When I quit Catholicism my dad had died and my mother didn't really feel very strongly and didn't care. My sister was concerned and suggested I look into other sects. Now, out of 7 kids only one is Christian (Jehovah's Witness) and the rest avowed atheists (including the sister who was concerned.

I replied about this and thought, is it really about guilt? When one changes their beliefs it is a challenge to others. If it comes from family or a loved one, one is confronted with questioning their own ideas. The religious seem to need others to be crutches and support with their weak ideas. If there was any veracity to their beliefs that would be enough. We non-theists have facts on our side and that gives us strength. To me it is less about guilt and more about comfort.

Told my mom as a matter of fact. No guilt whatsoever. If my father were alive he would be pissed.

Admittingly yes I still do however I know the reasons why I feel the way I do and it's very important for me to stick up for myself and my beliefs just as they do

Only my wife and brother in law know. So I'm not in the center of attention with the rest...

Me. My aunt threw it in my face last night. I said, "The TV makes X-mas all about gifts." She said, "You're an atheist. Isn't that what it's about? Not the birth of jesus?" I said, "No, it's about family."

No, I like being the black sheep. Anyway, I come from a family of kitchen Catholics.

no, they should feel guilty for making you feel like that when they're the ones believing in fairytales.

We shall see in about 24 hours. Even though my mom, dad, sister and I aren't Catholic, there was never any issues or even mere discussions. I recently stopped eating meat, and the only animal products I'll consume are eggs, which I could see turning into a conversation about beliefs then a debate on god (If I can't steer things in the right direction) My mom, dad, and sister are Jewish but probably can tell or at least wouldn't feel affected by knowing my beliefs, but my extended are a whole other story.

Someone drop a like so I can easily report back.... I'll be your best friend...

Not at all...but my family is not over religious anyways...and the few there are know to not talk religion with me...

Not really. My family ain’t all that religious, but I do somewhat feel kind of guilty that my in laws are kind people and that I don’t believe in their God.

Not guilty, but it saddens me to know it makes my Mom sad to know I don’t believe in her god.

I've never felt guilty as an adult. As a child, I asked a pastor about the age of the earth and evolution, adam and eve, etc. Then, I felt guilty, because I was afraid that not believing would hurt Jesus, or god, or make me bad for my family. But over time, I found that the abolute faith that I was raised with actually helped to have absolute faith in my ability to discern right from wrong, and to avoid doing harm. So I feel no guilt for that. Sadly, our family dynamic was one of abuse and I ran to the opposite coast to get away. Having met the majority of people doing harm to get ahead, knowing they can pray for forgiveness later in their religion has made me skeptical regarding religion. On the better outlook, there are many who do all that they can to be good human beings, many religious friends really do give a darn, so I have to respect that, too. I actually like philosophies in general of the current Pope, although I'm not a fan of Catholicism. Go figure.

Been there man, but just remember you have like minded people to vent to.

My uncle is a pastor and my cousin is a reverend and i have never felt guilty or shame. My beliefs do not dictate the person i am.

I don't think it was guilt for me. It's just a sadness that I can't relate to my family any more. Those two feelings could possibly be confused.

I did initially, but I felt better after a while. I realised it was all a matter of perspective. From their point of view I was going to hell, they were understandably disappointed. From my point of view they had lied to me my whole life, I was understandably disappointed. I decided I shouldn't feel guilty; with such divergent ideas in play we were obviously never going to be able to reconcile that one aspect of our lives.