Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
The Atheist Experience #693: Misconceptions About Atheists
Discussion on few of the willfully ignorant things theists say in response to discovering people are atheist activists, including statements such as "why are you so angry at god?" and "I think you're just searching for god."
Monday, November 9, 2009
My Deconversion Story
I would argue that I was born an atheist (and that we all are), but it just took me awhile to realize that and cut through all the bullshit that is religion.
I was raised as a catholic. My father is a catholic and my mother is an evangelical christian. I went to catholic school when I was about ten years old and attended for two years. When I think back to that time I can remember not wanting to go, but was made to by my parents. During those two years I can remember not really knowing the reason I was there. I can't even remember even asking why I was going. I guess that question was always in the back of my mind. I had a first communion, without ever really knowing what that meant. Then after that I never went back to that catholic school and haven't attended a catholic church since.
I never really questioned what it meant to believe in a god, and for that matter, what it meant to believe in the tenets of a religion. In 2004*, my mom started attending church services, and then not that soon afterward stopped attending, and so naturally I stopped attending right along with her. It wasn't until 2007** when I started attending a much more conservative church with my mother** and aunts. I started reading the bible, kind of in passing. I read the book of Matthew, and that is when it seems I started having a surge of questions. And I was told prior to the baptism that I should ask any questions, on top of being told that it is alright to ask questions. Not long after that I began asking questions, about what I had read. Dissatisfied with the answers I was getting from my family and of church members, as the answers I was getting just didn't make sense to me, I began to research some of my questions on the Internet. I guess I felt as though I needed an outlet. I stopped attending church not long after that. I just got frustrated with the religion business. And so I began looking into other points of view. Now, through a long and arduous process, I consider myself an Agnostic Atheist.
__________________________
* This was around the time Mel Gibson's movie 'The Passion of the Christ' came out. That movie had such an effect on my family, particularly my mother, and myself that it essentially guilt tripped us into attending a church, even if for such a small amount of time. I now look at that film with much disgust, because of that.
** It was around this time that my mother was enamored with 'Pascal's Wager' and, because of that, then convinced me (I was much more gullible then) to start attending another church with her. It didn't take long after this for the conservatism of this church and my beginning to ask questions to 'wake' me up from the insanity, so to speak.
I was raised as a catholic. My father is a catholic and my mother is an evangelical christian. I went to catholic school when I was about ten years old and attended for two years. When I think back to that time I can remember not wanting to go, but was made to by my parents. During those two years I can remember not really knowing the reason I was there. I can't even remember even asking why I was going. I guess that question was always in the back of my mind. I had a first communion, without ever really knowing what that meant. Then after that I never went back to that catholic school and haven't attended a catholic church since.
I never really questioned what it meant to believe in a god, and for that matter, what it meant to believe in the tenets of a religion. In 2004*, my mom started attending church services, and then not that soon afterward stopped attending, and so naturally I stopped attending right along with her. It wasn't until 2007** when I started attending a much more conservative church with my mother** and aunts. I started reading the bible, kind of in passing. I read the book of Matthew, and that is when it seems I started having a surge of questions. And I was told prior to the baptism that I should ask any questions, on top of being told that it is alright to ask questions. Not long after that I began asking questions, about what I had read. Dissatisfied with the answers I was getting from my family and of church members, as the answers I was getting just didn't make sense to me, I began to research some of my questions on the Internet. I guess I felt as though I needed an outlet. I stopped attending church not long after that. I just got frustrated with the religion business. And so I began looking into other points of view. Now, through a long and arduous process, I consider myself an Agnostic Atheist.
__________________________
* This was around the time Mel Gibson's movie 'The Passion of the Christ' came out. That movie had such an effect on my family, particularly my mother, and myself that it essentially guilt tripped us into attending a church, even if for such a small amount of time. I now look at that film with much disgust, because of that.
** It was around this time that my mother was enamored with 'Pascal's Wager' and, because of that, then convinced me (I was much more gullible then) to start attending another church with her. It didn't take long after this for the conservatism of this church and my beginning to ask questions to 'wake' me up from the insanity, so to speak.
Updated on February 1, 2011
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