If you were raised religious but are not now, why not?

1988RedT2 said:

[...] you can't get hope with money, drugs, sex, or rock 'n roll. 

Are those my only options besides religion?

So 40 mins in and we have a "needs to be locked, against the rules". 2 different people saying it's not allowed on page 1. 
 

Why is religion suddenly against the rules now? It's been fine to discuss for a few days from what I've seen. No big surprise. 
 

Edit. I see now that this thread is discussing the other side, the original thread is locked, so I'm sure this will be to "show that they're both off limits" with 0 mention of letting the other one go on as long as it did. 
 

I'll also throw one in you don't hear much, I was raised Quaker. 

I was baptized and attended a Methodist church as a kid.  Started questioning it when churce events, prayer circles, etc were aimed more towards the more affluent members of the church while those of us who were scraping by were ignored. 

Today, I'm not religious at all.  I absolutely respect someone's belief's, however, my experience has been often they don't respect mine. More on this below....

I can see the appeal of religion and the ability to take the stresses of life and label them as beyond human (mortal?) control.  A tragedy might be easier to accept if it's seen as a higher power's will for it to occur as opposed to obsessing about what you might have done different, if anything, to prevent it.

Regarding respect, the biggest flag for me are questions like this.  While I understand you might just be a curious person, there's an undercurrent of wanting to "save" those who don't believe.  Maybe not from the OP specifically, but that would be different from the norm in my experience.  Besides the fact that there are 1000's of different religions who all believe their's is the correct one, why do people feel the need to convert those who don't?  It may have helped you, and that's a great thing, but respect that it won't help me and leave it at that.  Don't beat me over the head with it or constantly question my opinion because you've been told your's is "right". 

I know lots of people who are religious and don't ever bring it into conversation.  It's the ones that question my morality (when they've been divorced for cheating), the love for my family and tell me how sad they are that I'm not as "good" as they are because I don't believe some ancient text. That pisses me off and solidify's to me that it's mostly a sham to make the believer feel superior to us non-believers. 

Note: I totally ignored the other thread and am reading it now....

Note2: My assumption about the reason behind the OP's question were wrong and I apologize for that. 

(Now, if that's not lock worthy......)

-Rob

I've got some strong opinions on the subject, but have a rule to never enter a p*ssing contest unless I've got a good supply of beer. 

I just want get into some word etymology. Atheist means anti-theist. In other words, I subscribe to none of the known theories.

I am pretty butthurt about my experiences with organized religion. I am also pretty butthurt by the behavior of the drivers along my 1.5 mile commute. It is the rule of 10% (in my opinion, obviously). 10% of people are cool, be they Christians, Atheists, or whatever. Tolerance is the only answer. People rub other people wrong. Be nice to them anyway. Or try your best.

Peace and Love, people.

In reply to Driven5 :

It's not an airing of the grievances, the other thread was people telling others what they believed, and why.  This is the same. It's a legitimate question, if you were religious and are no longer, why not? As others told me, don't like it? Don't click it. Is it better if I just tell you to "go away" like the other thread?

There's a lot less judgement in this one so far. 

Attended a very prestigious Catholic school in Puerto Rico when I was a kid. Latin America was Catholic-crazy in those days and would literarily crawl through miles of mud for the church.

The school seemed to think that parishioners were put on earth to raise money for the church so that they could buy real estate. The meek and poor would benefit in the afterlife, the church would make a pretty good living in the meantime. What they did to poor people and indigenous people was inhuman. See Canada "Residential Schools" for aboriginal children as a current example.

The ten commandments seemed like todays political projection: "I am going to tell you not to do all this stuff but I sure as shooting can do it and get away with it cause I am a priest" The big $$$ supporters sure seemed convinced that they could buy their way into heaven and if in doubt there was usually a priest sitting besides grandpas' deathbed telling him that it was his last chance to repent for the low  low price of one kid's inheritance, or all of it.

I was lucky that I never got exposed to the child abuse that seems like it was endemic, so can't comment on that.

As a child I was raised in a house where religion wasn't discussed.  We never went to church.  Essentially the concept of religion didn't even really exist.  

Personally I've never been one to ask the big questions.  Where did we come from? What is our purpose? None of that has ever really concerned me.  

As an adult I've attempted to go to church a couple times.  It always felt weird and unnatural.  

I have a Bible I've tried to read but it's not written in a way that is consistent with how my brain processes information.  

I spend very little time worrying about what happens after this life.  I don't discuss religion. I don't study religion.  I really don't think much about it but I do believe. 

Born and raised Catholic.  Went to Catholic elementary school with the full habit (think burka) nuns.  Was an altar boy before Vatican 2, Latin masses, priest with his back to the audience, the real old fashioned Catholicism.  Went to Catholic High School with the Jesuits, all boys, weekly mass at school, endless religion classes.  

I had been indoctrinated in the dogma since I was an infant.  When you are taught something at a very early age, it is extraordinarily difficult to forget it.  Try forgetting how to count, or say the alphabet, or speak your native language.  I really didn't give religion much thought until I went to a public college.   I think that is where a religion loses a lot of young people, hence the proliferation of religious/Bible based colleges where the endless indoctrination and reinforcement of the dogma can continue unabated and unchallenged.  To me, religion was just what it was, I didn't question it, I didn't really even think about it, it was just always there.  I recall writing a paper in my anthropology class and somewhere in the discussion of the evolution of man I wrote something like "and perhaps this is the point where God instilled man with a soul".  The teacher challenged me on my speculation and it cracked the shell of my certainty which, with further reading, study and application of my infantile critical thinking skills over time lead me to dispose of any and all belief in man made religion.  I am both atheist and borderline anti-theist, as I think a careful and thorough examination of the role religion has played, and continues to play in human society is more bad than good.  Read the book "God is Not Great" by Hitchens, it is very illuminating.

Here's a thought experiment to try.  Image that Earth was invaded by an benevolent alien race and they allowed you to visit their library.   Imagine going through their religion books and reading about the beliefs that their society had come up with and practiced throughout their history.  Now imagine going through their math and science books. 

Which group of books do you think would most closely match the books in your local library? 

Raised in a church with a lot of merit badges you had to earn.  Wife went to a bible preaching type of church and asked me a lot of questions that I couldn't answer about my church.

One day I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ and became a born again believer - it's all written down in the Gospel of John, Chapter 3 if you want to follow along.  

Interesting to me is that when my devout Mother died that my father and 5 siblings quit and started to attend St. Mattress on Sunday morning.   

Not everyone was raised in religious households. I wasn't. 
 

But I am now a Christian, so I don't fit the demographic of what you are looking for, so I will read silently. 

The biggest problem *for me* with these threads is that I care, and I invariably spend a bunch of time trying to carefully and respectfully articulate my thoughts since it is an important topic. The other one got locked while I was still working on it, and I'm accepting that as my opportunity to cut my temporal and psychological losses.

I came here only to say I hope there is a hell and that Hitler and Stalin are roasting there eternally.  

Steve_Jones said:

In reply to Driven5 :

There's a lot less judgement in this one so far. 

We may be the best judge of our own intentions, but are not the best judge of our own words. The religiously inclined in the other thread didn't think what they were saying was condescending or judgemental either. That's the irony of self-proclaimations like these. Somebody who says "that's mighty white of you" will be the first to defend their 'compliment' as not being racist, but that doesn't mean it's not. 

In reply to spitfirebill :

Not to argue but I hope that Hitler and Stalin are gone forever and their atoms are pushing up daises.

I hate getting into this discussion because of what I said in the other thread.

I was raised Christian (Presbyterian) but started having internal questions about 10.  Things just didn't make sense to me.  I felt that I couldn't go to anyone I knew with those questions without being judged so I worked through it on my own.  It caused a great rift between my dad and I even to this day.  I have examined my beliefs over and over from that age.  I remember walking downtown Charleston, SC at 18 and a thought popped into my head "nothing this beautiful could have been random".  That made me think about my views on religion for months afterwards.  I feel comfortable enough that I haven't questioned them in decades now.  As I said in the other thread just because I'm a nonbeliever doesn't mean everyone else is wrong.  I've raised Lil Stampie totally honest about my views but at the same time telling him that whatever he decides is right for him.  He went to a private Presbyterian elementary school not because of the religion but because it was the best school in town. 

Here's my thoughts on religion.

Religion was invented by humans to explain the unexplained first.  That caveman trying to explain lightening simply blamed the angry gods.

Religion was used by humans to control society second.  Don't kill your neighbor.  Yeah good rule.  Don't eat pork.  Yeah because there's a certain temp you need to get wild pork to so that you kill harmful organisms.  Shellfish yep the same.

But we've moved beyond that.  We know why lightening strikes and why you can get sick eating certain things. 

Anyway that's my thoughts. 

In reply to Driven5 :

I agree, that being said, this thread seems to be people sharing their position, not telling others why they should convert to it. I did not start this thread as a "ha!", I started it to see why others chose not to be religious, hoping some from the other thread would want to know. I think the other thread went sideways when people pointed out how many were coming across as condescending and arrogant, yet they didn't/couldn't see it and doubled down. Just curious, do you see anyone being condescending in this one?

I do find it interesting that many of the stories here are very similar. 

I was baptized an Episcopalian, more or less by default.  Our family never really attended church regularly when I was growing up (one of several parenting decisions I credit my mother and father with).  When we moved to a more rural area, my mother started occasionally attending the local Anglican Church, but I think that was more social than anything for her.

I had friends from religious families, but not too many. I went to the occasional Sunday morning church after a Saturday night sleepover. 

But none of it ever moved me at all.

We didn't baptize either of our children. So many people seem to come at religion as 'something you're supposed to do', especially when they have kids. I didn't really want to do that just from obligation. And I especially didn't want to do it since I am actively atheist.  If they decide as adults they want it, OK, that's their decision. But honestly I'd rather they get whatever it is from natural-world interaction, not supernatural.

I have a long laundry list of reasons why I dislike organized religions, but I won't belabor that here. Besides, others have pointed out that religion != faith.

So here's why I do not have faith:

1)  I don't feel a need for a supernatural being to make my life complete or help me through troubled times.

2)  Nothing I have ever seen, heard, felt, experienced, or learned about requires a supernatural being to explain.

3)  There has never been any empirical evidence presented of a supernatural being existing.

So, since I don't need faith in a supernatural being, I've never experienced anything that must have been supernatural, and I've never been shown any objective evidence of a supernatural being, I have no reason to believe in one.

[edit] DW is also non-religious. That was a requirement. I can't imagine being in that kind of relationship with someone who was that fundamentally different.

Oops, sorry, didn't mean to let the other thread go on too long, was just going about my life and working too many hours so it was so far in with so many of the usual trolls by the time I noticed, I was pretty much out of berkeleys as to who was mean to whom. This thread is more of it and I am still fresh out. Argue away, cry foul, demand your free speech, whatever it takes for you to feel good about your mommy issues, guys. I'm out. 

Margie

Marjorie Suddard said:

Oops, sorry, didn't mean to let the other thread go on too long, was just going about my life and working too many hours so it was so far in with so many of the usual trolls by the time I noticed, I was pretty much out of berkeleys as to who was mean to whom. This thread is more of it and I am still fresh out. Argue away, cry foul, demand your free speech, whatever it takes for you to feel good about your mommy issues, guys. I'm out. 

Margie

And that is the most offensive thing I have seen in either thread, and I am most definitely not easily offended.

In reply to Marjorie Suddard :

As far as I know, Paul and I were the ones having the most, uhhhh, earnest discussion immediately before the other thread was locked.

Also, as far as I know, Paul and I were friends before, during, and still are after that discussion.

Not all disagreement is a problem, ma'am.

In reply to Duke :

If it needs any confirmation, I agree. You and I are friends. Before, during, and after. 
 

I'd go so far to say that our ability to disagree respectfully goes a long way toward building and maintaining that friendship. 

I never believed in any superstitions as a child and still don't. I was raised to be religious but never accepted it. 

I told my mom at a very young age that I didn't believe in God and she told me "yes you do" lol. So, I tend to keep my beliefs to myself. My kids ask about it and I just tell them it's something that people believe in to help their life. It isn't wrong or right to be religious or non-religious. 

I do respect other folks views as long as they aren't used to cause harm or justify harm. See our entire world history. 

In reply to Marjorie Suddard :

Mommy issues? 

SV reX said:

In reply to Duke :

If it needs any confirmation, I agree. You and I are friends. Before, during, and after. 
 

I'd go so far to say that our ability to disagree respectfully goes a long way toward building and maintaining that friendship. 

I have a really good friend with some pretty opposite views from me because of our upbringing and other demographics. The best thing though, we can talk our side and the other listens. And we both learn from each other. In reality, most differences/disagreements between people are born from different perspectives and experiences. Sharing those perspectives and experiences, peacefully, tends to bring everyone to the middle.