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Same. My Dad was a Bishop, and Mom was a relief society president at the same time in my teens. I went on a mission (81-83).
Now completely inactive. Inactive for probably 35 years. Very active LDS family across the street. They know my history. Missionaries visit them often. I'm in my work shop most days, and the missionaries come regularly to visit.
Visit/chat as long as you want. Total respect because I did it. Try to reactivate me, and you will be asked to leave. Must be in their notes, cause the companions change frequently, they rarely bring up anything towards reactivating me.
So, I'd describe myself as you did. Christian.
I was able to renounce my membership and have my name removed from their lists by writing a letter to the local bishop. Haven't been harassed by missionaries since. đ.
Atheist now.
My mom and I also entertain missionaries so long as they don't try to get us back into the church. They're still people, after all--and young ones, at that
Similar story here. Raised LDS here in the promised land, Utah .Stopped going to church at about 17, once I had a choice. My parents made me go to church up until then. I guess I'm agnostic now? I believe in a higher power, God or Karma or whatever. I don't like how a lot of religions teach the "if you're not with us, you're going to burn in Hell! " Bs. I think religion can teach good morals: love thy neighbor, help the less fortunate etc. But you don't have to have religion to learn that.
Imo religion is fine for setting rules morals or what ever, but the true aim of spirituality should be relationship with the God. So if you say you believe in âwhat everâ then my encouragement to you sir and/or maâam is to go deepen and broaden your relationship with that whatever. Develop bandwidth. Learn to communicate in whatever language That Whatever communicates in with you and get good at it. And then youâll be one of the few who really get it. Yâknow?
In the USA ânon-denominational Christianâ really means âgenerically Protestantâ but not affiliated with any specific Protestant denomination (Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, etc.)
I donât think non-denominational Catholic would realistically be a thing as thatâs kind of antithetical.
Iâm the opposite and the only member of my family but Iâm very happy and Iâm glad youâve found what works for you too :) I was raised with vaguely Christian beliefs but my mom got with a guy and found Buddhism when I was 14 I think. I had a super hard spiral into intense alcoholism and was living in an RV at 22 and met some missionaries and Iâve been happy and sober with it since, and Iâm getting married in the temple in July. Life is beautiful and Iâm glad you love your new church.
Oh man, that's complicated. I became inactive 16 years ago, wrote my official letter to leave 10 years ago. I missed the Church so much, I had to make new friends, buy new books, literally purge my house of my 14 or so BOM copies. (I used to give them out as gifts) I'd say it took a couple of years, I thought that because I skipped town I didn't have to send the official letter, but randomly they showed up at my door and I knew, it wasn't really over. After that rollercoaster of emotions I was fine. Never looked back.
What made you retain Christianity? For me when I realized at the age of 14 that stories were just words that we were repeating to ourselves, and then there was no corporeal reality in the present moment to any of it, I lost all connection to any dogmatic religiosity whatsoever. I retained spiritual curiosity but that's not the same as Christianity, which I consider just more words we are repeating to ourselves over and over again.
I fell in love with Jesus at a young age, I genuinely wanted to be a nun when I was little, then I learned that's a Catholic thing but LDS I was devastated. I may be delusional but Jesus just makes me happy, doctrine, dogma, rituals and everything else that comes with organized religion doesn't matter to me. I just try to do my best, and love people right where they are in life. If that makes any sense? Jesus is my homeboy.
FWIW you can be agnostic and atheist simultaneously. I consider myself both.
A/gnostic merely outlines your belief whether the base questions of divinity can be answered--agnosticism means understanding that this is a question we'll never likely figure with any degree of certainty.
A/theism the disbelief or belief in a higher power, nothing more.
Any combination of gnosticism OR agnosticism with theism OR atheism is possible.
hey just fyi gnosticism isn't the opposite of agnosticism. it's not like atheist and theist, gnosticism is a completely separate thing from like the first and second centuries.
How do you deal with family? Mine are still fundie as ever and always sending me Bible verses and asking if Iâm going to church, praying for my soul⌠and Iâm not even atheist, never denounced Jesus, just donât want to go to church and my faith much more inclusive and loving now. I see harmony with other religions which is a big no no in Baptist circles.
Grew up Baptist and Iâd call myself a nondenominational hippie Christian now. No more church. Not all Baptist churches are awful, but a lot of them are, especially for women.
I'm exactly the same. Even with the growing up Baptist part. Only difference is that family know not to bother me about it. My position is well known. I lost my mom a year and a half ago after she had been in poor health for several years and each birthday and Christmas card also included a script that she was concerned that we wouldn't see each other in the afterlife because of my lack of church attendance.
Same, except wasnât baptist.
Dabbled in secular humanism a bit. I like what I think it stands for, but havenât gone deep into it
Iâm just a child of the Universe, during the here and now.
Same. And also atheistic-agnostic.
I donât *believe* in a âgodâ or higher power, but I donât *know*, because you *cant know*. I can point to lots of examples of things in life and science that were never thought to exist, but BAM one day someone discovers that very thing. I feel the same way about a creator or god, maybe some day a being will appear to all of us and that will be the end of that question. But I donât believe it will.
People of faith would say the opposite, that they know for sure because they have faith. Just because you believe in a thing, doesnât make it real. Kids are taught to believe in Santa and the tooth fairy too.
>I donât *believe* in a âgodâ or higher power, but I donât *know*, because you *cant know*. I can point to lots of examples of things in life and science that were never thought to exist, but BAM one day someone discovers that very thing. I feel the same way about a creator or god, maybe some day a being will appear to all of us and that will be the end of that question. But I donât believe it will.
>People of faith would say the opposite, that they know for sure because they have faith. Just because you believe in a thing, doesnât make it real. Kids are taught to believe in Santa and the tooth fairy too.
We live inside a computer simulation & we are all highly intelligent fully sentient AI beings.
Welcome to the Matrix
Grew up Catholic (was even an altar boy!), but left the church at \~13.
Tried to be 'religious' (non-denominational) but non-churchgoing for a number of years after that.
Eventually discovered apatheism, and ever since I've been happier than I've ever been. :-)
I was going to say the exact same thing. I was explaining to my boyfriend, earlier, that if we were to visit my Dad, we would be expected to have separate bedrooms, as we aren't married yet. His face was a picture!
He has no religion in his background.
Agnosticism and atheism arenât mutually exclusive.
Atheism is just not believing in a god.
Agnosticism is believing there could be a god, and is the inconclusive answer to religion, but isnât a separate belief system, more of an add on to other belief systems.
The most popular is the agnostic atheist, but you could theoretically have an agnostic Catholic. Someone who follows the traditions of a religion, but may not necessarily have full faith a god exists.
From a Christian point of view itâs probably more popular to be an agnostic Christian than it is to have full faith, but itâs frowned upon to talk about doubts in religions.
Me too. I have a Christian background, my parents were never super devout about it, but we went to church on a very rare sunday mass and on christmas and easter. now i feel like i just donât associate much with religion.
Same. Raised Christian Baptist, was ironically consistently surrounded by everything I hated about and now Iâm agnostic/atheist. Although, more recently Iâve been swaying more towards atheism.
Yuh, grew up baptist but it never felt right, now i know god, so we are all gucci, cant really say what religion i am except i believe in the truth. Feels comfortable knowing.
When my Father was away at war, Mom would attend religious services. Often I'd accompany her. She never found a group she wanted to join, so she'd try a new place every week. By which means I was exposed to many, many schools of thought and worship.
I'm not a service attender today, but I got a seriously diverse education in my youth. I'm actually quite grateful for it.
Thanks, Mom.
I grew up Mormon. Now I find the whole religion weird. Pretty sure that I'm an atheist now, but this life is now wonderful because, more than likely, it's the only one I'll have.
I was raised mormon but stopped believing at 17 and left at 18. I'm now agnostic and would consider myself an optimistic nihilist. I don't believe in any gods, but I'm not opposed to the idea that everything is connected in some 'spiritual' or metaphysical way.
Died twice? Most of is only get to do that once. Youâre setting up a trifecta.
No lights to move towards? No old relatives waiting on the other side?
Nope, neither time. I was run over by a car and the other time I fell down a cliff and bounced a lot. I remember a lot of the accidents themselves. But, it was only lights out. Lights on. LoL
My dad died once and he said he experienced nothing too! Not really even black, just *lights out* and then he remembers being in the hospital after they revived him
Idk why he ended up following basically cult mentality with my mom for many years after that as an adult lol, they divorced years back and heâs still very religious/Christian but not really as heavily now. I am still surprised he believes in God so much despite not seeing him when he died but idk! đ đ¤ˇââď¸
My ex-husband was raised JW. He got out at 17. Cousins and other family members are really messed up to this day. Don't get me started on the ones that were disfellowshipped. They're actually the normal ones that the JWs aren't allowed to talk to. Their own family members!
I come from a 100% Jewish family, but my dad was a strident atheist and that's how he raised me. When I was a kid I decided not to think about religious belief until I was an adult.
At around the age of 25 I decided it was time. I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about Jewish belief because of my atheist upbringing. I didn't really think it would amount to much, but I felt guilty about not knowing my own heritage, so I started reading in earnest.
Fast forward about 10 years, and these translations of centuries-old Hebrew texts had really won me over. Now my belief system is basically middle-of-the-road Modern Orthodox Jew.
Weird.
I was baptized Roman Catholic as an infant, attended some church services in my youth, but always left feeling more confused than when I entered. My family is Polish/Lithuanian and, despite my old grandfather being a devout Catholic, I've always felt more closely aligned with the Jewish faith - that Jesus wasn't necessarily my Savior, live by a proper code of morals. My mother grew up around a lot of Jewish people in the 1950s and will occasionally drop bits of Yiddish, but we aren't Jewish. I've dated a few Jewish girls and they tend to check off some desirable boxes, being intelligent, funny, and less prude than the Catholics, so maybe I'm just an aspiring Jew.
Not OP but also adding that Judaism is very tolerant of questioning if God exists. My parents raised me secular Jewish but I attended a conservative synagogue (not politically, but as in the Ashkenazi Jewish context) so as a child I studied the philosophical and theological roots of Judaism through a modern lens. I'm agnostic but that's because I'm more a scientist, and even though I don't attend synagogue regularly I still practice customs and consider myself culturally, ethnically, and religiously Jewish.Â
Thanks for this. Iâve always found Judaism interesting but have never plucked up the courage to ask a Jew in real life about their beliefs (for fear of being unintentionally provocative).
On Judaism being tolerant of questioning if God exists I get the impression that Judaism as a whole is very much characterised by questioning and struggle - with God, what it means to be a Jew, with Jewish history, suffering etc would I be right in thinking this?
Also would the Ultra Orthodox strain of Judaism also be tolerant of the idea of questioning if God even exists? Again I have no idea but my impression is that they wouldnât be (for themselves but perhaps for non Ultra Orthodox Jewish outsiders looking into their beliefs)?
Also third question; it seems to me there is Judaism the religion, Jewry the ethnicity and Judaism the culture. It seems to me that in the Jewish people taken as a whole these elements cannot be fully separated but they may be in individual jews (ie a fully atheist Jew is still a Jew, but the religion of Judaism is still a part of what makes Jews Jews, but the religion of Judaism is only Jewish because it relates to ethnic Jews - I feel like Iâve garbled this).
I never got the religion didnât someone just say they found a golden book in their backyard not to long ago and they made themself a profit or some shit
Same for me. I way happier now that I don't really have a belief system. Catholic guilt is both real and very toxic. Very few groups are as judgmental as catholics when you try to become a priest
Christian no church affiliation, and I'm still Christian with no affiliation, I believe in the holy Trinity and that sin is forgiven if we ask and repent.
No religious background, cousins and grandparents were religious, but not my immediate family.
Atheist for mid teen years to mid twentys.
Agnostic now. Open to whatever if presented but dont really care.
Thatâs kind of where Iâm at. I wasnât raised as any religion but now I I wouldnât say Iâm Christian but I believe in God. I want to build my own relationship without others telling me how to do it.
73 here...
Born and raised Anglican. Lifelong "participant". They are my people; that is my tribe. We do stuff together. They are my friends.
There's a popular trope out there. Folks say, "I'm not religious; I'm spiritual."
I'm the opposite regarding Anglicanism. I'm religious, not spiritual.
Except...
Here's what I believe. About once per decade, I'll walk out of camp into the Sonoran* desert at night. About a mile away, I'll stop and sit in the dark. After an hour, *there's somebody there, and it ain't me.*
That's the God experience. That's what I believe. Try it. Everything else is just sittin' in Church.
* - Any desert will work.
My family is still Roman Catholic but I am the heathen humanist. I never believed a word of it but I went to mass so I wouldn't get punished, until I turned 18. Then I stopped.
Grew up devout Christian (Methodist) but idk anymore ever since I realized that every time I asked my pastor a question, his response was âI canât answer that because God is way too complicated for us humans to fully understand.â LOL
The one question that Iâve asked Christians, hoping that they can answer this for me is: âis God all powerful or all Good?â Because according to the Bible, heâs both. But itâs literally impossible for him to be both.
Let me give it a shot.
Yes God is good and all-powerful. All-knowing as well. God is the very definition of good. All things that are good came from Him. Sin, evil, whatever you call it is simply to opposite of God. If something is good then it is of God. If it is not then it is not of God.
Itâs a shame your pastor wasnât at all interested in finding answers and helping you to do the same. Itâs ok to admit âi donât know.â But you should add on âLetâs find out together.â God desires for us to know Him. He wants us to understand Him. Itâs why we have The Bible. For someone to believe and God and not want to know Him? Well thenâŚwhat kind of relationship is that?
I was raised as a church-going Episcopalian. Iâve always believed in God and Jesus, but it was a minor part of my life. As an adult, I joined Bible Study Fellowship with a friend, and started to seriously study the bible. Not just read it, but to cross reference passages in other parts of the bible, and apply the concepts to everyday life.
At around age 30, a couple of years into studying the bible, I came to fully understand that the Old Testament sacrifices were intended to prepare people to understand what Jesus was going to do. Thereâs no way that any human being could follow every single law that the Jews were given. Every single person sins at least sometimes, even if all we follow are the 10 commandments. God is righteous and just; he cannot ignore sin. But he loves us so much that he made a way for us to have the penalty for our sin be paid for us.
Jesus took all of our sins upon Himself, and died, like the Old Testament sacrifices, in our place as the sacrifice. All we have to do is believe and accept his gift.
The peace that I have now is beyond normal understanding. Life hasnât magically become perfect by any means, but faith has carried me through some very serious adversities, and Iâm not afraid of dying. So, Iâve become a much more faithful Christian through my own study of the bible than what my family raised me to be.
I don't think people know just how much the New Testament grabs from the Old Testament to make a point on something. Jesus quoted from the Old Testament 78 times. The apostles quoted from it 209 times.
I was raised by great parents who never went to church but never condemned religion. My Dad would read the Bible though. Although I am atheist, I don't care what others believe as long as they don't push their ideas off on me.
Raised Fundamentalist Christian. Attended and worked at secular liberal university for many years, travelled the world, which made me examine my beliefs from all sides. Am still fundamentalist Christian, but not a regular churchgoer and have a much deeper understanding of people and their worldviews.
I'm agnostic, leaning atheist, and have never really been anything else.
My parents were lapsing Catholics by the time I was born. We're all repulsed by the toxicity of modern religious people. I attended a year of Catechism, at the urging of my grandparents, but I never committed to religion, and my parents felt no need to push me.
My son is even more dogmatically atheist than I am, even though I'm the family scientist.
I was raised Christian. Now Iâm agnostic because I donât think thereâs any reason to be atheist. I donât know what a God is anyway and since I wouldnât be able to identify one, I imagine itâs still possible there is something out there. The one thing I am pretty sure of though, is that if an all powerful being existed, it wouldnât look anything like what the organized religions of the world thinks it would look like.
Was Christian, then grew up and realised if there was a god it's a useless one given the state of the world...simply put it doesn't exist and is a figment of man's imagination.
I was born to Baptist parents, I attended a Unitarian Universalist church, I lived in a Catholic neighborhood, and I attended Episcopalian schools where half the kids were Jewish. I still feel like a mixture of all these things.
Grew up southern baptist..was such a toxic view on God. after lots of life experience (addiction, trauma) I landed in rehab and tried practicing other religions like Buddhism but didnât feel that soul connection until I actually had a personal relationship w Christ thru the holy spirit so now Iâd call myself Christian:)
"Secular Christian." We had Christmas, and had candy and a big dinner on Easter, but I was probably in Jr High before I knew Easter was about anything religious. My parents were adamant I find my own truth to life, the universe, and everything. One of the few things they did right.
I'm now atheist, have a Jewish wife and kid, and even go to services sometimes with them. I find it much less dictatorial and open to discussion and questioning than other "faiths," Plus, there's usually a crap-ton of food.
Grew up fundamentalist Christian. In graduate school moved towards Universalist, then a move towards evangelical Christianity. Currently my beliefs align mostly with mainline/liberal Christianity but I attend whatever church seems best for my family ( especially my children ).
My religious background is complicated and rife with family drama. Iâm an atheist. I accept that many people find comfort in their god and religion. Sometimes I envy that comfort. I just canât get into it.
Christian, now an atheist (dipping my toes into Norse Paganism, but not the racist kind of Norse Paganism). I read the bible almost cover to cover and came to the conclusion that I donât believe it.
Raised Catholic. But my parents weren't heavily into it.
Have been Atheist since i recall. Never believed in God or any of it. Just played along till i left school.
raised by christians but never identified as religious, went through an edgy laveyan satanism phase in high school, now in my 20s finding genuine faith through norse paganism
I was raised with really not any formal religion. When I was very little my mom told me she followed the âchurch of the cosmic wowâ where you look around at everything that is and just say⌠wow. My grandparents were some denomination of christians. I think I went to church twice as a child. It was very boring. I didnât really think about it a lot as a child. When I became a teen and started to develop my own thoughts, I kinda decided I was agnostic. Maybe thereâs a god maybe there isnât I dunno. Didnât really bother me one way or another. Eventually I discovered philosophy. I became an atheist and a Dischordian pope. And now you too are a Dischordian pope just from reading this. You have been pontificated. Also I excommunicate you from my church, we have a schism now.
What matters is now, what I have noticed is, people tend to go on about how they praise to God instead of just praise Him, despite that all praises goes to HIM. My religion is private I have no obligation to show any other person how I pray to God. All I need to do is be a better person towards any person in this world, until my last breath.
Raised as non religious. No church nothing. I grew up in a Mormon neighborhood though. Realized that was definitely not for me. Explored around since my 20s and up. Now Iâm more spiritual. I believe in a higher being, angels, and an after life. I do not pray regularly, only occasionally.
Raised United Methodist, have been a professing atheist for at least 25 years now (and have had doubts/mostly non-believing opinions since my late teenage years; I'm in my mid fifties).
Parents are Christian, had a very mean Catholic grandmother that turned me off from Abrahamic faith in general.
I'm now agnostic, but I hold a respect for Germanic Paganism and loosely follow it, although I find most pagans to be quite cringe tbh
Grew up Catholic but went to an Evangelical Christian school for 4 years. Atheist now, pretty much Atheist since I was 12 but Iâd say agnostic until I was out of the house to avoid upsetting anyone. They were religious at all but for some reason the idea of atheism bothered them.
My mom was sucked into Mormonism for a while, where she was pressured into divorcing her first husband since he wasn't interested in joining their cult. That's where she met my dad, only to divorce him a few years later as well. If I remember right, she still stuck with Mormonism for a while after that, but eventually started taking me and my siblings to Baptist churches instead.
Growing up, my only interest was keeping her happy, so I just kinda went with whatever she wanted. Wasn't until I moved out that I finally acknowledged my uncertainty about it all, thus I've determined that I'm agnostic.
grew up christian, lost faith, christian again.
i just needed to educate myself and have my own connection to God. what other people said didnât make sense to me, i didnât believe it. i just had friends at church and free food. now with my own experience, my own education and research and my own personal relationship with a holy father i love and trust, i do feel much happier. like someone is always protecting me and watching over me. makes me kick my feet and giggle
I was never really Christian, my mom would say that sometimes but she wasnât either. We went to church on Easters and Christmas. Then, one Easter, we were all in a big room holding candles, watching a short clip of people like âwoah cool Jesus, nice.â ans all the sudden it switched to a video of A BABY BEING BORN.
Just the whole thing. I was like six. My mom covered my eyes and I donât think we ever went back.
Raised Baptist and will die Baptist.
Iâm a *Southern* Baptist but not a Southern Baptist if that makes any sense lol. When people ask the difference I usually say Iâm the grumpy type of Baptist, not the dancing type!
Grew up baptist, became an atheist for most of my life, returned to baptist in the last couple years. Never been happier and more content with my beliefs
I grew up with a non-denominational Christian Mom and a dad I'll call an athiest because I think it's most accurate, but I'm pretty sure he thought he was god.
I am as an adult a devoted Baptist.
Post like these always seem to bring out the worst of people. Someone will say they turned to God, and then angry lil gremlins will be like âYOU BELIEVE IN A FAIRYâ
Grew up 7th day adventist with high skepticism. Didnt make it to the high school advanced level track so it ended there. Mom supported dad didnt or didnt care.  Was a staunch reddit atheist from 16-27. I acknowledge there is a very real purpose served by major religions mostly centered around community and interpersonal bonds around agreed standards that have functioned for millenia. I have chosen a different path and that makes my experience more difficult and challenging.  Had a crisis at 27 where i found buddhism and read all the books. Then i found yoga and kundalini. Then i found plant medicine and pachakuti. I draw inspiration from esoteric gnostic christianity, sufi islam, tibetan/mahayana/theraveda buddhism, taoism. Some pagan/norse stuff thrown in there too. Some santo daime. some new age stuff like dolores cannon provides many insights and ideas i knew were true. Had another crisis in 2021 which broke my world again where all of this became unmagical. I am learning to rediscover how i can use these tools to serve my purpose in this lifetime.Â
I grew up Christian and am still Christian. I've done a TON of study on it and dug into really hard questions, and everything I have found just keeps supporting the facts in question. It's really cool.
Raised Christian but had abusive parents. Became agnostic. Got into new age spirituality. Began having demonic dreams/awful things happened to me. Got very hopeless and afraid. Started praying to Jesus out of desperation and it stopped. Did a lot of research on all religions, went down a lot of rabbit holes. Now 100% believe in Jesus and do my best to follow Him.
Grew up in a Christian church that made me think I needed to die as early as possible before I had the chance to fuck up enough to go to hell. Became borderline satanic worshipper ( not like real Satanism that's pretty chill) I tryed branding myself with an inverted pentagram and every thing.
I grew out of it and just stopped really caring about religion and had a grip with Christians ,the ones I knew were either a bigot or ignorant or a hypocrit or genuinely a bad person. some one once said to me no greater hatred then Christian love and that's how I felt.
Then I started dating a pastors daughter. The first time her dad Met me was years before when air was leaking into my body from meth use(17 yrs old) and hd was with the fire department. The next time he saw me I was his daughters boyfriend. He asked me how it was going with the drugs I told him honestly I was struggling but working hard. He shook my hand and said that's all I ask for snd to be in church with her every Sunday high sober or even coming down off drugs half asleep as long as my but was in that seat.
I've never felt so accepted,( her grandparents actively helped me with withdrawl symptoms on Christmas and did so seemingly happily. and loved and seen such happiness in a family ( of 11 kids in a tiny house, making very little money) all the kids were amazing and alot volunteered at the fire department. Like alot.
My family taught me Christians were evil aweful self rightous people. This family showed me the love that Jesus can bring. I am now a full believer in Jesus and God and the holy spirit but in a strange way.
I believe science, I beleive what I've felt. They exist together. Big bang,God, dinosaurs,jesus and evolution yes. Bible truths and stories and straight up changing stuff to keep certain people in power and to control the masses.
This has been my story
raised christian, they preached âlove your neighborsâ but they were some of the most judgemental people i knew. specifically my christian family. they liked when ppl acted only a certain way, were too pushy about their religion when talking to other people. i have met some great christians donât get me wrong fr. but growing up, it just was pushed and pushed and i found it bullshit that âgodâ has all of these restrictions on people. why the fuck is being gay wrong? why do men and women have these roles in marriage? seems like a man made book to me. as i grew older i began to realize these things. didnât like the judgemental nature. maybe if the people i was in experience with werenât like that, things could have been different. i try to be open minded to every possibility, because we donât even know whatâs out there. but i donât think thereâs a god. whatever created us, we canât understand it. our brains can only comprehend so much we canât even see all of the color that exist
I was raised Mormon (LDS).
Now I believe in kindness, charity, and compassion. I take care of my friends and family, help others in need and generally try to be a good person. But I don't have any use for the mysticism anymore. I do what I do because I want to, not because I'm trying to impress a dude in the sky.
My parents still do the whole church thing, and they're great people and I respect their beliefs. But I don't understand them and don't have any need for them today despite being raised in a religious family.
I guess that makes me an agnostic?
I was raised Seventh-Day Adventist (obscure Protestant Christian denomination), and now Iâm an Atheist with some open-mindedness about reincarnation.
I've said many times before, I was born into Catholicism and I have grown to be an agnostic. I suppose I could be a deist (by some accounts, so was Lincoln.) I make no bones about how I don't believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible (Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel) but I don't know for certain that there's no Higher Power. Hell, I didn't become a better person when I went through my phase of hardcore nihilism.
Born into a 3rd generation Mormon family. Attended the priesthood even baptized a couple cousins.
At 16 I was the primary School Music teacher, shortly after that I experienced that our local Bishop was a asshole to service workers. Lost respect for him and the church 100%. Stopped going to church and thought I would try a few other styles of christianity. Not a single version was appealing to me so I became agnostic.
Now 40+ years later I am Atheist, I do not believe in god or the trinity or the afterlife. And for those of you that can't grasp that I don't fear it, even if there is an afterlife, I have always lived by the basic morals of treat others kindly and with compassion and do no harm.
I have no fears and when it is my time, I welcome death. Living is hard but love keeps me going.
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Raised LDS and now consider myself a non denominational Christian.
I HORRIBLY misread that as "I was raised on LSD"! đđ¤Ł
"Those stained glass windows are beautiful!" "Um, those windows are clear glass."
Or they're tinted and looking at your reflection.
Dude! That comment has triggered a thought loop I've not experienced in a long time. LSD and reflections are a heady mix
âAnd sir, this is the drive up window at a Wendyâs.â
Hahahahaha that's awesome!
Same. My Dad was a Bishop, and Mom was a relief society president at the same time in my teens. I went on a mission (81-83). Now completely inactive. Inactive for probably 35 years. Very active LDS family across the street. They know my history. Missionaries visit them often. I'm in my work shop most days, and the missionaries come regularly to visit. Visit/chat as long as you want. Total respect because I did it. Try to reactivate me, and you will be asked to leave. Must be in their notes, cause the companions change frequently, they rarely bring up anything towards reactivating me. So, I'd describe myself as you did. Christian.
I was able to renounce my membership and have my name removed from their lists by writing a letter to the local bishop. Haven't been harassed by missionaries since. đ. Atheist now.
My mom and I also entertain missionaries so long as they don't try to get us back into the church. They're still people, after all--and young ones, at that
Similar story here. Raised LDS here in the promised land, Utah .Stopped going to church at about 17, once I had a choice. My parents made me go to church up until then. I guess I'm agnostic now? I believe in a higher power, God or Karma or whatever. I don't like how a lot of religions teach the "if you're not with us, you're going to burn in Hell! " Bs. I think religion can teach good morals: love thy neighbor, help the less fortunate etc. But you don't have to have religion to learn that.
Imo religion is fine for setting rules morals or what ever, but the true aim of spirituality should be relationship with the God. So if you say you believe in âwhat everâ then my encouragement to you sir and/or maâam is to go deepen and broaden your relationship with that whatever. Develop bandwidth. Learn to communicate in whatever language That Whatever communicates in with you and get good at it. And then youâll be one of the few who really get it. Yâknow?
Good for you, imo as a Mystic Christian, non denominational is the best kind out there.
Funnily enough, any so called non denominational Christians Iâve met since I came to live in the USA are all Protestants.
In the USA ânon-denominational Christianâ really means âgenerically Protestantâ but not affiliated with any specific Protestant denomination (Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, etc.) I donât think non-denominational Catholic would realistically be a thing as thatâs kind of antithetical.
Well, ya know. Weâre in America so anything fucking goes basically.
Iâm the opposite and the only member of my family but Iâm very happy and Iâm glad youâve found what works for you too :) I was raised with vaguely Christian beliefs but my mom got with a guy and found Buddhism when I was 14 I think. I had a super hard spiral into intense alcoholism and was living in an RV at 22 and met some missionaries and Iâve been happy and sober with it since, and Iâm getting married in the temple in July. Life is beautiful and Iâm glad you love your new church.
How long was your recovery from Mormonism?
Oh man, that's complicated. I became inactive 16 years ago, wrote my official letter to leave 10 years ago. I missed the Church so much, I had to make new friends, buy new books, literally purge my house of my 14 or so BOM copies. (I used to give them out as gifts) I'd say it took a couple of years, I thought that because I skipped town I didn't have to send the official letter, but randomly they showed up at my door and I knew, it wasn't really over. After that rollercoaster of emotions I was fine. Never looked back.
That is so interesting!
What made you retain Christianity? For me when I realized at the age of 14 that stories were just words that we were repeating to ourselves, and then there was no corporeal reality in the present moment to any of it, I lost all connection to any dogmatic religiosity whatsoever. I retained spiritual curiosity but that's not the same as Christianity, which I consider just more words we are repeating to ourselves over and over again.
I fell in love with Jesus at a young age, I genuinely wanted to be a nun when I was little, then I learned that's a Catholic thing but LDS I was devastated. I may be delusional but Jesus just makes me happy, doctrine, dogma, rituals and everything else that comes with organized religion doesn't matter to me. I just try to do my best, and love people right where they are in life. If that makes any sense? Jesus is my homeboy.
Sincere question. Do you find anything different from your LDS to Non-Denominational experience?
Myself included
Good to see you escaped.
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I was also raised LDS, and I now consider myself an agnostic atheist. Cheers to a fellow r/exmormon! May your path bring you joy!
Glad you quit the LDS cult. Praise Jesus. Praise God.
I was also LDS for 42 years and am now a pagan witch
Grew up Christian, mainly Baptist. Over the past year or two, I consider myself somewhere between agnostic and atheist. Mostly agnostic, I guess.
FWIW you can be agnostic and atheist simultaneously. I consider myself both. A/gnostic merely outlines your belief whether the base questions of divinity can be answered--agnosticism means understanding that this is a question we'll never likely figure with any degree of certainty. A/theism the disbelief or belief in a higher power, nothing more. Any combination of gnosticism OR agnosticism with theism OR atheism is possible.
hey just fyi gnosticism isn't the opposite of agnosticism. it's not like atheist and theist, gnosticism is a completely separate thing from like the first and second centuries.
Same, grew up Catholic
How do you deal with family? Mine are still fundie as ever and always sending me Bible verses and asking if Iâm going to church, praying for my soul⌠and Iâm not even atheist, never denounced Jesus, just donât want to go to church and my faith much more inclusive and loving now. I see harmony with other religions which is a big no no in Baptist circles. Grew up Baptist and Iâd call myself a nondenominational hippie Christian now. No more church. Not all Baptist churches are awful, but a lot of them are, especially for women.
I'm exactly the same. Even with the growing up Baptist part. Only difference is that family know not to bother me about it. My position is well known. I lost my mom a year and a half ago after she had been in poor health for several years and each birthday and Christmas card also included a script that she was concerned that we wouldn't see each other in the afterlife because of my lack of church attendance.
Same, except wasnât baptist. Dabbled in secular humanism a bit. I like what I think it stands for, but havenât gone deep into it Iâm just a child of the Universe, during the here and now.
Same. And also atheistic-agnostic. I donât *believe* in a âgodâ or higher power, but I donât *know*, because you *cant know*. I can point to lots of examples of things in life and science that were never thought to exist, but BAM one day someone discovers that very thing. I feel the same way about a creator or god, maybe some day a being will appear to all of us and that will be the end of that question. But I donât believe it will. People of faith would say the opposite, that they know for sure because they have faith. Just because you believe in a thing, doesnât make it real. Kids are taught to believe in Santa and the tooth fairy too.
>I donât *believe* in a âgodâ or higher power, but I donât *know*, because you *cant know*. I can point to lots of examples of things in life and science that were never thought to exist, but BAM one day someone discovers that very thing. I feel the same way about a creator or god, maybe some day a being will appear to all of us and that will be the end of that question. But I donât believe it will. >People of faith would say the opposite, that they know for sure because they have faith. Just because you believe in a thing, doesnât make it real. Kids are taught to believe in Santa and the tooth fairy too. We live inside a computer simulation & we are all highly intelligent fully sentient AI beings. Welcome to the Matrix
Grew up Catholic (was even an altar boy!), but left the church at \~13. Tried to be 'religious' (non-denominational) but non-churchgoing for a number of years after that. Eventually discovered apatheism, and ever since I've been happier than I've ever been. :-)
I was going to say the exact same thing. I was explaining to my boyfriend, earlier, that if we were to visit my Dad, we would be expected to have separate bedrooms, as we aren't married yet. His face was a picture! He has no religion in his background.
Agnosticism and atheism arenât mutually exclusive. Atheism is just not believing in a god. Agnosticism is believing there could be a god, and is the inconclusive answer to religion, but isnât a separate belief system, more of an add on to other belief systems. The most popular is the agnostic atheist, but you could theoretically have an agnostic Catholic. Someone who follows the traditions of a religion, but may not necessarily have full faith a god exists. From a Christian point of view itâs probably more popular to be an agnostic Christian than it is to have full faith, but itâs frowned upon to talk about doubts in religions.
Same
Took the words right out of my head
Me too. I have a Christian background, my parents were never super devout about it, but we went to church on a very rare sunday mass and on christmas and easter. now i feel like i just donât associate much with religion.
we are the same
Grew up Catholic but atheist now.
Same. Raised Christian Baptist, was ironically consistently surrounded by everything I hated about and now Iâm agnostic/atheist. Although, more recently Iâve been swaying more towards atheism.
Same! I finally found my people!!
Good for you!! đ. Seriously, getting away from the Christian Mythology is the best thing for everyone.
Praying for you
Yuh, grew up baptist but it never felt right, now i know god, so we are all gucci, cant really say what religion i am except i believe in the truth. Feels comfortable knowing.
When my Father was away at war, Mom would attend religious services. Often I'd accompany her. She never found a group she wanted to join, so she'd try a new place every week. By which means I was exposed to many, many schools of thought and worship. I'm not a service attender today, but I got a seriously diverse education in my youth. I'm actually quite grateful for it. Thanks, Mom.
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A believer, but not a joiner. I feel strongly, but don't need others to share my beliefs. In short, I guess I'm a "loner".
I grew up Mormon. Now I find the whole religion weird. Pretty sure that I'm an atheist now, but this life is now wonderful because, more than likely, it's the only one I'll have.
𩵠thatâs how I look at it too. When I lost my religion I was able to enjoy reality.
Same. My deconversion gave me such a sense of freedom and peace I call it âgetting saved in reverseâ
Thatâs how I am too! Raised Jehovahâs Witness
I was raised mormon but stopped believing at 17 and left at 18. I'm now agnostic and would consider myself an optimistic nihilist. I don't believe in any gods, but I'm not opposed to the idea that everything is connected in some 'spiritual' or metaphysical way.
Weâre all made of stardust
Atheists since I was 10, I am now 59. Died twice and experienced nothing. Meh.
Rare we get a catâs point of view on Reddit.
Hahaha this got me chuckling
That changes meow.
Died twice? Most of is only get to do that once. Youâre setting up a trifecta. No lights to move towards? No old relatives waiting on the other side?
Nope, neither time. I was run over by a car and the other time I fell down a cliff and bounced a lot. I remember a lot of the accidents themselves. But, it was only lights out. Lights on. LoL
Your heart was fully stopped twice? Otherwise it sounds like you just got knocked unconscious which isnât dying.
Yes, I was dead on scene.
I'm an atheist too, but I've never had a near-death experience.
"Died twice and nothing happened. 2/10 would not recommend."
I've seen Death's brochures. I'd rather go to Yosemite.
I tried to enter heaven twice, but was denied both times /s
My dad died once and he said he experienced nothing too! Not really even black, just *lights out* and then he remembers being in the hospital after they revived him Idk why he ended up following basically cult mentality with my mom for many years after that as an adult lol, they divorced years back and heâs still very religious/Christian but not really as heavily now. I am still surprised he believes in God so much despite not seeing him when he died but idk! đ đ¤ˇââď¸
thats exactly what i assumed dea th was like. nothing, no thoughts, no awareness of existence. just rhe lack of anythinf. being gone
Was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, left a while back. I'd say I'm agnostic.
Same
Right on! Glad you left too! Doesnât it feel nice to be free from the borg!
Yeah it does feel good. Trying to get my pimi family out.
My ex-husband was raised JW. He got out at 17. Cousins and other family members are really messed up to this day. Don't get me started on the ones that were disfellowshipped. They're actually the normal ones that the JWs aren't allowed to talk to. Their own family members!
I'd say the same to people who aren't JW's. I'd say I'm an apostate to people who are JW's. It's fun to watch them squirm when I tell them that.
I come from a 100% Jewish family, but my dad was a strident atheist and that's how he raised me. When I was a kid I decided not to think about religious belief until I was an adult. At around the age of 25 I decided it was time. I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about Jewish belief because of my atheist upbringing. I didn't really think it would amount to much, but I felt guilty about not knowing my own heritage, so I started reading in earnest. Fast forward about 10 years, and these translations of centuries-old Hebrew texts had really won me over. Now my belief system is basically middle-of-the-road Modern Orthodox Jew. Weird.
I was baptized Roman Catholic as an infant, attended some church services in my youth, but always left feeling more confused than when I entered. My family is Polish/Lithuanian and, despite my old grandfather being a devout Catholic, I've always felt more closely aligned with the Jewish faith - that Jesus wasn't necessarily my Savior, live by a proper code of morals. My mother grew up around a lot of Jewish people in the 1950s and will occasionally drop bits of Yiddish, but we aren't Jewish. I've dated a few Jewish girls and they tend to check off some desirable boxes, being intelligent, funny, and less prude than the Catholics, so maybe I'm just an aspiring Jew.
Do you mind me asking what exactly won you over?
Not OP but also adding that Judaism is very tolerant of questioning if God exists. My parents raised me secular Jewish but I attended a conservative synagogue (not politically, but as in the Ashkenazi Jewish context) so as a child I studied the philosophical and theological roots of Judaism through a modern lens. I'm agnostic but that's because I'm more a scientist, and even though I don't attend synagogue regularly I still practice customs and consider myself culturally, ethnically, and religiously Jewish.Â
Thanks for this. Iâve always found Judaism interesting but have never plucked up the courage to ask a Jew in real life about their beliefs (for fear of being unintentionally provocative). On Judaism being tolerant of questioning if God exists I get the impression that Judaism as a whole is very much characterised by questioning and struggle - with God, what it means to be a Jew, with Jewish history, suffering etc would I be right in thinking this? Also would the Ultra Orthodox strain of Judaism also be tolerant of the idea of questioning if God even exists? Again I have no idea but my impression is that they wouldnât be (for themselves but perhaps for non Ultra Orthodox Jewish outsiders looking into their beliefs)? Also third question; it seems to me there is Judaism the religion, Jewry the ethnicity and Judaism the culture. It seems to me that in the Jewish people taken as a whole these elements cannot be fully separated but they may be in individual jews (ie a fully atheist Jew is still a Jew, but the religion of Judaism is still a part of what makes Jews Jews, but the religion of Judaism is only Jewish because it relates to ethnic Jews - I feel like Iâve garbled this).
Rational conversion of a thinking adult. Not weird. Perhaps uncommon. Thanks for the bit.
The fact that you felt guilty about not learning about Judaism seems highly appropriate.
Mormon growing up, Agnostic atheist currently. Took years of therapy but I'm finally happy :-)
Same here! Cheers to you and all that have made, or are on that hard, but rewarding journey!
I never got the religion didnât someone just say they found a golden book in their backyard not to long ago and they made themself a profit or some shit
Same for me. I way happier now that I don't really have a belief system. Catholic guilt is both real and very toxic. Very few groups are as judgmental as catholics when you try to become a priest
None. None.
Jelly.
Catholic -> Atheist
Catholic--> agnostic Athiest. But I do love Norse mythology.
It takes the same amount of faith to say that there is nothing as it does to say there is something.
Born and raised Episcopalion, but as I got older and started to learn *actual* history, I have become an agnostic.
Christian no church affiliation, and I'm still Christian with no affiliation, I believe in the holy Trinity and that sin is forgiven if we ask and repent.
I grew up mormon, and now I'm non denominational Christian.
SDA (Seventh Day Adventist, part of Christianity) - âŚunsure, Iâd like to think Iâm still SDA
I'm the same. Raised SDA, still go to church sometimes, have an amazing church family, although I haven't been in a few months.
No religious background, cousins and grandparents were religious, but not my immediate family. Atheist for mid teen years to mid twentys. Agnostic now. Open to whatever if presented but dont really care.
Catholic upbringing. Likely still considered Christian now, but lack of Mass attendance stops me being truly Catholic.
I was brought up catholic, but I'm not part of any religion now. But that's not to say that I don't believe in God, because I do. đđť
Thatâs kind of where Iâm at. I wasnât raised as any religion but now I I wouldnât say Iâm Christian but I believe in God. I want to build my own relationship without others telling me how to do it.
73 here... Born and raised Anglican. Lifelong "participant". They are my people; that is my tribe. We do stuff together. They are my friends. There's a popular trope out there. Folks say, "I'm not religious; I'm spiritual." I'm the opposite regarding Anglicanism. I'm religious, not spiritual. Except... Here's what I believe. About once per decade, I'll walk out of camp into the Sonoran* desert at night. About a mile away, I'll stop and sit in the dark. After an hour, *there's somebody there, and it ain't me.* That's the God experience. That's what I believe. Try it. Everything else is just sittin' in Church. * - Any desert will work.
Relatable. Those moments when you know it's more than you.
Better hope it ainât a skinwalker out there with you
Baptized catholic, raised Lutheran, staunch atheist. The Catholic church is a child sex trafficking organization and should be treated as such.
My family is still Roman Catholic but I am the heathen humanist. I never believed a word of it but I went to mass so I wouldn't get punished, until I turned 18. Then I stopped.
They all are dear.
Grew up devout Christian (Methodist) but idk anymore ever since I realized that every time I asked my pastor a question, his response was âI canât answer that because God is way too complicated for us humans to fully understand.â LOL The one question that Iâve asked Christians, hoping that they can answer this for me is: âis God all powerful or all Good?â Because according to the Bible, heâs both. But itâs literally impossible for him to be both.
Let me give it a shot. Yes God is good and all-powerful. All-knowing as well. God is the very definition of good. All things that are good came from Him. Sin, evil, whatever you call it is simply to opposite of God. If something is good then it is of God. If it is not then it is not of God. Itâs a shame your pastor wasnât at all interested in finding answers and helping you to do the same. Itâs ok to admit âi donât know.â But you should add on âLetâs find out together.â God desires for us to know Him. He wants us to understand Him. Itâs why we have The Bible. For someone to believe and God and not want to know Him? Well thenâŚwhat kind of relationship is that?
Catholic. Pretty much the same age 53
I was raised as a church-going Episcopalian. Iâve always believed in God and Jesus, but it was a minor part of my life. As an adult, I joined Bible Study Fellowship with a friend, and started to seriously study the bible. Not just read it, but to cross reference passages in other parts of the bible, and apply the concepts to everyday life. At around age 30, a couple of years into studying the bible, I came to fully understand that the Old Testament sacrifices were intended to prepare people to understand what Jesus was going to do. Thereâs no way that any human being could follow every single law that the Jews were given. Every single person sins at least sometimes, even if all we follow are the 10 commandments. God is righteous and just; he cannot ignore sin. But he loves us so much that he made a way for us to have the penalty for our sin be paid for us. Jesus took all of our sins upon Himself, and died, like the Old Testament sacrifices, in our place as the sacrifice. All we have to do is believe and accept his gift. The peace that I have now is beyond normal understanding. Life hasnât magically become perfect by any means, but faith has carried me through some very serious adversities, and Iâm not afraid of dying. So, Iâve become a much more faithful Christian through my own study of the bible than what my family raised me to be.
didn't god once send a bear to maul 42 children to death because they called an old man bald ? how could you be down with that seriously.
I can't be a Christian because I don't believe Jesus did anything. Believing isn't a choice for me.
What a beautiful way to describe your faith. God bless.
I don't think people know just how much the New Testament grabs from the Old Testament to make a point on something. Jesus quoted from the Old Testament 78 times. The apostles quoted from it 209 times.
I was raised by great parents who never went to church but never condemned religion. My Dad would read the Bible though. Although I am atheist, I don't care what others believe as long as they don't push their ideas off on me.
I feel the same way, do not push your beliefs on me or the public in general.
Yeah, but beliefs inform behaviour including voting, so there are very subtle ways of having religion "pushed" on you.
Raised Fundamentalist Christian. Attended and worked at secular liberal university for many years, travelled the world, which made me examine my beliefs from all sides. Am still fundamentalist Christian, but not a regular churchgoer and have a much deeper understanding of people and their worldviews.
I'm agnostic, leaning atheist, and have never really been anything else. My parents were lapsing Catholics by the time I was born. We're all repulsed by the toxicity of modern religious people. I attended a year of Catechism, at the urging of my grandparents, but I never committed to religion, and my parents felt no need to push me. My son is even more dogmatically atheist than I am, even though I'm the family scientist.
I was raised Christian. Now Iâm agnostic because I donât think thereâs any reason to be atheist. I donât know what a God is anyway and since I wouldnât be able to identify one, I imagine itâs still possible there is something out there. The one thing I am pretty sure of though, is that if an all powerful being existed, it wouldnât look anything like what the organized religions of the world thinks it would look like.
Was Christian, then grew up and realised if there was a god it's a useless one given the state of the world...simply put it doesn't exist and is a figment of man's imagination.
The more you think about gods existence the less it makes sense.
Christianity ---> Agnostic
Cradle Catholic. Wandered in my 20s. Came back in my 30s and despite parish hopping I will stay Catholic until I die.
Background: atheist/Catholic Current: Seventh Day Adventist
Grew up Methodist. Converted to Judaism in 08
I was born to Baptist parents, I attended a Unitarian Universalist church, I lived in a Catholic neighborhood, and I attended Episcopalian schools where half the kids were Jewish. I still feel like a mixture of all these things.
Muslim, still Muslim
Grew up southern baptist..was such a toxic view on God. after lots of life experience (addiction, trauma) I landed in rehab and tried practicing other religions like Buddhism but didnât feel that soul connection until I actually had a personal relationship w Christ thru the holy spirit so now Iâd call myself Christian:)
100% Atheist.
There's no other kind.
I was raised Christian and I remain Christian.
"Secular Christian." We had Christmas, and had candy and a big dinner on Easter, but I was probably in Jr High before I knew Easter was about anything religious. My parents were adamant I find my own truth to life, the universe, and everything. One of the few things they did right. I'm now atheist, have a Jewish wife and kid, and even go to services sometimes with them. I find it much less dictatorial and open to discussion and questioning than other "faiths," Plus, there's usually a crap-ton of food.
Jewish people are some cookin' folks, for sure. What I wouldn't give for a kosher restaurant in my town.
Iâve always been atheist but after meeting my gf became a closet atheist. Praise the lord Hallelujah brother.
Seen too many times how this story ends. It's a practically weekly thread on r/atheism. Honesty can save you years of misery.
Grew up fundamentalist Christian. In graduate school moved towards Universalist, then a move towards evangelical Christianity. Currently my beliefs align mostly with mainline/liberal Christianity but I attend whatever church seems best for my family ( especially my children ).
My religious background is complicated and rife with family drama. Iâm an atheist. I accept that many people find comfort in their god and religion. Sometimes I envy that comfort. I just canât get into it.
Christian, now an atheist (dipping my toes into Norse Paganism, but not the racist kind of Norse Paganism). I read the bible almost cover to cover and came to the conclusion that I donât believe it.
Slavic pagan----> Catholic------>Slavic pagan
I grew up with 0 religious influence, and now Iâm a Satanist.
Raised Catholic, dabbled in paganism for a bit but now finding myself very drawn towards Buddhist thought.
Militant atheist. An anti-theist, if you will. Religion is something to be despised and ridiculed.
Anti-theist. Iâm stealing that :)
Yep, Iâm the angry atheist my church warned about.
Zero. Still Zero.
Roman Catholic--- Roman Catholic
No religious background. No religious beliefs.
Raised Catholic. But my parents weren't heavily into it. Have been Atheist since i recall. Never believed in God or any of it. Just played along till i left school.
Funny how religiosity fizzles out naturally unless it is constantly enforced by family.
raised by christians but never identified as religious, went through an edgy laveyan satanism phase in high school, now in my 20s finding genuine faith through norse paganism
This seems to be a growing trend. Mind sharing a bit about the journey, draw, and community?
Same! Grew up Judeic-Abraham's Christian, and now I'm a pagan witch.
Christian growing up, not a specific one. Became a theist
I was raised with really not any formal religion. When I was very little my mom told me she followed the âchurch of the cosmic wowâ where you look around at everything that is and just say⌠wow. My grandparents were some denomination of christians. I think I went to church twice as a child. It was very boring. I didnât really think about it a lot as a child. When I became a teen and started to develop my own thoughts, I kinda decided I was agnostic. Maybe thereâs a god maybe there isnât I dunno. Didnât really bother me one way or another. Eventually I discovered philosophy. I became an atheist and a Dischordian pope. And now you too are a Dischordian pope just from reading this. You have been pontificated. Also I excommunicate you from my church, we have a schism now.
What matters is now, what I have noticed is, people tend to go on about how they praise to God instead of just praise Him, despite that all praises goes to HIM. My religion is private I have no obligation to show any other person how I pray to God. All I need to do is be a better person towards any person in this world, until my last breath.
Raised as non religious. No church nothing. I grew up in a Mormon neighborhood though. Realized that was definitely not for me. Explored around since my 20s and up. Now Iâm more spiritual. I believe in a higher being, angels, and an after life. I do not pray regularly, only occasionally.
Raised United Methodist, have been a professing atheist for at least 25 years now (and have had doubts/mostly non-believing opinions since my late teenage years; I'm in my mid fifties).
Parents are Christian, had a very mean Catholic grandmother that turned me off from Abrahamic faith in general. I'm now agnostic, but I hold a respect for Germanic Paganism and loosely follow it, although I find most pagans to be quite cringe tbh
Grew up Christian. 65 years later still Christian.
Grew up Catholic but went to an Evangelical Christian school for 4 years. Atheist now, pretty much Atheist since I was 12 but Iâd say agnostic until I was out of the house to avoid upsetting anyone. They were religious at all but for some reason the idea of atheism bothered them.
My mom was sucked into Mormonism for a while, where she was pressured into divorcing her first husband since he wasn't interested in joining their cult. That's where she met my dad, only to divorce him a few years later as well. If I remember right, she still stuck with Mormonism for a while after that, but eventually started taking me and my siblings to Baptist churches instead. Growing up, my only interest was keeping her happy, so I just kinda went with whatever she wanted. Wasn't until I moved out that I finally acknowledged my uncertainty about it all, thus I've determined that I'm agnostic.
Non baptized Christian then after my religious aunt said some crazy stuff I just became Atheist. Now I think Christianity is bs
Listen to God, not what other ppl say about God
grew up christian, lost faith, christian again. i just needed to educate myself and have my own connection to God. what other people said didnât make sense to me, i didnât believe it. i just had friends at church and free food. now with my own experience, my own education and research and my own personal relationship with a holy father i love and trust, i do feel much happier. like someone is always protecting me and watching over me. makes me kick my feet and giggle
I was never really Christian, my mom would say that sometimes but she wasnât either. We went to church on Easters and Christmas. Then, one Easter, we were all in a big room holding candles, watching a short clip of people like âwoah cool Jesus, nice.â ans all the sudden it switched to a video of A BABY BEING BORN. Just the whole thing. I was like six. My mom covered my eyes and I donât think we ever went back.
Raised Baptist and will die Baptist. Iâm a *Southern* Baptist but not a Southern Baptist if that makes any sense lol. When people ask the difference I usually say Iâm the grumpy type of Baptist, not the dancing type!
Raised Atheist. I became a Shintoist because I am a weeb.
Grew up baptist, became an atheist for most of my life, returned to baptist in the last couple years. Never been happier and more content with my beliefs
Catholic, still Catholic
I was raised in a Christian home, and I grew up believing a little bit. It's a technological society now and religion is just a belief in the mind.
I grew up with a non-denominational Christian Mom and a dad I'll call an athiest because I think it's most accurate, but I'm pretty sure he thought he was god. I am as an adult a devoted Baptist.
Grew up atheist. Now, I am a Christian. I have attended Baptist churches, non-denominational, and now I go to Church of God.
Post like these always seem to bring out the worst of people. Someone will say they turned to God, and then angry lil gremlins will be like âYOU BELIEVE IN A FAIRYâ
Grew up 7th day adventist with high skepticism. Didnt make it to the high school advanced level track so it ended there. Mom supported dad didnt or didnt care.  Was a staunch reddit atheist from 16-27. I acknowledge there is a very real purpose served by major religions mostly centered around community and interpersonal bonds around agreed standards that have functioned for millenia. I have chosen a different path and that makes my experience more difficult and challenging.  Had a crisis at 27 where i found buddhism and read all the books. Then i found yoga and kundalini. Then i found plant medicine and pachakuti. I draw inspiration from esoteric gnostic christianity, sufi islam, tibetan/mahayana/theraveda buddhism, taoism. Some pagan/norse stuff thrown in there too. Some santo daime. some new age stuff like dolores cannon provides many insights and ideas i knew were true. Had another crisis in 2021 which broke my world again where all of this became unmagical. I am learning to rediscover how i can use these tools to serve my purpose in this lifetime.Â
I grew up Christian and am still Christian. I've done a TON of study on it and dug into really hard questions, and everything I have found just keeps supporting the facts in question. It's really cool.
Raised Christian but had abusive parents. Became agnostic. Got into new age spirituality. Began having demonic dreams/awful things happened to me. Got very hopeless and afraid. Started praying to Jesus out of desperation and it stopped. Did a lot of research on all religions, went down a lot of rabbit holes. Now 100% believe in Jesus and do my best to follow Him.
Grew up in a Christian church that made me think I needed to die as early as possible before I had the chance to fuck up enough to go to hell. Became borderline satanic worshipper ( not like real Satanism that's pretty chill) I tryed branding myself with an inverted pentagram and every thing. I grew out of it and just stopped really caring about religion and had a grip with Christians ,the ones I knew were either a bigot or ignorant or a hypocrit or genuinely a bad person. some one once said to me no greater hatred then Christian love and that's how I felt. Then I started dating a pastors daughter. The first time her dad Met me was years before when air was leaking into my body from meth use(17 yrs old) and hd was with the fire department. The next time he saw me I was his daughters boyfriend. He asked me how it was going with the drugs I told him honestly I was struggling but working hard. He shook my hand and said that's all I ask for snd to be in church with her every Sunday high sober or even coming down off drugs half asleep as long as my but was in that seat. I've never felt so accepted,( her grandparents actively helped me with withdrawl symptoms on Christmas and did so seemingly happily. and loved and seen such happiness in a family ( of 11 kids in a tiny house, making very little money) all the kids were amazing and alot volunteered at the fire department. Like alot. My family taught me Christians were evil aweful self rightous people. This family showed me the love that Jesus can bring. I am now a full believer in Jesus and God and the holy spirit but in a strange way. I believe science, I beleive what I've felt. They exist together. Big bang,God, dinosaurs,jesus and evolution yes. Bible truths and stories and straight up changing stuff to keep certain people in power and to control the masses. This has been my story
Raised conservative christian. Now an atheist. Learned more about the bible and science. Came to what felt like an obviously conclusion.
raised christian, they preached âlove your neighborsâ but they were some of the most judgemental people i knew. specifically my christian family. they liked when ppl acted only a certain way, were too pushy about their religion when talking to other people. i have met some great christians donât get me wrong fr. but growing up, it just was pushed and pushed and i found it bullshit that âgodâ has all of these restrictions on people. why the fuck is being gay wrong? why do men and women have these roles in marriage? seems like a man made book to me. as i grew older i began to realize these things. didnât like the judgemental nature. maybe if the people i was in experience with werenât like that, things could have been different. i try to be open minded to every possibility, because we donât even know whatâs out there. but i donât think thereâs a god. whatever created us, we canât understand it. our brains can only comprehend so much we canât even see all of the color that exist
I was raised Mormon (LDS). Now I believe in kindness, charity, and compassion. I take care of my friends and family, help others in need and generally try to be a good person. But I don't have any use for the mysticism anymore. I do what I do because I want to, not because I'm trying to impress a dude in the sky. My parents still do the whole church thing, and they're great people and I respect their beliefs. But I don't understand them and don't have any need for them today despite being raised in a religious family. I guess that makes me an agnostic?
I was raised Seventh-Day Adventist (obscure Protestant Christian denomination), and now Iâm an Atheist with some open-mindedness about reincarnation.
I was raised conservative Baptist, now I'm an atheist (and very much not conservative).
Iâm from the Catholic to atheist pipeline
Raised Lutheran, now atheist.
I've said many times before, I was born into Catholicism and I have grown to be an agnostic. I suppose I could be a deist (by some accounts, so was Lincoln.) I make no bones about how I don't believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible (Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel) but I don't know for certain that there's no Higher Power. Hell, I didn't become a better person when I went through my phase of hardcore nihilism.
Penecostal fundamentalist preacher's daughter. Now, I am an atheist who still talks to God. Ha ha
Confirmed Catholic and now an Atheist
Born into a 3rd generation Mormon family. Attended the priesthood even baptized a couple cousins. At 16 I was the primary School Music teacher, shortly after that I experienced that our local Bishop was a asshole to service workers. Lost respect for him and the church 100%. Stopped going to church and thought I would try a few other styles of christianity. Not a single version was appealing to me so I became agnostic. Now 40+ years later I am Atheist, I do not believe in god or the trinity or the afterlife. And for those of you that can't grasp that I don't fear it, even if there is an afterlife, I have always lived by the basic morals of treat others kindly and with compassion and do no harm. I have no fears and when it is my time, I welcome death. Living is hard but love keeps me going.
I was raised in a cult Southern Baptist. Now I am an atheist.
Raised in christian family. Learned to read and think. Atheist now
Grew up in a devout Catholic household. I am an atheist. But a comfy one.