I grew up in a Christian family which automatically transmitted these things to me without necessarily “forcing” me to do anything, I was even baptized and people all said that we saw God or even a white light. apart from me I saw nothing. Personally, I think I have always been an atheist. I quickly understood from a very young age that all of this was simply bizarre to me, without meaning (if I can say that) in addition to having 0 proof of anything other than the “bible” which was surely written by one person and which has been modified over and over again. Tell me what you think.

I've been told by so many apologists that disbelieving in evolution is a distinctively American evangelical "heresy" and that serious Christians accept evolution.

Just saw this article (admittedly fifteen years old or so):

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21040420/#:\~:text=It%20was%20found%20that%20almost,locations%20except%20for%20in%20Europe.

which indicates that globally (apart from Europe) the percentage of Christians who deny evolution was pretty similar to America (approx 60%) as of 2010. This is pretty significant as Christianity is dying in Europe and the future of the religion is in Africa and elsewhere, so it's the creationist-Christians who will matter going forward.

Just another apologist's lie to chuck in my mental dustbin with my ongoing deconversion.

So recently, I realized my astigmatism has come back. Since I am still dependent on my parents( I am an adult but it's practically a cultural rule that we are dependent until we graduate college). I noticed my astigmatism has come back because when I walked at night I couldnt see shit. And before you asked, yes I prayed to the almighty spaghetti monster to give me my 20/20 eyesight back(still hasnt replied lol).

I told my father(and my mother who has unsurprisingly chose to live somwhere else) that I needed to go to the doctor. We generally had an agreement that they would spend money on me with necessities like food clothing water, an allowance, and going to the doctor, and they would sometimes help me with expensive stuff, but usally if it's something rare, or if it's during a special occasion. Other than that, I've been spending my own money on my hobbies(though I have a backlog so I have a lot of money saved).

Since it's sunday today, I have again went through the whole blackmail shabam, but as I've said in a previous post. I couldn't care less about those threats since 1) I have my own money and 2) My mother is extremely tolerant/ empathetic religion wise. She isn't an atheist/agnostic, as she told that god would still love me even if I hated it, and that I shouldn't fear it since, fearing god would be an anti-thesis to the whole Christianism thing" But she herself said that she wouldn't force stuff on me, since she wouldn't want the same for her. We generally don't talk about religion, mostly due to mutual respect, but I am open about my deep-seeded hatred for anything religious.

Now onto the story, I asked my father for some money he owes me so I could go to an opthalmologist to get my eyes checked out. My astigmatism was gone for a while, but I noticed car lights gave off a ray, and I would sometimes dodge them because I'd think it was a stray wire/branch. I also couldn't see very well at night, and I noticed the eye strain even with my glasses on. Well instead of saying ok, I just got a sermon. Something about how using a PC/phone to study was messing with my eyes, and that was the cause. I then explained that I couldn't print my modules out since that'd just be a big waste of money/paper and ink. I also prefer gadgets to read because that's how it is now. He looked to my aunt and uncle who agreed with me (my uncle is a programmer, and hes a millenial who sometimes borrows my PC to play Apex/BFV/ games his laptop can't really handle). They said that life is digital now and theres a reason every single fucking institution on this goddamned planet uses gadgets now. But my dad is the typical boomer that hates new things.( he'd be the type of person to be against the abolition of chalkboard, because of a new thing called paper). And I said there was a reason I needed an Ipad, but If I got one from my savings or my mom, I'll never hear the end of it, and he'd probably break it like with my old gadgets.

He said there was a reason i got astigmatism, and that not going to church was the reason. God would make sure I got a worse disease, and all i said was that his god was a stupid one then and I refuse to believe in that type of god. I then said I didn't care what he thought, since I don't listen to mentally ill people who believe in god. I basically let loose my years of anger. I then said he was useless and i'll just ask my mom, like usual. He said some shit about god blah blah, and I said i didn't care about his god and I dont give a flying fuck about his religion. He won't respect me? I won't respect him blah blah. He then said some typical christian shit and I just didn't care at that point. I just cut him off and said I was tired of him and if he wanted me to support him after college, he better just shut up.(he thankfully did)

You may be wondering why I am posting this, but I just came to a realization as to why i still call myself an agnostic. I am an agnostic because I *hate* god, so I can't really hate something that doesn't exist, or maybe I hate the concept, but otherwise I don't fear a god at all or any of the typical stuff. Idk if i so much as hate the concept of god, or hate god itself. I do believe some guy named bob made this cursed existence, but other than that idc.

What is the name (or more likely, names) of the Scottish guy who calls into all the atheist shows, so Atheist Experience, The Line, Talk Heathen etc. I can't find the videos now but I was thinking back and realized I'm pretty sure I've listened to calls with the same person again and again.

He has very distinctive deep, Scottish accent. He talks about his quite fundamentalist Christianity and a lot of USA politics from a very conservative angle - which I find really interesting, assuming he actually lives in Scotland, that would suggest that he doesn't get offline much or expose himself to information sources outside of USA based right wingers. I think I'm quite well versed on US politics but I'm much more likely to talk about UK politics because that's where I live.

I also think the same guy calls into LBC which is probably the biggest UK call-in radio station. The subject matter he goes into is equally unhinged. I will try and confirm its the same guy if I can compare two calls.

For anyone who followed a religion previously - any religion where they have an all knowing entity who is believed to be controlling your life or testing your patience to then later give you a reward but lets you suffer in life, have you found yourself suffering less and has your life gotten better in terms of success , money or relationships because of you breaking free from the shackles of religion? Please let me know if anything in your life has gotten better since? Thanks

That nut Harold Camping got thousands of people in 2011 to believe that the world was going it end, from some ridiculous math equation he made up from the Bible. I would say literally all of those people are MAGA.

Just complete cartoon characters with no intellect. They blindly latched onto lunacy because it sounded nice, when it was crazy.

The most fucked up people I know are also the most religious people I know. Trauma, abuse, dysfunction, addiction, etc. This is because they believe god will save them. But why don’t they ever realize they are worshipping a god that gave them their shitty life? So stupid. God works in mysterious ways. Yeah. Seems like plain old cruelty to me.

Is there a website that has all the most messed up parts of the Bible to easily peruse? And if not, someone want to make one?

Whenever I'm speaking to someone religious, I'd love to be able to easily pull up the Bible verses on slavery, stoning women, etc that I've seen often, but can't always find when it gets brought up.

It seems like a useful resource to just be able to send someone a link to a site like that and ask them why they don't follow these rules (that they may have never seen) but follow others.

I'm gonna bet they weren't actually healed.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/09/donald-trump-2024-president-election-shooting-christians.html

An omniscient God was supposed to know every event that was going to happen in this universe from the infinite past, to the infinite future, including who he creates and sends to hell. He knew every sin that was going to be committed before it had even been committed, but he chose to create it. Furthermore, why would he even create anything if he knew every outcome in advance?

Im looking for a particular video, a debunking on some woo nonsense however I only recall in particular that the fellow who was the subject of being debunked was some kind of math worshiper of some sort and that he has a eye sun tattoo thing and looked quite goth. The person dong the debunking I cannot recall

For years, I've questioned my beliefs and identified as agnostic. Just a year ago, I embraced the title of atheist because, at my core, I don’t believe in any deity. I was once a devout Christian, actively bringing people to church, and I still support it because I see the community and purpose it offers many.

However, I’ve faced challenges since shedding my faith. My previous rituals—praying morning and night—provided structure and moments of reflection that I now miss. Despite my conviction that a god likely doesn’t exist, I can’t help but feel a certain bliss in the ignorance of belief; having an imaginary figure to devote my life to imbued my existence with meaning.

Yet, I’ve discovered ways to cultivate purpose without relying on a higher power. For me, a significant source of inspiration comes from uplifting my family and enhancing our quality of life. I’ve committed to helping others, recognizing that there will always be those in need. Many believe that only a belief in an afterlife can motivate goodness, but I strive to challenge that notion by doing good for its own sake.

I’m curious if other atheists share this experience—those who have struggled to find meaning after leaving a religion or cult that profoundly shaped their lives. How have you navigated this journey?

Yes, never be proven by "physical argument". It is simple: if god physically created the universe, then universe has a starting point which means, to a human, it is limited and if limited then god does not physically exist. On the other hand if god is unlimited, i.e. universe is unlimited, then human will never find out if universe is physically unlimited or not. Hence god will always remain physically unproven.

https://ffrf.org/news/releases/ffrf-protects-students-first-amendment-rights-in-missouri/

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has once again stood up to ensure that the constitutional rights of students will be respected — this time in Missouri’s Steelville R-III School District.

A concerned district community member informed FFRF that a sixth grade teacher promoted to students a personal bible study taking place every morning before school. The teacher appeared to be orchestrating and teaching the before-school meetings. Additionally, the teacher read as part of the curriculum a book about witches, during which she denigrated witches and witchcraft (since it conflicted with her personal religious beliefs) and told students that Christianity does not look kindly upon witches.

So me and him were arguing on religion in schools and i said it should not be allowed. He then said that it is put there to teach people how to behave and that it can help control people and that when they take it out to much it gets to silly so they should put more in school. He is talking about religion specifically Christianity as a thing that is put in schools to control people and that how it should be put in there because of that and instead of relising how messed up that is he still believes in it and says that there is so much proof without even giving anything. If it counts he is also anti-vax and believes covid came from a china America lab. So he pretty much just sees it as a way to control people and fully belives that is what we need to do.

Firstly iam talking as an ex muslim living in a muslim country , I don't mean by what I will say that I encourage violence by any means, it's not who I am it's against any thing I stand for , so why they perscute us ? ( and I mean by they the muslim community) if you don't know or living in a decent country with a fuckin law ,here in the islamic countries us as an atheists/ ex muslims / homosexuals we suffer a very sincere problem , like the basics the first amdemnt we can't say that we are an atheists , it's not like we fear the people only nah its absolutely worse we fear death , prison and the best is hatred from your own family and friends , and it's sounds like it's not that bad right ? Yeah I need you to read about ahmed harkan an egyptian activist and atheist who traveled on his feet from egypt to Tunisia just to live like human , he's got tortured him and his pregnant wife from the fuckin egyptian police , and he travelled to just live , here we don't even have the right to deny the religion who destroyed our lives , you know, me when I talk with my family about religion they just know nothing it's kinda sad how my mom simply can deny hadith sahih because she didn't like it, and just some threatening about how my family will kill me or in the best case disown me if I was an atheist, it's kinda funny how they defend the prophet who did all this things ,it's funny how they defending pedophilia and how the women's body were big back then, we just want to have the fuckin voice to talk and reject we want to have the fuckin voice to just say our own beliefs and debate , they killing every voice against them our fuckin idiot / killer / murder general abdelfttah el sisi, the egyptian president talks about how he respect the beliefs of the people ( said by man who have in his country fuckin law incriminating anyone who mocks islam ) it's just sad , I just needed to tell you how the Muslims not all of them are hypocrites, they want you to respect them but they don't the even Don't call the Christians by there name , they like you to treat them like it's there fuckin home but they are killing there own people , they want you to tear for them and for there people and they just don't give a fuck about treating the opposing team equally , it's so sad but one day I will be out of this hell hole and I will never comeback.

Seriously, what is wrong with Christians? They never miss an opportunity to talk about how great and loving their god is after a tragedy, nevermind the people who have lost their homes, loved ones, and lives.

If god actually existed, he simply cannot be loving while at the same time letting his “loved ones” suffer and die needlessly. Or if he is truly all loving, he’s incompetent and created a shitty world he has no control over.

Just wanted to rant.

Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion from Iran that originated around 1500-1000 Bc. And it actually influenced the Jews a lot, who then influenced Christianity and Islam. Before the Babylonian Exile (6th century), the Jews might have acknowledged the other Gods existence but only worshipped Yahwe, the idea of Messiah wasn"t developed, demons angels, heaven hell, day where you are either sent to hell or heaven, Dualism (Satan and God). There are also similar things to Islam and Christianity in Zoroastrianism too, for example they have something similar to Salah "Gehs" and they even have something like Wudu too just like in Islam. There"s also "Spenta Mainyu", which is similar to the Holy Spirit in Christianity. All that to say, if this religion didn"t exist, everything would be much different.

I have a hard time pinning myself to any specific belief system, including the lack therof but I suppose that's kinda what I have, in reality... I don't believe anything specifically, because I don't know and I know that you don't know either 🤷🏼‍♂️ but I also don't like... Specifically believe that nothing happens when we die, either... So is what I'm describing true atheism? Is the belief in nothing the same as not believing anything?

I was thinking about this because all the people close to me are the polar opposite of my beliefs on both religion and politics, including my gf. The politics are much more threatening than religion, but I find that more misguided than bad. Even though they are actively harming the world with their misguided votes.

Truth is, I don't care what anyone believes, thinks or says compared to how they treat others and what they personally do. They can have a meltdown about these subjects, but as long as they're generally kind I couldn't care less.

I don't even think less of them, I pretty much chalk it up to them being more emotional, which is something I value.

Religious people around me I think have a hard time believing I don't care, and also that I don't think they're stupid. But it's true

My first boyfriend and I broke up due to me being an atheist, and I remember so distinctly when he asked, "How could you have any morals if you are an atheist?" I felt so dumbfounded by this statement. Sigh, I was only 19, and he was an asshole, but he was seriously lacking any intellect. I have so many more stories, but I want to hear yours!

I'm a 30-year-old male that has been going through a deconversion period lasting more than a decade. Coming from a country where catholicism is still strong and there's an increasing influence of protestantism (that prosperity "crap" among them) the process was hard and long but I can say now I'm finally out.

One thing I've noticed through the years though is that when you see carefully how people behave, what they say and how they conduct their lives, there's little evidence that they actually follow religiously what their sacred books say.

Take for example the Bible, even, let's take the New Testament (as many believers would refute and say the Old one is not "valid" anymore... shocker). The New Testament teaches that women have to remain quiet and subservient to their husbands yet you see Christian women take positions of power, prestige and importance. Another example is that Christianity teaches you to be humble, to only wear what you have on and feed from what you're offered. Yet in a hypercapitalistic society like ours there's this endless race to be richer, more successful and to top over the rest.

Point made is, when believers say to follow their god, what they're doing is to follow their own customized version of god. In the case of Christianity, I'm sure that if Jesus were real, he would cast away these believers the way he did it with the merchants in the temple. If believers were actually following their holy book, society would be very different. Unbeknownst to them, Christians are more seculars than they give credit for.

In any case, what has been your experience with the incoherent behavior of Christians or religious people in general? I'm curious to know.

I'm an atheist, but my family isn't. I like to scroll this sub to find like-minded people, like everyone else. I notice something a lot though: Posts with titles like "Straw man arguments are so annoying" or "The brainwashing is crazy, believers are stupid" etc. I thought it was an exaggeration, so I decided to test my Christan brother. I asked him why he was Christan. He gave me three reasons: It's in a book, it's old, others believe it. Which sounds really stupid, so I pointed to the Nancy Drew books on my shelf and asked if they were true stories because it was in a book. He growled ( not kidding ) at me. I asked if the Quran was true because it was old, which made him madder. I pointed out lots of people believe untrue things. He then told me to stop talking about religion. I guess this sub was right.

In the gospel of Mark (the oldest and most "authentic"), the divinity of Jesus is never mentioned. He is only referred to as the son of god, which is a royal title, given to King David and Solomon as well.

As an apocalyptic prophet, Jesus believed, like many other Jews, that all gentiles and bad Jews will soon drop dead and all the righteous Jews will resurrect from their tombs and "inherit the Earth", and that God will regenerate the Garden of Eden for them. The corpses of all the wicked will then be literally burned in the Gehenna WHICH IS A REAL PLACE in Israel. This is where they burned trash and the cadavers of the gentiles, since only Jews had the right for a proper burial. Gehenna was not "Hell" not even close.

The "wicked" would simply be denied any chance of resurrection, a second life, since Jews believed that resurrection was impossible if your body was burned. If the bones are preserved and buried in sacred ground, the dead is "sleeping" not completely gone.

So "Paradise" in Jesus' mind was not in some heavenly kingdom, but situated on Earth ! Jesus would then rule this new "Kingdom of God" forever. This original belief is still part of Christianity and Islam's tradition: Jesus is supposed to come back with all his angel-soldiers, kill all the wicked and establish the Kingdom of God on Earth, a perfect society which he will rule for one thousand years before the end of the world (and then everyone on Earth gets to celestial heaven this time).

He said: "I have been sent only to save the lost sheep of Israel." His mission was to allow some righteous Jews to get a chance to survive the Apocalypse (a new Mass Genocide God was planning to unleash on Earth, as per tradition) and get resurrected. The wicked would simply die and disappear forever.

Jesus said the Apocalypse would happen immediately after his death (this is also what Muhammad said). This is why Jesus HAD to come back from the dead, as a plot from his apostles to keep the loyalty (and money) of their thousands of followers.

However, in the youngest Gospels, you can feel the cope: Jesus still hasn't come back after 80 years, and the Apocalypse still hasn't started and many first Christians died without rising up from their tombs. So they took the idea of a celestial afterlife from the Persians and Romans, as well as other popular ideas among the gentiles to stay relevant.

And it worked ! People gobbled it up, and it became the successful cult we know today.