I actually am having a really hard time my dad got a stroke and outside of that my mom can’t take it anymore and they are arguing constantly and it just makes me feel very sad and alone and once i told someone about my situation they said this: “god has a plan for you he did it with a reason” i almost cried i wanted to smack the shit out of them what did i do to deserve this? Can anyone relate?

This is my first public post on reddit... so here goes ig... I am a Nigerian teenager (17) and while find it hard to relate with any intertwining relationship between Christianity (and most religion) and the American state commonly shared on this platform I believe we all share apatheism to this especially backwards mode of belief. As my title implies, I find the constant fear-mongering by the people around me and the kids and my peers tiresome. I'm basically itching to jump ship as soon as I can support myself. I still have to go to church in the meantime though and today we had some a guest minister from the choir speak to myself and my peers and I kid you not I almost internally died of laughter hearing the way he went about his topic centered on the idea of 'Worship'. Mans ranted for an hour thirty about very surface level definitions of the word + some very extra things. For the initial 15 mins, I thought bro was gonna stick to his basic bitch ahh 'Worship is Worship not some slow songs' shit that preachers love to remind that congregations about like they just invented fire and I thought I'd be able to dose off to sleep. Next breath for the duration of the sermon bro went psycho with the transphobia/homophobia, evidenceless miracle talk and fear-mongering about the indigenous and western secukarmusic industry/cultures(him basically ranting about MJ, Beyoncé and JayZ, T Swift and Lil Nas X for 45 mins or so). Shit got bad I had to leave for fear I could burst into laughter lmao(I still can't believe people still perpetuate the MJ thriller and Beyoncé sasha fierce demonic theories in 2023 but ig that's what happens when operating in a close minded cult will do to ya). It's legit sad how this dude was given ability to procreate 5 different times lmao. His eldest child (daughter) leads teenage choir and she sounds so lifeless everytime shes on stage I could actually feel bad for her. I couldn't imagine with THAT for a father (her ma teaches teenage church btw and she's just as bad-she literally defended Kenneth Copeland one time on his unconcealed embezzlement of church donos btw). All in all, it just saddens to see how far this forsaken gospel has gotten such a hold on my fellow youth in this country it's insane man. People like the described person lead this shithole of a country while perpetuating baseless Christian rhetoric. You got entire African countries worried about what some homosexual is doing in their spare time while our governments continue to drag the future generations into poverty and trillions of dollars in debt to the IMF, US and China by borrowing money to construct large empty mega-churches and the infrastructure around them and other miscellaneous things that don't solve our ever worsening toilet paper money epidemic (and ofc they embezzle the remaining money left). They keep telling me shit about how this place is my "Jerusalem" but I'd like to disassociate from the society that practices the same religion used to colonise them goodness sakes. (If I sound incoherent here and there, I'm young and dumb plus not natively English speaking hxs 😭😭😭👋✌️)

I am an atheist teen in a preacher's home (so unique I know) what should I do when expected to "testify" or talk about my religous beliefs? Any advice/stories would be helpful.

I just joined and i see that its been awhile since activity in this subreddit so lets make it active 😎

I’m specifically talking about Christianity here. Everywhere I go on Tiktok I see Teenagers (usually 13-16 y/o) preaching the gospel - threatening people with hell, judgement, etc. Some people make literal accounts for that purpose, and preach it EVERYWHERE. Why?

I was staying up late to read, as I occasionally do, when my mum called me over to her (we live in a caravan right now) and started talking to me and saying stuff like 'You don't seem like the (my name) I remember.' I asked why, and she replied 'Well, I'm starting to think that you're having some thoughts that I don't know how to react to.' I asked what thoughts she was talking about. Then she started talking about how she thought I didn't believe in god anymore, leading up to her saying Richard Dawkins was a 'force of Satan'. Afterward, she and my dad must have leaked it to my older sister. I have since been punished with hate and ignorance as a result. Can anyone give me any advice to deal with the situation?

Comment a or b

I want this to be as simple as possible because I know I have my thoughts but for people that don't believe in the Christian God what would you say Christians stand for. And not what they may claim they stand for. What you see by their actions, what do they stand for?

What am I if I believe something supernatural created the universe but not necessarily a god. I personally don't think the big bang theory is what happened, but does that make me non atheist?

So I get that there are alot of problems in believing in a God/s but things also aren't so sensible if you believe there are no God/s. So I guess I won't really know till I die.

I feel like it's more sensible to believe in God's rather than a God cos the world is so imperfect, if there was one God this wouldn't be the case.

Also I dont believe that any of the Gods of religion exist.

Hello we are conducting a psychological Study to understand how religiosity influences your beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours.

It will hardly take 5 minutes.

If you are aged between 18 - 30 and hail from India, Please help us out in filling this form.

Thank you

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc9bInDvi3GYCso8r_oVvlEx-MAUbZP09qgHuYeJFKi0Qdh5g/viewform?usp=sf_link

Hey guys, I'm currently in AP Research and my research topic this year is over American teenagers and their exposure to political content on TikTok. If you are 13-19 years old, live in the US, and have TikTok, I would love for you to take my survey! (Btw, you don't need to be interested in politics to take my survey). It takes 3-5 min, and your response will be completely anonymous. Thx so much if you're willing to take it :)

https://forms.gle/Yz5tGHkgtYaQxv9r8

I'm a closeted atheist. I haven't come out yet cus my family is one of those you'd call bible belt evangelical Christian (although im raised Baptist).. As far as i can tell, I'll be the first and only atheist in the family, so outing prematurely and without a carefully laid end game is out of the question.

Now, Christmas is big in my home country. I haven't really celebrated Christmas most of my adult life, cos it often coincides with work. This year unfortunately it won't so there's a chance I'll celebrate this holiday with them.

How does one celebrate this holiday? I don't mind the gifts and presents, i get worked up come the sermon part.

I'm a closeted atheist. I haven't come out yet cus my family is one of those you'd call bible belt evangelical Christian (although im raised Baptist).. As far as i can tell, I'll be the first and only atheist in the family, so outing prematurely and without a carefully laid end game is out of the question.

Now, Christmas is big in my home country. I haven't really celebrated Christmas most of my adult life, cos it often coincides with work. This year unfortunately it won't so there's a chance I'll celebrate this holiday with them.

How does one celebrate this holiday? I don't mind the gifts and presents, i get worked up come the sermon part.

So, my online friend knows my reddit account. As one would assume by my being here, I'm atheist. If he sorted by top it wouldn't take too long of looking through my search history for him to see I'm atheist.

I'm not sure what to do, should I tell him I'm atheist? Should I delete all evidence of my atheism? Unsure if this is the right place but it seemed like it was.

If I tell him, how should I tell him? Should I bust out "Atheist" or should I say something like "I don't think I believe in god" or what?

Hello. I've been thinking a lot about religion as a concept lately so I wanted to post this.

I grew up in a family which was 100% atheist, and I've been an atheist all of my life. And because I've lived in New York (a very secular city) my entire life, and I was born in 2003 (long after religion stoped being a driving force in America) I didn't have any cultural tie to any religion. Infact I knew about the Greek gods long before I knew about the Christian one.

We hear a lot about atheists who have left mainstream religion, but I don't think a lot of people have talked to someone like me. Ask me what you wish.

Man fr went: Believe in me and be obedient to whatever i say, or suffer immeasurable pain eternally in hell.

Somebody needs to fight this as there should be no religion in school for any reason no prayer no Bibles in the library no religious posters on the walls we should not give the religious one inch.

The 14th Amendment So, how Does The 14th Amendment Guarantee The Right To An Abortion?

14th Amendment Section 1 “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (Emphasis are mine)

But to read the 14th amendment we should consider what the writers were thinking when they wrote it simply because how we think of words nowadays may be different than how they thought of words in their days.

Based on the above, what did the writers of the 14th Amendment consider a person to be in their day? Well in 1828 Webster produced an updated dictionary and it defined a person as:

“PERSON, noun per'sn. [Latin persona; said to be compounded of per, through or by, and sonus, sound; a Latin word signifying primarily a mask used by actors on the stage.] 1. An individual human being consisting of body and soul. We apply the word to living beings only, possessed of a rational nature; the body when dead is not called a person It is applied alike to a man, woman or child. A person is a thinking intelligent being.” (Emphasis are mine)

So we have a couple of questions such as what is a body. Again, we look to Websters 1828 dictionary:

BOD'Y*, noun* 1. The frame of an animal; . . . 2. Matter, as opposed to spirit. . . . SOUL*, noun*
1. The spiritual, rational and immortal substance in man, which distinguishes him from brutes; that part of man which enables him to think and reason, and which renders him a subject of moral government. The immortality of the soul is a fundamental article of the christian system. Such is the nature of the human soul that it must have a God, an object of supreme affection. . . . 15 . . .

So now we must know what they meant by born. And born in 1828 was defined as: BORN*, participle passive of bear. baurn. Brought forth, as an animal.*
A very useful distinction is observed by good authors, who, in the sense of produced or brought forth, write this word born; but in the sense of carried, write it borne. This difference of orthography renders obvious the difference of pronunciation. (Italics mine) 1. To be born is to be produced or brought into life*.*

We know that they meant brought forth and not carried because of the spelling. So born means brought into life, but what is life? In 1828 it was:

"LIFE*, noun plu lives. [See Live.]* 1. In a general sense, that state of animals and plants, or of an organized being, in which its natural functions and motions are performed, or in which its organs are capable of performing their functions. A tree is not destitute of life in winter, when the functions of its organs are suspended; nor man during a swoon or syncope; nor strictly birds, quadrupeds or serpents during their torpitude in winter. They are not strictly dead, till the functions of their organs are incapable of being renewed. . . . 4. The present state of existence; the time from birth to death**.. . . .

Based on this we can say that the 14th amendment is very definitely talking about a thinking intelligent being from the time a human being is "brought forth" from the mother and its organs are capable of performing their functions. Once this criteria is met it holds until such time as their organs are incapable of being renewed.

There is a simple test for this in that the word incapable says that even if they are not functioning fully if mankind's technological appliances or the biological mass itself is able to make them function on their own as a thinking intelligent being then life is present. If not, such as when we unplug the brain dead (we have no technological brain appliance) and the biological mass itself does not bring back a thinking intelligent being then life is NOT present, just as early stage zygotes/embryos are not thinking intelligent beings that can make their organs function on their own and as such have no life.

And it is very explicitly defined!

With such an obvious set of circumstances where their religious dogma opposes the standard definitions of the words used to enact amendments to our Constitution and where their ruling on abortions violates the Preamble to the Constitution, the votes of the legislators, the citizens, the words of the 1st amendment, the 5th amendment, the 14th amendment, and the legal reality that you can not operate with laws that are exact opposites we are left with several possibilities, none of them good.

1. They did this deliberately in order to begin imposing Christianity onto everybody in the United States.
2. They are not intelligent enough to analyze the words and the wording used in laws to determine what those laws mean.
3. They are not intelligent enough to realize you cannot have a society where the laws oppose each other.

Are they really that lacking in intelligence or will just destroy the country to "own the libs"? Or is it just that their ego is so large they had to write an opinion so far out of reality just to get payback from all the years of the liberal justices with all those women?