I Was An Atheist By Third Grade

[ItsjustMe]

[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. My Peeps! It was 7th grade for me, sitting in biology class

Funnily enough, the school I was at ... was run by the Lutheran Church.

[Cherokee100]

63. Religion

Religion, is the 'opium of the masses'. Now it is also, a very profitable industry. Hence the private jets, limousines, mansions, mega churches, etc. 'Praise jesus' (sarcasm)..

[Omnipresent]

2. I like that Edie Brickell song verse...

“Shove me into shallow water” (renew your shaken faith by being born again/Baptism in a lake), “Before i get too deep” (Questioning religion).

[ItsjustMe]

6. Philosophy is a walk on a slippery rock. Religion is a lie in the fog. - Edie Brickell

[SergeStorms]

31. I'm not aware of too many things.....

but I know what I know if you know what I mean.

Love that song. It's on my lifetime playlist.

[Ishoutandscream2]

54. Good ol' Dallas girl

She's exceptional.

[KarenS]

3. I was elementary school age,,,,

went to a general Protestant church but drove the Sunday School teachers crazy with my questions,,,,
then I was chastised and dismissed for asking such questions.

[CrispyQ]

7. Yep, me too.

My mother always said there are no stupid questions, but I found out in church there are definitely forbidden questions.

[MOMFUDSKI]

29. My brother-in-law

was TOSSED out of catholic religion classes at age 5 for asking way too many questions regarding beyond believable bible stories. Funny part about it is that his mom was a thoroughly indoctrinated catholic that had 9 kids because one could not use birth control. They could not afford those 9 kids and the whole family suffered. Somehow her god approved.

[Omnipresent]

59. I have successfully killed God...

And if i’m lying, may god strike me dead!
…well, still here!

[barbtries]

4. it took me until about the age of 18.

when i was 11 i thought i might want to be nun (all my friends were catholics)
me, a nun.

[CrispyQ]

5. When some kids a few years older than me told me that Santa wasn't real, it was like dominoes.

Down went the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, & God. I was about six.

[localroger]

15. Ditto. People who think it's cute don't remember

...what it is like to learn, especially from someone else, that the people you love and depend on most in the whole world have been lying to you for your entire life. God didn't fall along with the childhood faeries because I was given to understand that that was different, but it definitely primed me for the final push in 11th grade when my Catholic high school's mandatory religion course did a survey of world religions and I realized that they couldn't all be right, and if so many were necessarily wrong it was unreasonable to think that just by the accident of birth the one I was taught as a child was right.

[MOMFUDSKI]

32. My doofus sister-in-law believes

that ONLY christians can go to heaven. Said she's read the entire bible and now she knows THE TRUTH.

[mjvpi]

53. The atrocities of the chosen. You're in trouble when your god hates the same people you do.

[lagomorph777]

64. Same here, but I cracked the Santa code myself.

[robbob]

8. "Religion is a blind man looking for a black cat that isn't in a pitch black room,

And then claiming they found it.” -Oscar Wilde, paraphrased.

[czarjak]

9. Jonah living in whale's belly for three days was a stretch for me early on.

[FailureToCommunicate]

13. Are you sure? There would be plenty to eat...

-assuming you like fish, or krill.

https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/2021/06/11/humpback-whale-catches-michael-packard-lobster-driver-mouth-proviencetown-cape-cod/7653838002/

[localroger]

18. Breathing might be a bigger problem /nt

[FailureToCommunicate]

21. Or the, ahem, smell.

[edhopper]

48. Did you not see

Pinocchio?

[SergeStorms]

34. It doesn't say whale.....

it says "great fish". That's one the believers always snap at when you bring it up. Like living in a "great fish" makes any difference.

[edhopper]

49. The biggest fish on Earth

is the Whale Shark. I wonder if a man could survive 3 days in it's dietary tract.

[SergeStorms]

57. I'm sure...

the almighty omnipotent one could whip up a much greater fish in support of the Bible's inerrancy, right? Probably do it in a godosecond, the smallest unit of time imaginable, but still thousands of years for we mere mortals. It's quite easy to spin these tales when using god-magic, isn't it?

[Jon King]

10. Same, right around 3rd grade, coming out of our church.

Every Sunday we had to go to Sunday school and had to light the candles at the Good Shepard Lutheran Church as an acolyte. One day all the people who had moments before been singing hymns with us and smiling, all rushed to their cars, cut each other off heading to the exit, beeped, a few gestures.

Right then I realized what a crock of fake nonsense all the religion stuff is.

[dchill]

11. Are there any die-hard atheist Republicans?

[SCantiGOP]

12. I abandoned religion years ago

but I don’t talk about it and post about it every day.
I also don’t believe in Flat Earth Theory, but I’m not going to bother people with arguments about it every day.

[wryter2000]

33. Thank you

It certainly gets tiresome having to hear the same arguments over and over.

[lagomorph777]

65. And you're hangin' out in the Atheist forum ... why?

[Jetheels]

14. Someone explain how separation of church and state allows churches to not have to pay taxes?

Doesn’t that in effect marry church and state, since the state is footing their bills?

[cynical_idealist]

16. born agnostic, atheist by 2nd grade

about 2nd grade, realized bible was not different from all the other fairy tales.
Maybe some lessons to be learned, but all open to interpretation and misinterpretation.

Religion is so often just a means to control those who follow.

Peace

[L. Coyote]

17. I suspect religion was invented to control slaves.

[localroger]

23. Not really

Some modern religions have elements inserted to control slaves and women, but religion was codified as an attempt to understand and control the natural world. The same perceptual defects that make casinos successful businesses can make it seem like religious practices have had real-world effects, and the practice of ritual in general has measurable psychological and physical benefits that might seem like divine reward. To this day many religious have hidden features (literally occult knowledge) that is reserved for the elites who run things and are regarded as too dangerous for the common people to have access to. (Catholicism is riddled with these.) On the other hand more "primitive" religions tend to be more tolerant of a diversity of beliefs, because they hold that anything that someone regards as a god might actually exist, and that not all gods will interact with all people and you have to find your own. All religion can seem a bit ridiculous when viewed from a scientific perspective, but it can be either positive or negative in function. Unfortunately, the more negative religions have gone empire-building in our time, with a bit too much success.

[L. Coyote]

25. Religion had to start somewhere at some point, converting delusion into institution.

That's what I'm referring to, and there must have been a function in order for it to evolve. My suspicion is that controlling people was the function, imposing controlon people specifically.

[SergeStorms]

36. Definitely a form of control.

Control of property and people, and to "explain" the many questions people had, especially about death.

If you're good you'll go to heaven, see all your old friends and relatives, spend your days lounging on fluffy white clouds and listening to angels play harps.

If you're bad you'll burn in a pit of eternal fire, weeping and gnashing your teeth.

Yeah, OK.

[localroger]

44. But that's not "religion." That's Christianity and Islam.

Even Judaism doesn't formalize the idea of an afterlife, and while a number of religions encouraged their warriors by teaching that they would be glorified in the afterlife if they died in battle, even that isn't universal and the idea of something like Hell is quite rare outside of Christianity (and many believe it was bolted on to a synthesis of early Christianities around the time of the Council of Nicea few of which had the idea of Hell either).

The original comment to which I replied was positing that religion was invented to control people. That is demonstrably not accurate, because religion existed for tens of thousands of years before people started using it that way. It is more that the need of empires to control people drove religion in that direction than that religion itself drove people in that direction.

Religion is both much older and much more diverse than Christianity. Thinking Christianity is typical of religion would be like thinking a Rolls Royce is typical of cars.

[Mosby]

52. +1

It's funny how people say "religion" when they are actually just referring to Christianity and Islam.

[localroger]

41. We know that religion was at an advanced state of development 30,000 years ago

...and that the particular religion we know something about from that era was really not about controlling people, and was matriarchal in focus. It was really the rise of empires that directed religion into the social control business, which didn't start until around 10,000 years ago with the invention of agriculture. And at first even those religions were more about displaying status than controlling peoples' actions until Hinduism and the monotheistic religions descended from Judaism. Unfortunately religion turns out to be a powerful tool for control if your society uses it that way, which is why those are so pervasive today.

[L. Coyote]

45. We know that people who believe in religion interpret the past as having religion.

But there is no evidence of religion in the deep past, certainly not that long ago. Interpretations often tell us more about people today and what they believe than about the past.

Most of the interpretation of material culture as gods is just complete bullshit about ordinary artwork.

[localroger]

47. More like modern religious people wouldn't recognize it

The rituals and poetic myths of the deep path were certainly a form of religion, but they weren't like modern religion. They practiced rituals for which they made art and figurines, some of which can be found in modern museums and are very obviously not meant to be decorative, and had myths about where things come from, how natural forces work, and so forth. A really good reconstruction was made by Robert Graves in The White Goddess, but there are others from other parts of the world.

[L. Coyote]

68. So, you are able to see into the past to watch these rituals?

Of course NOT, but you turn your belief into fact? Seems like a belief in your mind, nothing more since there is no way to see ritual in the past.

[localroger]

71. Anthropology is a thing

I am merely repeating the broad consensus among people who study these things, many of whom are not religious either themselves. In my case it was a familiarity with the diversity of human religious practice that pushed me toward atheism. But that also means I'm familiar with the diversity of human religious practice as it is practiced today and as it has been reconstructed from surviving documents and artifacts. I realize a lot of people don't like religion specifically because of what Christianity has done to our culture, but Christianity is actually a newcomer and outlier among religions in many ways.

[L. Coyote]

76. Anthropologists are a thing,

and I've pursued that field for over 50 years now. And I did my graduate level studies in archaeology.

The broad consensus does not exist, there are majority viewpoints when speaking in broad generalities, and those are driven by the belief systems of the academics. Archaeologists working for Mormon institutions trying to prove the Book of Mormon is true are a good example of how beliefs inform academics. Everyone is familiar with the diversity of human religious practice as it is practiced today, not everyone is familiar with how beliefs drive interpretation in archaeology. It is a huge problem because it reinforces delusions such as religions, and it forces those viewpoints upon the past. This is akin to cultural evolution, thinking we are the apex of a long struggle from ignorance and superstition instead of admitting we are superstitious and in the past people may have been rational, scientific, and fully knowledgeable about their environment and living in harmony with physical reality instead of destroying the biosphere and praising god.

[localroger]

77. Well I won't argue with your experience in the field

...but the fact that you end this with "and praising god" seems to reveal a bias of your own, since many religions (including some currently widely practiced ones whose beliefs and practices are not in dispute) cannot be said to be about "praising god" in any meaningful sense.

[lagomorph777]

66. Every ancient building is a temple; every ancient artwork is a god.

In the 19th century, it was popular to assume every ancient building was a fort.

It's all very dependent on who is looking at the ancient artifacts.

[L. Coyote]

69. Yep, every earthwork is defensive if you have a militaristic outlook.

Same as with religion, the interpretations tell us more about what people think, not about the past.

There is a joke about interpretation in archaeology, there are more interpretations than archaeologist because everyone thinks they are an archaeologist.

[moreland01]

19. Just popped in to say

those pictures are GORGEOUS! OMG, Jodie Foster! ALL OF THEM!

[moreland01]

20. Just popped in to say

those pictures are GORGEOUS! OMG, Jodie Foster! ALL OF THEM!

[Dr. T]

22. I was 14 when I asked my Mom

why I had to go to church. Her answer? "Because I said so." No explanation other than that. That's when I checked out. As the years rolled by, all the other pieces fell into place. I sum it up with one question. If God created man, then where did God come from? The answer: man created God.

[plimsoll]

24. I struggle with this issue.

Usually people ask "Do you believe in God," and I sit there and wonder, what the hell are you asking? Can you actually define what you're asking if I believe in? Do I believe there's a white haired guy like the one depicted on The Sistine Chapel, no. When I push hard enough I get "God is ineffable," so God is literally inexpressible. Do I believe in that which cannot be expressed or explained, well sure. There's plenty of stuff that people can't explain or even find like, magnetic monopoles, but theoretically they can exist so I believe we'll find and explain them eventually. I find the question to be not serious, but a way to help the people who want to prostrate themselves before others find like minded people.

[AdamGG]

26. Greatest bullshit story ever told...

&t=83s

[mountain grammy]

27. Took me a while

But I was always a doubter. I finally came around.

[scarytomcat]

28. Thank you I'm sure there are many more that believe this way. I have since an early age.

I am not against people of faith, I oppose religion that lies and cheats them of their dignity.

[wryter2000]

30. I'm Christian

I only worry about the laws in the human books.

I can certainly agree that there are a lot of Christians who say and do stupid, hateful things. But it would be nice every once in a while if we could acknowledge Christians like me.

As an aside, I'd like to know how many of those other Christians actually go to church and how many simply spout the childish things they learned about God when they were little. I don't have those data, so I can only guess.

And I heartily endorse Kevin Bacon's statement.

[jonstl08]

38. No problem

I have no problems with Christians as long as you do not try to convert me or preach to me. To many times I have been told by Christians I am going to hell because I choose not to believe.

[wryter2000]

72. Totally agree

I also resent being preached at.

[OldBaldy1701E]

35. It was fourth grade for myself. I owe my uncle for that, he was the wise mentor in my life. (n/t)

[jonstl08]

37. For me when my mother passed away

Mother passed away in 1980 from Breast Cancer. The most religious person I ever met. Went to Catholic Mass three times a week. Confession every week. Never drank, smoked but did say the occasional curse word at us kids when we did something bad. Never had an affair and took my father back when he had affairs because it was the "Christian" thing to do. All these people would coming over to the house to pray cancer away. Nothing worked, She suffered three years with cancer before passing away.

At her funeral all these people came up and said it was God's plan for her to die. So Gods plan was to leave 5 kids age 15 - 4 with an abusive father who disappeared on weekends. I was the oldest so I had to raise my siblings. That is when I started to not believe because now I see all these people who my parents knew were very immoral live to see and enjoy their grandkids and my mother never was able to experience that.

[Warpy]

39. When I turned 8, I think I was still trying to believe it

but by the time I turned 10, I didn't believe a word of it and I was PISSED OFF about it.

[3825-87867]

40. Pardon me,

But your religion is not my law!

[Bird Lady]

42. My Grandmother was a Baptist who I lived with for 4 years.

That experience turn me into an atheist. I watched the people in the church and saw the biggest part of them were hypocrites.
They talked the talk but oh my, they did not walk the walk, they couldn't even crawl the crawl. It was then I learned religion was a lie and I've had no use for it. My family
is full of believers but none of them believe the same dogma and firmly believe all the others are wrong. I avoid these arguments by avoiding the believers which are related to me by blood.

My uncle is a mormon and I have requested they do not baptize me when I'm dead. My Grandmothers all had me baptized in their cult so I think I'm good in that regard. Fortunately the rest do not believe as they do but as far as I'm concerned they all are brainwashed and members of a cult. I'm not that gullible.

[Taraman]

43. Atheism as a religion -- how interesting!

[umroman]

46. Tim Minchin!

My current favorite song:

Thank you God for fixing the cataracts of Sam's mum
I didn't realize that it was such a simple thing
I feel such a dingaling, what ignorant scum
Now I understand how prayer can work
A particular prayer in a particular church
In a particular style with a particular stuff
And for particular problems that aren't particularly tough
And for particular people, preferably white
For particular senses, preferably sight
A particular prayer in a particular spot
To a particular version of a particular god
And if you get that right, He just might
Take a break from giving babies malaria
And pop down to your local area to fix the cataracts of your mum

[edhopper]

50. Agnostic in College

Atheist soon after I graduated. It seems I'm a late bloomer.

[Peacetrain]

51. Self delete my post...

sometimes a person like me just needs to mind their own business..

[Taraman]

56. I liked your previous post, Peacetrain

[Taraman]

55. Believe it or not, there are people who consider themselves "religious"

who don't adhere to the religions that came out of the deserts of the Middle East.

[VGNonly]

58. Cast off the shoe,

follow the gourd!

[flying_wahini]

60. Bookmarking and Thanks for posting!

[Random Boomer]

61. I never believed

My memory of childhood is that I heard all the stories about Christianity, but I filed them away in the same drawer as Greek and Roman mythology. All interesting, colorful tales, but only tangentially rooted in reality.

Perhaps it's because I didn't believe in Santa Claus for very long. At around four or five years old, I asked my mother about Santa and she gently acknowledged that he wasn't real. I wasn't traumatized, rather I realized that humans tell nice stories that we don't actually believe. I was okay with that.

In adulthood I've learned considerable more about Earth and the history of our solar system. A god of any kind seems even sillier given how recently humans appeared on the evolutionary scene (and how quickly we'll probably leave). I see religion as a litmus test for our own morality. Good people believe in beneficent gods with kindly intentions, while angry vengeful people believe in angry vengeful gods.

[lagomorph777]

62. My crushes on Linda and Jodie just got even worse.

I pretty much got over any beliefs in ghosts/gods/spirits by age 5 or 6.

[MadameButterfly]

67. If you are making your decision about whether God exists

based on Fundamentalist Christian or Republican Right wing use of it in their nefarious schemes, then of course any compassionate, rational, freedom-loving person will say no. But please don't make a handful of people authorities on God just because they are good at acting or singing.

I call myself "spiritual" instead of "religious" because of all the damage that has been done in the name of religion. i didn't start out "spiritual". Challenges I faced in my life forced me to look at things differently. If I'd been a famous and rich from a young age movie star, I doubt I'd have gone on the journey that changed my mind. I'd have been happy to celebrate my success as earned by my well-deserved superior qualities. So, the quotes from the movie stars, I'll take a pass on.

Here's my experience. I see miracles unfolding every day. We might differ on our definition of a miracle. If you don't believe in miracles, you won't see any. So there will be no evidence. I still struggle with why bad things happen to good people and why life on the physical plane must be so hard. I look forward to understanding someday (probably after I die) the why of it all.

i don't need you to believe what I do, I just have trouble leaving a string of "of course there's no God" unchallenged as if that's the only Democratic point of view.

[lagomorph777]

70. I just went on the evidence.

Of which I have never seen any.

If there are any Gods, they are pretty crappy - not something I'd worship, given all the suffering they appear to endorse.

[Taraman]

73. Oh yeah, "evidence"

So…

When one opens one’s heart through loving kindness, generosity and empathy, and some light and joy comes into one’s life — is this evidence?

When one opens one’s mind through stopping hard-and-fast judgments about what’s real and not real, and peace and clarity arises — is this evidence?

Maybe, just maybe, there’s something at work there. Maybe there’s a “mechanism” of some kind.

[lagomorph777]

74. Sure.

Social interaction.

[MadameButterfly]

79. THE evidence?

You've seen ALL the evidence on this subject? What if you are looking in the wrong places? Or you aren't even looking?
If you are happy with your conclusions, that's fine.
i'm not going on blind faith. I came around because I saw evidence.

[lagomorph777]

80. I really don't need to spend my time hunting ghosts.

I live in the real world.

[MadameButterfly]

81. I don't expect you to agree

Just have some respect for people with different points of view and different experience. If what we believe isn't hurting you.

[lagomorph777]

82. Likewise.

I wonder what would attract you to an atheist forum?

[haele]

75. I actually read the KJV by the time I was 9.

My parents were nominally christian - Presbyterian and Methodist, because that was expected of them growing up, but they were more like Deists in that exploration, logic, Science and actual evidence was more important to them than faith that something might happen if they wished hard enough.

What I learned from them is:

Works and Deeds, not words count. Prayers are almost always made to avoid something unpleasant than to wish for general good.

Bad things happen as often as good things, we just don't usually remember the good things - or opportunities until after the fact.

It's better to try to be better and make the needed improvements than sit back and expect others to change, because the world doesn't stop.

Respect, Patience, Kindness and Mercy given are usually returned.

Be honest as often as possible, don't say what you think others want to hear to get you off the hook about something important you were supposed to do if it isn't true.

People will always be what they are, not what you want them to be, and those wanting power can say anything to get desperate people to do what they want. Watch what they do to find out who they are.

They never said they were Atheists, but they sure acted as if they were compared to today's Evangelical types.

On edit -reading the KJV made me realize early that while Sunday school was fun and kind of taught good social behavior, in general, all churches and the church missions are nothing like they are supposed to be according to the Bible supposedly covered in those organizations.
It's all a big social club where everyone has to adhere to the rules of the church hierarchy.

Haele

[Bayard]

78. Great minds think alike

And all that. That's the main problem I've always had with organized religion--you are not allowed to think for yourself, and certainly not deviate.

I was raised hard-core Southern Baptist. If that doesn't turn you off religion, nothing will. Onward Christian Soldiers! I think I was 9 or 10 when I couldn't stand the pressure anymore, and marched down the aisle to get baptized. No epiphany or otherworldly voices, just fed up with the expectation.

Church was Sunday morning, Sunday and Wednesday nights. By the time I was going into junior high, we had moved, and church was this small town, closed-minded affair. Hated it. Started not wanting to go. It had all just started sounding so stupid. Virgin birth? Who are you kidding? The world created in 7 days? Give me a break! My Mom had the preacher come to our house to talk to me. I think she believed I was possessed

Over the years, I keep seeing more things that re-enforce a lack of belief in the great wizard in the sky, especially in my own family. They endured terrible illnesses, poverty, and loss. They were great believers that were continually stomped on. One of the worst phrases in the English language--It was God's will.

What I do believe in these days is trying to live in harmony with nature. Appreciate, love, and respect it. I also believe in Paying It Forward--try to help out those you can.