sent in by Lady Sidhe works Simply put, I started reading the bible. I was just really indifferent religion-wise, before that. Never really thought about it, never really impacted my life, wasn't a churchgoer, wasn't a proseletyzing believer. It was just something that was there. I started reading the bible just for the hell of it (no pun intended), and it just annoyed me that God was portrayed as this vengeful, violent, warlike, intolerant murderer. That's not how I saw God. I figured, "If God were perfect, the way He's supposed to be, he wouldn't have human failings. God of love, my ass." Then I read Ken's Guide to the Bible. THEN, my boyfriend at the time suggested Wicca. I laughed it off. Witch? Please...but to humor him, I picked up a book by Cunningham called "The Truth About Witchcraft Today," and it all came together. It was like I finally found my beliefs written down coherently. That's all it took, and that's how I got whe

sent in by joe blow I was born into a very strict southern fundy family, grew up in private school, My family is all involved in the Ministry at some level, pastors, missionaries, I was a youth pastor at one time. I was looked upon as a uncompromising leader in the church. I naturaly found bible studys interesting, I commited whole heartedly to the Faith, I led bible study & prayer groups in public schools, I led downtown witnessing teams, I led youth groups and preached at the pulpit a few times. Almost all my sermons were on the subject of GOds Unconditional Love.. A concept I still hold sacred and the biggest reason why I reject Christianity and its pardoxical hate filled theology of Eternal Hell and Hereditary Transmission of Orginial Sin Doctrine. Secretly I admired,respected and justified the " brave and honorable" christians who bombed abortion clinics. I took christian theology and biblical literalism to its most logical conclution and could justify all sorts of

sent in by Roy This is a long overdue post . I would have liked to post this way back earlier, but due to my work commitments, I have decided to post this a little later than I would have wanted to, especially since Pope John Paul II's death. Better late than never, so here goes. I have, for the past ten odd years, declared myself an atheist. And for some reason, people do not have a accurate perception what atheism truly entails, especially religious fundamentalists, who approach me from time to time, attempting to pry me away from the clutches of medieval demons and beasts. Perhaps, before I begin to broach on the subject, it is perhaps prudent for me to explain what atheism means to me, or to the majority of atheists out there (If there ever is such thing known as a atheist majority, that is). Atheism is a state of non-belief of any phenomenon, creatures, deities, demons, objects, and everything that cannot be validated by the basic tenets of science. Over the years I have had m

sent in by anonymous Well I started out in the religion realm as a Muslim, born to muslim parents. At the time that I can remember first becoming a Christian I was in a foster home, and the family was Methodist. My brother and I were the center of a really nasty custudy battle between my mother and her ex. Some genius judge decided to sentence me to foster prison, I mean care. I had a hard time dealing with being away from my parents so my mother tried to help me deal with it all by teaching me to pray. Religion in our house had been open and never pressured onto us, I was the kid who begged to go to Mosque to hear stories about God, Heaven, Angels and Miracles. Of course she being Muslim, taught me to pray in Arabic. When we talked about God we used the Arabic word for God, Allah. My foster parents went nuts the first time they heard me say Allah. So instead of being left at a neighbors when they went to church, I was taken along to enjoy the Christian "Truth". I stil

sent in by Jason I grew up believing that I was in the one True denomination in the one True religion. I was a Seventh-day Adventist, God's chosen remnant church, commissioned with spreading God's truth to everyone, including other Christians who had the wrong message. Basically Seventh-day Adventists believe that the final dividing line between God's faithful and those who have fallen away, is whether you go to church on Saturday instead of Sunday. Pretty stupid, huh? The reason I was able to agree to believe that for so long was that I only knew other SDA's. I never actually had to think about how ridiculous the whole thing was. Then I went to a non-denominational high school and realized how cruel and arbitrary that dividing line was. These people are going to hell because they go to church on the wrong day of the week? It was ludicrous. It was about that time that I started searching for information about Ellen White online. There was all kinds of informatio

sent in by Stormwarden My name is Stormwarden, and I am an ex-mormon. To be honest, I quit the church well before the last straw. Having read The Bible cover to cover and the Mormon Trilogy as well, I felt I believed it less and less. I was baptized at age 10, and became a member of the priesthood at 14. The last straw came the week of 9/11/01. I saw then the hypocrisy of not just the Mormon church, but of so many others as well. They claim to be of mercy, yet these places are usually the first to throw the switch. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell only confirmed my thoughts of the Xian faith. They didn't look for a moment at the truth of things: a combination of religion and historical blindness (much of our messes started with the Reagan administration and its meddling). I quit that day. I have yet to inform the church or my parents that I have done so, nor do I wish to yet. I want to get away first. As for what I am now, I am honestly not sure. I will admit I have far more sympath

sent in by Jen I was raised christian. My parents are divorced and I spent half of my childhood with each parent and each parent had different beliefs but were (and still are) christians. The first half was with my dad. He attended a Church of Christ. They believe music (even in church)is a sin, dancing is sin, etc. along with all the usual "sinful" things like cursing, impure thoughts and so on. My dad made me go to church everytime the doors were open. I remember always falling asleep it was so boring. Even if I was sick he made me go. He was very strict and everything was a sin. If we rented a movie that had anything remotely suggestive in it he would go nuts and make me turn it off. He read his bible all the time. I remember once buying a teeny bopper magazine and he got really mad and told me not to buy another one because it had lustful pictures of boys in it (who were fully clothed mind you). He would tell me that if I sinned he would go to hell too because the parent

sent in by Sandy My parents were Christian, my grandparents were Christian, everyone a Christian. However, my Christian parents divorced when I was five and my mother married an agnostic. I still went to church occassionally off and on throughout my early childhood, teenage years and twenties. At age 30 I got serious and wanted to truly live a life pleasing to God. The road from there was hard. I started noticing at first the NT laws that were being broken by just about every single Christian I knew. They were watching evil movies, living the greedy life, some were snobby backstabbers, but yet claimed their love for God/Jesus. When I would, in a loving and gentle way, point out that God says right here that it is NOT okay to do these things, I would be immediately given one or all of the following speaches..."You are bordering on legalism, God doesn't expect us to be perfect, all sin and fall short of the glory of God!" Being OBEDIENT is LEGALISTIC??? I was doing

sent in by Jo I was born into a practicing Catholic family. I became VERY religious in my early teens, so I decided to devote my Sunday afternoons to reading the Bible. Well, I was horrified by what I read. I don't like violent movies, so you can imagine how I felt reading the Old Testament. I was also troubled by the sexism of the New Testament, such as wives obeying husbands, man being made for God and woman being made for man, etc. I wondered what if my husband was wrong about something and I was right. Was obedience still required? What if I'm smarter than my husband? Why did different sex organs and hormone levels make men preferred over women in God's eyes? So, my Bible reading started a general process of questioning that destroyed my beliefs. I also started to question why God had to send his son (who happens to be himself, because they are one) to die as a blood sacrifice to eliminate a sin committed by Adam and Eve. If God controls everything why didn't he jus

sent in by Jodi Even as a child, I felt that there was something horribly, horribly wrong with what I had been taught, but I could never really put my finger on it. I was a good Christian, loving God with all my heart, loving Jesus more than I could stand. But, somehow, as I grew, church began to make me sick. One day, I was sitting in a Pentecostal church with my best friend, and I heard a thunderous noise. I nearly dove under my chair, but thought better of it and asked her what it was. She told me, it was the children stomping on the head of Satan, rejoicing in his destruction. Then, it dawned on me, the thing that had been making me feel sick all this time, was the churches need to blame someone, to hate someone. I don't care who the object was, these people were teaching their children to HATE. Book after book has been written about spiritual warfare, about fighting in the army of God, destroying the enemy who hates you and wants you to burn. We are taught that we are

sent in by ARTIST"X" The other day I was walking into a store minding my own business and an older man came up to me and handed me a paper and said "God can put a smile back on your face". I struck back by tossing his paper onto the ground and i said "i hope you god helps you get out of my way". I walked away with a grin of achievement on my face because in the past I would simply walk away and toss it in the nearest trashcan. Why do they feel the need to impose their beliefs on me in a public place? It would be different if i were a guest visiting his damn church. I admit that I was an ass to this older man but he was pushing his god on me, its like assault and battery with a deadly god. I have always been VERY cautious of churches, god, jesus, and mainly his followers. Why? I dont really know, i was born a Roman Catholic but thanks to my mother i was never forced to attend and I respect her dearly for that. I guess at an early age I questioned al

sent in by Jonathon "DeathWorship" Todd i guess i should start earlier than age 15.. i was born into a heavily christian family so i was obviously forced to go to church every sunday morning when i was a child.. i never actually "got saved" when i was a kid because when you're 5-10 years old, you really dont worry about eternal damnation alot. i always just used to think that if you didnt do anything GRIEVOUSLY wrong (i.e. kill/rape etc..) then you were pretty much straight as far as the afterlife.. skip ahead.. age 15, a very very close friend to me died in a car crash.. this hit me extremely hard, and some vile christ humping god-body saw my weakness and bereavement as a PRIME oppurtunity to gain points with his imaginary best-friend, and proceeded to tell me things to the effect of "i sure hope she knew the Lord" and "i will pray for her soul". that was the first time in my life i ever really worried about MY "soul" and actually

sent in by S.PEMPER Being raised from day one to be a god-fearing, worshiper of the Christian god whose son is named "Jesus" was almost impossible to break from especially when the foundation of my family’s creed was "spare the rod, spoil the child" or " I am only doing this because god loves you and I love you". Is there really any love in teaching your children to never look the adult in charge in the eye because that was defiant not only against authority (however right or wrong they may be) but to god who placed those adults in those positions based on their faith. Should young people be taught not develop the strength of self-reliance ("just give it all to god and if it is his will, all will be o.k." or not....depending if you’ve tithed to the church or been humble enough to bloody your knees in solemn(desperate) prayer avowing your un-wavered servant hood to the supreme being who has known since the beginning of time of his un-matched power

sent in by Optimist This summarises the process and reasons through which I lost faith in Christianity. You will probably not find anything new or original in it, but if it helps someone who thinks along the same lines that I do then it will be worth it. I apologize in advance for its length - I have never been able to write concisely. My initial doubts were caused by the same factors that lead anyone else to have doubts in their faith. These were things like · The existence of other religions · The existence of, and conflict between, so many “Christian” denominations · Why God allows such terrible suffering · The incongruity between the concept of God’s “unconditional” love for his people, and his damning them to eternal suffering in Hell if they do not love him in return. · The whole Creation versus Evolution debate · The errors, inconsistencies and lack of clarity in the Bible which is supposed to be the Word of God. · The lack of improvement in character and way of life of conve

sent in by cdmon Hi all, I've been lurking on this board for the past few days. I find that I share the same sentiments about xianity as many others on this forum. Although I am not an Athiest, but I do find their views on xianity quite refreshing. I am a recovering pentecostal. I am a Pagan/Witch now and since this is a ex-xian board, I feel the same way as many of you. As a xian, I was always under scrunity by the ministers. They had outlandish expectations of how I should live my life. Such expectations a messiah couldn't live up to. When I questioned scripture and started noticing the blaring inconsistancies and contradictions, they admonished me for questioning god by questing his "word." These people did not live up to what they were trying to put on me. Even the ministers were getting caught up in scandles and trying to sweep it under the carpet while ostrasizing [sp?] their victims. I tired quickly of their controling methods, and giving them 10% of my hard ea

sent in by Brandon Belden I grew up literally smothered and confused by the dogmatic and polarizing messages I recieved weekly at our local First Baptist Church. My basic experience was go to church, sing some boring songs, listen to an emotionless preacher, and hope to get out in time for the kickoff of the Cowboys game. Of course 15 years of being dragged to "worship" instilled a fear-based confusion in me that was instrumental in abnormal behaviors and addictions that I adapted in adulthood. My mother was the most self-righteous, hypocritical, insecure woman I have ever met, except of course when she went to play church and "perfect mom" in front of the weekly congregation of Churchians. I had no self-esteem or self identity by the time I was 18, and I figured the only way to get my mom's approval was to go off to Baptist college. The first thing that happened upon arriving at school was getting into an argument with a gluttonus blowhard professor who co

sent in by Bria I was born, raised, and baptized roman Catholic by two wonderful parents. My bio grandfather insisted i go to a Catholic school. After a few years at a secular private school, I left because the principal had some mental problems. I went to catholic school for a few years and did not do well academically. The principal was fake, he put on a front to show he was nice but he was very arrogant. At 16 I was walking through a bookstore with my Mom and i picked up a book called Zen Catholicism. At 17 i encountered a book called the Te of piglet. I read it for a few minutes while i was at work It opened the door slightly. I felt unsatisfied with Catholicism, the service was boring. (the history of Catholicism was unsavory too considering my ancestors were native Americans it puts me at an awkward position) I went to other denominations Lutheran Baptist Pentecostal Anglican Messianic Jewish and Nazarene. At 23 I saw a fight break out in my best friends church. I also notic

sent in by Andrew I was born into a family where my mom and dad were staunch Christians. The insanity started when i was a kid. I used to cry every night as a baby in the middle of the night and somehow, my dad claimed that it happened at AM every night. By some dysfunction in his skull he concluded that i was possessed and got some priest to come exorcise me. And he claimed that the nightly crying stopped after that. This got him very paranoid about "demons" and "devils". The insanity continues into my childhood where he did not allow me to have toys which looked "evil" like skeletor in masters of the universe. so all my toys were the good guys. I was forced to go to church every Sunday and i pissed the shit out of me when i was dragged out of bed to go to Sunday school. To go against him i wreaked havoc in Sunday school but to maintain the "KIND" and "nice" people of the church image, they had to put up with me...boy that was fun!! I