sent in by Jeff A Lackluster Faith Journey The story of my conversion to, involvement with, and de-conversion from the Christian faith is not nearly as dramatic, lengthy, or painful as it has been for others. Growing up, I had little exposure to Christianity except for irregular visits to a Lutheran church for Sunday school and attending Catholic Mass with my grandparents once in awhile. Neither of my parents was particularly religious; my dad was and is a confirmed agnostic leaning heavily toward atheism, though if you asked him today he'd probably identify strongly with Buddhism. Interestingly enough, at one time my father had been pursuing a career in Christian ministry. He'd been raised in a strict Lutheran home, and due to some factors stemming from a dysfunctional family and his own personal demons (homosexuality), he felt at the time that immersing himself in faith was the answer. It wasn't. But this really isn't about his faith journey, so it suffices to sa...

sent in by Jeff A Lackluster Faith Journey The story of my conversion to, involvement with, and de-conversion from the Christian faith is not nearly as dramatic, lengthy, or painful as it has been for others. Growing up, I had little exposure to Christianity except for irregular visits to a Lutheran church for Sunday school and attending Catholic Mass with my grandparents once in awhile. Neither of my parents was particularly religious; my dad was and is a confirmed agnostic leaning heavily toward atheism, though if you asked him today he'd probably identify strongly with Buddhism. Interestingly enough, at one time my father had been pursuing a career in Christian ministry. He'd been raised in a strict Lutheran home, and due to some factors stemming from a dysfunctional family and his own personal demons (homosexuality), he felt at the time that immersing himself in faith was the answer. It wasn't. But this really isn't about his faith journey, so it suffices to sa...

sent in by Cyrano Hi all, I'm Cyrano and I walked away almost five years ago. It was actually my best friend's coming out that started me down that road, although I'd been going down it a while. I was raised a Fundamentalist Baptist and exceeded even my zealous father's dreams in terms of my own "holiness" (read: self-righteous prudery). I was one of those horribly better-than-thou people who had read the Bible backward and forward, knew every apologetics answer to anything an unbeliever could throw at me, and actually wrote my graduating thesis on the value of the KJV over any other version of the Bible. In short, I was an annoying little shit. And when I got out of my father's house (or the Bible Bubble, as I like to call it), I kind of went crazy. Well, crazy for me. I dated and unbeliever *gasp* and had sex outside of marriage *double gasp*. I ended up pregnant and scared and so I got married. My husband (now ex) was a great guy, understanding of a...

sent in by Cyrano Hi all, I'm Cyrano and I walked away almost five years ago. It was actually my best friend's coming out that started me down that road, although I'd been going down it a while. I was raised a Fundamentalist Baptist and exceeded even my zealous father's dreams in terms of my own "holiness" (read: self-righteous prudery). I was one of those horribly better-than-thou people who had read the Bible backward and forward, knew every apologetics answer to anything an unbeliever could throw at me, and actually wrote my graduating thesis on the value of the KJV over any other version of the Bible. In short, I was an annoying little shit. And when I got out of my father's house (or the Bible Bubble, as I like to call it), I kind of went crazy. Well, crazy for me. I dated and unbeliever *gasp* and had sex outside of marriage *double gasp*. I ended up pregnant and scared and so I got married. My husband (now ex) was a great guy, understanding of a...

sent in by Philip Agora I became a born-again Christian in a Fundamentalist Church when I was 14-year-old boy, wrestled with various issues from the start, found myself dissenting on numerous matters, social liberalism for one, difficulty with idea of hell for another (an idea dealt with succinctly by Bertrand Russell, one of my good guys even when I was a Christian). I have been a university gospel team preacher and developed an idea of Christian epistemology based on the experience of the so-called Holy Spirit. I found my Christianity more tolerable as a Quaker worshiping in a silent meeting that included a pagan and a jew in our midst. In a word we were a very accepting group of Friends. However a few years ago I found myself analyzing Christian doctrine more critically than I had ever before, and particularly the concept of "spiritual." What does one mean when one speaks of "spiritual values"? What are "miracles," a "phenomenon" about ...

sent in by Philip Agora I became a born-again Christian in a Fundamentalist Church when I was 14-year-old boy, wrestled with various issues from the start, found myself dissenting on numerous matters, social liberalism for one, difficulty with idea of hell for another (an idea dealt with succinctly by Bertrand Russell, one of my good guys even when I was a Christian). I have been a university gospel team preacher and developed an idea of Christian epistemology based on the experience of the so-called Holy Spirit. I found my Christianity more tolerable as a Quaker worshiping in a silent meeting that included a pagan and a jew in our midst. In a word we were a very accepting group of Friends. However a few years ago I found myself analyzing Christian doctrine more critically than I had ever before, and particularly the concept of "spiritual." What does one mean when one speaks of "spiritual values"? What are "miracles," a "phenomenon" about ...

sent in by Derek My decision to become agnostic did not happen overnight. It took several years before I came to realize exactly what I believed. I grew up believing Christianity was fact so it took time for me to kill that virus that had infected my mind. I hate to be harsh for those of you who are Christian reading this. But that is what I believe Christianity is: a virus of the mind. My hope is that you will read this article and hopefully it will allow you to question what you believe. I can't imagine anyone would want to believe in something that is not true. You don't believe the moon is made of cheese? or do you? I challenge you to read this article with an open mind. Explore the questions and really stop and think about them. Why do you believe what you believe? Do you know why? I sincerely only want to be where the truth is. If someone can convince me that Christianity, or any other religion is truth, then I want to be there. But unless I have concrete evidence I can...

sent in by Derek My decision to become agnostic did not happen overnight. It took several years before I came to realize exactly what I believed. I grew up believing Christianity was fact so it took time for me to kill that virus that had infected my mind. I hate to be harsh for those of you who are Christian reading this. But that is what I believe Christianity is: a virus of the mind. My hope is that you will read this article and hopefully it will allow you to question what you believe. I can't imagine anyone would want to believe in something that is not true. You don't believe the moon is made of cheese? or do you? I challenge you to read this article with an open mind. Explore the questions and really stop and think about them. Why do you believe what you believe? Do you know why? I sincerely only want to be where the truth is. If someone can convince me that Christianity, or any other religion is truth, then I want to be there. But unless I have concrete evidence I can...