Sent in by Gregory S I am not a Christian. Those words come from my mind (not yet from my lips) after forty-four years of serving Christ and his church with all of my heart. I gave my heart to Jesus when I was eleven, on Father's Day one hot June to honor my dad; I'm now fifty-five. It is a scary thing, this leaving the faith business. Perhaps some do so in disgust, anger, or despair, but for me, walking away was scary. It would have been much easier, in some respects, if I had been outed and ostracized. I'm an anime fan (google it), and one of my favorites is Fulmetal Alchemist. The main character is an atheist, as is his brother. In the first few episodes, he exposes a priest who is misleading a young girl into believing that he can bring her boyfriend back from the dead. After the priest is discredited, the girl asks Ed (the main character), "What am I supposed to do now? How am I supposed to make sense of life?" Ed's answer has brought me a lot of comfort

Sent in by Mark R To be a Christian, Don't ask questions that might jeopardize your faith. Do not accept logical answers. God is the only truth; anyone else is automatically a liar even before opening their mouths. Believe without question. Anything that deviates from your beliefs is an automatic lie. And finally, if someone asks you to prove your faith, do not ever give them a straight answer. This is what I faced over the years. I tried to ask questions about my faith and I never received a straight answer. I asked questions about creation and evolution and I was told that Creation was the truth and evolution was a lie. I was told that Christianity is the only path to God and that other religions are false. I attended a college "Christian" club. They had a guest speaker. He was talking about how evolution and these other religions were lies and that only Jesus was the truth. I dared to question where he got his facts. I engaged this person with many questions. I was ask

sent in by Meranda The yelling, screaming. The illiterate leaders and pastors. Sexism, elitism, arrogance and pushing people to accept something while saying "it’s a choice". It’s a lie. I don’t know how much longer I can last. I don’t have a license, no job, so I cant begin to forge a way to independence and I’m 21. I’m going to college, however. I want to invest so much and want to have about 10,000 dollars in the bank by the time I'm ready to graduate (in two years). Anyone know how to do that? Anyway... With my mom I can often say no and she doesn’t force me. But my dad is one of those, unapologetically loud, no nonsense Caribbean guys who believe church is the best place you can be. He scares me. Since I was a child, I was always scared of him. As the only child of Caribbean immigrant Pentecostals, what choice did I have? I said no to my mom on going to church, and then dad came home as my mom was getting ready to leave. He sees her and asks why Im not with her, the

Sent in by Jackie I have been visiting this website for about 2 years now and have made a few comments. I appreciate everyone's honesty here -- even when it's brutal. You guys have helped my husband and I become confident in who we are and what we don't believe. It's good to know that we aren't alone out there. I figured it's about time to put my anti-testimony and a couple of rants. So, here goes... I grew up in a spiritual didn't-really-know-what-we-believed atmosphere. In other words, we had no idea what being a Christian really was and didn't care. But we called ourselves Christians because... still don't know why. We started going to church when I was 17. At that time I was starting to dabble with smoking pot and having sex so my mom thought it would be good for me. It made me feel guilty enough that my senior year in high school I was a super holy-roller. I also became introduced to Master's Commission and felt that was what God

From Adam W Like many of you, I was raised an evangelical Christian along with my entire family. I went to church on Sundays, bible study on Wednesdays, church camp during the summer, you name it. But during all of that, there was some part of me that realized, on a very deep level, that a lot of it was just total b.s., especially the parts about "non-believers" going to hell. It is totally impossible to believe that your fellow brothers and sisters on this planet are going to hell and also be happy yourself at the same time. Happiness requires being able to sense the worth and goodness of every human being. Christianity, on the other hand, teaches people that they are worthless sinners. It is a despicable religion that we should do away with. Has anybody else noticed that Chrisitians are by far the most neurotic people in society? Although I am no longer religious, I consider myself to be very spiritual. Have you guys read the works of Joseph Campbell , where he ident

Sent in by Ted My story is typical of everyone else. I was raised in a fundy home. My father, who thinks he can sing, would occasionally torture, I mean sing for the church. He would have my siblings and I sit before him while he sang. This was an overt display to his "Christian friends" that he was a "godly family man." My parents were number one first class hypocrites. Jesus says to give to the poor, but when my folks see a homeless person begging they turn their nose up at them saying, "The reason that they are poor is because they are lazy." The final nail in the Christian coffin was when my older and favorite brother came out of the closet and said he was gay. My parents have been trying for years to "correct and to save him." I finally left Christianity when I started attending college, where I was exposed to a wide variety of people. Anyway, last Thanksgiving my wife and I were planning a secular, non-religious dinner. Instead of praying

Sent in by A Bit Lonely I'm the only child of Christian Parents. I was born into it. From a very early age I attended church, had a children's bible, children's devotional books. All through my childhood I believed in Jesus. I believed in his love for me and felt he had picked me personally as one of the chosen saved. I felt honored and grateful. I would get choked up thinking about how some one could love me so much as to die on a cross for me. I was home-schooled along with a few other Christian friends, quite sheltered. I really thought I knew the truth, because that was all that was ever pumped into my head, over and over. I felt sure I knew things my secular neighbors and relatives did not. I prayed for them to know God. I'd wish I were in heaven all ready, so I wouldn't have to grow up and spend so much time on earth. I hardly gave hell a second thought. The only time in childhood I remember questioning whether Christianity was true, I was about sev

Sent in by Tim B My childhood was a fairly typical one as far as growing up goes. My parents were hard working middle class folks who weren’t particularly religious. For a time, we did attend an Anglican church where I was able to dress up as a camel for the Christmas pageant or go to the annual church picnic for lots of candy and games. My parents told me that when I was confirmed into the church, I was old enough to decide for myself if I wanted to keep going or not. I looked forward to my Confirmation with glee, knowing I could finally sleep in on Sunday mornings and never go to stupid, boring church again. And that’s what I did. Then, a few years later, I went to University to study theater arts (I wanted to be a movie star at the time lol). When I got there I started to have a lot of fun doing drugs, dating girls and partying as hard as I could. One of my friends there was a Christian, and he enjoyed partying as much as I did. We became very good friends and ended up as room

Sent in by Claire Do you miss yourself? When I hear a question such as this, I recoil in disappointment; I sigh with disgust. It is posed in such a way as if to assume that the person being asked about is no longer authentic, real, or are somehow empty. It's condescending, presumptuous and I find it downright rude. "Do you miss yourself?" has been asked of me in various forms since my journey outside the realm of religion and faith began, just over a year ago. Due to my lack of certainty (and the lack of evidence), I have officially de-converted from Christianity. Since then, questions have been raised about the validity of my reasoning and in turn, my very self. Don't you miss who you used to be? I am not surprised by these questions, knowing full well the world in which I used to live is constructed of persons who are taught to hold each other accountable for a myriad of things: actions, tastes in music, emotions, sexual preferences, interpretations of scripture...