Sent in by Agnosticator When I was 17 and naive, the Christians came knocking upon the door of my mind, persuading me to join the ship of fools for Christ. I thought we were embarking upon an upward journey to the city where the streets are paved with gold. Reality dictated otherwise. My journey did an about face when I realized the streets are paved with pyrite , or fool's gold! I sacrificed my personal goals and aspirations to serve Christ, but the bait-and-switch tactics of conservative-evangelical Christianity and the New Testament showed they were primarily concerned with mind control and self-sacrifice for the church. I set out to be a good Christian. But wait. All the talk about Christians being morally superior because they are forgiven, and becoming better people, was obviously untrue. It took years for my Bible-pickled mind to learn this lesson. Christian morality is but a smokescreen covering faith. Faith is believing in spite of what is real. Faith displaces reality ...

Sent in by Ryan P Image by ::: Billie / PartsnPieces ::: via Flickr I was born in New Orleans Louisiana as a Catholic. I attended Catholic School until I was in the third grade when my parents decided to move to a rural area 1.5 hours north of the city. Though not that far away, the difference in religious belief was staggering. I had entered the Bible Belt . There were no Catholic churches near my new home and all the friends i had met were southern baptist who's families were heavy into church. I was nine years old and wanted to do what my friends did, so I asked my mom if I could start going to church with my friends. I suppose my mom thought that some church was better than no church, so she was fine with it. Again, I was a kid. I had no idea what the differences between Catholics and Baptists were. I assumed we all just believed in God and Jesus... the basics, so I never claimed to not be a Catholic. Well, this did not sit well with the adults in the churc...

Sent in by Mitchy Image via Wikipedia I’ve not been a Christian now for over 20 years, since 1988. Church was not a very important part of my childhood, as my parents stopped going to church (they were Methodist) when I was about 4 years old. My mother in particular was rather cynical about organized religions, believing they were only in it for the money. Still, I was somewhat fascinated with Christianity as I grew up and kept reading the bible . I became enthralled with the stories of heaven, eternity, and biblical prophecies, and truly wanted to do what was right and good. By the time I was a teenager, I had accepted Jesus and Christianity and started going to different Protestant churches with friends. However, the seeds of doubt and skepticism started growing when I was in high school. The more I read the bible, the more I began to question what it said. One sticking point for me involved passages from Romans 13, stating we must submit ourselves to the governing authoritie...

Sent in by Jason Image by eylon via Flickr I was born into a strict Christian family that followed a cult-like version of Christianity that was similar to the Seventh-day Adventists , called the Worldwide Church of God . There was a heavy emphasis on the Old Testament and so my brother and I grew up in a pretty sheltered life, attending the church-ran elementary school . We didn't know better, as it was all we knew. Sure the occasional childhood 'why?' popped up, but there was always a bullshit answer that, coupled with the reassurance of our parents and our whole social bubble, there never was a reason to truly question the teachings. Besides, the bible said we were right and everyone else was going to burn in the lake of fire while we enjoyed eternal life . Man, what a sham. Eventually, in my rebellious teens I finally waved the bullshit flag when the church began to question a few of its prior teachings. I saw a crack in the facade of Christianity and began to feel rea...

Sent in by Kate W Image by ericarhiannon via Flickr My family was never really very religious when I was growing up. My father would randomly take me and my two siblings to church, but he beat my mother so it's not like he was instilled with values. When my mom left him, we moved far away and she never made us go to church at all. My father's side of the family is very Christian and whenever we visited him in the summer we were made to go to Sunday school and church service. When I started making friends after moving to a new state, some were church-going. I would tag along with them. Eventually, I started going to one Methodist church in particular. Mostly because my friends did too. I then became baptized as a Methodist. When you're younger, they never really talk about all the very important issues in the Bible that we encounter now in our everyday modern world. They just tell you Jesus loves you and that Ggod loves everyone and yada, yada. When I started getting olde...

By European House Sparrow Image by Ennor (unwell-resting) via Flickr I've always been a rational person. Educated in math and science, you wouldn't find the likes of me writhing around in a church and speaking in tongues . But yet I believed. I believed because that is what I, and most all of us here in the Bible Belt, were told from the minute we are born. I believed because all my family, friends, and relatives believed. I believed because all you hear in this culture is that the great deceptive power of evil plants seeds of doubt in your mind, and to not have faith is to deny the source of all love. Church is community, friendship, charity.... Yes the Bible has some bronze age brutality - but those immoral atheists are just cherry picking the bad and ignoring the good, aren't they. Aren't they? Perhaps I should read that book - that would make me feel better and inspire me. OK old testament maybe not the best place to start - I'll focus on the new, which a...

By Chucky Jesus How I became an atheist and early years of atheism

Sent in by Marcus Image by mattlemmon via Flickr I wasn't just a Christian. I was a hardcore, Bible-thumping, tongue-speaking, over the top extreme Christian that other Christians wish they were like. I believed God literally talked to me. I believed God had a "mission" for my life. And I was ready to do anything, no matter what the consequences. Well fast forward several years and traveling several countries to do God's endless work, and I burn out spectacularly. Christian ministries and organizations used me up until I had nothing left to give and then some. Finally like Icarus I burnt my wings and hit the ground hard. I found that not only was God clearly uncaring to all my work and efforts for Him but chances are He wasn't even watching, or was and didn't care. There were no rewards for my work as I was promised. God wasn't there for me when I had nothing left. There were no answers, and the answers I'd give others when others were in pain just ...

Sent in by Anon (hiding from lynchers) Image by Funky64 via Flickr My struggle with Christianity began in the third grade when I attended a Christian private school in the city (my parents were working class , and I would ultimately move to public school with the birth of my second sibling, when funding private school was not longer an option). The curriculum novels (i.e. propaganda) described glorious close relationships with God, and I tried hard to develop such a relationship. However, when I prayed most devotedly, nothing happened. It didn't help that I found services sleep-inducing and boring; it also annoyed me that I felt required to donate portions of my meager allowance to the offering plate, which they passed around Sunday school, which I felt I could use on toys. "Jesus will touch your heart in his own time," the preacher would scream over the pews. I worried that he must not have touched my heart; if he didn't soon, I would go to hell! Hell! Hell! Fast ...

Sent in by Wendy Image by Lin Pernille ♥ Photography via Flickr I can't say I am completely free. I can't bring myself to tell my family that I don't believe in God, although my husband knows and completely supports me. And I do believe in something, just not the God of the Christians. It's hard because my mother is so devout and it would tear her apart to know that I am doomed to hell because she really, truly believes that crap. I figure, it's just better to let her be in peace than break her heart. I live about 45 min away anyway so I don't see her all the time. But to go to the beginning, I grew up hardcore pentecostal. I think it was even worse because we went to a Hispanic church and most people were immigrants, and most of them were superstitious anyway. We weren't allowed to cut our hair, women couldn't wear pants or makeup, the man controlled the family and women had their place in the home. When I was really little it was fine, but as I got o...

Sent in by Ryan Image by Getty Images via Daylife I was raised as a "Non-Denominational Christian", which is a short-handed way of saying I was Southern Baptist ; my parents didn't want the stigma attached I guess. Some of my earliest memories were at a church. Some were fun memories (youth group trips)...some were terrible (vacation bible school, church camp, everything else). I always resented going to church. It was always boring and I almost always fell asleep or tried to read something other than my Bible. I would doodle sometimes. I never had a "passion" for church. I always just went along with everything and pretended to be happy or feel touched in some way. It was the thing to do. Eventually we (my immediate family) stopped going to church because everyone would gossip about my father's alcoholism. My mom got fed up with it and we stopped going to that particular church. It took several years before we tried other churches; each one was just as un...

Sent in by Alison Image by Gabriela Camerotti via Flickr My departure from Christianity occurred 11 years ago. This is a letter I recently wrote to filmmaker Brian Flemming after watching the film The God Who Wasn't There .: Brian, For the first time in my life, someone has reflected back to me the kind of kind of utter confusion, anxiety, stress, and often panic that I experienced being raised in a fundamentalist, evangelical Christian community. I, too, was a Christian ▬ one who earnestly and perpetually tried to come to terms with "reality" inside of the "absolute truth" of Christian teachings. The constant presence of obvious inconsistency without logical explanation, however, which seemed rarely to weigh as significantly on the hearts of Christians around me as on me, was never overcome by that "peace that passes all understanding" that Faith was taught to provide. The beginning of the end of my identity as a Christian was at the age of 27, when...

Sent in by Joseph Image via Wikipedia I came across this site while search for the origins of Easter . I guess that was my sunrise service . I read Nicole's testimonial dated April 6, 2009 and was inspired to share mine. (Thanks for the forum). I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic schools for 12 years. I went to mass every Sunday and in college, when I worked on Sundays, I attended Saturday evening mass. When I was 14, I saw the virgin Mary hovering over me one night. Funny that a good Catholic boy would have a vision of the Virgin Mary . So yeah, I was pretty much brainwashed. In my late 20's I was in a bad marriage and wanted out. But I was dealing with all the baggage and implications that come with being a good Catholic. I went for a long walk down a busy main street and prayed for guidance. I cried, just wanting an answer. I got it. On the way home, I saw ambulances and mangled cars. When I got home, the neighbor informed me that a teenage girl was kill...

Sent in by Larry Image by Himalayan Trails via Flickr I was born into a devoutly Christian family in the Midwest 51 years ago. I can't honestly say I ever felt accepted in my family, or in any extended church "family". I always felt out of place, unwelcome. I won't say that I didn't believe, but I think I always had some reservations. My father for some reason had National Geographic magazines in the house, and I soaked them in. The info contained in them probably led to my first serious doubts about what I was being taught in Sunday school . I had lots of trouble accepting the six-day creation story, and a six- to eleven-thousand-year-old earth. Also, the problem of evil in the world, perfectly fine people supposedly going to hell, inconsistencies in "God's word", and many things similar to what many of you have stated before, all caused me much doubt. But, I didn't leave Christianity or the church for another three decades. In fact, I married...

Sent in by Shannon Image by » Zitona « [09] via Flickr I want to take a moment and tell you how truly grateful and inspired I am from the very personal stories shared on this site.When I first left religion I was extremely depressed and lonely. I had considered suicide seriously for the first time in my life. I was in one of the darkest hours of my life ,but, ironically I had faith. After finding this and other similar sites I was warmed and found peace in your different stories. Mostly I realized I wasn't alone. I wasn't crazy and I wasn't being illogical. Today I am 37 years old and I am happy in a way that I never imagined possible. It is not my physical birthday but instead my "spiritual" birthday. And I am deeply happy because I have seized control of my life and stepped into the light. I was raised in the Mormon church by my well meaning and generally good parents. From my earliest memory I have spent an average of 25 - 40 hours a month in church in one for...