# October 15, 2020, the Day I Became an Atheist **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 15, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014 "2020-10-15T14:51:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/1 "2020-10-15T14:51:33Z")
Okay, it’s weird where it happened, but it happened. Ten minutes ago, I went into the washroom at work, and while in the stall after taking a leak, I sat there and thought the phrase, “Fuck you Jehovah” and did not immediately beg for forgiveness. I just typed the phrase here and I have not and will not beg for forgiveness. Because I just said fuck you to nothing. At all. There is no being of whatever substance or name up there listening in on my thoughts so they can zap me with punishment. I know it. I feel it. Ever since I left the Jehovah’s Witnesses, I’ve been dicking around, clinging to the label Deist, because I wanted to cover all my bases and you cannot prove a negative and say for certain that there is no creator or ultimate being. But now, it doesn’t matter. I’m done. I’m an atheist. It’s kind of weird that this thought train came upon me in the bathroom, but whatever. I’m free. I can think or do what I want without fear of some meddling malevolent spirit creature taking note of my every move. I am truly free. I’m not proud or anything. I’m not even crying. I’m sort of numb. I’m an atheist. Fuck you Jehovah. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/2 "2020-10-15T15:13:41Z")
You’ve taken your first step into a larger world. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/3 "2020-10-15T15:26:00Z")
For good or bad, religion can be useful for creating a moral framework to guide you through life. Even if it’s not real, it can help people shape their behavior by using the tenants of their religion as an example of how to live. So even if you no longer believe in your particular religion, hopefully you can recognize the good parts of it that helped shape who you are and not think of it as a total loss. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/4 "2020-10-15T15:39:27Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > “Fuck you Jehovah” First, congratulations! Second, you know who else said “Fuck you, Jehovah!”? Hmmm, Jonah, Moses, oh and Habakkuk (through his entire book of the Old Testament…all three pages, until he decides he’ll cope anyhow in the last paragraph). And most of the disciples (esp. Peter… and Judas, of course). So anyways I’m toasting you in your ongoing adventure to build your own framework: coherent, compassionate, and spiritual-without-being-oppressive. Oh, as I raised my glass I said _“Free at last, freeee at lasssst…”_ ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/5 "2020-10-15T15:43:12Z")
Goddamn, welcome to the club. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/6 "2020-10-15T15:44:57Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > Ever since I left the Jehovah’s Witnesses If your experience is anything like mine (not a Jehovah’s Witness, but raised in a family of Pentecostals) there’s two parts to this. On a rational intellectual level I realized as a young teenager that it was all bullshit. But it took much longer to get past the toxic effect that the condemnation of my “failure” by my family had on me. To really get past the ingrained belief that was established in earlier childhood that there was something _wrong with me_ when the frantic hysteria of their church services left me cold and depressed. To really come to understand and believe that the problem was with their toxic belief system, that I did not let _them_ down, but that (albeit without ill intent) they failed me as parents. > [@filmore](#): > > For good or bad, religion can be useful for creating a moral framework to guide you through life. Nonsense. The evolving morality of the civilized world has been fighting _against_ religious inertia forever. What happens is that decent people with moral intuition reformulate their ostensibly religious principles to conform to what they know is right. If they hang on to their religion at all, they just ignore or rationalize away more and more of the evil or useless parts of their “holy” texts. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/7 "2020-10-15T15:46:22Z")
Nobody needs a religion to tell them right from wrong - and what a religion often regards as right and wrong is certainly up for debate. You don’t need to follow a religion to be a decent human being who contributes positively to society. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/8 "2020-10-15T15:49:38Z")
Gooble gobble, one of us! Seriously, congratulations, and I hope it will be a joy to you as it has been to me. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/9 "2020-10-15T15:54:10Z")
Took you long enough…and I’m not being sarcastic. Instead of just switching over, you thought it through and came to your conclusion naturally over a period of time. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/10 "2020-10-15T15:59:27Z")
Mazel tov! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/11 "2020-10-15T16:13:54Z")
Praise science and logic! Welcome to the rational world. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/12 "2020-10-15T16:34:01Z")
Congrats on your revelation, though as digs alluded to, you probably wouldn’t say “fuck you” to an entity you’ve completely stopped believing in 😉 I consider myself an Agnostic. Some think of this as “Athiesm Lite” for people who lean toward Athiesm but are too “chicken” to commit to complete disbelief in God and hedge their bets. But the real definition is: > Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. Another definition provided is the view that “human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist.” [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism) So I think it’s possible to be an Agnostic believer, e.g. one who personally believes (because it’s about faith, as they say), or an Agnostic Athiest. I lean strongly towards the latter. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/13 "2020-10-15T16:39:05Z")
When you die, nothing happens! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/14 "2020-10-15T16:43:07Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > When you die, nothing happens!- An old drinking buddy of mine died last year. We had a smörgåsbord. I wouldn’t call a smörgåsbord nothing! But, yes. Other than possibly a smörgåsbord, nothing happens. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/15 "2020-10-15T16:45:05Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > But now, it doesn’t matter. I’m done. I’m an atheist. It’s kind of weird that this thought train came upon me in the bathroom, but whatever. I’m free. I can think or do what I want without fear of some meddling malevolent spirit creature taking note of my every move. I am truly free. One might even call this an Anti-Theophany! 😜 Atheophany?.. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/16 "2020-10-15T16:49:17Z")
I sure hope my friends throw me one before I die. I’d hate to miss a good smörgåsbord. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/17 "2020-10-15T16:50:15Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > Fuck you Jehovah. I’ve always been an atheist, and maybe that’s why I’ve never said anything of the sort. I have never needed to utter profanities but I don’t have a problem saying them. I may not want to use such bad language if that should be offensive for the people I respect. And I respect quite a lot of people. But once one starts cursing, where should one stop? Fuck the world! Because why not. Fuck the universe! It’s just dirt after all. Fuck myself. I am insignificant and pretty soon I will not be anything at all. Knowing yourself is crucial in my opinion, and I am proud of the fact that I know who I am. It is inevitable that my identity should have been built in opposition to a wide range of choices, categories and stuff, but I don’t need profanity to detach myself from what I find inappropriate, trivial or superfluous. And I never look back in anger. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/18 "2020-10-15T16:57:12Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > And I never look back in anger Wait until you’re rear-ended by an idiot yapping on a cell phone. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/19 "2020-10-15T17:02:04Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > And I never look back in anger. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Wait until you’re rear-ended by an idiot yapping on a cell phone. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014/20 "2020-10-15T17:02:28Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Wait until I never wait that long. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-15-2020-the-day-i-became-an-atheist/923014.md?page=2)