Was raised catholic. Went to church every sunday. Older brothers got sent to catholic school to be whacked with rulers by nuns. Dad never went to church with us, except christmas. Believed the stupid lies and faulty logic till I turned 17 or so, then, realized I could think for my self and open my eyes. Life is indeed a precious gift, and we only get one shot at it, so wasting it and missing opportunities and generally flushing it down the tubes for some pie-in-the-sky mumbo-jumbo seemed pretty stupid.
Funny thing about it is that my 2 best friends growing up had nothing to do with church or religion, and I kinda had to defend it once in a while. Now, both these turds are DEEP into the bullshit (way farther than I ever was) to the point of rediculousness. What gets me is that neither one can agree on any of the bunk. Kinda fun to get together with them once a year or so and listen to them debate the finer points of the “true bible” and just exactly which one of them is totally wrong!
Fagjunk Theology: Not just for sodomite propagandists anymore.
I was raised Catholic, got confirmed, all that. My mom is a Catholic, with slight leanings away from the conservatism of the church. (A couple of her sisters were once part of a “radical” Catholic parish that tried to go all “liberal” and was shut down by the diocese. Mom wasn’t really interested in that). My father was raised Catholic but never practiced any sort of religion in my memory. I’m a disinterested agnostic.
Atheist, raised Catholic. My mom is pretty hardcore about the religion thing, but not neccessarily the strict teachings (she’s very cafeteria-Catholic). My dad is/was catholic to make my mom happy. Not really an atheist, but more likely to crack a joke in church than actually pray.
Agnostic, from the very beginning. I never had any faith to lose.
I was raised Methodist. My grandparents were very devout, my parents less so, but we still did the church-every-Sunday thing for quite a while. I finally gave up in disgust when I was about 14. (Not a “good church experience”.)
Mom liked going to church in a general way, but quietly discounted how much of Christinity was presented. My father was very interested in religion, and became quite well versed in Eastern religions especially.
Raised Southern Baptist(but not the hardshell kind) until I went to college. I had to attend church twice on Sun. unless I was sick with a doctor’s excuse.
I think I began to question things when I was 15-16. By 18, I’m pretty sure I had the convictions that I retain til this day(age 58).
Agnostic. Raised in a basic community bible church. Went pretty much every sunday growing up. My mom was formerly Catholic and now has reverted back to that religion (that’s a whole other story…).
I would say that I’m “Agnostic-like” (or is that Agnostic-lite? )
I believe that not one person on this planet knows for sure if there is or isn’t a deity. It’s all just conjecture and a choice to believe either way in order to assuage your fears of “not knowing something”. Therefore, to say you are an Atheist – meaning you absolutely think that there is definitely not a deity – you’re just as bad (in my book) as a full blown hard-core “believer”.
Neither of my parents are religious at all. In fact, I was exposed to Judaism (sp?) before I was exposed to Christianity. I went to a Jewish preschool, where we learned about Passover and Yom Kippur and Chanukkah and such. We were told the stories behind the holidays, but just as a background.
After consideration on my part, I figured I was agnostic from about third grade on (never really though about it before, until my best friend started going to church) and continued in that vein until last year (ninth grade), when I went to a Catholic school where I realized, “Hey, I don’t believe this even a little bit.” So now I have realized that I’m atheistic.
I’m really interested in the Bible and Biblical studies, though, and I think that being a Biblical scholar would be quite an interesting job. Go figure.
Interesting responses. Although this isn’t a scientific survey by any means, I would’ve thought there would’ve been more “first generation” atheists/agnostics whose lack of belief was shaped by oppressive religious environments or horrible experiences with the clergy. Instead, most of the people who’ve answered seem to come from moderate to mildly religious backgrounds.
As for myself, I consider myself an agnostic-who-leans-toward-atheism. My religious background is what I call “generic mainstream Protestant.” As an infant, I was baptised in a Congregationist church. When my family moved, we started frequenting Presbyterian churches. We used to go almost every Sunday but, as time went on, our weekly attendance became more intermittent. In fact, of the posters in this thread, my experience most closely parallels that of Lissa: no “hellfire and brimstone,” a loving God, the importance of the Golden Rule, and emphasis on helping other people.
My turn toward disbelief was not the result of any animosity toward the Judeo-Christian God, the doctrines of Christianity, organized religion, Protestantism, clergy, or the church I was attending. If anything, my decision was marked by a considerable amount of personal regret and anxiety. It took me several years before I could tell my parents that I was an agnostic. However, when I did tell them, their reaction was surprisingly calm. Later, I found out that even though my parents were fairly devout, atheism/agnosticism was actually pretty common in my family (especially on my father’s side) so my admission probably wasn’t that shocking to them.
I was raised Roman Catholic - my mother was/is a moderate Catholic who’d had a Catholic school education, my father believes there’s probably a deity but doesn’t follow a faith (he was raised in a moderately Catholic setting).
I had an hour of religious education once a week from either kindergarten or first grade until I made my confirmation at the end of eighth grade. After that, my religious education was finished.
Mom took my sister & I to church a couple times a month as well as the big holidays (Christmas & Easter, as well as Palm Sunday, Ash Wednesday, & Good Friday). She tried to keep us off meat on Fridays during Lent when we were kids. After we were confirmed, though, she didn’t make us go to church. She probably started attending less often as well, actually.
I’ve been an atheist since around age 13 or 14… The idea of a supreme being no longer made sense to me. At first, it was just 'cause I didn’t buy that a god would allow suffering in the furtherance of some grand, unknown plan - then, as I got older, it simply seemed illogical; I didn’t buy it.
I’m an atheist or agnostic, depending on one’s definition of “God.”
My mom was raised as a strict Catholic (although I gather that she was rather wild as a teenager), and my dad’s family are Baptists. They were both fairly lapsed by the time I was growing up. I used to think that Dad was an atheist, but a couple of years ago he told me wasn’t.
My siblings and I were brought up nominally Catholic. We went to church on Sundays when we were little, then less and less frequently as we got older, until it was just Easter and Xmas, and then not at all. I had CCD instruction until I was 9 or 10. When I was 14 and said I didn’t want to be confirmed because I didn’t believe in God (at least not an anthropomorphic or inventionary one, although I know I didn’t use those words at the time), my mom said I didn’t have to be–and that was that.
I guess I’m an atheist, but it’s more of a “shoulder shrug, couldn’t care less” issue for me. Mum believes in God in an uncritical “there must be someone out there” fashion but doesn’t go to church. Dad is agnostic but sings in the local Church of Scotland choir, which is something he’s always enjoyed. We were left to make up our own minds as children.
my family is roman catholic…but every generation loses a kid or two to non-belief/other creeds. my parents tried raising me catholic. when i was younger we rarely went to church (maybe once a month?) but when it came time for my older brother’s confirmation they decided that we all HAD to go every sunday. and that’s when i had a problem because i started understanding more and more how i didn’t like organized religion. and then i went to a jesuit (order of catholic priests) high school. actually a priest at my school used to say that jesuit schools turn out more athiests than any other order. and he’s probably right. because at my school i had to learn a LOT about the catholic faith and instead of just not caring as i had before, i really gave the whole god thing some thought. i am an agnostic. i dont pretend to know what’s out there, either way. so yeah. being surrounded by religion made me see that it wasn’t right for me, and if i had been raised in a non-religious family i think i would probably just not care.
Another agnostic checking in. I was raised Roman Catholic; every sunday my parents hauled the lot of us into church. Mom was raised Baptist, I think, and Dad was raised Catholic. Mom converted when they got married, I guess. I went to a catholic grade school for first through third grade, then my parents divorced, so I went to a public school after that.
I think my loss of faith is due to Bill Cosby. Really… we had one of his early albums, with his 3 routines about Noah and the flood on them. I was maybe 7 years old then, in 2nd grade. I remember thinking, “This is really funny, but how can God let Bill make fun of Him like that? Shouldn’t that be wrong?” Bill’s still with us, so either it wasn’t wrong, or God was laughing, too, or he’s really patient.
We still went to church most sundays for years because the divorce settlement said that we kids were supposed to, but by high school it became a chore I ducked if I could. In my 20’s, I referred to myself as “catholic unorthodox” if anyone asked me about my religion. By my late 30’s I was pretty much agnostic. I can’t prove there isn’t a god, and nobody’s been able to prove to me that there is. But it wasn’t until just a few years ago that I really admitted it to my wife. She’s still a believer, but hasn’t gone to regular mass more than 10-15 times in the 18 years we’ve been married. (Not counting weddings, funerals, etc, I mean) I’m in my mid-40’s now, and don’t worry about who’s right a bit. We’ll all find out sooner or later.
Well, I bumped heads with the Jesuits and the Christian Brothers since I attended high school at different institutins.
One thing that always intrigued me is that my friends and I all learned to fight, drink and swear from both of them.
We used to watch them fight at football games. Nobody blinked or considered it odd to get hammered after games with them. I found it odd when our ice hockey team was broken up because we were getting into too many fights. We were encouraged to fight, rewarded for it, and then castigated for fighting.
The more bizzare things that occurred, the more one has to start asking questions.
Atheist since I learned to think for myself. My parents are lunatic fringe fundamentalists; my father is an ordained minister. My siblings and I had religion forced down our throats and beat into us. My 2 brothers are also atheists; my sister (the youngest, much protected by her older sibs) is a liberal Christian. My parents believe that all of us, including the Christian sister and my 9-yr-old niece, are going to hell.
A friend asked me about my parents’ religion, “Are they Baptist?” “No,” I said, “they believe that the Baptists are going to hell.” My friend looked stunned and said, “There’s going to be a lot of surprised Baptists.”
I was raised Catholic; went to catechism from 6th grade through high school, although senior year we met at the priest’s home for more casual discussion. I really irritated him when I suggested that God would be an atheist.
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