Starboy

Jayjay, you are lucky. I have always been an atheist and I have had many bad experiences with Christians. As far as I know not any with atheists.

Starboy

chekmate

I am an Ex-theist, and Xianity has turned me into a bitter, cynical, sarcastic asshole. At least when it come to religion.

Uzzah

N-B Theist here...but living in the bible belt and having my last relationship destroyed by jebus made me start actively attacking xianity. Before that I could have honestly cared less.


Uzzah

lpetrich

It's interesting that the ex-xians here often feel embarrassed or angry about their past. Which is certainly something reasonable to feel.

I think that this is a good reference for evaluating fundie-conversion stories -- for some strange reason, many of them seem proud of their former sinful lives, when one would expect them to be embarrassed or angry about it. Which is why I find it hard to take many of them seriously.

I ate Pascal's Wafer

You have a good point. It seems most of us ex-theists are embarrassed about our past, and it's something we would prefer not to talk about unless the discussion comes up.

OTOH, it's almost a contest for fundies to see who lived the most sinful life before they became saved. I've seen some threads in the past where the various fundies would post what their past lives were like, and they would seem to get worse as the thread continued. Is there a prize for who was the worst sinner or something? I certainly wouldn't proudly proclaim my past "sinfullness" unless there was some sort of prize involved. Hmm...

-Nick

Bible Humper

I'm one of the few that don't quite fit the mold, I was never a theist but I spend a lot of time here bashing Xianity. It is totally the fault of Infidels, I swear!

When I found this site, discussions with Xians about their beliefs were the last thing I thought I wanted, I was just looking to read some philosophy. I thought that all Xians were pretty much ultra-sensitive about their beliefs and wouldn't dream of spending any time in a place like this!

I was surprised to notice that there were theists here who were very smart, mature, and willing to discuss almost anything we were willing to bring up, and I got hooked on it! I can think of no other issue that has such dedicated defenders as theism, and although their theistic beliefs are not the result of rational inquiry into the facts of the universe, they make herculean efforts to imagine explanations which bring their beliefs in line with these facts.

It is a great intellectual challenge! Although they appear to be cornered by the necessity of the free will defense, and their position becomes utterly indefensible whenever this issue raises it's head, I have to give respect where respect is due and salute the theists for doing a great job with the material they are forced to work with. It's hard to feel too smug when I see the handicaps that they labour under.

So it all began when David Mathews started his first thread, I was already eager to hop into these conversations with the ideas I had uncovered regarding various aspects of theism, and attack the various weaknesses I saw in the apologetics of the Christians, but I was still somewhat concerned that I would get no response from an outraged theist because of the name "Bible Humper".

So I switched to Splashing Colours Of Whimsy, hopped into the fray, got right into the game, started independantly analysing various theistic themes, improved my attacking lines, and now here I am! I now know far more than I ever would have imagined I would want to know about Christianity, and learning more all the time! No escape for the deity!

Oh, and I switched back to Bible Humper because I prefer this name, and now know that the theists can take the joke without freaking out. Not too often, at least.

DMB

I am a never-been-theist who is nevertheless angry at all the religious indoctrination that I suffered at school.

The UK is very different from America about religion. Religion has always been a topic that one shouldn't argue about: it's not polite. Because we have an established church, all kinds of xian assumptions used to permeate society. The Times and certain other "quality" newspapers still usually have editorials for xmas and easter saying how marvellous it is that Jesus was sent to die for our sins, etc. All public occasions seem to be marked by church services. Public funding is not only available for faith-based schools; it has recently been extended and the religions have to meet a much smaller proportion of the costs.

I will not go on and on about this, but it makes me furious. I am heartened by the enormous increase in overt unbelief that has taken place over the past 20 years or so, but it still doesn't seem to make much difference politically. The <a href="http://www.secularism.org.uk/" target="_blank">National Secular Society</a> does a valiant job fighting the objectionable aspects of religion in our society, but doesn't get as much support as it ought to from all the atheists and agnostics out there.

I don't mind what people believe, but I don't accept that the fairies-at-the-bottom-of-my-garden crowd should be subsidised or propped up by the state, nor do I accept that they should be immune from stringent criticism, either because it's not polite to criticise religious beliefs or because in some cases you can be judged guilty of "islamophobia".

So all in all, I am an angry old woman.

Mike Rosoft

I am a never-been-theist whom reading Mark Twain's "Letters from the Earth" made a hard-core atheist, whom reading skeptical literature made a hard-core disbeliever in supernational claims, and who in the process became a hard-core liberal.


Mike Rosoft

Jack the Bodiless

I'm a "never-been-an-adult-theist". I gave up belief in God a few years after giving up belief in Santa.

I tend to identify more with the never-been-theists. I don't really blame myself for believing, I was just a kid. The conditioning was never very intense in my case: my mother was a Christian (the church organist) and church attendance was compulsory, but my father was strictly a weddings-and-funerals-only churchgoer.

So, for me, Christianity was a childhood duty that I was glad to escape from. Which I did when I adamantly refused confirmation classes: no way was I going to give up any more of my time playing lip-service to this nonsense. Fortunately, the whole point of confirmation is that it HAS to be voluntary: my affirmation of the vows made on my behalf when baptized. My mother despised me for it, but according to Christian doctrine there was nothing she could do about it.

Since then, I have never discussed religion with my mother. But I think she's still convinced that atheism is a form of laziness or malingering: not enough people do their duty by going to church.

DMB

ROTFL! Is the going more important than the belief? Or will belief gradually soak into you if you go?