Gooch's dad

My dad is a complete asshole, and I'm an atheist.

Then again, I'm one of 6 kids, and I'm the only one of the 6 that IS an atheist. Of the other five, two are fairly devout protestants, one is a rabid fundy evangelical, one is an ex-catholic quasi-pagan, and I'm not really sure what my little brother believes. I think he is something along the lines of a deist or maybe agnostic.

Most of us kids have very little to do with our father, since he's such an abusive sociopath.

-Kelly

Shake

A psuedo-conflicting viewpoint:

As I have mentioned in past "How did you become atheist"-type threads, it was something my dad said that pushed me away from religion. Now, he was neither absent nor a bad dad. He was, and still is, a good, loving father; an intelligent and caring man. He advocates thinking for yourself, although he is heavily involved in his church. At the time of his above mentioned talk to me, he was teaching 8th grade confirmation class. We were discussing the Nicene Creed (and possibly another?) and the subject of belief in general. He pointed out to me the hypocrisy of a lot of people who go through the motions of attending church, and feel that by their merely going and saying the right things, that they'd be "saved" or whatever. He said if you didn't truly believe, you shouldn't say that you do. Further, he told me that if I couldn't bring myself to believe what was in the Creed, etc. I should forego being confirmed with my classmates, until such time as I did believe. Well, I never fully accepted these beliefs, my doubts remained and grew, but I gave in to peer pressure and went ahead with my class. He taught me more than he realized, and my anger was not aimed at him, but at the hypocrisy of organized religion and the mindless drones who go "just because." Eventually it led me to a rejection of God and religion altogether. And actually, I'm at peace with my (lack of) belief, and I've got Dad to thank for it! Thanks, Dad!

babelfish

I'm getting an inkling of an idea of what actually causes people to reject religion - I think it may be skepticism, pure and simple!

And actually, from the above posts, it appears that fathers may well have some influence on how we arrive at our current world views.

As I mentioned before, although my dad was very devout, he had an inquiring mind, which he passed on to me. Others have said similar things about their dads.

So maybe that's the common thread, not the abusiveness, but the intelligence and open-mindedness, of the father.

So all you theist dads out there, in order to avoid having your kids become questioning free-thinkers, tone down your skepticism and open-mindedness a bit, or you may get some unexpected results!

sighhswolf

My Dad died in 1981, my Mom died in 2000.
There has always been a special bond between me and my parents.
My parents used to tell me that most people had to accept whatever they got as children cause
biology doesn't allow designer kids.
Not yet anyway.
They showed great charity in adopting me, they chose me and they never let me think for one second that I was an unwanted child.
My Dad never let a day pass without expressing his love for my Mom and me.
He was always there for me, and he taught me how to be a loving father and a good provider by example.
I may have slipped in those areas in my life, but it wasnt because of a lack of a wonderful role model.
I miss them both, and I am very grateful that they decided to take in a motherless child and give him all the things he needed to grow into a man.
Wolf

yahwehyadayada

My father had a stroke when I was 10, & was unable to speak or use the right side of his body for 18 years until he finally was released from his suffering by death from pneumonia. He attended church at easter & xmas & for the baptism of my younger sister. I never thought about it when I was a kid, but now I think that he probably believed in god but couldn't be bothered to observe most conventions of religion. My mother, on the other hand, forced me to attend church, which I hated. I remember complaining once that it was so boring & she replied, "You're not there to be entertained!"
As my mother has gotten older, she has become steadily more religious--even my stepfather has complained to me that he can't stand it when she watches the 700 club & sends them money. I credit my mother's attempt at indoctrinating me with something which never made sense to me as being the driving force behind my atheism.