I think I belong to the minority like Voiderest, who never really were into religion. Parents had taught me to read when I was around five, and first books I had read were some fairy tales and a Bible for children - so guess what, I couldn't really see the difference. So I suppose I'm a rare case of not being a believer never in my life, and I don't think I'll change my mind now that I'm 19.

P.s. Sorry for the broken English - I'm not a native speaker.

Since ive been an atheist ive been more understanding and have seen more into what people are.

I have been more understandable to people who have religion and tried to help them see more meaning other than god. In a understandable way. 

                           -rEvolution07

 I think that my ability to not judge people based on their lifestyle is one of the biggest improvments. No matter who I would meet I would always wonder if there lifestyle was right, and if they would go to hell. I used to even judge my poor wife when we were first together. Now I can truely accept anyone and get along with everyone...unless they are a douche. I guess when I really knew that I was athiest was when my wife was giving birth to our daughter. I went to the bathroom and was about to start praying to god that " if you are real, please let this go smoothy". But before I even started I said to myself "No, I am not praying". Then after all the initial labor my wife pushed the baby out in 23 minutes( that is really fast for those of you who do not know) and we have a very healthy baby. So now that I don't believe anymore I can stop worrying if god will punish me for something that I did. I used to be so afraid to leave the house after I did something "bad" like look at porn or something. I was afraid if I went for a drive god would kill me and I would go to hell. Now I realize that people die and there is nothing I can do about it. So I no longer fear death. 

Well first of all, Welcome. I think you will find a lot of people like yourself on these post. I too went through the same ordeal when I dumped religion. I was a christian for 25 years and I could not go 1 minute without thinking about sin. I constantly lived in fear of everything I did. I would even feel bad if I went a got something to eat bc I knew that there are other people who have nothing. Everytime I sat down and watched tv for 30 minutes or played on the computer felt like a sin bc I was being unproductive and I could have been out in the streets talking with people about christ. I even judged my poor wife and treated her badly when we were first together. (i'm just glad she stayed with me.) When I first dumped religion I kept asking myself "what if I am wrong?" But the  more I asked christians those hard to answer questions, I realized that they could not be rationally answered because the concepts are irrational. It is funny bc the first time I came to this website a couple of years ago I came as a christian to debate. Now I feel like if is my job to help talk to people who are going through similar circumstances. 

     I can honestly say that I know how you feel. Christianity for me was not just something I did on Sunday, it was 24/7 for me. It consumed my life. And it makes me angry that I invested so much of my life to it. I can't help but to be angry at myself for being so stubborn my whole life. I think of all the good times that I have wasted and all the time I have wasted on it( and the money I would give to the church). I had this rule, that whenever I went to church I would give whatever was in my wallet. Sometimes it would be over 100 dollars. It makes me angry that I let them trick me into giving them money. The bible says nothing about erecting huge buildings for god. In fact I think that jesus preached against things like that. It is so liberating once you wake up and actually realize all the things you can do without the worry of hell. I made a similar post called getting over the fear of hell. I will leave a link, you should check it out bc many members left some very good responses on it. Good luck and remember the fear of hell goes away with time. I am still getting over it but I am much better and happier now. I think the biggest thing I am afraid of is telling my parents I don't believe anymore. 

http://www.rationalresponders.com/forum/16870

Hmm. I don't know. It makes me kinda sad in a way. I mean, how easy would it be to know that there was a "God" who was always there, always watching. It would make things easier, like no matter how bad things are, God will be there to make sure it won't get too bad.

But at the same time, it makes me feel empowered. I am better able to attribute my success to myself.

I got married and found my husband because of MYSELF. God didn't put him in front of me.

My mother stopped drinking because she wanted to, not because God gave her the power to.

It seems like sometimes, the faith in God makes your victories less yours, at least for most religous people.

So it is freeing and saddening at the same time.

 I was raised Jewish but I kind of rejected and doubted it from the start, and my parents moved a little ways away from it too, so there's not much to talk about there. Basically I went from Judaism to agnosticism (for about half a second) and then to atheism. Since my de-conversion, I have learned that all assertions should be questioned, and I have also learned to appreciate the science that not only helps us understand the world, but has evidence to back it up as well! I have also accepted the lesson that you can't always get what you want (cue awesome Rolling Stones song) so praying to a mythical sky spirit which we can't even see won't change things. 

 I was raised in a Catholic family, and my country is very "religious", Catholic church dominates every aspect of our society. Talking about not being religious is seen here as almost a "big crime". I was educated in a Catholic school during my elementary and high school years. I always felt that religion was not right, but society and family "force" you to follow the rituals, prayers, go to church, and all that things they do. The university I attended was secular, and that helped me to establish myself as an atheist. I realized that all things related to religion and gods are absurd, product of superstition, impossibility to explain certain things, and mass control of people. Society here doesn't want to understand my position, even my close family. But I stand very firm in my "non-believer" status. And someday I hope we atheists are seen as a real example of how to live and understand our world with REASON. 

I can tell you one way about how athiesm has made me a better person.  It's made me tolerant and less judgmental.  I remember being religious when I was a child, and my goal was to be a missionary, go to China, and convert the heathens.  My parents, teachers and pastors all thought this a very honourable thing to accomplish.  How sickening.  I believed and was taught all those who believe different than me go to hell.  I would be upset whenever someone ate pork, for I believed they would go to hell(was raises adventist, which is essentially jews for jesus).  Now I accept everyone's beliefs.  I don't believe them myself, but if you are catholic, jewish, hindi, moslem, mormon, baptist, adventis, etc., I'm not going to judge that person because I believe essentially the same thing they did, but differently.  Being athiest has opened my eyes.  I find it ironic that those who are religious ask me to open up my eyes and accept christ.  I merely respond that my eyes are open, they are the ones blinded by faith.  So now, the questions that religion answered, like how did life start, what happens after death, etc., I seek out an answer of my own.  Not one gift wrapped and given to me by religious doctrine.  Being athiest has also made me, happier.  When I was religious, I doubted strongly, why.  A simple question, yet one considered blasphemous and sinful.   Why does god allow the world to be in pain?  Why did god not stop lucifer?  Etc.  These questions troubled me deeply.  No longer, for I know now the questions to be irrelevant. 

im new to this but i truly sincerely no longer beleive in the bible and god.just noah's ark is a load of crap.like bill maher asked,where in the 10 commandements does it say"thou will not rape a child"?bullshit.if jesus could turn water into wine and multiply fish for a fucking wedding/party why cant he feed starving children in africa?sick.if god loves us and we are his children then why we have to prove unending devotion to him,?why doesnt he come to us?when jesus came about there were mayans living on another continent......what they didnt matter?

removed

As for me, I have hereditary chronic depression (thanks, mum and dad) and suicidal tendencies.  I haven't been an atheist for very long, but ever since I finally admitted to myself that I am one I've been more positive and less irritable and I've even quit smoking all of a sudden.  I can't say my morals have changed at all (I've always been kind of a liberal-minded person, Christian or not) but as far as my outlook on life and the fact that it's the only life I've got, I'm a totally different (and better) person.  I just feel healthier, you know?

I think it's been covered fairly well by everyone else.  I stopped being particularly religious at about 16, and a few years later I considered myself atheist.  I think the most important thing that atheism has done for me is given me the drive to gain knowledge.  It is so easy to become complacent in life and to just be happy with what you know.  However, knowing that this is my one go round, I have become eager to learn anything and everything I can.

The only problem I have with this forum has a direct correlation with what I just said.  I have had trouble getting off this forum in order to finish busy work my college professors have given me.  It seems pointless to me to complete the work, as I would much rather go through old topics here and read into what other people here feel about science, religion, morality, basically anything of substance. 

So, yeah, atheism has made me more motivated to learn about topics of substance.  I am also more aware of people and things around me.  For me it's fairly easy to get into my own world, where I lose sight of everything around me.  Not necessarily in a selfish way, but if I have a busy week, I tend to throw basically everything else on the back burner.  I've learned to let things come as they may, as nothing is important enough to make me retreat into my own little bubble.

Hello again,

Everyone can please disregard this post.  I'm no longer an Atheist and some of what I posted, on hindsight, was not completely honest, as I was very hostile about my prior religiousity.  And I'm not here to debate, b/c I know I'm not supposed to post as a theist in this forum, but I would like to just correct my errors:

 "I lived my life in constant hatred for this world and the sinful people in it.  I only pretended to love my neighbor b/c that was god command, but I also knew that god hated sin and knowing I had to avoid sin meant I had to avoid people - except the "real christians" in my small mennonite (nearly amish) church."  It is true that at times I felt the need to distance myself from people in order to avoid, what I'd have considered "resurrecting the old me", but out of charity, I made no great effort to do so.  Other people, however, who misunderstand Mennonite separation (the way they dress, for example) often withdrew from me or made false-accusations (some of which, in my hostility to religion, I accused myself of).  It is also true that at times our "neighbor" is not "lovable", and it takes obedience and love for God to overcome the temptation to avoid being selfless and charitable/loving toward that person.  In that respect it may seem disingenuous to "love my neighbor" in action when in my heart or mind I may not FEEL love.  But love is not always something that is felt - it is often a choice that is put into action.  We are all selfish at times, and sometimes doing the wrong thing means going against what we naturally feel.  

It is important to me to go back to all the places I renounced God and set the record straight.  And I will not see any replies to this post so there is absolutely no chance for debate from me.  But in case anyone would like to know what can make me do a 360 in my thinking I will just say that eventually I realized I truly was living a selfless life as a Christian, and strived to live a blameless one.  As an Atheist I loosened up here and there (not seeing sin in those places anymore) and grew more and more miserable.  I lost that selfless charity I once had.  Loving neighbor got increasingly difficult and it was easier to justify being selfish.  And finally, and most importantly, I knew that this way I lived as a Christian which I could now see, on hindsight, as being truly blessed, could not have been paved with human wisdom.  And one day I finally reasoned that I would just continue to live the way I had as a Christian w/out attributing its goodness to a god.  But my heart was still empty, having, in a sense, lost my closest friend/love (the God I no longer believed existed).   And one day, in my anguish and grieving for this (perceived) loss, I found myself praying, and immediately following this very heart-felt and painful prayer, God answered me very profoundly. 

I had been praying while playing a song on the piano (the words of the song expressed my feelings; making it my prayer) - a song I had never heard or seen before, from a music book I had never seen before which had been my mothers.  The words of the song became my prayer (about the loss of a loved one).  When the song was finished I just sat, exhausted and overwhelmed at the discovery of how hurt I was and how long it would probably take to get over believing in God - and how I just wished God were really true so that I could fill this longing in my heart.  Well, I turned the page to the next song in the book and the song was "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (Meaning Jesus is the joy of man's desire) by J.S. Bach.  Coincidence? I could have played any other book at that time.  95% of the songs in the book are written by the same, contemporary composer.  None of the other songs (as far as I could tell) were religious.  In fact, more than 50% of the songs were in Spanish and didn't even interest me - I was simply leafing through and didn't find any of them appealing until that one song about the loss of a loved one.  I was at first overjoyed by the apparent answer to my prayer.  I had hope, but even still, the next day I drew back into my depression, wondering if it had really been an answer to my prayer.  At that exact moment that I withdrew to my room in depression, I heard, in the next room, that fabulous song again (Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring).  This time there was no question.  My little girl had turned the TV on, to a show we have never seen before, and in the show the characters were practicing a dance to that song, and they kept playing it over and over again.  That was 2 months ago, and since then God has only continued to faithfully guide me. 

I believe God exists, and He will answer a sincere and seeking person.  I don't know why people say they've tried and God didn't answer.  Maybe their heart wasn't right - maybe they missed the answer...  I have no idea.  But I do know that simply believing God exists is not enough - even Satan believes in God, and things are not good with him   - You have to want to know Him with the intent to live for Him, and with all the world has to offer, sometimes that is a difficult place for a person to get to.

So again, I will not see replies, so please don't try to contact me.  I trust I gave a good testimony and confession through this post, and I'll leave the rest to God. 

Godspeed~

Battered Housewife syndrome.

You bitch and moan about the beating and when you have the opportunity to make it stop you refuse to follow through.

Go right ahead, bail out your abusive lover. I'm sure it will be different this time. Go back and tell people you hit a doorjam or you fell because you were so clumsy.

Don't 'cry wolf' again, lowlife.

I've become a better person since becoming an atheist, but I don't think atheism has necessarily made me a better person. It's just because when I was a theist, there were a lot of barriers my religious beliefs put up in the way of me becoming "better."  

When I was religious, I hated gay people. I know a lot of Christians say "love the sinner, hate the sin," but trust me, behind closed doors, there's a lot of "hate the sinner" going on, at least in my experience. The sole reason I hated gay people was my religion, and I think this is true of just about every homoclast and homophobe out there. Once I abandoned religion, I no longer had the justification for hate.  

My religion also taught that charities were a waste of time, because the end of the world was coming soon. That organization does conduct relief efforts, but they engage in them solely to help out their own followers in the affected regions. They do not concentrate their efforts on everyone, only themselves, and their first priority is to rebuild their church buildings.  I can now donate to causes because I abandoned my religion.

When I was religious, I wasn't allowed to take blood transfusions, even to save my own life. If I had children, I would be expected to deny them a blood transfusion as well, even if it meant their death. Because I'm no longer religious, I no longer have to face the possibility of denying my future children the medical care they might need to save their lives at some point. I am no longer willing to sacrifice their lives for an irrational belief.

When I was religious, I had no sense of community or civic responsibility. I didn't vote or get involved in any way in the political process.  All that mattered was my church "family," and honestly most of the ones in need there went uncared for anyway. Now, I make sure to vote and realize the importance of being involved in the community.

When I was religious, I had no qualms about knocking on peoples' doors on a Saturday morning to push beliefs the vast majority of them didn't want to hear.  Now that I'm no longer religious, I realize that this behavior is unacceptable.

When I was religious, I assigned almost no value to my current life. The end was coming soon. Why think about the long-term?  Now that I'm not longer religious, I value the life I'm living here and now. I'm not putting my life on hold for something that MIGHT happen. Instead, I'm savoring the life that IS happening, right now.

When I was religious, I saw everybody that wasn't part of my church as doomed, condemned, up for God's chopping block when it all goes to shit. For this very reason, friendship outside the church is heavily discouraged. I intentionally separated myself from people I called "worldly," refused to associate with them.  Now that I'm not religious, I have normal relationships with people, and I can look at them without considering them to be doomed.

To most of you these things might seem small or basic, but they're major changes for me.

I generally feel a helluva lot better and am more likely to... enable my mind, body, and... "persona" in the best possible manner I know how. Like being suffocated and then suddenly having a sudden breath of fresh air.

It was kinda painful realizing that I was both separate and unequal with regards to the silly, stupid, and anxiety-riddled theistic family members, authority figures, and friends I have/had right in the buckle of the bible belt. So it's kind of a gift AND a burden, but at least I found the gift on my own, at age 10. That has to count for something...

On the plus side, my "soul" ("persona" is a better term) is free, and I don't have to worry about what happens to myself after I die.

Of course, that makes the unfortunate assumption that I will die.

Well for one I no longer live under a strange fear of being watched all the time. Man was it helpful to let that one slide off my shoulders. And most importantly there is a realness that proves to myself that this is the only life I have been given. It is so important to realize this. I'm no longer waiting for an afterlife. I seek the gifts and pleasures this life has for me. And humans are most certainly not fallen beings. We are confused. We are not fallen.