Newbie! Just introducing myself...
Offline Hi, I'm Dr. Terwilliker (psst, not a real doctor.) I just joined. Info about me:
I'm 18 years old, an atheist since the age of 11, and the daughter of a pastor. Most of my family is Christian, so that causes conflicts, but fortunately, they haven't made me go to church since I was 15, so I really respect and appreciate that about them. I'm very comfortable and happy with the notion that there are no gods, simply because it makes the most sense to me and because I feel any God actively participating in our lives today would almost certainly be evil. Obviously I can't positively rule out the possibility of some higher power, but I highly doubt one's existence. Hmmm.... I don't know how much information is customary in these introductions, so I'll just leave it at that.
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Welcome to the forums. With your father being a pastor it would seem the family might give you a harder time about not believing. It is good they are okay with it.
Welcome to the hizzle!
Hello! Welcome!
An official welcome, DrTerwilliker!
You must really have cool parents. If your father is a pastor and they don't give you grief for not believing and not attending church, I give them a whole lot of credit for respecting you and your beliefs.
You wrote that you've been an atheist since the age of 11. Was there anything in particular that started your journey to non-belief? Or did you just start questioning in general, study up on things and then come to a logical conclusion?
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My parents are definitely more tolerant than they used to be, but I'm afraid that their decision to stop making me go to church occurred more out of exhaustion than truly respecting my beliefs. They really just gave up on any hope they had that they could influence my beliefs. They also realized my presence at church was doing more damage to their image than good; I was so sullen and resentful. They still seem to think I'm completely amoral, and have very little respect for atheism in general. Don't get me wrong; I appreciate their passive attitude, but it took a lot of work to get them there, and our contrasting world views cause a lot of conflicts.
Anyhow, I became an atheist at age 11 because I really started thinking about things. I guess I just was reaching an age when I was thinking a lot more. Before, I just sort of took my religion for granted. I was never a very devout Christian, though. Really, I treated Christianity like a game. What really started me thinking about other possibilities, however, was when I realized how many of the people I really cared about would end up going to Hell under Christianity. Then, yes, I started really looking into it, and reached the conclusion that atheism made the most sense.