Thread: Atheism/Agnostic

Wasn't hard for me. As a kid I was a non-practicing Catholic, like the rest of my family. As the years went on I slowly but surely moved away from the religion. I like to think my atheism stems from a common hatred of going to church. I hated going to CCD, and really didn't like the practice of sitting on uncomfortable wooden benches for hours on end in the event my family actually went to church. Despite not caring much for practicing religion, I didn't like it when people criticized religion. I remember being on these forums in 2006-2007, being 14 years old or so, and reading some of the posts.

Then, of course, I reached the age of reason it seems. I got confirmed by the church at 15-16 (mainly because, while I was not yet fully atheist or even agnostic, I didn't care enough to put up a fight to stop my mom from making me finish CCD and get confirmed. Plus my sister had been confirmed and it would look rather odd if she got confirmed while I didn't). Shortly after abandoned religion entirely. I've been fairytale free for three or so years now.

Originally Posted by BLUELINE976

I hated going to CCD, and really didn't like the practice of sitting on uncomfortable wooden benches for hours on end in the event my family actually went to church. Despite not caring much for practicing religion, I didn't like it when people criticized religion.

Sounds familiar.

For me, it was actually a two-step process. First, I went from theist to deist, and then I went from deist to agnostic.

In reality, these changes are a lot more organic than that. Your decision to slap a different label on it does not mark the "moment" you became agnostic. This is why it wasn't such a shock to me. It's kinda like when you get a promotion at work: If you properly earn your promotion, then you're basically already doing the job before you get the title. So, by the time I slapped the "agnostic" label on there, it's not like I shockingly decided that I was going to become one... I just did some introspection, and realized I was already there.

My parents weren't really strict about the catholic upbringing. We were definitely a "go to church on easter and xmas" type of family, and I never felt like some poor fellow friends I have, who were shunned by their parents for their beliefs. So there was no "closet" to come out of. I am me, and that's that.

The transition to deist slowly happened in high school (catholic high school), where I had a really cool religion teacher. I'd actually go to his office after classes were over, and just talk about all sorts of stuff. What is hell really, what are cults like, etc. It ended up expanding my mind a bit, and I realized that with all those other religions out there, there's really no "knowing" which one, if any, is correct. So I eventually slapped the "deist" label on.

But that was short-lived, because while part of me was still stuck with the inability to imagine a world without a god, I was juts going through the motions, and the more I polished off my own worldview, and the more I straightened my own issues out, the more comfortable I was with a world that may or may not have a "divine creator."

Now, I'm fully comfortable and happy, and have greater appreciation of life. Each moment matters more.