Do you believe in God?

Yes I�ve always been extremely amused when orthodox/ bible belt Christians talk about occult lyrics and how much those lyrics destroy the minds of the young, when some of their own rituals are exactly as occult and to some people even a bit disturbing. I know my wife was terrified as a child of drinking the blood of Christ. She always felt nausea and cried to avoid having to drink at the altar. Going to a Catholic school with pretty strict discipline did give us both a few scars we�ll never forget ( not that discipline is always a bad thing. Force is though).

I didn't know you could be de-baptized.  Does that involve drying off instead of getting wet? 

By the way, I've been meaning to ask another atheist raised in a Christian household about this... should I tell my family that I'm an atheist?

I have plenty of excellent reasons why I'm no longer a believer that I'd gladly explain to my folks, but I don't know if they'll understand/accept my position. They've noticed my lack of participation in church, and I've been dishonest in my explanation about this. I've said that I've been "sick" or "tired", but the reality is that I don't believe in the existence of God and I don't like many of the messages of the Bible (and particularly the Catholic Church). I'd love to tell them what I believe and why... I'm just afraid of the consequences.

If this should be worthy of a new thread, I'd gladly move this discussion somewhere else. If not, all thoughts are welcome. This topic has been on my mind a LOT lately.

J-Man wrote: By the way, I've been meaning to ask another atheist raised in a Christian household about this... should I tell my family that I'm an atheist? I have plenty of excellent reasons why I'm no longer a believer that I'd gladly explain to my folks, but I don't know if they'll understand/accept my position. They've noticed my lack of participation in church, and I've been dishonest in my explanation about this. I've said that I've been "sick" or "tired", but the reality is that I don't believe in the existence of God and I don't like many of the messages of the Bible (and particularly the Catholic Church). I'd love to tell them what I believe and why... I'm just afraid of the consequences. If this should be worthy of a new thread, I'd gladly move this discussion somewhere else. If not, all thoughts are welcome. This topic has been on my mind a LOT lately.

UMUR wrote: J-Man wrote: By the way, I've been meaning to ask another atheist raised in a Christian household about this... should I tell my family that I'm an atheist? I have plenty of excellent reasons why I'm no longer a believer that I'd gladly explain to my folks, but I don't know if they'll understand/accept my position. They've noticed my lack of participation in church, and I've been dishonest in my explanation about this. I've said that I've been "sick" or "tired", but the reality is that I don't believe in the existence of God and I don't like many of the messages of the Bible (and particularly the Catholic Church). I'd love to tell them what I believe and why... I'm just afraid of the consequences. If this should be worthy of a new thread, I'd gladly move this discussion somewhere else. If not, all thoughts are welcome. This topic has been on my mind a LOT lately.   I don�t know your folks Jeff, but I always think you should be honest about what you believe and don�t believe in. How your parents will react depends on what kind of personalities they have. IMO you are old enough to have your own opinion about this and I hope your parents will value your honesty and accept your choice.

Thanks for the input Jonas. Finding the right time to tell them is difficult, though... I don't want them to lose trust in me because of something like this.

At the very least, my dad (although he thinks atheists are "wrong") would most likely accept it if I told him at the "right time". If I explain my reasoning (no religion has met its burden of proof, science disproves miracle claims, secular morality is often superior, etc.), I can't see him getting angry about that. Let's hope the solution isn't to go to church more often.

SKwid wrote: One thing about theistic groups that i have noticed, is that they seem to think that atheists need to have some sort of proof or evidence to support their standpoint. (carefully avoiding calling atheism a belief) In all actuality, the absence of belief (atheism in a nutshell) is the default position(children aren't born with faith). Because having faith is not the default position, these theistic groups have the burden of convincing their members why they should believe in the worldveiw that the group holds, not the other way around.

Exactly. That's my biggest issue with every religion. I won't believe anything without evidence - I try to hold as many beliefs that are true or likely to be true as possible. If you can find a single thing that I believe solely on faith and without evidence I will stop believing it. I reject the entire idea of having faith in a God when faith is simply a way of blindly believing in something without evidence. Until a religion provides sufficient evidence to justify their claims, I am not going to believe it. The burden of proof is on the religions - NOT the atheists.

andyman1125 wrote: J-Man wrote: UMUR wrote: J-Man wrote: By the way, I've been meaning to ask another atheist raised in a Christian household about this... should I tell my family that I'm an atheist? I have plenty of excellent reasons why I'm no longer a believer that I'd gladly explain to my folks, but I don't know if they'll understand/accept my position. They've noticed my lack of participation in church, and I've been dishonest in my explanation about this. I've said that I've been "sick" or "tired", but the reality is that I don't believe in the existence of God and I don't like many of the messages of the Bible (and particularly the Catholic Church). I'd love to tell them what I believe and why... I'm just afraid of the consequences. If this should be worthy of a new thread, I'd gladly move this discussion somewhere else. If not, all thoughts are welcome. This topic has been on my mind a LOT lately.   I don�t know your folks Jeff, but I always think you should be honest about what you believe and don�t believe in. How your parents will react depends on what kind of personalities they have. IMO you are old enough to have your own opinion about this and I hope your parents will value your honesty and accept your choice. Thanks for the input Jonas. Finding the right time to tell them is difficult, though... I don't want them to lose trust in me because of something like this. At the very least, my dad (although he thinks atheists are "wrong") would most likely accept it if I told him at the "right time". If I explain my reasoning (no religion has met its burden of proof, science disproves miracle claims, secular morality is often superior, etc.), I can't see him getting angry about that. Let's hope the solution isn't to go to church more often. I agree with Jonas, that it really depends on your parents. My parents don't really care what I believe, seeing as I'm going to believe whatever I wish; no matter how hard they try they wouldn't be able to change that, that's just a philosophical fact; and that's why they didn't have much of a problem when they found out. And it's really not a conversation starter, that's the awkward part. Like you said, Jeff, you really need to find that "right time," like maybe a discussion about theology or something and just kind of slip in in there

I'm hoping that they find out about some of the atheist podcasts I subscribe to (particularly The Atheist Experience and The Non-Prophets). If they approach me it may be a little bit easier...

bonnek wrote: Henry Plainview wrote:   bonnek wrote: I was raised as a Catholic but had myself de-baptized (or is that de-christianed, or un-baptized ) From the Catholic Church's perspective, this is not possible. You are free to reject God, but the sacraments cannot be reversed. Anyway, I am glad to see my silly thread is still going. Like the Libertarian thread on PA, atheism will never die! Yes indeed, from the church's perspective being baptized can't be reversed, but still there's a formal procedure for de-baptism consisting of writing a simple letter stating you don't want to be part of the church community anymore (it does not involve being dried by a holy towel no). One of the consequences is you can't be buried on sacred ground. So as usual the church says no and yes at the same time again, like: "no the act of God can't be undone" and "yes you're out and you will burn in hell for it" For the record, I'm an atheist with a great dislike of organized religion, but no gripe with an individual's choice to be religious. After all I'm a libertarian, have it your way

I wholeheartedly agree with that last part. I'm an atheist as well, but anyone is free to believe what they choose.

Of course, I think theists are wrong and I'll try to show them that their beliefs are unsupported by science and history, but the solution is not to government-regulate religious beliefs. It's morally wrong and it's only led to bad things in the past.


Edited by J-Man - 02 Mar 2011 at 7:12pm

The Angry Scotsman wrote: If anyone ever cares I'd be more than willing the talk about it, but I'm quite done with open online bantering about religion, and politics

I care.

Are you in the intelligent design camp?

The Block wrote: I've finally decided to post in this thread, but to say I even care that much about this subject is a longshot. My dad is Jewish and my mom Christian and neither follow their religion, well religiously  So I never had any influence in my life telling me what to think so I think what I want and that is, "There is no god until I see evidence". I have yet to see any and doubt I ever will

I love the way some parents split the entire "Jewish-Christian" thing.... Their kid is considered Jewish and Christian at the same time. "Half of me believes in Jesus, and the other half doesn't!" Just shows how much some people care about their own beliefs and self-identity.