This is an ongoing series featuring your stories of how you came to identify as an atheist. If you want to send me your story, you can submit it here. To read past stories, click here.
The first story this week comes from PEM in France:
I was raised atheist in an atheist family.
I’ve always loved sciences and stuff.
I went to a religious high school and had to read the Bible.
It comforted me in my atheist beliefs.
End of the story 🙂
PS : We are not bullied like you are. It’s easy to find atheists in France; we are mostly atheist and most of the so called “Catholics” usually don’t give a shit about practicing.
Next, here’s Joel:
I’ve just never got it! I was always taught as a child that the world I live in is fascinating and that I should always look for the knowledge of the world. When – in Religious Studies – I would explain that I don’t really gain any knowledge from the bible, considering how much I could get from other, more readable books. I was told that I was seeing the bible in the wrong way. This never made sense to me. If I was supposed to believe in a God, then shouldn’t it just speak to me in the way I can understand and follow? Well… No, I would have to blindly follow what it says, without any knowledge of how or why people believe in it!
I guess the way I have always loved how science had lists, rules and statistics, raw data, that I could just understand and follow led me to never understand what the bible is for, so from a very young age I have been able to explain my irreligion to others, in a way that I respect that some people do understand it, but I just don’t.
Here’s Joanne:
It`s short and simple. I always have been and I`ve never seen any reason to change my mind; never felt the need for a religion. All my family and friends are irreligious as is most of my society. I didn`t even hear the term atheist as I was growing up, it`s just the norm.
and an anonymous story:
I was raised in a Catholic family, attended catholic schools etc. (As a kid, always noticed the clean black cadillac vehicles used by the priests and nuns.) When my parents divorced in the mid 70’s, my mother was excommunicated. Not sure about my father. 10 years later, my mother was financially successful and the church gave her the “opportunity” to “buy” her way back in! Final straw was when a female friend of ours was balking at taking vows to become a nun. She was told she could personally save family and friends from extended purgatory time if she sacrificed and became a nun! That was it! Way too much bullshit for me!
and finally Gilbert:
After a bunch of unanswered prayers for my aunt who eventually died of ovarian cancer I began to read the bible. I thought maybe I was praying wrong and the bible would show me the right way to pray. Well, as I read the bible I saw all the bullshit and saw the bigotry and hatred it justified and taught.
I’m sorry for your loss, Gilbert. Thank you all for sharing your stories with me.
If you want to send me your story, you can submit it here. To read past stories, click here.
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