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and if you atheist/switched faiths, why did you do it and what faith did you choose?

im in a curious mood today :>

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[-] protist@mander.xyz 37 points 2 weeks ago

Atheist. Religion is an explanation of the world that's made the fuck up. I think people make shit up to explain reality because accepting uncertainty is difficult, but that doesn't make it ok. The world around you exists, just like it is. There is no special place you get to go if you follow the right set of rules .

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 29 points 2 weeks ago

Antitheist.

If there is some kind of almighty God that created and rules everything then it must be the most evil being to ever exist and we must destroy it. It created evil, it created suffering, it created loss, it created death, and for what? Fun?

[-] TacoButtPlug@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 weeks ago

This is also me. If there's an afterlife, I'm spending it beating "god's" ass.

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[-] morgunkorn@discuss.tchncs.de 17 points 2 weeks ago

Baptized catholic by my parents, did all the ritual things all my youth until i was 16. Then i was old enough to try to understand it, got exposed to other schools of thought, and it all collapsed like a house of cards.

I am now fully atheist, and I find religion ridiculous, like fairy tales for adults, based on nothing. Organized religions are also usually structures of power for men. This can all go.

My spirituality would be:

We are made of star-stuff. Temporary piles of molecules which work together and stop after a while, to recombine into something new. I don't need to be remembered, I don't need to leave my mark. Just try to do no harm, any maybe help others along the way, while on this ball of rock and water, tumbling into the immensely empty void.

[-] zenforyen@feddit.org 14 points 2 weeks ago

My true faith is: don't be an asshole and be a decent, rational and empathetic human being.

Everything else I may or may not believe does not matter, it's decoration.

[-] 0x01@lemmy.ml 13 points 2 weeks ago

Nihilist, insofar that even if there is a god (about as likely as me actually being a secret agent for moon people) why would it matter? While nihilism is not a religious belief I think it fits the prompt.

I made a poop the other day, I'm its creator, I don't care about it, I don't control its destiny beyond the flush.

I'm an optimistic nihilist, nothing matters and that's kinda neato. Existence happens, how fascinating is that? It's absolutely meaningless just like everything in the universe, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the ride.

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[-] Dr_Box@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I'm an atheist. I grew up super religious and had a falling out with my church due to their "if someone believes different than our denomination they are going to hell" mindset. After that I found out that most other denominations are like that except for mormons but they are worse in other ways. Then I did more and more research that sort of caused what belief I had left to fall apart and now its kind of like Santa Claus, once you figure out its your parents putting presents under the tree theres no believing in Santa anymore

[-] otacon239@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Taoism is a practice that doesn’t rely on or reject a higher power. It gives meaning to day to day life and the writers I’ve read who practice it have a very practical view on the world.

As for religion, I fall into agnosticism. I certainly don’t have any hard evidence that there is a higher power, but at the same time, with how insanely complex, terrifying, beautiful, loving, and hurtful the world can feel, I can’t help but feel that there’s something beyond what’s in front of us at play. It may not be a theist’s idea of God, but something else entirely.

[-] markovs_gun@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

It's complicated but I used to be essentially atheist but now believe that there is something one might as well call "God" after studying philosophy. Essentially everything has a cause and something must be at the end of that chain, and we might as well call that "God." I also practice Christianity because I feel that it is good to have the community and structure that a religion can provide but I don't think that "God" necessarily exists in the way Christianity typically presents it.

[-] Dr_Box@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Upvoting you because as an atheist I think its stupid that others are downvoting just because someone says they lean towards christianity

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[-] aras@lemm.ee 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

No evidence for God, that’s why I’m an atheist.

[-] wuphysics87@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 weeks ago

Agnostic atheist. Agnostic from the standpoint that the the existence of god is no more knowable than the number of angels who can sit on the tip of a needle. Atheist from the standpoint that theism ain't it

[-] Gerudo@lemm.ee 3 points 2 weeks ago

Add me to this.

[-] BorgDrone@lemmy.one 8 points 2 weeks ago
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[-] tengkuizdihar@programming.dev 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)
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[-] Olhonestjim@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Atheist. I was raised in various flavors of southern, whites protestant churches. Mostly the so-called charismatic, non-denominational, types, but also mainstream Southern Baptists, Presbyterians, etc, but not excluding some of the weirder cultish strains.

I left because I began to realize just how fucked in the head they raised me. I couldn't relate to regular people very well at all, and couldn't trust the judgement of religious people at any level. I got out and got the help I needed. I only wish I had done it sooner.

[-] mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 weeks ago

Agnostic atheist.

[-] Scott_of_the_Arctic@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Grew up atheist, went through a semi serious pagan phase, got certified as a shaman, went back to atheism. Will still throw in the odd ritual, but more with the expectation that it will affect the way I think about a problem rather than the ritual doing anything on its own.

So like if you have a job interview you can either raw dog it and show your lack of confidence or.preform a ritual and gain some confidence which will count in your favour during the interview.h

Is the ritual doing any direct alterations? No, but it's still useful.

[-] ocean@lemmy.selfhostcat.com 6 points 2 weeks ago

Buddhist, I was more Christian. Growing up in a fundamentalist church and becoming more intellectual drove me to ask big question that Christianity didn’t answer for me. Causes and conditions allowed me to encounter Buddhism when I was living in Japan and it’s grown in me ever since. I really liked how Zen meditation made me feel. Very different from being told to pray but there was nothing and also no unstructured. Buddhism has clear practices and results. I know it has “supernatural” elements but it’s all mostly logical to me and I like that

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[-] DaedalousIlios@pawb.social 6 points 2 weeks ago

Zen Buddhist. I grew up Christian, realized I was believing out of obligation rather than genuine conviction, but also I'm pan and Christians have made it very clear that's not okay with them.

I was areligious for awhile. Which I use because I am still an atheist; I don't see much evidence for gods, but that isn't important to Buddhism.

I appreciate the Buddha's teachings and find them incredibly helpful. I'm calmer, more focused, and over all, happier for my practice. It gives me a spiritual outlet that doesn't make me feel "dirty" the way Christianity did.

There are aspects to Buddhism that I have to take on faith even though I am otherwise a skeptical individual. But ultimately, those things don't change how I would have had to live my life. And I believe that a true practitioner needs a balance of logic anf faith: too much logic, and you kill your faith. Too much faith and you wind up in a cult. You need enough logic to stay grounded, and enough faith to believe. But you have to acknowledge that you can rarely prove the things you take on faith and because of that, there will always be non-belivers, and that has to be okay.

[-] CrowyTech@feddit.uk 6 points 2 weeks ago
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[-] Elaine@lemm.ee 6 points 2 weeks ago
[-] VagueAnodyneComments 5 points 2 weeks ago

long inhale SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN

endless defiance, i didn't know i could be free until i heard the archenemy singing to me

[-] libra00@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

48 SATANs and not one hidden SANTA - I'm impressed, and a little disappointed.

[-] Fungah@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

My religion is "keep your religion dar the fuck away from me".

I believe in freedom from religion even more strongly than of religion

[-] palarith@aussie.zone 5 points 2 weeks ago

Apathetic since forever.

[-] davidgro@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Grew up in a Christian household, but grew out of that kind of superstition around high school or a bit younger. My parents never did, so that and politics caused a bit of tension, but never enough to keep us from talking to each other, visiting, etc.

[-] CozyLorraine@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Really happy for ya, parents usually don't take these things so well, mine would probably disown me if I ever came out about having different beliefs

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[-] ultranaut@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Raised "Christian" in the evangelical/born again/southern baptist milieu. Strip mall churches and unaccredited schools with unqualified teachers and Bob Jones text books. Became atheist as soon as I was able to think rationally. The thing that did it for me was the hypocrisy, which became too obvious to ignore.

[-] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I am an atheist and ordained dudeist priest. Because it aligns with my values.

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Spinoza’s god fascinates me enough to be agnostic rather than an atheist with conviction.

[-] ocean@lemmy.selfhostcat.com 4 points 2 weeks ago
[-] libra00@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

Pantheism basically. The universe literally is god.

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It’s more of a philosophical god than a being with consciousness. He said that god is “the sum of the natural and physical laws of the universe and certainly not an individual entity or creator.” Simplified, everything in existence is god, but individual things are not god on their own. That point is an important distinction between Spinoza’s god and animism.

Perceiving god as more of the framework of existence itself is a very compelling way for me to appreciate the connection of all things, without accepting a bearded man in the sky or encroaching on my scientific understanding.

[-] Supervisor194@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

I've not read Spinoza, but this idea has for most of my life seemed fairly self-evident. Something clearly seems to exist, I'm not the biggest most important thing in the something, though I am a part of it. Do I believe in God? Not per se - but I do believe there is something incomprehensibly larger than I am, and that in and of itself deserves a little respect and contemplation.

My religious parents didn't see it that way of course.

[-] Ilixtze@lemm.ee 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

From very young age i never felt i needed to believe in anything, spirituality felt like a part i was missing. my parents took me to church but i never liked the god depicted there and i found the crucified man figurine scary. When they told me that god loves me and that if i didn't love him back i would go to hell it all soured for me. That portrayal of love didn't make sense in my mind.

I don't feel atheist either, religion feels very political to me, and atheism seems more apolitical than an active oposition. Where i live catholicism has a lot of power and it's tentacles wrap around government agencies and institutions. There are weird cults close to where i live that are offshoots of catholicism ; These cults have international power and they have deep histories of corruption and abuse. I feel something has to be done about this but where i live there is very little oposition or regulation for religious institutions.

[-] iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 weeks ago

I was raised Christian, went to church every Sunday and believed as a kid. Then I stopped believing in all my imaginary friends. Being slightly cheeky, but also I genuinely just grew out of it as I learned more about... Everything, really.

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[-] Thrawne@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Atheist, but i find the myth of Lucifer interesting. A being who had feelings of becoming more than what he was. Then confronting his creator to declare he is more, and will not yield.

[-] locuester@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 weeks ago

Christian. Only by the Grace of God am I alive today.

[-] DozensOfDonner@mander.xyz 4 points 2 weeks ago

What do you mean "if you are an atheist, why did you do it"? I just want raised with a religion.

[-] Fingolfinz@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Atheist. Raised atheist but it doesn’t effect my viewpoint, I’d be atheist either way at this point in life

[-] Wrongdoer1@lemm.ee 3 points 2 weeks ago

Atheist, I never was interested in spirituality as I believe religions are population control tools.

However, I recently got the chance to meet Sikh peoples, and I understand they define themselves more as warriors than group of religious people. I just fell in love with what they are, what they represent.

[-] WhatSay@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 weeks ago

I wasn't really raised with religion, but most of my family is Christian. I considered myself atheist as a young adult. But after many spiritual experiences, I believe in the unexplainable, but I'm not a fan of organized religion or cults.

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this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2025
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