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Permalink Reply by Philip Jackson Armstrong on July 19, 2011 at 5:21pm

I may be saying something people have heard before. I've never even considered god. There was no religious talk in my family. My only encounters were from my grandmother singing onward christian soldiers and telling me baby Jesus stories. She never tried to make me think it was anything than fiction. Then at maybe 7 years old she convinced my parents that my brother and I should experience church. In sunday school the teenager running it showed me a picture of a hairy guy in a dress and said he loved me. I had been molested at 5 years old and I just didn't quite warm up to that concept. I don't remember what I said, just the girl in tears, my parents and the minister having a long talk and I never went to sunday school again. It was lucky that I had a larger vocabulary of profanity than I do today at the time.

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Permalink Reply by Atheist Andrea on July 21, 2011 at 3:37pm

That is terrible you were molested at 5 years of age. Disgusting. I am happy to hear your family left matters alone when you showed no interest in church. Thank you for sharing your bit.

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Permalink Reply by Philip Jackson Armstrong on July 24, 2011 at 4:23pm

I have to say, being molested was nothing. I was actually 4 now that I think about it. Two teenagers grabbed me and took me to the back yard of an unoccupied house. I can't talk about the details about what happened, but in the middle of it, a bunch of other 15 year olds including my brother showed up and chased them away. Everyone left except one girl. As I was standing there naked, a little confused at what was happening, the girl came to me and cupped my face with her hands, crying and said "Oh... you poor little boy".  I was in my 20's when I realized that she was the one that hurt me. She made me feel stained and dirty. Anyway, the message is don't create victims.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Kaufman on July 21, 2011 at 5:09pm

mid-40s which seems to be fairly rare.   Am now raising my child religion free.

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Permalink Reply by Steph S. on July 21, 2011 at 5:19pm

That's ok! You made it here.  Some of us take longer to deprogram ourselves from the religion.  It took a while for me as well.  You keep chipping away at the belief system until there is nothing left.  It's wonderful that your kids are raised religion free.

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Permalink Reply by Will Faithless Sophia on July 21, 2011 at 5:27pm

I solidly rejected all faith when I was 16 - but I was atheist/agnostic/skeptical since I was 11 years old.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Kaufman on July 21, 2011 at 5:44pm

it is difficult to raise what had been a nominally Jewish child (adopted from hispanic parents) to be a freethinker.  But I've been doing it that way (with my ex-Lutheran husband) now for almost 6 yrs.  So far, no lightning!

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Kaufman on July 21, 2011 at 5:56pm

for the longest time,  I didn't realize I was an apathetic agnostic.  Somehow, being a mom woke me up to the idea of not lying to kids.   Even the tooth fairy doesn't fly in this house.

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Permalink Reply by Steph S. on July 21, 2011 at 6:10pm

Awesome!  They won't have to go through what we did.  : )

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Kaufman on July 21, 2011 at 7:42pm

Thanx.  I wasn't motivated enough to make the motto.   I'll nominate you president.  Hopefully we'll get a v-president,  and I can be the one who brings in non-kosher  refreshments...it'll drive my mom crazy.  But, this apathism will mean y'all will just get some ham with lox wrapped around it.

 

Ok,   who is with Scott and me?

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Permalink Reply by Sassan K. on July 22, 2011 at 9:27am

Hi Andrea! I was pretty much 85% atheist by the time I was 14 or 15 but I would say "there might be a 5% chance god might exist" type of mentality. In fact, I remember as a sophomore in high school I was an atheist as I made a teacher in high school take down a Jesus writing off her wall (and the school debated about that so I had a fervor in my disbelief starting from then) but I might have held out a "1-2% chance" lol....I know naivety naivety....what made it 210% instead of 98.9% for me was when I just turned 16, I had an opportunity to visit Iran.

I had visited Iran earlier - but this time I was more mature and a thinker at the time, the trip at the age of 16 was the longest I had ever stayed in Iran (2+ months at the time but as of a few months ago I was in Iran for 8+ months as my grandfather had a heart attack). Anyhow, visiting Iran at that age and all that it encompassed made me realize that unequivocally religion was there to control the masses through fear and oppression. The Iranian people are united against that illegal and barbaric regime - but the way they force religion upon society - with the loudspeakers blaring the call to prayer at dusk to the images of the Mullahs splattered all over the city to the fact that if you are born a Muslim you cannot convert to another religion or become an atheist openly - your punishment is death. I remember lying down on my grandmother's bed and looking up to the wall and hearing the call of prayer and telling myself there isn't even a 0.000001% chance of religion being rational and real. The creation of god was simply a means to control societies for those in power. Therefore - I became a full 210% atheist when I was 16 but before then I was almost an atheist and was heading to that path irregardless. I was not interested in science at the time as I am now.

In fact - I think it is easier for Iranians to be atheists than Americans. Iranians are forced a religion that is against our culture - our culture is Persian, not Arabic or Islamic. It is the regime themselves that has made the majority of society anti-Islamic - and this is not only with the young.

BTW, I am 27 now. :)

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Permalink Reply by Atheist Andrea on July 22, 2011 at 7:36pm

Sassan, that is quite a story if I have ever read one! I am confused as to why it is easier in your opinion to be an Iranian atheist than an American one. Is it because it is pushed upon the Iranians and most want to revolt because of it?

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