Comment

Comment by Glen Barton on October 29, 2009 at 7:53pm

Hi Richard, this is a great group. Both myself and my partner were raised in fundo homes and had different yet similar experiences of coming to realisations that what we'd always been taught was unquestionable truth was, in fact, as Penn and Teller would say, Bull shit.

Many of our friends are still in the church to various degrees, some in the philosophical position we were both in a decade ago, and a couple who are actually practicing clergy who really can't swallow the nonsense they need to teach others in order to keep their career and their family - it's a difficult struggle for them.

What we were thinking is that there are lots of Christian books on peoples "testimonies of conversion" - but we thought that to support those who were raised in a fundo faith, but are struggling both with the philosophical issues of letting go of what you had considered the truth your life was built on, as well as struggling with the condemnation, alienation and ongoing mindless nonsense from family and friends, it would be fantastic to put together a book of peoples stories of how they made the journey out of faith, what it meant to them, how they coped, and the freeing effects of embracing reason.

My partner is a writer and editor, and would love to start a project like this - do you know if such a book has been produced, or would anyone in this group be willing or interested in contributing to the project? It's only at the "we think it'd be a good idea" stage at the moment, but if there was some interest, maybe we could all collaborate and start thinking about it?

peace

glen

Comment by Robert Madewell on October 25, 2009 at 11:08am

Chris Highland said,

It includes some material on how a person can exit their faith.

Is there an easy, non-painful way to do it? Because, it sure was a bitch when I left "the faith". I lost all my friends and my family talks to me like I'm on my death bed. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's had a rough experience de-converting.

Comment by Chris Highland on October 24, 2009 at 1:07pm

A few short videos from a former evangelical and protestant minister: "Religious Addiction" and "Life After Faith." Anyone have a suggestion for publishing my "Life After Faith" book? It includes some material on how a person can exit their faith.

Comment by Fred Rock on October 12, 2009 at 9:36pm

Correction on my post of July 18 (I skipped back 10 years in my recollections; fallout from the '60's, or just getting old, you decide) - it was 2007 (not 1997) when I picked up "The God Delusion" in Dublin - but yes, I did find it in an independent book store there.

Comment by Laura on October 12, 2009 at 9:08pm

hey, Robert, fancy meeting you here. :)

Comment by Nathan Phelps on September 25, 2009 at 11:58pm

Welcome indeed Robert. I'd love to hear some of your stories. I'll make a trip to your blog site.

Comment by Tom Harris on September 25, 2009 at 5:56pm

Welcome, Robert! Looking forward to hearing your stories.
I was heavily involved in fundamentalist Christianity in the 70's and early 80's, before abandoning all pretense of religion in the mid-80's. Thankfully, the fallout has been minor (mainly the loss of friends from that time I was in the church..)

Comment by Robert Madewell on September 25, 2009 at 4:52pm

I'm the son of a fundamentalist pastor. Throughout my childhood, I witnessed (and experienced) abuses to children and spouses that were motivated by religion.

I have identified as an atheist for only 3 years. I am still experiencing fallout from my deconversion and my inability to be quiet about it.

I am the author of the atheist/anti-theist blog Superstition Free.

I am interested in having discussions about the lingering effect that fundamentalism had on me and others. I am also anxious to share my stories.

Comment by mick keogh on September 10, 2009 at 11:46am

Fu--ing hell you bought th god delusion in Ireland

Comment by Fred Rock on July 18, 2009 at 6:45pm

Reading over older posts (April 23 from "HeIsSailing"). I was also raised in Pentecostalism. My faith began to dwindle as I was exposed to other religions beginning in the late 70's and the early 80's via martial arts, meditation, etc... At the time I knew that hard core X-tianity was bogus, but I couldn't seem to let go of the idea of a spiritual world altogether. In the 90's I spend a fair amount of time doing ritual with Wiccans and other Neo-Pagans. Finally in 1997 (after realizing that there was very little daylight between christianity and other religions - once you moved beyond the "bells and whistles") I gave religion up completely in 1997 while reading the God Delusion by Dawkins on a 10 hour flight home from Dublin to Seatlle. What a relief it was - despite having to deal with the whole emotional symptoms of what I'll call "spiritual PTSD"m

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