Recovering from Religion

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Recovering from Religion

Unless you were raised by atheist parents, you probably had some recovering to do when you left religion. The purpose of RR is to provide a landing place for people when they jump from religion. With local support groups throughout the US, Canada, UK, and Australia, and real-time resources accessible to everyone, RR is where to turn when faith has lost its luster.

Website: http://www.recoveringfromreligion.org
Location: International
Members: 551
Latest Activity: May 16

Discussion Forum

Has it Been Easy for Anyone?

Started by Nathan Hevenstone. Last reply by Loren Miller May 16. 8 Replies

I wonder if anyone who's gone from faith to non-faith has done it relatively easily? I ask because, for me, it's not really been that tumultuous. I guess it has a lot to do with my upbringing. Despite my family being really religious, it has also…Continue

Anyone still deal with anything like this?

Started by Starland Victor Seay. Last reply by blue pashmina May 16. 24 Replies

One thing I have noticed is a tendency to "doubt" my new path in life. I still want to reach for the Bible sometimes. I still hesitate somewhat when someone mentions Pascal's "Wager"...LOL! Even though I know that science teaches this and that no…Continue

Walking Away

Started by CD Free. Last reply by Diana May 2. 9 Replies

I'm guessing many here walked away from one religion or another. What religion did you walk away from? Did you look at other religions, if so what ones? What made you settle on Atheism?Continue

Maintaining family ties

Started by Diana. Last reply by jon taylor Apr 30. 11 Replies

I was adopted into a fundamentalist Seventh Day Adventist pastor's family. My parents loved me and I enjoyed a happy and secure childhood. Although I felt disappointed that I couldn't take dancing lessons, be involved with local theater or…Continue

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Comment by Richard Goscicki on February 19, 2013 at 6:59pm

I’m an old friend of James so I might as well pitch in.  About the inconsistencies’ in the Bible, the television pioneer, Steve Allen, wrote a beautiful expose listing dozens and dozens—too numerous to enumerate.

 

But I feel a non-believer’s response should be militant but not hostile.  Playing nasty tricks on your teacher isn’t the way to respond.  To my mind, the truth has to win out eventually.  A slow grinding education, especially in the area of evolutionary biology, is the way to fight back.  It’ll take a lot of time, but eventually people will see these religious myths for what they are: attempts to comfort weak minds who can’t accept their existential reality—that life is meaningless and humans aren’t the end result that the forces of nature had in mind.  Because there is no mind. 

 

 I believe the way to go was to ask the teacher pertinent questions that challenge his/er supernatural non sequitors.  Just think of what you could have done with Genesis Chapter One.  The trouble is, it’s hard to stay calm when we think of all the damage this stupid book has caused.  I get mad myself just thinking about it.  When the teacher tells the class, the Bible says “subdue the Earth” tell to go fuck himself. 

 

Now that I think about it, you might be right and I’m wrong.  The Earth might not last that long.

 

Comment by James M. Martin on February 19, 2013 at 5:50pm

I am on A|N because everyone here is religulous and I have no one to express my thinking with or hear theirs, most atheists being pretty uptight about it.  And also as expiation for many many years of belief.

Comment by GOD'aye on February 19, 2013 at 4:55pm

Now Finally to finish off my story:

This is why I troll religious forums and attack creationists at every chance I get.  I've cleaned out nearly all the creationists on: http://www2b.abc.net.au/tmb/Client/TopicList.aspx?b=87&dm=1

as goiday_myd  which was meant to be Goiday_My.D for a Doctorate of Mythology, but that was the nearest I could get.  

I've been banned from many devout  Xtian sites when they realized I was just trolling.  Though most that I used to troll on have shut down.  

I'm been a science fan since the age of 8, so I've been attacking creationists for nearly 20 years.  Currently having a go at them on Debate.org  as Sagey.

That's my story, James, how come you are on AN M8?? 

Comment by GOD'aye on February 19, 2013 at 4:37pm

Though now came the nasty bit, I started to annoy the teacher and even started to undermine his authority in the class, playing practical jokes on him, with the help of the others like changing titles on the religious indoctrination material he was presenting, we even swapped the labels on his records of lessons and speeches from Cardinals onto pop records so we could have something decent in class to listen to.

He lasted six months before he had a complete nervous breakdown.  We turned from a class of nice kids into a class of bullies and attacked him continuously until he buckled.  Not nice, but it was actually fun!   Aye M8!  :-D-   He deserved it in our books!!! 

Comment by GOD'aye on February 19, 2013 at 4:27pm

By the way, one of my class mates, who was starting to believe in it and liked the buybull studies teacher, actually raised the matter of a couple of the contradictions in class, to which the teacher blankly stated the same as yourself, and called the existence of such contradictions as preposterous lies.  This stunned our mate and confirmed to him (because of numerous, obvious contradictions we found) that the teacher was indeed the only liar in the room.  

Comment by GOD'aye on February 19, 2013 at 4:16pm

LOL James, right from the very first book, the contradictions hit those who read it like a novel,  light on first day of creation (night and day already), yet Sun arrived on day 4, seems a bit weird.  That is why the buy bull creates atheists, this is supposedly inspired or dictated by an omnipotent, omniscient (all knowing and wise) super being.  How could it be so bad, stupid and even ugly.  Maybe this being isn't so omniscient after all.  This is the impression many reading it reach.  My best friend of 30 years is a devout Catholic, all his children had a strict Catholic schooling, yet their school allows free access to the buybull in the library which they have accessed and read without guidance.  All his children have gone past atheism to becoming anti-Christian.  I had no influence on them, yet his youngest, who didn't realize was an atheist, attacked the buybull in front of me, expecting a rebuttal from moi, since he considered me a devout Catholic like his dad, yet was shocked when I supported his hatred of it.  I know this is only anecdotal, though I've seen it played out many times and similar to my own experience where all my class who I informed of the contradictions when I discovered them are atheists as well.  Their indoctrination failed on all of us, because our privately gained knowledge allowed us to realize that they were cherry picking passages to avoid exposing contradictions. This made them look like charlatans to us and we distrust all religious clergy from that experience.  They are less trustworthy than sewer rats.

Comment by James M. Martin on February 19, 2013 at 7:03am

But, but, but...how can there be contradictions in the Buy Bull when as we all know it is the literal word of God?

Comment by GOD'aye on February 19, 2013 at 1:50am

I know of ex church ministers now atheists who would have not been ministers if they were allowed to read the bible unsupervised.

Their reading was so tightly controlled that one had his fingers hit if he tried to turn to a page that wasn't in the prescribed reading list for that particular lesson.  It was years before he discovered his first contradiction within the bible, where I discovered contradictions within the second day of reading it like a novel.

He was very upset and embarrassed to have been teaching such junk for years.  An embarrassment that likely wouldn't have occurred if he had free access to the bible and thus allowed to read it like a novel.

But, that won't happen is schools bent on indoctrination of young minds, because such freedom of access will counter their attempts at indoctrination.

Which is why our local Catholic school, that now allows free access to the bible for students, produces lots of atheists and very few, if any, theists.  Yes, they haven't realized the blunder made there.

It won't be long (numbers of devotees are rapidly diminishing) before they start restricting such access again.

For the church's survival.

Aye M8z!  :-D-

 

Comment by GOD'aye on February 19, 2013 at 1:18am

True James: Though, the call for Bibles is in secular schools where teaching of Creationism has been banned.  The non-exposure to biblical literature for appraisal of their fertile well nourished, scientific, skeptical minds, still leaves them open to indoctrination from outside their education.

As far as schools teaching creationism, well they do have bibles, though, students are often kept from browsing them without guidance (blinkered access) from religious elders, to prevent them from discovering the thousands of contradictions and conflicts.

Unguided access to the Bible in the early stages of indoctrination is dangerous to religion, due to the numerous discrepancies within.

This unguided access, without my priest's/elder's knowledge was their mistake and exposed their faults.  

This is what led me away from Christianity towards Atheism.

Aye M8! :-D- 

Comment by James M. Martin on February 18, 2013 at 10:59pm

"I know why many atheists actually want bibles in all schools, because, to read it with a young, skeptical, inquiring mind will likely produce an atheist."  Unfortunately, the schools that do have bibles for their students inculcate in them the idea that a Super Santa Claus, his son, and some spook run the universe and have since it was created 5,000 B.C., and that Adam saddled and rode small dinosaurs while Eve listened to a talking snake.  Then, these children grown up and teach the same delusional nonsense to their children.  That is how the bible is already used in some schools.  Worse, used in homes.

 

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