How many of you are former Christians who became Atheists?

[Osceola]

Just curious, and likewise, I'm wondering if there are atheists who became Christians?

I was raised/brainwashed a baptist Christian and forced to attend Evangelical private school, it ****ed me up pretty bad in the head, but once I hit my Junior year of high school, I took to atheism with a vengeance.

Now the fires of conversion have died down, and I really don't care bout the whole thing. Though admittedly I believe in trying to evengalise the believers into non-believers. Hypocritical? I don't think so, it's not wrong to show someone the error of their ways.

Any other former Christians?

[Gary88]

only on a technicallity, i was never really a christian.

[Fingon NL]

only on a technicallity, i was never really a christian.

Same, when I was young I liked to read the bible because it had those cool but rediculous stories in it (I never believed a word from it )
Now I've officially declared I am an atheist.

Was a baptised protestant and when it was time for my confirmation I said "**** it".
A proud moment I would say since I went against my parents, my grandfather(devoted catholic) and classmates(since it was cool to do the confirmation since you got gifts therefore everyone cool had to do it, most of them knew it was BS just like I did, they just couldn't handle the peer pressure).

I wish I could've done something similar, but almost everyone in my class is agnostic/atheist.
We're more amazed with seeing a catholic guy in class
The Netherlands are a counmtry full of non-believers

Most people only read the OP. To spur talk you need to either start a new thread(which I would be very interested in seeing) or get into a personal debate with someone. Otherwise a long post like that will get ignored by the majority. I share your frustration, but that is just how it goes..

Indeed, I find that if the first few posts are not interesting(big) I don't read the rest and just answer the OP.

Oh I see I forgot to put a period implying I was talking about myself.

I am a Non denominational Theist. You an anti theist, a belief I regard as evil.

Isn't there a difference between anti-theist and atheist?
anti=against, a=not.
Quite a difference if you ask me.

[Dayman]

I was a Catholic than protestant/evangelical and now I'm an atheist.

[ThiudareiksGunthigg]

Just curious, and likewise, I'm wondering if there are atheists who became Christians? .... Any other former Christians?

I'm one.

[Exarch]

how do u mean TG?

@topic
i was one too

[ThiudareiksGunthigg]

how do u mean TG?

I mean I was a commited Christian. I decided to study the origins of my faith so I could defend it against unbelievers, so I embarked on several years of reading about the early history of Christianity. By the time I finished I was no longer a Christian.

[Haakon]

I was not raised a christian, but at one point of time I thought I was one.
Then one day, I read the bible and came to the conclusion all mono religions are rubbish.

There are simply too many contradictions, and religious people using so many incredible stupid arguments when defeding their faith. God is santa claus for adults.

Nothing more nothing less.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

Just curious, and likewise, I'm wondering if there are atheists who became Christians?

I was raised/brainwashed a baptist Christian and forced to attend Evangelical private school, it ****ed me up pretty bad in the head, but once I hit my Junior year of high school, I took to atheism with a vengeance.

Now the fires of conversion have died down, and I really don't care bout the whole thing. Though admittedly I believe in trying to evengalise the believers into non-believers. Hypocritical? I don't think so, it's not wrong to show someone the error of their ways.

Any other former Christians?

I came from a Christian family, and for the first 10 years of my life I'd have considered myself a liberal Christian.

[Cúchulainn]

I think most atheists would be former religious folk.

Anyway.

Atheist.

[jarnomiedema]

I think most atheists would be former religious folk.

I'm not too sure about that.. My parents are atheists as well (but they've always offered the possibility to find out about the religions of the world) and I've always found the skeptical non-religious answers to life to be the most convincing..

I think it all depends on what country a person lives in and what generation they are. There's a big difference in the background of atheists in say the U.S. compared to those in the Netherlands for instance.. And there's a big difference between those in their twenties compared to older people who are much more likely to have grown up in a religious household..

[Zenith Darksea]

Well, I can't say for sure if I was ever an intellectually committed atheist, but my parents and my brother are and I was never baptised as a child, so I suppose you could say that I've gone from an atheistic background to being a Christian. I know various ex-atheists who have become Orthodox Christians though.

...it's not wrong to show someone the error of their ways.

Now that was a hypocritical thing to say.

[Gaidin]

...it's not wrong to show someone the error of their ways.

Now that was a hypocritical thing to say.

Yup...explaining the error in somebody's ways is the most hypocritical thing ever. Unlike, say, letting them continue to be wrong.

[Sephynos]

By tradition I'm Catholic throught my parents, but I consider myself more as Agnostic, not Atheist yet.

[Adrian]

From birth i am orthodox but i never as long as i remember and im 18 i never believed in god or something like that but to what its worth i respect religious people who don't impose there belief on others.
but people who impose there religion on others should be severely punished and made a example of them.

[Irishman]

I was Christian, then left the faith.

[Makaio]

I was "raised" a Christian until the age of, like, seven. About that time, I went into "I don't give a flying monkey's ass" about religion, God, all that jazz.

I did become a Christian again, though, for about a year. Didn't last, since I could honestly care less.

Soooo, I'm not an Atheist. Just a really spiritually-apathetic Agnostic. xD

Meh. Only "good" and "logical" Christians in the world are typically the ones that actually choose to do become so. The others are just raised that way.

There's a huge difference.

[Pyrebound]

I wasnt really raised a christian, my parents are christians but they chose to let me think whatever i want but i did believe in God and Jesus until i found some atheist stuff on the internets. They still want me to go to the confirmation though i dont want to, their only excuse is that i have to do it because i belong to the church (i would resign from the church but i can only do it at age of 15 and with the acceptance of my parents - and they dont accept it). My grandparents are kind of fundies, they were shocked when my cousin wasnt baptized.. So me not going to the confirmation would be a disaster to them. When i go to my grandparents house, which is on the countryside, all our relatives are believers there. So i hate it when they ask me about religious stuff, such as going to the confirmation. Thats why i usually just stay at the grandparents house instead of going to the town nearby with my parents

About those internet sites, one of them was ethos, mores et monastica - forum ruled by atheists. Its easy to get tons of information and opinion how the idea of god is false / how christianity fails.

Thought it took some time to reject christianity for me, a friend of mine just rejected his religion without actually researching it at all, sometimes i am ashamed of him =P

Duh, long post. I hope it isnt a pain to read =D

[HopliteElite]

I once was a fanatical Catholic but I never once prayed to or considered God relevent. I liked the order and discipline of the religion. When I realized Catholicism was a fraud and the Pope was changing time honored rules, I realized that following such a religion would make me a hypocrite. Instead, I went with what was natural; the disbelief in God but the belief in law, order, and discipline.

[ket222]

I think it's rather sad that instead of reading about religion from Aquinas, Luther, Augustine, Paul Tillich, Kierkegaard, etc (the latter two who take a completely non-fundamentalist view of things), you would prefer to think that people on forums with an anti-religious axe to grind (often, not always) have better answers.

It's always the same complaints-either against fundamentalists who claim every fact in the bible MUST be true or it's all wrong, or an appeal to reason vs 'irrational' religion. THERE IS NOTHING IRRATIONAL about the great religious thinkers of the past. They do not look at spirituality in terms of reasonable vs unreasonable, but meaningful vs unmeaningful. Reason is a very limited stricture to meaning--loving a woman is hardly reasonable but extremely powerful!

Of course, there is much more to be said on this, but please please--if you think you are rejecting Christianity or religion in general, at least know what you are rejecting and don't create strawmen to attack! If you want a real attack on Christianity read Nietzsche in detail--at least he went way beyond this reason vs unreason duality, and didn't spend his time attacking biblical miracles!

He realized the power of religion comes from psychological and spiritual motives, and attacked it from there. There is a great deal of religious meaning in his attacks on religion besides (there is much to counter his views)--it is a duty for every Christian to read!

How many atheists on this forum have bothered to read any of these seminal religious works in a SERIOUS fashion?