Hello, my name is Nate and I am atheist. I grew up in the bible belt raised by 2 very religious parents that had different personalities. At home they hated each other and at church you'd never know this. Ever since I was old enough to form my own opinion, I knew christianity was a farce when I compared god to Santa Claus and was told that Santa was fake. I mean how could one magical elf make toys for every good boy and girl and deliver them in one night? Yet god is the 3-in-one and is everywhere but nowhere in particular... How could a loving creator let there be free will and so much evil in this world? These are a few things that came to mind and set the stage for more thinking and creativity than my intellectually stunted friends, not saying I'm a genius, just that when you leave everything to a non-existent spirit, you quit thinking for yourself. I have so much more to say, but I will leave it at that. Thank you for listening to my diatribe.
Nate
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Hey Nate! Welcome :)
I'm also a new member on the forums. I didn't grew up in a bigot family so I can't imagine how hard it must've been for you.
How do you handle it now? How's your relationship with your parents if you don't mind me asking, I'm just curious!
Thank you for the welcome! My parents rule was "as long as you live in our house, you will go to church", mostly my mother who grew up in a small christian farming town. My father on the other hand is from Kansas city and grew up with mafia children and never went to church until after the Vietnam war was more understanding but still firm. Neither of them know about my choice because I know they will excommunicate me and my family. It's hard to do, but I plod along with life, both of my brothers are sick of religion as well. One is also atheist and the other is agnostic and quickly on his way to atheism.
I'm also in the Air Force and had a candid discussion with a chaplain once that started with "why do christians call ancient Greek religion mythology when it existed before christianity?" His answer "every religion has tried to kill every other persuasion and convert them, the Greek empire was defeated, that's all we know". Military chaplains are VERY accepting, wether it's military standards or their personal belief that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, it's very refreshing to see them not acting like drug pushers..
Mulletcar it's nice to meet you.
Thank you!
Hi Mullet, I too had a parent who was very christian however the other was a flat out atheist. Welcome to the site! I can't speak for you but in my case have at least one atheist parent helped a lot with my freedom of belief in my opinion though my Atheist parent will always stand by the other.