Introduce Yourself HERE!

[Mynamesukx]

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Welcome. We can help you shed the rest of that pestiferous doctrine.
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Well good luck with that, as I am not really here to debate the exsistance of god or the flying spaghetti monster for that matter.
I am however playing lizard and snake with my 2 year old.

[abhijitchanda]

Hey there all of you. Very nice to meet you guys. I'm from India and have been a free thinker all my life. It was only after an argument with a Muslim friend about evolution that things started to really fall together.

Before, i didn't really care if there was a god or not or if supernatural woo was really real. Now I began to investigate. And the more I did, the more upset religion made me. I'd always hated the idea of religion and now I had begun to understand why.

On my adventures I came across the Thinking Atheist podcast and have been a fan ever since.

[Revenant77x]

(02-04-2013 03:11 PM)abhijitchanda Wrote:  Hey there all of you. Very nice to meet you guys. I'm from India and have been a free thinker all my life. It was only after an argument with a Muslim friend about evolution that things started to really fall together.

Before, i didn't really care if there was a god or not or if supernatural woo was really real. Now I began to investigate. And the more I did, the more upset religion made me. I'd always hated the idea of religion and now I had begun to understand why.

On my adventures I came across the Thinking Atheist podcast and have been a fan ever since.

Welcome to the club. How would you like your baby served we have both red and green curry, BBQ, and teriyaki avalible more upon request.

[morondog]

(02-04-2013 02:22 PM)Mynamesukx Wrote:  I do not try to shove my beliefs down anyone's face hole.

What worries me is that I have other holes... Welcome

[staticclover]

I'm a 34 year old farmer in Kentucky, grew up going to small baptist churches every time the doors were open, (at least three times a week). If hell is real, I'd rather burn than go back to a boring country church every week listening to a sweaty guy yell at me about hell. So happy to be an atheist!

[Smileemore]

Hi! I'm a 19 year of Australian girl studying media. I have been kinda sceptical about religion my whole life (had a few really religious friends) but my parents were always firmly atheist- our background is very communist.
This year I decided that I am a full pledged atheist and I'm so happy. Thought I'd share my dads favourite quote -A man without religion is like a fish without a bicycle look forward to sharing my opinions with you

[Erxomai]

(02-04-2013 01:17 PM)Atheist_pilgrim Wrote:  Hey all:

I've already posted some stuff here, so I figured I'd better introduce myself:

My name is Erik, and I'm a 46-year-old man who was an evangelical christian from the ages of 17 to 40. I was basically scared into the kingdom by the combination of pressure from fundamentalist friends, Bill Gothard's Basic Youth Conflicts doctrines, and Jack Chick tracts/comics.

As time went on, I became involved in various church ministries, mainly in singles' groups as an attendee or as part of the leadership team. From 1985 to 1991 I served in the Marine Corps, where I did my best to "stand for the faith" in a very wild environment. In 1996 I even helped start the first Christian student group at my secular college. I wanted to get into men's ministry as a mentor/counselor, so in 1999 I entered seminary and graduated in 2002 with a MA in Pastoral Studies (Family Ministry).

However, looking back I see that my seminary experience was the beginning of the end of my faith. I had a negative experience in 2000 while working at my church's bookstore, and seminary wasn't quite the haven of spirituality that I thought it would be. 9/11 also happened during my time at school, which introduced everyone in a rather forceful way to religious warfare.

After finishing seminary I looked around for another church and briefly ended up at a large one that had a thriving sex addiction ministry. I had visited one of their "Pure Desire" groups during my last year of seminary as part of a class project, and ended up staying there a number of months because it felt like a real place where we could talk about our issues. But in 2003 I finally became disenchanted with its depressing and negative nature, so I left both the group and the church. However, I remained involved in a Christian martial arts dojo I had began attending in 2002, where I eventually became its first Chaplain Associate and reached the rank of 2nd-degree black belt.

At my next church, I served for a time on the older singles' group leadership team, but then read Don Miller's book "Blue Like Jazz" and decided to switch to Imago Dei, the dynamic church he wrote about (many people flocked to Imago for the same reason). I got involved in the "Setup" ministry (so named because the church was renting a building, and we had to setup and take down our stuff on Sundays) and attended their nascent Men's Ministry along with a couple of small groups.

As the years went on my issues with Christianity grew deeper, but I stuggled to remain faithful. When the Dawkins and Hitchens books came out, I bought them right away so that I could challenge my faith and go deeper, but instead they created more doubts. A broken romance and subsequent falling out with my small group leader led me to my last two (interrelated) groups, where I still struggled.

Finally, after reading about the Camino Santiago pilgrimage trail in Spain, I took a leave of absence from work in the summer of 2007 and walked 500 miles across northern Spain in order to see if God would show up. However, He did not, and the more I learned about the history of the trek, the more diverse people I met on the Way, and the more I internally wrestled with my doubt and issues, the more I began to decisively move away from Christianity.

When I finished the trek, ironically after 40 days and 40 nights, I returned home in a state of conflict. I went back to church, small group, and the martial arts dojo, but I knew that I was hanging on by a thread to my faith. One night, while lying in bed, I had the epiphany that I could no longer believe in God, and verbally said so out loud. Soon after, I left Imago, announced to my small group leaders that I could no longer attend due to my loss of faith, and told my martial arts teacher that I'd left Xianity and therefore was unable to fulfill my role as instructor or Chaplain Associate in good conscience. He didn't take it well, saying that C.S. Lewis and Josh McDowell already had the answers I was seeking, and that God would use his 2X4 and lighting bolt to get me back into line.

For a couple of years I kind of drifted, reading whatever atheist books I could find. Then I began to discover the atheist podcasts and Youtube videos, which eventually led me here and inspired me to come out to my immediate family and Facebook friends (they didn't take it too well either, which is still a source of pain in my life). I'm still trying to define how my atheism looks, but I'm grateful that these kinds of resources are available for my edification and learning!

Hi Erik, I'm Eric and I can relate to a lot of your pilgrimage, sans the Marine Corps part.

I was also a victim of Bill Gothard, Chick Tracts, Seminary, and finally Donald Miller on my way out. Glad you found the True Light!

[itsnotmeitsyou]

I'm a 32 year old atheist. I come from a devoutly religious family that thinks my atheism is a phase or that I am decieved, blah blah blah, you know the drill.

I've been listening to the podcast since 2011 and am very glad to have a website like this where I can meet and talk to other rational thinkers.

[kingschosen]

(05-04-2013 12:42 PM)itsnotmeitsyou Wrote:  I'm a 32 year old atheist. I come from a devoutly religious family that thinks my atheism is a phase or that I am decieved, blah blah blah, you know the drill.

I've been listening to the podcast since 2011 and am very glad to have a website like this where I can meet and talk to other rational thinkers.

Well...

...as of late...

[Vera]

Watch out, everyone, looks like KC's hulked out (not that I can blame him)

Welcome, new folk!