Sorry, I'm Not Religious.

[icantevenrightnow]

Let me just say, this doesn't apply to everyone. I've met the sweetest people ever who share different beliefs than I do. I don't judge anyone on trivial matters such as gender identity, religion, race, sexual orientation, etc. It is only those who attack me because of my own beliefs.

I'm an Atheist.

That sentence alone is probably going make a lot of people instantly dislike me. But here's the thing. I know you'll tell me I'm going to hell, and that I'm an idiot, however, that doesn't make sense to me.

I never rejected religion, I was just never educated in religious teachings. I was raised that way, and I didn't even know church was a thing until elementary school. My mother was a struggling, single college student when she had me.

Not because she was some floozy who had a drunken one-night-stand, in fact, my dad is her childhood best friend's older brother. They went to high school together. Led by fear, he stayed away after it was revealed he was an alcoholic, and he didn't come back into my life until he had curbed his addiction when I was 14.

Anyways, she was always at school, going after a PhD, so there was just never any time to be educated in religion of any kind. So, instead I learned about Darwin's Theory of evolution and natural selection at school, and that's what I currently believe in because it makes sense to me.

I'm an Atheist, but I do believe religion can make a positive impact on people, by helping them strive to be a better person. I do my best to be as kind and accepting person as I can be.

When it comes to sex, I wouldn't know anything about that, because I'm a virgin. I'm saving myself for someone I truly love. Not because it's forced upon me that I'll be a lustful hell-bound tramp if I have sex before I marry, but because it is my belief.

I made this MyTake to hopefully spread some awareness that I'm not a horrible person. Me, an Atheist. An Atheist who often does public service and unpaid internships in her free time.

I know this is going to get a lot of hate, and I'm ready. But, this is me being true to myself and my beliefs.

[sawno]

Why would i think you are a horrible person? People attacking you for your beliefs are obviously not any better. I personally think its fine to debunk someone if you believe there beliefs are wrong because you can then offer an alternative, i also think its fine when you answer there questions if they seek for a different perspective or to bring them to offer but you should not condemn someone for who they are trying to be if its not directly harming you that is not something a devine being would do.

What i would like to bring to you is that traditional religion might give you a very limited view and that my own personal beliefs are not contradicting with yours but merely expand upon it in ways that make a lot of sense to me. You are not going to hell for your beliefs, you end up in a place that equals the kind of energy you put out as i see it as the laws of energy. Whoever you genuinely are deep down is what will lead you to a specific place equal to you as your energy your soul will naturally travel to the place its most suited to be which could be another planet in any timeline, it could be the "overworld" itself and that is something we will likely never find the answer to since its so personal based on your own being.

But i have witnessed evidence there exists more beyond what science can currently measure and while i can't directly proof any of it to you (Especially since its also not my job to do that) i'd like you to know the true answers are out there but the way to find them is using logic not religion (Although religion can help you find the answers you seek taking it literal is not a good idea as i don't think any of them got it right).

So if you are open to it you are free to ask me anything about my own beliefs, and if not all i ask is for you to be your genuine self and become the person you want to be. As that is the only thing that truly matters in your own development.

[themetalhead]

this is a great take! its good that you're not one of those atheists that just goes against others due to their religion. thanks for the respect :) I used to be atheist but now a pagan chick, and I feel happier being that way. I think whatever makes someone happy when it comes to beliefs is what they should stick with. for some, religion is good for them. others, atheist is good for them as well. it just depends on the person.

[jennifer_bloom]

I was a non-believer for most of my youth and was also a virgin. That is nothing to brag about. I'm 32 now and still a virgin.

[JinRavage]

I was raised a Christian, but after seeing how the "church family" treated my mother when she and my dad divorced, it made it abundtly clear how much religion really meant. My dad left for a younger woman. but the church's response was the assumption that it did not matter. Because my parents did not stay married, my mother and myself were marked as "sinners". I was 8 years old at the time. I did not understand what a divorce was. All I knew was that 1 of my 2 friends stopped talking to me the same time my dad left. They treated my mom so badly that she started burning herself with cigarettes (which she did not even smoke before the divorce). Christianity almost made me kill myself. Because I did not understand the situation. I blamed myself. I blamed my dad. I blamed my mom. All because I was raised to believe that there was a "right way" that things should have happened. In truth, my dad was a cheating asshat that had cheated on my mom multiple times before the divorce. Did the church care? Nope. They treated my mom like like it was her fault that my dad left. After all my dad made sure that everybody in the public saw him as a "righteous man". And even then I thought he was a good person. That there was some misunderstanding. I knew that my mom put others before herself. But why did the people I trusted started treating us like we were evil?

It is simple. Most people who are "religious" are only there to believe they are better than the people around them. Of course there are religious people that treat other right regardless of whether they follows the same rules as they do. There are positive lessons to be learned from all religions. But The truth is that they are not religious at all. They are cults that require monetary support, fanatical devotion of believers, and damnation to all who do not follow their rules.

My Mom is still a believer. She gives everything to the church. However she has MS (multiple sclerosis), a disorder in which her immune system actively attacks her immune system. Everyday she has to deal with the chance of being paralyses or dead. Has the church spared anything to help her? No. They really need a new lawnmower after all.

[curiousnorway]

Interesting MyTake! Thanks for sharing your story with us. I'm a theist and I think believing in something is fine as long you're happy with it. The only times I think it's recommended that people should considering reconsidering their beliefs are if they're not happy or satisfied with it, but wants to change it for themselves. People shouldn't believe something because of someone else. Believing is something you're doing for yourself and your own sake. It's not anyone else's business to involve in people's beliefs if they're not open for it.

I've been on a long journey. I've both been a protestant-Christian, an agnostic, an atheist, a nihilist atheist and now a theist in my life. I had to try out different beliefs to find that one that is right for me. On that journey I learnt that not every beliefs are for everyone and therefor people believes in different things. Everybody can't believe in the same thing because we're different like how not everybody can like the same food or movies.

[Anonymous]

There's no point in believing since no one is exactly going to be saved or rescued. People continue to suffer and die on a regular daily basis regardless of how much they pray, regardless of how much they attend churches, mosques, etc., regardless of how much faith they ever had. It just shows how ridiculous it all is, even if there ever were any higher beings or even if there was any creator, giving nothing but false promises, right, an afterlife, one that can only go to after they are dead and can suffer tremendously and horribly before death. it's absurd and completely illogical. The way I see it, even if there ever was any deities or higher beings that did created us, we're nothing more than failed experiments, nothing more than lab rats, completely and utterly failed experiments that had been ditched and abandoned to suffer and die a long time ago, and all this praying, worshipping, etc., is a complete waste of time, since they all don't care and aren't obligated to care what happens to any of us. The nonstop suffering and death in this world just shows how expendable we really are, it just shows that we are nothing more than unimportant and acceptable losses. And if so then why should religion matter at all anymore? Why should any of that be important when it clearly shows that we aren't important at all? It's either that a higher being is sadistic and having fun with our suffering and miseries, and dying on a regular basis, or that they simply don't care, and for the atheist, they simply just don't even exist as anything more than imaginary made up concepts from the human mind and brains.

[Harry8814]

Well, atheism has proved to have serious negative effects. It weakens spirituality, which in turn opens up space for nihilism, moral relativism, materialism, consumerism, egoism, endless search for pleasure, and so on. It is a spiral of decay. Thus we have a generation of people who think life is all about having fun, morality is a bit of a joke, and everyone should be accepted and praised even if they achieve nothing and don't even strive to achieve anything. We have no standards any more, because standards imply that we are expected to work hard to live up to them. But why work hard when we can just revoke all standards and be lazy? We live in a society where they will call you a 'nazi' for suggesting standards should exist. Everyone is now equally good and smart and beautiful, and so on. Meanwhile the family unit has almost vanished, because people prefer to have casual sex, rather than investing effort in maintaining a relationship and raising children. And again, everything is now fine, no one will judge you no matter what decisions you make. That encourages descent into moral depravity. And as I said, atheism has played a major role in it. Atheists love to point out that they don't need some god to tell them right from wrong, but in reality, without a god, people stop caring about right and wrong, their moral standards decline, and the entire society begins to crumble.

[_Enigma_]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfYJsQAhl0

[Harry8814]

@_Enigma_ As he said, 'May God have mercy on your soul'.

[curiousnorway]

@Harry8814, just because something applies to a few people don't mean it applies to everyone. I knows many atheists that do care about moral. They treats other people with respect, takes consideration and cares about people around them. There's many atheists out there who doesn't want to hurt anybody. If you cares about people or not is depending more on the individual than the religion. Yes, it's true some atheists are nihilists, but there's also atheists who aren't nihilists.

Some atheists think life is meaningful although there's no afterlife or eternal life. They thinks life is like a party. It can still be enjoyable and a fun moment although it's not lasting forever. People are enjoying the good parties instead of thinking now it's going to end and is therefor pointless.

[sawno]

You bring up a couple of good points but for modern society traditional religion and fictional stories (Even if others believe they will be fictional in there eyes) can no longer achieve this. Instead we should encourage personal growth as its extremely beneficial in a very transparent way by helping people discover who they genuinely are so they can strive to become that person on there own or with some help if they request it. It shouldn't be about telling people how to life anymore, that doesn't fit society as it is and that risks limiting freedom which is exactly why that is being rejected. By helping them find out who they actually are by giving them a few questions rather then dictate the answers you can set something in motion within themselves that helps them become very happy and more resistant to people trying to bring them down.

[Harry8814]

@sawno I think we need to have faith and believe in God, even if we do not adhere completely to any of the existing religions/scriptures. It completely changes the way one perceives himself, others, and life as such. It's a total game changer.

[sawno]

Why do you consider the believe in God to be important? Because personally i am a believer but i don't hold "god" at its highest regard as to me its not the most important matter at hand. I personally see god as a resemblance of the source of the positive force so i see him as devine love and positivity.

People who place god the highest typically want to serve god as the highest being, worship him and be lead into a place they want to be for there own personal gain by obeying what they perceive they want. But is that truly good? God would be selfish for wanting worship, the beings would be doing the ring things for the wrong reasons so they aren't actually good and in the end everyone is just driven out of selfishness.

[sawno]

So instead of worshiping god i think striving to become your true self is the most important thing you can do. For most people on earth that means that they will become a genuinely good person to the very depths of there soul and instead of striving to be a good servant you strive to be the most divine being you can become at least if your conclusion is that you want to be as good as possible. That means that instead of God as an identity above you, it becomes a positive force within you as you embrace positivity and love and strive for the betterment of others throughout bettering yourself so you can be a better person for them. And at that point someones belief doesn't matter anymore because all that matters is that they are striving to become there true self which either means as good as they can be, or a necessary evil force although i hope most people won't choose to become the latter but i won't entirely condemn them if they chose that because they would still have a purpose.

[Harry8814]

@sawno Worship really comes down to acknowledging that God has the final word. It is about coming to terms with the fact that you are not god, and that your life is part of something that transcends reality, with meanings attached to it that one might not even comprehend. Worship is also a way of making an effort to do what's right, and seeking strength for it.

[sawno]

I am to stubborn to blindly give any entity the final word though, if i do not perceive that entity's interests as good i will likely not follow what the entity wants to do no matter how godly he is perceived to be. If god is truly devine (Which i believe) the matter of the final word won't be at play as he would give me the freedom to disagree hoping i will come around another time.

[Harry8814]

@sawno Well, perhaps, but that's still up to God to decide. Things will turn out the way he has ordained.

[sawno]

That one makes a lot of sense if you see God as an individual, but if you see him as an energy out of which individuals are born like i do the conclusions are very different. Because to me the ultimate judge of how well you have done is you, after all i believe you came here for a reason to complete a certain set of tasks you wanted to achieve and become someone you wanted to become and once the journey on earth is over its time to see who you where, how you transitioned and who you are now. Based on those results you naturally go to a place most suited for you and while everyone contributes and architects the world around them trough there own actions as a physical being, being of energy or otherwise i don't think there is a single being who has the ultimate control and if there is he won't use it because it would go against the very thing he stands for.

[slatyb]

Ridiculous and demonstrably false. The Nordic countries are among the most secular and rate very highly in any measure of social well-being. The most religious countries are the most miserable.

[Harry8814]

@slatyb Nordic countries will die in a few decades. They don't even reproduce any more at anything close to sufficient levels. They are completely sick and loving it. Well, suicide rates are another issue, let alone numbers of people who are treated for depression. Saying Nordic countries are doing well is like saying a man is healthy because he has shiny new shoes.

[goaded]

tl;dr: "consumerism"? There are pastors out there flying private jets about the place, paid for by their sheep.

[Harry8814]

@goaded That is a very cynical view of religion, and I don't see how it is relevant that some guy with his private church likes to fly around in a private jet.

[1derfulguy]

Lol some of the world's most religious societies are also some of the worst places to live.

[Harry8814]

@1derfulguy But the west did not start declining morally and spiritually until it became atheist.

[1derfulguy]

I wasn't aware the west was declining morally and spiritually. My impression is that people are a lot more civilized in many ways than they were in the past.

I also don't see how insisting on not updating one's knowledge about the world (as you do if you base your life on any ancient text over modern empirical science) is likely to lead to ethical outcomes? It's like saying your story will be better if you never learn to spell.

[Harry8814]

@1derfulguy That's part of the disease: denial

[Guardian412]

Unless you don't want to enforce your view on others, and others don't want to force their views on you, its usually not a problem. As it is said; if friends want to stay friends they don't speak about two things, religion/belief and politics. The problem is usually with militant atheists that are acting like a fanatic cult, and are more fanatic than any other religion, and are bringing their view and politics into anything, from standard conversation to everything that goes in the mainstream media.

[love_conquers_lust]

Loud mouth atheists and loud mouth religious fanatics deserve one another. They're both flawed and they've both been around for a long time.

Perhaps this may comfort you, Christians believe a marriage is still sanctified if one of them is a non-believer. It said a man and woman shall become one flesh, it said nothing specific about whom except that they are a man/woman.

"lustful hell-bound tramp". Good one. You consult with your father about dating so you don't pick someone who did the same thing? If he's any kind of man/father, he'd have admitted that. Good for your mom.

Good Take.

[Waffles731]

I don't judge people for being atheists,
I'm a neopagan and i personally think that a person should be judged for things like if they're an asshole or nice person.
Private Church in Red versus Blue sums up what I think
You know Caboose, I used to not care. I just went along with orders, and hoped that everything would work out for me. But after all that's happened, you know what I've learned? It's not about hating the guy on the other side because someone told you to. I mean, you should hate someone because they're an asshole, or a pervert, or snob, or they're lazy, or arrogant or an idiot or know-it-all. Those are reasons to dislike somebody. You don't hate a person because someone told you to. You have to learn to despise people on a personal level. Not because they're red, or because they're blue, but because ya know them, and you see them every single day. And you can't stand them, because they're a complete and total fucking douchebag.

[DuskWalker]

As an Eastern Orthodox Christian myself I can tell you, that if what you've written about yourself is true, you might as well be one of the brightest example of what a good Christian is. And way above many out there.

[VegetaSSB]

i am not religious, but on the contrary i have my own personal contact with my essence, that is the suprema intelligence itself (not that everyone cannot have it, it is simple that we are in a situation of extrema sabotage, done by parasitic aliens 15000 years ago, and since them everyone is fragmenting the conscience and so is less and less conected with his/her essence), so religion no, do meditation, past life therapy and recconect with your essence.

[martsa]

Great take! You and me are kinda same: my mom is catholic and I respect her religion but she never educated me in religion things. I don't have nothing against any religion but it's not just my thing. I noticed it when I was only child that I don't believe in god.

[iamallyours]

that sounds very intimate, and gets no hate from me! I've had a lot of friends, actually some of my bestfriends who call themselves atheists and I've never judged them with being so. I myself am not an atheist but am not also bound with any strict religious rules, but I was born and educated in a religiously conscious family. However, I never restricted myself with what I was taught with.. and chose to do what feels right to me and chose to have my own way..

[Safa_Malfoy]

ok first off i am going to say that i am a muslim

why will a lot of people dislike you for stating that you are an atheist when you said that you don't judge anyone on trivial matters such as gender identity, religion, race, sexual orientation, etc
don't let anyone hate you for who you are!
you are not a horriable person and dont let people make you think u are cuz after reading ur My Take i have realized that you are faaaaaaarr from horriable infact a good person

[Anonymous]

you dont have to be religious to find out and know who created you, who is the living water. I still love you girl as my neighbor and you dont need to be religious to love either, Religion is the study of various books/beliefs, experiences written by divine encounters.. It is good to seek for answers because you will receive it. Be a seeker.

[Namkrow]

I'm an atheist, too. Read the Bible, the Qur'an, the Torah, don't remember much because I didn't believe it. Even took communion with the wafers and some juice, not wine, I was 18 at the time, still didn't believe. I even invited Jesus into my heart and renounced other gods in the chapel at a Christian run camp. Still did not then and do not now believe. There's just too much evidence against, and having faith alone doesn't help or prove anything.

[Anonymous]

My friend is an atheist. We never get into it , I respect everyone even though I'm religious , and I never ever bring up religion or try to push it upon people. It's just one of those things that I feel like is for me and myself to believe only and others shouldn't be involved.

[RolandCuthbert]

No young one, I don't hate you. I think you are pretty awesome in fact.

I don't know why anyone would hate you. You seem pretty nice. No matter what folks tell you, Christianity is not about hate. It is about love.

[Logorithim]

I don't know how many religious people actually don't believe in evolution, but surely many do (maybe even most for all I know).

People don't really seem to have a beef with atheists.

[goaded]

They do in the US.

"A 2007 poll of American adults found that only 45 percent would vote for a "generally well-qualified" presidential candidate nominated by their party who happened to be an atheist." (That's from their own party!)

They come below every other group polled for.

news.gallup.com/.../...residential-candidates.aspx

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

Athiest or non Athiests makes zero difference in my life. In other words I don't care what any on believes.

Good for them.

[1truekhaleesi]

You are brave for sharing this. I have wanted to write a my take sharing my journey from me being religious to a hardcore atheist, but I am not ready for the shitstorm.