ahh I remember way back when....

[The REAL easter bunnuh]

when I first gave up Christianity. I clang to another mental virus, Paganism. Though I don't really have problems with Pagans, I now realize that waving a stick in the air and chanting the name of a god/dess borrowed from dead religions wont get me anywhere. Then I went on to Lavey Satansim. A step up, but not quite there. Then I discovered Atheism. The world at first was a scary one, but now I smile to hear you. No more relying on someones opinions on made up invisible dictators. I love how you hear those Christian "i got saved and my life is so much better yay!" propaganda, because my life has never been better since I have been saved, saved from religion.

you guys should tell me your transitional storys, if you have them.  

[The REAL easter bunnuh]

fav quote

"When I became convinced that the universe is natural – that all ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain . . . the joy of freedom. . . . I was free – free to think, to express my thoughts . . . free to live for myself and those I loved . . . free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope . . .free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the ‘inspired’ books that savages have produced . . . free from popes and priests . . . free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies . . . free from the fear of eternal pain . . . free from devils, ghosts and gods. . . . There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought . . . no following another’s steps . . . no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words." - Robert Ingersoll  

[[-Erik-]]

When I stopped calling myself a catholic, I became a lot more honest with myself.  

[I Am A Mountie]

I suppose I was always atheist. But I found out the definition of atheist in 6th grade and thats what I called myself. gonk  

[Dark Lord Erebus]

When I lived in the uk I was picked on continuously, my family was depressed and falling apart and i died inside so one day i went "hay this is bullshit, (i was in a christian public school) if you people say god loves me the same as those others then your a p***k." i wasn't to popular before that so it didn't really help. I started to turn away from faith (they say if you wait long enough god will show i say three and a half years is long enough) and then i moved to the us expecting some freedom of religion reigning so i went to the land of the free, now that is a bullshit lie. another three years up to today I still feel like those English dicks can rot. There my atheist life story.  

[dl1371]

The REAL easter bunnuh

when I first gave up Christianity. I clang to another mental virus, Paganism.

Strangely, I hear christians call atheism a mental virus a lot
Respect other religions, don't put yourself on their level of debate

Quote:

Though I don't really have problems with Pagans, I now realize that waving a stick in the air and chanting the name of a god/dess borrowed from dead religions wont get me anywhere.

If that god(dess) existed then it would get you quite far...

Quote:

Then I went on to Lavey Satansim. A step up, but not quite there. Then I discovered Atheism. The world at first was a scary one, but now I smile to hear you. No more relying on someones opinions on made up invisible dictators. I love how you hear those Christian "i got saved and my life is so much better yay!" propaganda, because my life has never been better since I have been saved, saved from religion.

For many people religion is salvation...  

[Undecillion]

Heh, I remember when I first became atheist.

I had used to be catholic until one day when I was ten, I had an epiphany, and I said “wait a second, … this is stupid. I’m supposed to put my faith into the idea of a magical sky wizard without any sort of evidence, and then reject the idea of unicorns and fairies based on the same evidence? ”  

[Im A Little Pea]

I was raised atheist.
However, sometimes when life is too difficult to bear people turn to religion. In darkest times, it's easier to think you actually aren't in control. There's some guy up there with a plan and you just have to play along. Sometimes despair feels better, because it means you have to accept your fate. Sometimes people find comfort in religion and to some it is a good thing.
That sucks a** but hey, it's better than LSD.  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

Paganism was a stepping stone away from religion for me as well. I think that I'd realised deep down that I no longer believed, but consciously I still clung to the idea of needing to have faith in something, and pagan ideas were much less offensive to my sensibilities than the Christian dogma I'd grown up with. Plus, the idea of using my will to effect changes myself as well as the idea of my own actions coming back to me as consequences seemed much more appealing than the thought of having to pray to a god who had never answered before and reaping eternal punishments for finite transgressions.