Sent in by Grace Image by fionnaigh via Flickr My life never started off on a religious fore-front. My parents were both heavily into drugs when I was very young. They divorced when I was two or three. I went to live with my grandma. My grandma grew up in a Catholic household. Her father was Catholic and her mother was Mormon. Growing up, I had a lot of questions for my grandma about reality. She wasn’t affiliated with the church because she always thought that all of the “politics” and corruption in the church was never good. She taught me to be a free-thinker. She believes in choice. That you make your own destiny, and I believe the same. She is extremely tolerant of other religions (just as long as you don’t go knocking on her door). Growing up, I asked her what “religion” we were, and she told me “You can believe in anything you want, or you can believe in nothing at all. It’s your life, and you need to find out what you think for yourself.” I did just that. ...

Sent in by Free Wanderer Image via Wikipedia It’s funny to me how, not so long ago, I was standing up in front of the church congregation, giving my testimony of how Jesus had saved me, and now, here I am, giving my testimony of how I’ve come to completely reject that salvation. It’s also amusing to me, that if you had told me back then, that I would one day divorce God and His Church, and deny Jesus, I would have laughed sweetly, nodded my head, and had pity on your soul, because it was definitely not going to heaven when you died. I was pretty much raised in down-home, Bible Belt, Baptist Churches for most of my childhood. My mom, who’s parents had been missionaries to Costa Rica and who had instilled their by-the- King James Bible beliefs into her brain, made sure to take me and my sister to church every Sunday and Wednesday night, like a good Christian mother should. My dad, who’s mom was a good ol’ Baptist racist, had stopped going to church when I was just a baby, but he still...

Sent in by George in KC Image via Wikipedia I am 49 years old and finally FREE of the yoke of Christianity! I have so much to say I don’t know where to begin. I was born into a southern Christian family. Went to church every time there was a service. Sunday school, VBS, summer camp, choir, etc (you know the drill). I never heard any arguments of the other side and I believed it all. Yet occasionally something would not sound right. I particularly remember being in church at about age 12 at services by a guest speaker talking about Genesis. Of course the question came up about the earth being very old. He brushed it off by saying god created the earth with”apparent age.” That sounded corny to me at the time. I remember it so well because that phrase, “apparent age,” would sporadically come to the front of my brain. It made me think about other weird things in the bible (resurrection, miracles, killing) but each time I would suppress the ideas and continue on in my Christianit...

By Justin The following is a letter I submitted to various Christian friends, family, and clergy on the eve of my recent deconversion, explaining my change in perspective. Would-be Christian apologists often make the claim that atheism is itself a religion. Atheists may rightly respond that this notion is absurd; atheism does not adhere to a particular set of beliefs, practices, or laws as is typical of religions throughout history. Even the lesser claim that atheism is a “worldview” or “belief system” fails on the grounds that atheism makes only one declaration – namely, that God does not exist – and is therefore not a complete worldview but merely a rejection of the subset of worldviews incorporating God. In fact many “atheists” do not reject the possible existence of God but merely the existence of any of the finite number of Gods proposed by historic religions. And in fact, even if he does not realize it, the Christian who makes this claim typically does not intend to imply that...

Sent in by Nicole Image by xaimex via Flickr I just don't know. I have grown up in the church, I've gone to countless Bible studies, I've taken great leaps of faith, I've married into a very religious family... but it's all becoming kind of sick to me. There are so many things I question about Christianity that no one seems to have any answers to-- except "Have faith." Uh-huh. My experience with Christianity has been one big emotional lie. Christians are hypocritical, self-righteous liars. A woman who led a Bible study for years, who introduced me to my husband, who was my spiritual mentor and best friend -- gets drunk every weekend and sleeps around now. My pastor was having an affair with a married woman in the church. My family turned against me in the name of God. "You have spirits of rebellion and deception all over you..." I came to Christianity out of fear. Fear of demons, fear of the unknown, fear of death, fear of life. Now here I am. I...

By Dr. M. Lee Deitz Image via Wikipedia “Give me that Old Time Religion,” was my battle cry! Early in life, I listened to the old time country preachers bellow out “hell fire and damnation!” As I became of age, I convinced myself that I was to become a spokesman for the “truth” of “God’s Inspired Word.” Truth was defined by the community of which I was a part--the church, the elders, family and acquaintances. I dared not step out of the belief system. My experience into the subculture of religion, was a choice that I made early in life. Hearing “preachers” expound Biblical stories resonated as the means to the end that the only way to God was to accept “the truth” to which I was being exposed and accepted as eternal realities. After high school, I chose Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC as my venue for study. Christian Fundamentalism is a strict belief in the literal interpretation of their Bible. The essence of Fundamentalism is to accept Biblical truisms as inerrant! Believin...

Sent in by Introspect Image via Wikipedia Although I grew up with agnostic parents, they believed it would be better for me to have some exposure to religion by sending me to a Catholic school. Their teachings and my Presbyterian aunt taking me to weekly bible studies began to "sow the seed," so to speak, of the "gospel." During that time I realized that the songs and bible stories that these people were so attached to meant something deeper to them. But, already I had began to question them about things like Judas having two different deaths in different gospels as well as the issue of seemingly different genealogies. My neighbors then added to more by bringing me to a Bibleman concert and giving me a bible. As I read through it, I began to become very afraid of this god and started wondering about salvation. Was I really doomed to hell? Could the world really end at any moment? It was impossible to sleep or even eat. When I did sleep I would have dreams of God t...

Sent in by summerbreeze Image by JenWaller via Flickr For many decades I felt God didn't like me too much, that there was something wrong with me, there must be. I felt this way from a young child on. I felt let down by God. I was born during World War II. My biological father was a chronically immature, irresponsible, mean-tempered, nasty, armpit of a man. My Mother couldn't have been more opposite, being sweet-tempered, kind-hearted and loving, putting others before herself. Neither were religious. I believe my Mother thought there was a God out there, even if he never touched her sad life. Because of my biological "father" deserting us, my young Mother had to hold down two jobs. Being war years, life was a struggle. I hardly ever saw her during those years, living instead at the homes of whoever was caring for me. My Grandmother told me that my mom used to cry all the way to the bus stop , after having to say good-bye to me. When I was ab...

Sent in by The New Heretics W hen I was a child I, like many others, had some rather rough years. I do not think that my particular story is any more dramatic or piercing than any others; except in the fact that to me it is, since it is mi ne . Yes, I had some hard times at home; my father made it quite known to me at as a child that I only existed because the birth-control went wrong, and their religion frowned upon abortions. My sister was the perfect, favorite child, who could do no wrong; mother was timid and dominated– afraid to venture out, speak up, or fully come into herself. Yes, some things were a bit off , but nothing extraordinary… right? Father was a pastor, and I lived in what I thought was your typical Christian home. He seemed to have a nack with “ combating ” the supernatural; he and my mother wound-up specializing in counseling people who the church deemed to be demonically oppressed or possessed. They even had a special crucifix that hung on the wall at all times ...

Sent in by Paul D Image by SamPac via Flickr I am deeply grateful to all the people who responded to my previous testimonial and all the kind and helpful comments, believe me, you showed me more compassion than I received from fifteen years as a Christian - I thank you. I don't always have access to a PC but when I do I always reply to messages. As before, the Christians I am talking about are those whom label themselves as "born again," and this is where I will start. I am an atheist for one reason and one reason only - Christians - and what I observed for over fifteen years. The sheer magnitude of hypocrisy between what they SAY and how they actually ARE as people. The staggering arrogance of Christians and the distasteful, mocking, style they have in dealing with beliefs that are different to their own. The unbelievable COLDHEARTEDNESS of Christians is matched only by their indifference in the presence of human need and suffering. Make no mistake about it, I re...

Image by flashboy via Flickr Sent in by John Looking through this site, I see that most of you are American. In England , religion doesn't play such an integral role as it seems to in the USA . However, it is just as pernicious. I became a Christian at the age of 15 (I am now 43) when I was 'evangelised' by a Charismatic, Pentecostal church. At first, everything was great. I believed that I had found the answer to life, the universe and everything . I read my Bible diligently; I witnessed to all at my school; I prayed and I studied Christianity. Studying Christianity was my downfall. The more I read and studied, the more I became confused. I was hearing one thing in church (God is love) and reading another (God commanding the slaughter of children and animals). To cut a long story short, the more that I questioned what I was learning, the more exasperated the church became with me. I was told over and over that I was allowing the devil/ the world/ my mind/ to control me a...