By Pinkbunion ~ Hello everyone, this is my first time to post on this forum, and I'm quite nervous about it. I am a former Christian, specifically, Roman Catholic, who fell in the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories artound 2010 while looking up my favorite band. That Internet search result linked the band's name with the Illuminati. So, I ended up on vigilantcitizen.com , got intrigued by the articles, and on it went. These beliefs were pretty much maintained until the year 2020. My deconversion all started last September 2020, when I watched a conspiracy theorist video that exposed the evil of the Old Testament (the video creator was not Christian) and the reasons why some crazier conspiracy theories were false. So, first, I am going to relate what happened to my beliefs from 2010-2014, where it remained the same. Second, I'll discuss what I believed during 2014-2020, where there was a shift in my beliefs and I became more committed and certain of it. Finally, I'll st...

By WizenedSage (Galen Rose) ~ T he believer insists that the universe requires a maker, a god. I would ask him, "How do you know there is only one god?" From what we can see and measure in this world, how can we be sure there are not many gods; perhaps 3 or 4, or 5 or 10, or 30 or 40? How could we know? Perhaps one god created the stars, another created the oceans, another the land, another the plants, another the animals, etc. How could we know? Can we be sure this is not the case? Even the Bible suggests there is more than one god. In the Psalms, there are these passages: “There is none like you among the gods, O Lord” (86:8); “For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods” (96:4); “Our Lord is above all gods” (135:5); “He is exalted above all gods” (97:7); “For Yahweh is a great god, and a great king above all gods” (95:3). In Exodus Yahweh predicts that he will execute judgments “on all the gods of Egypt” (12:12). ...

By Carl S ~ I 'm married to a Christian woman. We've been married for over 26 years now. I'm just now asking myself how she puts up with my outspokenness. Our relationship began when she responded to my description of myself in a "Personals" column she read in the newspaper. She said all the guys mentioned their physiques and/or money, stuff like that, but she liked my frankness. (She forgot I also mentioned, "Tired of Platonic relationships.") The second night we went out together, I told her, "I'm not a Christian," knowing that was important to her. She answered that she didn't consider it a problem. After we were married, I'd attend church services with her, and remembered after one of them, saying, "These people act as if they really believe this." Attendance with her went on for years, and since we moved, this meant two or more congregations, until she settled for one in particular. Even then, after one service, I to...

By Merle Hertzler ( https://mindsetfree.blog/ ) ~ I learned early that I was not to question my religion. I was to simply have faith. And yet somehow the questions would still come. I would sometimes question the Bible. How did we know it was God’s Word? I would sometimes question Jesus. How did we know he was God? I never dared to ask these questions out loud, but in my own mind, yes, I asked these questions often. The questions demanded attention. But simultaneously, there was always the nagging fear of what would happen if I died while I was in a state that questioned the faith. I simply could not take that chance. The consequences of dying in doubt could well be unimaginable. So, I asked questions, yes, but I always knew what the answer needed to be. The side of my mind that argued for Christ had to beat out the side that argued against. It is as if my mind included an advocate for the faith, an advocate against the faith, and a referee. The referee always sided with the adv...

By Neal Stone ~ S o, you finally got to where you realized what you believed all these years has turned out to be nothing more than man made crap. You have decided to take the big leap and finally set yourself free and leave religion. Now what? What do you do now? How do you deal with this sudden change? Let me throw you some pointers that helped me and a few that I wish I had tried when I made that big leap. 1. Be Angry, Don’t Be Angry Wait what? You will feel a strong loss and realization of all that you have missed out on because of religion. You sacrificed so much for something that didn’t even work; you missed out on living and exploring life around you because you spent all your time at church doing the pastor’s…er…ahem…God’s will. You will be angry, you will be pissed and the desire to lash out and let everyone know how disappointed and upset you are about your realization will be strong. Be angry, process those feelings, and work through it. Feel the loss of what you mi...

By Neal Stone ~ F rom about age 12 to around age 33, I attended church. I attended a strict Baptist church that focused a lot on “Soul Winning”, as in going door-to-door annoying… ahem… sharing your faith with others who were so eager and overjoyed to open that door at 7pm, while you were in the middle of not being annoyed, and seeing those wonderful suit clad strangely happy guys with Bible in hand or New Testaments conveniently hidden in an attempt to hide the reason you were there… poorly. They often have no time to jump around the issue and dive right into why they are there. When I did the door knocking stint, I was surprised at how many pretended to get “saved” just to get these guys off their porch. It was obvious, at least to me, but not to the guy who ran back and bragged how he got one. In fact, not many had much success each time we got back and reported in our results. Most of the time the results were exaggerated followed by a lot of patting on the back. Often one is ...

By Tyler ~  O K, so there is a heaven and there is a hell.  On the way to heaven:  a person must be of good character and not break any rules On the other hand: if you do break rules, you must go to hell. So, let me get this straight. All your life you sin, sin, sin. Then, one day, just admit your sin aloud to other sinners and you will instantly propel yourself towards the eternal land of righteous rewards? I highly doubt this is the way it would work. Sounds to me like the corrupted mentality of those crazy bible-thumpers that took over Africa. Africans got the Bible while the white "fathers" got the land. Interesting. I am equally sure white "fathers" were on a righteously peaceable mission when  handing out guns for natives to use against each other (and ultimately destroy each other). And the gold and silver-grab thing by white "fathers" was just good ol' Christian home-cooking val...