Did you grow up religious?

One of the objections that I've seen used against atheism is "atheists are driven by bitter attitudes because they were force-fed religious doctrine(s) when they were growing up". I'm interested to see if that claim holds any water. What did you believe when you were growing up in regards to god(s), the afterlife, angels, etc.? What made you change your mind about those things? If you didn't, why haven't you changed your mind?

Both of my parents grew up as devout christians because that's what each of their parents made them do. Soon after they got married, they stopped going to church for whatever reason. Throughout my childhood, they took me and my siblings to church once or twice a year, but we didn't even own a bible and my parents never talked about their faith. I'm reluctant to say that I came from a christian backround, but I didn't grow up as an atheist either.

I grew up Catholic, and have received all of my sacraments.

Around the time I was 16/17 I began to question my faith. As my intellect developed through the end of high school and into my first year of college it became evident, to me, that religion conflicted with logic (this is my belief, I'm not saying that this should become the standard).

I don't know if I would label myself as an Atheist quite yet. I have bounced around from being Agnostic to a Deist to Apatheic.  "Non-believer" seems more applicable for me right now. 

Nah, my immediate family is about as secular as they get.  Neither my mother nor my father are religious in the least.

My father was raised a Catholic, but after Vatican II, his family dislike what was going on in the Catholic Church, so they stopped going. My mother was a Disciple of Christ. When they got married, they became Methodists sometime afterwards. I think they attended church semi-regularly until my father went to Los Angeles to work while I stayed with my mother most of the time. We still went to church occasionally, but it was rare. Although I thought a lot of Christianity was hokey, I was afraid of God and would do anything to gain his pleasure.

From a very early age, I remember reading about dinosaurs and the solar system and this scientific view of the universe seemed so neat, but more advanced that what I knew about Christianity, which seemed more personal, thus creating the first sign of conflict. I asked my second grade teacher, "Which came first: dinosaurs or Jesus?" She didn't answer me, probably to avoid any conflict.

Before I finished elementary school, my parents were back together. In sixth grade, we learned a little about evolution. It seemed reasonable to believe in, given the fossil evidence. Also, at this time I wanted to be a better person. I was pretty suicidal, although I prayed every day. I decided that I wanted to go to a nearby United Methodist church, with or without my parents, and so I did, without them. In eighth grade, I learned about the Big Bang. It seemed to be an alternative explanation of the creation of the universe, one of which I thought sounded reasonable. I didn't think whether or not God had a part in it, because I never considered it. Although I was aware of science and Christianity, I didn't put two and two together like I did in elementary school to see the conflict. I may have glossed over it once, but I thought it was irrelevant overall.

Eventually, I went to church so often, that I got my mom wanting to go with me and she became very active in the church ironically. My Dad I could care less about. If he went to hell, that was fine, because that would mean that I wouldn't have to put up with him in heaven. I didn't like my Dad very much, but that's a different story.

In high school, the conflict between science and Christianity arose again. I remember hearing my Dad talking to the news channel on the television screen that evolution and Intelligent Design should be taught alongside each other. That was in my freshman year in high school, when I was introduced to biology, although despite my agreement with Dad over the issue, I saw evolution as sound. It was like I was living in alternative universes that weren't aware of each other. Eventually, those universes would collide in my sophomore year, when we were taking standardize tests to pass the grade. I don't remember how, maybe it was a classmate nearby that mentioned it, but I became aware of the conflict between science and Christianity. I've always thought of Jesus's existence as being a fact, and in extension, his death and resurrection. I thought of the Big Bang and evolution as fact. The two seemed to conflict. I read the Book of Genesis, but never really made it through. It was so boring.

I was online a bit and I decided to research it. A friend on GameSpot referred to me to Kent Hovind, although I never got into him though. He was a creationist and he seemed reasonable to me so I became a creationist for a very short while, but I just couldn't see how the evidence for an old Earth, plate tectonics, changes and development in species were answered by the Bible.

In my second part of my junior year, I decided to read the Bible again, this time starting with three pages a day so I'll finish it within a year. I finished it within six month, more than half of it within one month span in June. I supported both a literal interpretation of the Bible and theistic evolution in a way I think that they were compatible. I essentially thought that the days described in Genesis 1 referred to long periods of time in which the Earth was formed and that Adam and Eve were simply the first humans to evolve from primates. The process of God creating man from dust was essentially abiogenesis and evolution. During this time, I became ironically more liberal despite becoming more religious. I supported same-sex marriage and abortion and opposed the death penalty and torture, thinking that Jesus died to forgive all sins, and struggling to even find abortion to be a sin, although I struggled to maintain the notion that a fetus wasn't alive. Also at the time, I tried to become as least superstitious as possible and developed a more materialistic-God hybrid belief. God was essentially materialistic and worked through matter to develop the universe and to intervene in it, though I wouldn't use the word "miracle".

When I read Revelation though, I realized that my interpretation of Genesis was wrong. I was trying to redefine what literal meant to constitute a meaning compatible with science. I realized that with the destructive and ridiculous book of Revelation, there was hardly much difference between the two books when it came to reality. I realized that my material God was in conflict with the God of the Bible. It was based too much on the pacifist Jesus and too little on God in the Old Testament and in Revelation. I became a materialist, although I would have used the term "atheist", and have been so ever since, save for an agnostic period in the first semester of my freshman year in college when I was trying to be objective. Agnosticism is not impartial though. It, too, casts an opinion

Although I maintained my liberalism for a year after becoming an atheist while taking cover as a Christian, during my agnostic period, I became a libertarian, because I realized that liberalism, fiscally, does not support freedom and only rewards laziness and corruption. I became an atheist again in the second semester of my freshman year and a conservative. During my libertarian phrase, I realized that I could not support the practice of abortion if I wanted to protect my right to life as a human being, so I become pro-life. I slowly became a conservative afterwards, preferring order and justice over disorder and "peace", thereby promotion immigration control, the death penalty, and torture. I've always been a skeptic of climate change though, even as a liberal though. I've been a conservative materialist for a year and a half, the longest duration I've spent under one political/religious philosophy since thinking about this issues seriously. The second longest was me being a liberal atheist for a year and tied for third longest was me being a libertarian agnostic and a liberal Christian for half a year.

The reason why I bring politics in this is because that's how I remember where I stood at certain periods of time. I do believe that politics and religion are entwined to a thorough extent and am astounded by the paradoxical nature of the religious and political beliefs that almost everyone holds.

My parents are Christians but they are not overly religious. Thus religion wasnt shoved down our throats.

We did attend church often (well... not every Sunday), we did fast in Christmas and Easter (one week for each - I really hated that one, but I think our parents held on to that in order to teach us discipline if anything, not so much so that we are "good Christians") etc.

But really religion wasnt ever very "present" in our home. I never remember my mother using religion to teach me something (a moral or something of the like). I mean even when I complained about fasting she never replied with something out of religion or the Bible; never mentioned anything remotely religious. So you could say my upbringing was secualr? But not in the sense that we were driven away from religion but that our parents never used religion in our upbringing in any active way.

There were of course one or two images of Christ or Virgin Mary in the house and I really dont believe our parents put them there for decoration only but at the same time they werent treated as shrines either.

I think my parents kept a good balance on this issue and I can only thank them for that.

Now from the things I can remember, I think I always understood religious traditions as allegories and something with deeper meaning. And of course I never thought of them as fairy tales that deserve no respect.

I think that up to the age of 16-17 I never really cared to care about my religious status (I was busy with LOTR :P) or delve deeper into what I believe and form an identity out of it and imo I shouldnt have as I am against those sort of identities. I dont think my imagination was ever restricted by the Christian tradition and what I knew about it up till then because I suppose I never thought they were meant as something we need to accept without a doubt. I mean I never even really felt like "resisting" it (which indicates that I wasnt aware perhaps that there were people who thought otherwise or that those people's views matter). I always felt like that was what we are supposed to do with it: treat it as a tradition of old ages that may have some glimpse of truth in them. Nothing more.

Now all the above impulsively; I never articulated any thoughts in my head about it. It was just gut feeling.

My family is pretty well secular and I never had any theological opinion of any sort thrust on to me by my parents, which left me free to come to my own conclusions. My mother does have a religious background however and she was raised as a Seventh Day Adventist. She was abused at a young age by that particular denomination which I suppose led to her falling out of faith.

I knew about the God concept from a young age and, in particular, the Christian version of it. I suppose that I must have naively accepted it at one stage because I distinctly remember asking my mother why God didn't simply exterminate Satan if he was causing all sorts of trouble. I don't remember the answer but it can't have been all that good since my skeptical attitude towards theism continued right the way through primary school and accellerated throughout high school. I suppose that I became a strong atheist at around the age of 8 or 9 when I had the faculties to consider that God likely didn't exist and that the Bible stories bore a resemblance to the fairy stories that I loved to read.

That view was only really vindicated later on when I learned about biology and evolution in high school and in my classical studies class where I gained a strong interest in philosophy. At about that time I was also into video games and so I came to Gamespot where I found the most fascinating discussions about religion taking place. I lurked for years and then after finishing high school and starting university I made my account, complete with a Socrates avatar and a vested interest in discussing religion.

grew up hindu, not too strict. but by the end of high school i realized it was all garbage anyways.

 the fact that the hindu religion takes every religion under its wings, and that they essentially allow you to make up your own god, just highlights the irony of it all.

if i was to answer yes or no to that question, then, no.

i can't really say much about how i was raised because i do not remember. some could say i was a privledged child growing up but i believed and still do, it was after a **** of alot of hard work. my mother has some religious beliefs which i admire but once she dismissed them. my father is some kind of atheist... i don't know.

we never went to church despite my father outloudly saying once we should go, to a catholic church. it wasn't until the internet became more mainstream in the late nineties in this country, it opened me up to really what this world is about what with naked men and women in sex acts and free, but questionably legal downloads of music. :roll:

my teenage years were great, many good times. i am twenty four now, but since this everything changed publicity stunt which was 9/11, people are at war. i may not have grown up religiously, but thanks to that and other things, i did consider religion many times and i think i regret it.

I grew up in an christian family, as a child my grandmother took me to the church most of sundays, she stopped taking me after i was 13 (or so), i never was religious though

When i was 17 i read first five books of old testament, that's when i had a crysis of faith, i looked into another religions, islam and judaism but noone of them was enough to make me believe, i'm a fan of Star Wars and i believed in The Force for a while, by the age of 21 i had any belief, at that moment i realized i was an atheist and i still am. Believing in a god or gods doesn't make any sense to me, still i like reading about that, i like greek mythology

Thinking backwards i think of all religions i explored the best one was the one inspired in The Force, if you watched Star Wars movies you know why

Y'know I really love the diversity of the people that post here. A Muslim, an ex-Hindu, a Mormon and now a freaking ex-Jedi.

I think the one thing we're missing is a current or ex-scientologist. I've never actually talked with one.

My father was raised Methodust but has always resisted Christianity to a degree.  My mother on the other hand was raised Baptist and is more devout.  Growing up, we went about half of the Sundays to church but I never really understood it too well.  Outside of my grandmother having me memorize John 3:16, me being taught that going to church was a good thing, and me being told that I should be a good person, I didn't really feel like I was taught much.  According to some, I had a religious upbringing.  According to others, not.

Despite all of this, I remember being about 11 years old and having no idea what a Christian was.  I asked my mother and I simply assumed all of it was true.  At the age of 12 I did "what all good boys do" and was baptised.  I have no idea whether I understood sin or the Gospel message, but I was "saved" in the eyes of those around me.  From there, I still did not attend church more than once a month.

From the age of 14 though 16 Christianity was my crutch.  Apparently I was old enough to be made fun of for being a virgin and being a Christian was my reasoning for staying away.  While I was not actually intentionally staying away, I did wish to be "a good person."

Time passed and Christianity became more and more my way of gaining acceptance.  I used my religion to gain favor with others.  As I become more active in the church I figured the way I could be "better" was to become a pastor.  While my intentions at the time were in no way pure, I prayed that if God wished for me to become one, he make it possible.

At this point came graduation from high school.  I chose to take the religious path and go to school to become a pastor being that God had helped me overcome my fears of speaking, helped me gain a full ride through college, and helped me gain enough of a faith in him that I would be obedient dispite bad motives.

My university was amazing.  The professors new the message of the Gospel and taught it well.  However, I didn't catch on quickly. Religiously I was prideful and always right.  It was during this time that I started debating here.  I wanted to win arguments.

My Junior year in school I fell in love with a redhead.  She became the person I placed my faith in more than my religion.  As quickly as the relationship started, it ended and I was heartbroken.  I gave up my religion for a girl, in the place of both came the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

From that point forward my prayers were no longer just ramblings, my songs were not just repeated phrases, and I rejoiced in God's salvation.  For the first time ever I truly rejoiced that God would have grace over me.  Now, instead of becoming a pastor for my own exaltation, I want nothing more than to see many proclaim the name of Christ as Savior and Lord.

Y'know I really love the diversity of the people that post here. A Muslim, an ex-Hindu, a Mormon and now a freaking ex-Jedi.domatron23

Actually i was more like a Sith than a Jedi

I'm definitely a fan of the idea of the Force, as it would be a corporeal energy that would actually interact with the natural world.foxhound_fox

May the force be with you!

I grew up in a fundamentalist muslim family, my mom wears a rather moderate version of the burqa but a burqa nonetheless. Now go figure...

I was myself a strong believer until the age of 20. I can write a book on why I became non-religious and I am too lazy to summarise the main reasons right now.:P

I grew up as a devout Muslim. Now, I'm just confused about my faith.ghoklebutter

I grew up in a fundamentalist muslim family, my mom wears a rather moderate version of the burqa but a burqa nonetheless. Now go figure...

I was myself a strong believer until the age of 20. I can write a book on why I became non-religious and I am too lazy to summarise the main reasons right now.:P

[QUOTE="ghoklebutter"]I grew up as a devout Muslim. Now, I'm just confused about my faith.Gambler_3

The thing is, I still like many teachings from Islam, but I also have trouble understanding many of them (case in point: the punishment for theft). That's why I'm confused. If I left Islam, I would probably be a deist. 

Though I was born and raised Catholic, I came to realize several years ago that my dad comes off as a huge fundamentalist. Laughing at other Christians not like us, criticizing homosexuals, only learning but never understanding or more importantly, loving God, it was a bit of a shock to learn it's not really the Catholic way. And looking at my family as a whole, they may be Catholic in name, but their lifestyIe choices really aren't.

My father has done something incredibly stupid recently, and he confided in me that he thinks he's damned to hell now, and for the first time in his life, I saw him crying. I sorta don't know how to break it to him that he's not going to hell simply because of what he did, because y'know, he is my father. Imagine any of you guys being corrected by your children - men don't take correction well, especially from younger people.

But yeah, I think this is the typical 20th century Catholic family. You know the traditions, you do them, but when you don't understand them, you fall apart. 

Imagine any of you guys being corrected by your children - men don't take correction well, especially from younger people.FrozenLiquid

But then, I have the stubbornness of my father so I am not hesitant to correct him or tell him something straightforwardly.

But at least in most theological issues we wouldnt disagree much.

[QUOTE="FrozenLiquid"]Imagine any of you guys being corrected by your children - men don't take correction well, especially from younger people.Teenaged

I sympathize as well.  It does not help that he has strong feelings of insecurity and I've had a lot more schooling than him.  I desperately try not to come off important around him but this doesn't help any if he might be in a drunken stupor. Any time I have anything to say remotely similar to that of correction or advice he takes it as a personal attack upon his intelligence. :(

[QUOTE="Teenaged"]

[QUOTE="FrozenLiquid"]Imagine any of you guys being corrected by your children - men don't take correction well, especially from younger people.mindstorm

I sympathize as well.  It does not help that he has strong feelings of insecurity and I've had a lot more schooling than him.  I desperately try not to come off important around him but this doesn't help any if he might be in a drunken stupor. Any time I have anything to say remotely similar to that of correction or advice he takes it as a personal attack upon his intelligence. :(

Wow, I'm glad my dad is not like that. :P Whenever we argue, he will do so calmly and logically,even about homosexuals, abortions, and drug use, and he is a pastor! :o 

[QUOTE="mindstorm"][QUOTE="Teenaged"]

[QUOTE="FrozenLiquid"]Imagine any of you guys being corrected by your children - men don't take correction well, especially from younger people.Lonelynight

I sympathize as well.  It does not help that he has strong feelings of insecurity and I've had a lot more schooling than him.  I desperately try not to come off important around him but this doesn't help any if he might be in a drunken stupor. Any time I have anything to say remotely similar to that of correction or advice he takes it as a personal attack upon his intelligence. :(

Wow, I'm glad my dad is not like that. :P Whenever we argue, he will do so calmly and logically,even about homosexuals, abortions, and drug use, and he is a pastor! :o 

Don't get me wrong here, we get along great.  That is, so long as I don't try to correct him or show off. :P

Wow, I'm glad my dad is not like that. :P Whenever we argue, he will do so calmly and logically,even about homosexuals, abortions, and drug use, and he is a pastor! :o 

Lonelynight

I hope no one minds that I bring this thread back up to the front. It's a few months old, but only on the second page, so I decided to post what I was remembering here. :)

I was not raised in a religious background. Both my parent's parents are religious, one set more devout than the other set(well, not a set anymore, only one), and my parents were raised as the American brand of Christian. You know, when you pretty much believe it butit doesn't affect things you do. They weren't strict with me about religion while growing up. We never talked about it or mentioned it. I found that pretty normal.

When I was about 7-8 we did start attending Church more often, but I didn't see it as the other attendees did. When I was little one of the first things I took interest in (besides dinosaurs, which also fit better in time when not using the bible ;)) was Greek mythology.

Before I could tell you why we celebrate Easter and probably even Christmas I could tell you about the Labours of Heracles. I knew the pantheon of Olympus before the Holy Trinity was even mentioned to me. I didn't think the Greek myths were factual. I knew what myth meant, I wasn't stupid by golly. But I was familiar with them before I was exposed to Christianity.

That affected my view of the religion. I saw it more as just another set of myths and morals that I was wise to abide by. Right off the bat, without any questioning, I was practically an atheist. It wasn't until I moved from the area and really got older and out into the world that I realized people actually formed their lives around this belief in god. I was pretty naive.

So I just accepted it and moved on, until I started reading up on other religions and wondering why people I knew didn't follow those instead. Then I met the first atheist I'd ever known in school. Atheism is something I wasn't likely to encounter after moving to Texas, but it happened. The exposure really opened me up to the fact that people actually give consideration to choices of religion and it began the process of questioning myself. I concluded that I was, indeed, an atheist.

I still like Greek mythology.

Not really.

My day was not really too relgious and my mother was a semi-devout Muslim. When I was small I did not go to Mosque often at all. 

I am the most religious of the family members now though.