Ex-theists: why did you believe?

[India]

Just curious: For those of you who consciously, deliberately believed in God/a religion (as opposed to just growing up with a religion) and then deconverted, why did you believe? IOW, if someone had asked you at that time why you believed in God, what would your answer have been?

[kciredor reprah]

I believed, or I think I believed, because I trusted the people who installed various belief systems in me. I was young and took every thing at face value. I was lied to, not intentionally, but lied to nonetheless. I am now old enough to observe and analyze what is being told to me.

Peace

[Anne Fidel]

I believed because I was afraid to not believe. I was lied to (with good intentions) by my family and my church, and I was afraid that by even questioning the Bible that I would go to hell. Crazy fundie kind of church, naturally! I was told that whenever I doubted, that was the devil speaking to me.

I find all that both very sad and very laughable now. I believed because I was brainwashed into it, pure and simple. I can't tell you what a relief it was to finally allow myself to think without fear. It felt like a stone rolled off of my back! I imagine many of you can relate. It only took me 19 years, but it was so hard to let go of the fear.

[King Rat]

Indoctrination (read as: Brainwashed).

[worm]

i grew up with being told that i was muslim, so therefor i 'thought' i believed in god. i even prayed to god to let me graduate from highschool when i was taking the final exams. coincidentally...i graduated...and i thought it had something to do with the prayer. that was the closest i came to really having faith.

i was 18 back then. after that, i started getting more interested in religion/philosophy/science. and that's when i started deconverting.

i'm 20 now...and a hardcore anti-religious atheist. i now realize that i was never actually a true believer. i only thought i was. i never 'felt' god or whatever it is that theists claim to feel.

[Stacey Melissa]

I believed because, "well, duh, everyone knows God exists." Argumentum ad populum. It wasn't faith. It was just a dumbass logical fallacy.

[sakrilege]

IOW, if someone had asked you at that time why you believed in God, what would your answer have been?I was asked this very question. My response, because I want there to be a god. For me this meant true justice, soul mates, answered prayers, warm fuzzy stuff. I really did believe in a god, having 'experienced' his presence at various points in my life and having prayers 'answered'.

[Aravnah Ornan]

Why I believed and what my answer would have been are different questions.

Why I believed: In retrospect, I realize that I believed for the following reasons:

1. Indoctrination, almost from birth. One of my earliest memories is of my grandmother, taking me to church and telling me to pray for my parents.

2. Emotional need. My life wasn't too happy at first, and belief in the magic sky daddy was a socially accepted coping mechanism. Also, I was worried that I hadn't come out quite right, and being a devout Christian gave me a way to be a proper person.

What my answer would have been: When friends asked me that question, I answered that the magic sky daddy had done so many wonderful things in my life. I didn't realize that I was actually bearing witness to the good fairy of confirmation bias. If my friends noticed, they were too polite to tell me.

[India]

I really did believe in a god, having 'experienced' his presence at various points in my life and having prayers 'answered'.

By "answered prayer" I assume you mean things happened that you prayed for, but that they would have happened anyway. What do you mean by "'experienced' his presence," though?

[epepke]

Part of it, for me, was an expression of my ressentiment.

Part of it was that I empathized with the Christian God.

Hey, I was just a teenager. I got older.

[dracon427]

I wanted friends bad. Plus, I fell prey to the emotional tactics that they use at rallys and camps to get you to convert. AFTER I had sworn to myself no to let it sway me. :mad: :mad:

[Mallow o' the Marsh]

I believed because, "well, duh, everyone knows God exists." Argumentum ad populum. It wasn't faith. It was just a dumbass logical fallacy.

That is EXACTLY why I believed in god. I started to question religion about he same time as I did with Santa Claus, but I held on to religion a good five or so years longer for the single reason that I didn't think so many people could believe something that wasn't true.



For those of you who consciously, deliberately believed in God/a religion

I think this characterized how I was, maybe not as hardcore as other people though.

[jmem]

Fear...it was all about the fear for me. I had strong doubts even as a child, but I shouted them down in my head for years because if there was one thing that was clear about god, it was that he didn't like to be questioned. If someone had asked me at the time...I'd have probably said because I didn't want to go to Hell...although I never felt any respect for god or love for Jesus, so if the Christian god was real I'd probably have gone to hell anyway...a real lose/lose proposition that Pascal's wager :rolleyes:

[JohNeo]

Fear...it was all about the fear for me. I had strong doubts even as a child, but I shouted them down in my head for years because if there was one thing that was clear about god, it was that he didn't like to be questioned. If someone had asked me at the time...I'd have probably said because I didn't want to go to Hell...although I never felt any respect for god or love for Jesus, so if the Christian god was real I'd probably have gone to hell anyway...a real lose/lose proposition that Pascal's wager :rolleyes:

My sentiments. Even though I reached some type of "spiritual maturity" in my later 20's, fear of Hell was my biggest motivator when I was younger. Then in my later teens and early 20's, I bought into the black/white-Christianity/nihilism claptrap. I remember even as a child wondering if God would make me die a horrible death the way he made Jesus die on the cross.

JohNeo

[Atheos]

I was always skeptical, looking back on it.

When I reached adolescence I remember still not being sure that I wasn't being handed a bunch of BS by my parents. One of the things that actually made me believe they knew what the hell they were talking about was when I finally started growing facial hair. Up until that time I didn't really believe I'd ever become an adult.

But looking back on it I never was really sure there was such a thing as God. I kept thinking that eventually I'd become certain. It never happened.

-Atheos

[1veedo]

1 and a half years ago, I would've came down on anybody who though gays/lesbians were normal/natural/regular people. I would've disagreed with my science teacher this year about the big bang. I would've look at any of you fellow infidels and honestly, not joke, thought you were all damn stupid! I was a big conservative. Probably the only reason was because I liked the idea of God, an afterlife, and superiority over non-Christians. I thought I was just real smart with the 2nd law, and intelligent design, and Atheists (note the capital A) were Satan worshipers who had nothing better to do but jump off a cliff and kill 50 mil. along with 'em....

I grew up.

I think one thing most atheists don't realize, especially ones that have been for a long time, is that theists honestly and hole heartedly can by closed minded idiots. No amount of logic will persuade them unless they honestly look at an article, or listen to somebody, and step out of their whole "God created everything" state of mind.

Ironically, it was the Bible, some science, and a bit of history that pulled me out. Wholeheartedly "meditating" on everything it said. Considering the "meaning" and eventually realizing that Hitler was a Catholic pig, as was I at the time.

Conservative to liberal, I now plan on going into astrophysics, or maybe even astrobiology and evolution!