Answer 101

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Question 101

How many atheists went from one religion to another when they were young?

I really haven't ever seriously answered any of these questions before, but have enjoyed reading many responses to them. I generally lurk, contented to just read the posts and can't imagine how all of you regulars in this n.g. can crank out so many messages per day. Anyway, here goes my response...

Sometime between when I was born and one year old, my mother converted from Lutheran to Jehovah's Witness. I had a 1 y.o. birthday party given to me by my Lutheran relatives, and that was the last. My father was mostly an apatheist and didn't convert to my mother's new-found religion. So, my mother brought me up as a JW (along with my two younger sisters), until my mid-teens, when I stopped going to the meetings and dropped out of it. I found some recreational activities to go to do on Sunday mornings, which helped as an excuse for not going to services. From there, I was pretty much a wishy-washy, fence-sitting agnostic/atheist, until a number of years ago, when I started reading information and arguments regarding atheism, skepticism, logic, reason, and rational thinking that struck a chord with me.

In answering the question, since I never really was brought up Lutheran, I only deconverted from one religion. (Tom Stoudt #1253)

I wouldn't exactly call it a change in religions, but our church got a new pastor when I was about 10. My mother didn't like the new pastor because he wasn't "fire and brimstone" enough, she thought he was too wishy-washy. As soon as all of her kids had graduated from the grade school that was run by that church, she transferred all of our memberships to another church. I think she still blames my atheism on the new pastor. (On the contrary, I think he might've delayed my apostasy by a few years.)

As I was losing my faith, I didn't want to make the mistake of rejecting God by rejecting the only church I had known, so I spent some time investigating other Christian faiths, then non-Christian faiths, then non-religious spirituality. Only when I was able to conclude that none of the religions I had ever heard about was able to sway me did I accept that I was an atheist. (Carl Funk #1229)

To be honest, I really don't know. I think my nephew is a weak atheist; the rest are either the same or deists at best (or worst). Religion is just such a non-starter in my immediate family, we don't even discuss it. My mom is sort of a "new age" type person, but not too annoying about it. I used to believe in some of the stuff she believes in, but no longer. She still thinks I believe in that stuff, but since we don't discuss religion, I've never told her otherwise. (Michelle Martin #1474)

Let's see, as a young child, I attended a Lutheran church with my cousins occasionally when my mother wanted a sunday to herself, when I was 10, I became involved in a Baptist church for a while, but drifted away after a few months, and when I was 15, I joined the Mormon church and drifted away from that after a year and have not been back to religion since. (Chani #1118)

I don't know that I ever really "believed" in any other religion other than roman catholicism, but when I was kind of questioning/thinking about my religion about 10-13 years ago, I read a lot of books on reincarnation, Edgar Cayce and other "new age" philosophies. I thought that maybe if there was no heaven as an afterlife, reincarnation was a possibility if you consider you are buried in the ground and you decompose over time (unless you're embalmed and buried in a vault, which apparently slows the process somewhat ;-) and you "return" to the soil. I couldn't buy into that because I didn't think a "soul" would live on or be reincarnated that way.

I also experimented with ouija boards (not sure I spelled that right), tarot cards, gems, insense, that kind of stuff. Haven't done them in at least 10 years now. Weird stuff ;-) (Dan Chaney #1144)

Not me. I only went to one temple, where I went to Hebrew School, so I could get bar-mitzvahed so I could get presents. After I graduated I hardly went again.

I never have understood Christians who change churches and denominations like some people change underwear. From the outside, they look more similar than Swift's big endians and little endians. (Scott Davidson #1045)

My Mom's family was Mormon, and decided that no kid of hers would ever be that bad off, so I was baptized Catholic like my dad. When Mom and Dad split up, I was around 7 or 8, and went to live with Grandma. During those three years, I went from Assembly of God, to Nazarene, went to a Catholic school for third grade. In High school I lived with an uncle, who was atheist at the time so I stayed an atheist for about 7 years. I met my (now ex-) wife, who was episcopalian, so I became 'Born Again(tm)' for about ten years. After we broke up, I went back to atheism. Been there ever since. (Stan Paul)

Both my Parents are Atheists (strong), I didn't really realize it until a couple years ago, because the subject NEVER came up while I was growing up. I have been an Atheist my whole life. One Sister is a Strong Atheist also, but I do have a couple siblings that are Theists. But it has never been a problem. My Wifes family is staunch Baptist, and they know I am an Atheist, and we get along great. (The Doomster #1644)

I was Roman Catholic until I graduated from my Roman Catholic high school at 17. I immediately became an agnostic. Then I was Baha'i for a while . . . then atheist. (Herk #1627)

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