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Question 19

Have and atheists renounced their former religion or have you simply stopped following it?

• I renounced it... along with all religion. (Robert E. Charles #444)

• I simply stopped following it. However, Išve always thought it would be nice to get an official Certificate of Excommunication from the Pope. :-) (Rick Malavasic #849)

• Simply stopped following it -- if, indeed I ever did "follow" it. At a very young age, my parents let me decide to stay home on Sundays to watch cartoons. Soon after, they simply stayed home as well. Though theists, my parents never did push religion on me. Hell, I couldn't even tell you what religion I was. Some kind of protestant, I think. (czar #13)

• I have thought about this. But only for practical reasons. Otherwise renouncing my former religion seems as silly as renouncing Santa Claus.

  However in my country, different churches get governement support depending on the number of believers, which I considered a reason to officially renounce catholicism.

  Unfortunately I learned that for ex catholics it wouldn't make any difference since governement support for the RCC is dependent on the number of people living in the parish, not the number of catholics living there. Since it wouldn't make any difference I saw no utility in renouncing. (Antoon Pardon #87)

• I was never indoctrinated. My parents, though both theistic felt that "god" was something that you had to discover for yourself. When I was young, we went to church twice a year, though that has been cut down to a more mannageable 0 last year. The year before, the only church service I went to was the Easter service, which I played (euphonium) in. It sometimes saddens my mother that I am not spiritual. I just don't have the heart to tell her I am an atheist. Even though she knows that I have a less than favorable outlook on organized religion, I don't think she's figured out where I stand yet. All in all, I think my parents raised me well. They were the ones that taught me to respect truth more than beauty and to question everything. Coupled with the worst theists in America, I was born an atheist, and never stopped. (Van Isaac Anderson #716)

• I've never "formally" renounced my religion; I simply notified my family. (And I stopped following my former religion YEARS ago.) ("Fish" (David B. Trout) #623)

• Although I am certainly an atheist as far as religious belief goes, culturally speaking, I consider that I am and always will be a Jew. There are those who might find the two to be mutually exclusive, but I do not. As far as I'm concerned, regardless of my lack of god-belief, I'm still the inheritor of a cultural tradition and a history that I have no intention of turning my back on. True, I don't practice all the traditions; I don't rush home before sundown on Friday, keep Kosher, ( well, I don't eat pork, but that's just because it's a migraine trigger ) or go to Temple. But I am aware of the beliefs, traditions and history that make up my Jewish heritage and intend to eventually pass those down to any kids I may have...along with my atheism, skepticism, love of learning, concern for others and a miriad other qualities I'd want my kid(s) to proudly possess.

  So, I suppose the answer is yes and no. Yes, I eschew any belief in the supernatural. No, I haven't renounced the culture that evolved from it. (Alikhat #757)

• I was raised as a Protestant. My childhood was such, that I was very susceptible to religion and believed with vigour. During my adolescent period, I discovered and read all I could about other religions and became a doubter. But since my perception of the world hadn't changed fundamentally enough, I was still looking for the ultimate teachings, the true god, something I really could believe in. I quess this stayed with me all those years and quite often I regarded myself as an atheist- against-my-will. A couple of years back it struck me: what poison is religion that it given me so much difficulty to get rid of. I found it easier to stop smoking. Realising this, I declared myself a full atheist and even an anti-christian. I realise that this doesn't really make me free of my upbringing yet, but at least my anger isn't repressed anymore. (Don Antropos #1001)

• I renounced my former religion, but that was when I became I Jehovah's Witness, not when I became an agnostic. It's a prerequsite, you can't join thier church if you belong to another one, you have to sever your ties to other religions.

  I'm probably going to renounce the JW's sometime soon, just so they leave me alone. If you just quit following the religion, which I did, they keep trying to get you to come back. But if you make it official and disassociate yourself they're not allowed to talk to you anymore. Officially that's to protect the purity of the church, but I imagine it's given quite a few of us "apostates" peace as well. No wonder so many attack them -- either they want to preach to you or they don't want to talk to you at all.

  I moved to another city [not to get away from them, for other reasons entirely] and it took only about 2 months for them to find me again. If it were the locals I would just tell them not to call back and I'd be rid of them for a couple more months, but since it's the ones I knew before it's going to take a bit more drastic of a measure. (Michael Morgan #1083)