and if you atheist/switched faiths, why did you do it and what faith did you choose?

im in a curious mood today :>

  • Noodle07@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Organized religion is created as a mean to control people.

    But we’re on a rock in space that developed sentient life… How the fuck ?

  • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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    8 days ago

    Antitheist.

    If there is some kind of almighty God that created and rules everything then it must be the most evil being to ever exist and we must destroy it. It created evil, it created suffering, it created loss, it created death, and for what? Fun?

    • Libra00@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      I’m curious why you would define your belief in terms of opposition to one deity in specific when human history is littered with gods, many of whom were huge assholes. How do you feel about, say, Zeus or Mithras or Ahura Mazda? 'Fuck all of ‘em’ is a position I can understand, but ‘Fuck this one in specific and the rest are fine’ just seems a little odd, ya know?

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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        8 days ago

        I think more broadly you could say I’m anti-demiurge, I guess I don’t particularly hate the other gods but they’re just jumped up elementals/spirits. Like, whatever, some guy demands to be worshipped in exchange for boons or to bestow curses or whatever. I think he’s an asshole for lording his cool lightning powers over us, but I don’t think he needs to be destroyed for it per se.

        • Libra00@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          Demiurge in the Gnostic sense? Or is there some broader sense I’m not familiar with there?

          So… your position is that all gods are real according to their own cosmogony, and one of them in particular has pissed you off but the rest just don’t rise to the level of being worth the effort of hating? My compliments, that’s a pretty interesting position and one I’ve not seen before.

          • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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            7 days ago

            Well, no, my position is that gods could be real but none of them are worth worshiping.

            Then, additionally, if there’s some kind of omnipotent and omniscient Creator then it’s evil and I hate it.

            • Libra00@lemmy.world
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              7 days ago

              Ah, fair enough, that makes sense and I generally agree. I have my own beliefs and ideas about personified deities, but I agree, I dunno why some of these deities are even worshiped given their legacy of evil and assholery, so if they do really exist they should absolutely be opposed.

  • 0x01@lemmy.ml
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    8 days ago

    Nihilist, insofar that even if there is a god (about as likely as me actually being a secret agent for moon people) why would it matter? While nihilism is not a religious belief I think it fits the prompt.

    I made a poop the other day, I’m its creator, I don’t care about it, I don’t control its destiny beyond the flush.

    I’m an optimistic nihilist, nothing matters and that’s kinda neato. Existence happens, how fascinating is that? It’s absolutely meaningless just like everything in the universe, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the ride.

    • Libra00@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      Diving into nihilism and existentialism was really an eye-opener for me. It kind of made me stop hating myself and other people and even stop being an atheist. If nothing means anything I get to decide what matters, I get to create my own meaning. So I did.

  • Dr_Box@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    I’m an atheist. I grew up super religious and had a falling out with my church due to their “if someone believes different than our denomination they are going to hell” mindset. After that I found out that most other denominations are like that except for mormons but they are worse in other ways. Then I did more and more research that sort of caused what belief I had left to fall apart and now its kind of like Santa Claus, once you figure out its your parents putting presents under the tree theres no believing in Santa anymore

  • Scott_of_the_Arctic@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    Grew up atheist, went through a semi serious pagan phase, got certified as a shaman, went back to atheism. Will still throw in the odd ritual, but more with the expectation that it will affect the way I think about a problem rather than the ritual doing anything on its own.

    So like if you have a job interview you can either raw dog it and show your lack of confidence or.preform a ritual and gain some confidence which will count in your favour during the interview.h

    Is the ritual doing any direct alterations? No, but it’s still useful.

  • Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    Atheist. I was raised in various flavors of southern, whites protestant churches. Mostly the so-called charismatic, non-denominational, types, but also mainstream Southern Baptists, Presbyterians, etc, but not excluding some of the weirder cultish strains.

    I left because I began to realize just how fucked in the head they raised me. I couldn’t relate to regular people very well at all, and couldn’t trust the judgement of religious people at any level. I got out and got the help I needed. I only wish I had done it sooner.

  • otacon239@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    Taoism is a practice that doesn’t rely on or reject a higher power. It gives meaning to day to day life and the writers I’ve read who practice it have a very practical view on the world.

    As for religion, I fall into agnosticism. I certainly don’t have any hard evidence that there is a higher power, but at the same time, with how insanely complex, terrifying, beautiful, loving, and hurtful the world can feel, I can’t help but feel that there’s something beyond what’s in front of us at play. It may not be a theist’s idea of God, but something else entirely.

  • Dae@pawb.social
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    8 days ago

    Zen Buddhist. I grew up Christian, realized I was believing out of obligation rather than genuine conviction, but also I’m pan and Christians have made it very clear that’s not okay with them.

    I was areligious for awhile. Which I use because I am still an atheist; I don’t see much evidence for gods, but that isn’t important to Buddhism.

    I appreciate the Buddha’s teachings and find them incredibly helpful. I’m calmer, more focused, and over all, happier for my practice. It gives me a spiritual outlet that doesn’t make me feel “dirty” the way Christianity did.

    There are aspects to Buddhism that I have to take on faith even though I am otherwise a skeptical individual. But ultimately, those things don’t change how I would have had to live my life. And I believe that a true practitioner needs a balance of logic anf faith: too much logic, and you kill your faith. Too much faith and you wind up in a cult. You need enough logic to stay grounded, and enough faith to believe. But you have to acknowledge that you can rarely prove the things you take on faith and because of that, there will always be non-belivers, and that has to be okay.

  • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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    8 days ago

    Satanist.

    Raised Mormon, was a Mormon missionary. Had a nervous breakdown, and religious leaders said that I must be sinning, and needed to pray more, read my scriptures more, and repent. But… What sin? And how was I supposed to pray/study more when I had already dedicated two years of my life to preaching? E.g., there’s 24 hours in the day, and I’m already spending multiple hours doing that stuff, so where am I supposed to fit that in?

    That was the first crack in the foundation. Took a while, but once you realize that religious leaders are just men (and yes, it’s always men in the Mormon church), and that despite their claims they don’t have any prophetic powers, then you start questioning a lit of things, like how you can even know truth. (Spoiler: you can’t know truth without some kind of objective evidence, and all religions’ truth claims are based on subjective evidence and “see?, it says so, right here in my book!”)

    Atheist is a label that says what you don’t believe. Satanist is a label that says what I do believe. So I eventually settled on Satanist.

  • iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works
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    8 days ago

    I was raised Christian, went to church every Sunday and believed as a kid. Then I stopped believing in all my imaginary friends. Being slightly cheeky, but also I genuinely just grew out of it as I learned more about… Everything, really.

      • adarza@lemmy.ca
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        8 days ago

        i think it comes with the territory; the kinds of users that lemmy attracts–and doesn’t.

        • TabbsTheBat@pawb.social
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          8 days ago

          The bit of the internet based in european languages tends to skew more atheist in general from my experience

      • Libra00@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        The English speaking world as a whole is still, to my knowledge, majority Christian even if not actively so, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that many of us came from a Christian background. Nor, I suppose, that so many of are ex-.