I was born and raised in an Eastern Orthodox Christian family. Became a theistic Satanist in the 1980s - more specifically a Luciferian. It even got me a conscription exemption. Still one to this day.
So my parents were Catholic and Atheist respectively. I have great respect for religious beliefs but am an atheist myself.
My town is very multi-cultural and due to the work I do, every year I am privileged to be invited to Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Jewish cultural events.
I can happily say that the main thing that always strikes me is the friendliness of ordinary people from all faiths and walks of life.
Became a theistic Satanist in the 1980s - more specifically a Luciferian.
Have you read Ben Kadosh
None
I’ve been athiest since I was a kid. The older I get the less I’m able to ignore religion, and the more anti-thiest I become.
Yup, I’ve seen religion directly cause far too much harm to excuse the small benefit it yields to some people. Especially fucking now.
I consider myself a practicing non-Catholic and a non-practicing Anglican. I haven’t attended an Anglican service since childhood but play music with my wife at her Catholic church, so I have to attend a practice for that every week.
none, unless you count the the satanic temple.
no reason to bring fantasy into reality
Grew up “culturally protestant”. Never strictly religious or anything, but I did participate in many activities organized by my village’s church. Formally left the church 2 years ago, mostly to avoid paying church tax. Today I’d call myself agnostic with a casual interest in Buddhism. Not certain enough to be atheist, not faithful enough to be religious.
I’m a closet atheist. In my country, apostasy is punishable by death. Thus, me being closeted.
I would delete this comment if I were you…
Don’t worry, the feds won’t get me, I’m different! /s
Just uhh, if I “commit suicide”, then they got me 😔
If they do, we’ll never hear about it. I wish you the best of luck, friend.
I’m an ordained dudeist priest.
May he abide over your happiness as he does us all.
If you had asked me 10 years ago, it’d be a firm “atheist”. A year ago, “agnostic”. Today, I don’t identify with a religion, but I think there’s a lot of interesting things within them. Given a charitable interpretation of any of them’s texts, as well as looking at the parts where a large number of religious systems agree you can arrive at some pretty profound pieces of wisdom.
I don’t necessarily think these things tell us much about our origin, or what happens after death, or speak to any kind of deity. What they do speak a lot on is the human condition. What we value, what themes and motifs speak to us.
I don’t really like the terms “religion” and “religious”. To me, those are the organized, preachy kinds of almost-cults most of us here have problems with. I prefer referring to my own personal beliefs as spirituality. Where the two differ, in my mind, is that religion is found externally. Someone converts you, or you’re born into it. Spirituality is found through self-reflection. Some of the self reflection processes involves talking to and learning from others, but it ultimately comes back to a deeply individual assimilation of this new knowledge with the unique lived experiences you’ve had.
Yeah, I personally think “Atheist” and “Agnostic” to be a loaded term with the general public, more so in mine where the majority is religious.
Many of my friends think I abandoned all my moral code the moment they found out, like “No, I’m still the same person just not doing the ritual like I used to” and they won’t even notice if I didn’t tell.
Many did not believe me when I said I never drink even once (alcohol is forbidden in Islam). It’s so hard to explain that the general messages to aspire to be a decent human being are good guidelines I don’t have any problem with that, it’s the finer details that made me decide to leave.
I don’t agree with organized religion. However the more I see the current nihilistic world leader situation and general care for others situation devolve, the more I see the appeal of a counterweight that at least appeals to a sense of morality.
Not that any church actually lives up to that. But it’s a nice thought that works leaders somehow would have to defer to some kind of moral administrator and people in general learning about compassion, unselfishness and forgiveness.
I’m an atheist. I was agnostic and still technically am, I guess, but I transitioned to the annoying as fuck in your face atheism after watching chucklefucks like Westboro Baptist Church and Evangelicals being asshats. Oh, also, grew up in Boston during the altar boy rape scandals.
Personally, I think that God may or may not exist and it’s crucial to live your life now as you want to (and that isn’t a license to be an asshat - be kind to others just 'cause). Socially I think that religion is a poison that causes more suffering than it heals.
Christian, Presbyterian. I was raised an IFB (Independent Fundamental Baptist) which nearly soured my opinion of organized religion altogether.
Long story short, I actually read the Gospels and came to the conclusion that the version of Christianity I grew up in was essentially the opposite of what Jesus taught.
My religious beliefs are important to me and shape a lot of my thinking. But, I also understand a lot of the anger and distrust that gets directed at the church because I’ve been there and it’s unfortunately well deserved.
After surviving my Baptist upbringing, I became an atheistic Satanist. It started as an act of pure spiteful rebellion, but over time grew into something more. I am no longer a member of any Satanic organization, but I still walk the left hand path to this day.
Due to the non-conforming way I have thought about it, it’s complicated (enough that people have asked for a train of thought chart for it), but primary to me and spirituality is the Mune Shinri, reading which for the first time taught/assured me the world isn’t fully without fully pro-equality/pro-marriage-equality groups citing inspiration from God, and I took this as worthiness of looking into and a sign. Adherents, one might say, are known as Aikenites or Aiken Christians, with Aiken being the name for the collection of revelations, but of course you can’t expect churches catered to it to pop up in one’s local area, so when in doubt, I attend the friendly nearby Mormon church (yes, it’s acceptable and even normal to show up and be welcomed at another’s church) for divine connection, with “Aiken” and “Mormonism” said to be “incredibly compatible” and with Mormonism technically being in my ethnic life blood due to being racially a Pacific Islander (yeah, fun fact, people jokingly call the Pacific the second Utah), and even though you might not find me using the term “Mormon” or “LDS member” to identify myself, I honor it enough to inspire awe at what many might call a kind of dual faith system, pointedly with the epiphany or train of thought called Hagothism being relevant if one considers it separate from Mormonism in the first place, versus being a switch of emphasis. I am also influenced by the book of Urantia, which runs in my family, but that’s as far as it’s made to do.
Atheist/Pagan
Though my approach to paganism is more of a philosophy than a religion
