I'm an ex-theist who is passionate about atheism because if the religious right gets its way I'll have to live on my knees, and I'd rather die on my feet.
I have been a skeptic since before I knew what being a skeptic was. I don't remember ever believing in God. I am open to new information, but all the arguments for God/s fall particularly flat by my reasoning. I am opposed to bad ideas, and believing in god/s looks like a really poor idea.
I was very lucky myself. I asked my mom when I was 5 years old what happens when you die and she said "nothing.". It's amazing how easy that has made my life in terms of detecting bulshit. I was not primed to believe in a fairy tale when I was too young to understand.
It's easy to understand why former smokers can be quite passionately critical of smoking. They understand from firsthand experience what a trap it is, how much denial and cognitive distortion is entailed in tolerating a habit that is actively harming the smoker and those around him. They may have had to fight very hard to overcome this addictive mindset, to say nothing of the physical addiction. They had to draw upon some degree of passion in order to motivate themselves, and to prevent themselves from lapsing. That passion remains both activated and justified, not only for themselves but also for those who not only remain caught in the trap but also caught in the defiant rationalization that the trap isn't so bad. Yes it is. And now you know all about theists.
Oh, man, I'm. Sorry to hear that. So Shannon is dealing with the same thing Dave warlock is dealing with.? Because I can't remember what Dave Warlock is dealing with ,is it MS or is it ALS ?
When you find that society and those people in a position of trust were lying to you, you get passionate. And when you see that people in positions of power are abusing that power to force religion into public policy, you get passionate. "The aim of a religious movement is to inflict a malady on society, then offer the religion as a cure." ~Eric Hoffer
I find this to be a very interesting question that I’ve thought about a lot for myself. I wasn’t raised deeply religious, but was being brought into religion by my wife and community. Before I fully accepted it all I hit a roadblock that really made me start analyzing everything I thought and how I thought it. But that process was intense. I’ve spent the last , three years really deep diving on ancient history and religion, psychology, human nature, etc. Once I got to a place where I felt like I really understood just how screwed up the human mind is and how so much of what we believe is bullshit I completely let go, Not just my religious beliefs, but also just the crazy way of believing nonsense. I used to love stuff like Bigfoot sightings, ancient aliens, Graham Hancock’s Atlantis nonsense. It was just a completely faulty way of thinking. Not critical not with reason. But here’s the rub - I spent so much time learning about all these things and understanding how the mind works that now I can’t let it go. The analytical part of it the reasoning of it is too essential to my daily Life. I wasn’t deeply religious, but I feel like the time I spent self reflecting and analyzing can’t just be put on a shelf to collect dust. I’ve tried and thought about how to just go about my life with a new way of thinking and just leave all this atheist community and ancient history studying and communicating behind but I can’t. It would feel like a waste. I’ve invested time and a lot of emotional energy into my own awakening. To just go about my business somehow feels like a diminishment of that awakening. Sometimes it feels like a reinforcement of what I’ve learnt. Like I have to exercise my critical thinking muscle lest I fall back into an irrational way of looking at life. And since I can’t just walk down the street flexing that muscle I keep coming back to a place where I can.
Love this individual clips from The Line which I watch individually even after having watched the full show before. Only thing on these short ones is hearing from Faia as no timestamp is required here. (Thanks Faia!)
I came out to my sister's family as having no religion. I was forbidden contact with my niece and nephew. Conversion is well accepted - only the "I'm not convinced" position shunned. Two sisters raised Congregationalist took their husbands' religion: one Roman Catholic, the other Orthodox Jew.
I’ve always thought that it’s strange that as much as people only believe in their one religion, they have more respect for other religions than they do for those without religion. Why is that? Aren’t we all going to hell anyways? I think it’s because they believe that people seeking god are better human beings & more moral than those that don’t. They often believe that atheists are intellectually lazy or have no understanding of morality. They can’t imagine that atheism could itself be the result of long contemplation on how to be a better person & make the world a more equitable place.
@@LOwens-xf8yo It's become a meme, but there's a significant number of theists that believe atheists 'deny' god because they 'just want to sin'. When they hold that belief, it should be no surprise that they see atheists as fundamentally immoral. I've stopped using the word atheist because there's so much baggage, listen to J. Peterson describe atheists for example. There's a more open response to non-believer, or even agnostic.
@@markoshun That’s the exact reason why I use the word atheist. Because I can do that without sacrifice and so many others can’t. As for atheists wanting to sin, that’s stupid. If I wanted to sin and not be punished for it, it would be smarter to stay a Xian, because all their sins are forgiven. To maximize getting away with sin, being a Xian is the way to go! Maybe that’s why the prisons are full of Xians, not atheists! lol
I've never for one second believed theism was true or that theists had sufficiently justified their beliefs. From the first time I went to Sunday School and they told me about just takin it on faith. Even by that age, I'd heard kids doing the "Nuh uh I'm right times infinity" bs. But even as a 5 year old, I could not pretend that "just takin it on faith" was anything but dishonesty. And I was not shy about pushing back against anyone promoting theistic claims. The experience of theists being so goddamn condescending while trying to convince you that something that was obviously not true was true has always been fuel for my opposition. I am convinced that religious thinking (just takin it on faith) is the single worst thing humans do because it poisons your ability to think and it teaches you to devalue the truth. I think that's evil. And that's enough for me to never ever stop opposing their magical claims until the highly unlikely day they can actually make an evidenced based case it's true. I've never woken up in the middle of the night with a fear of hell in my mind as Paulogia mentioned, but throughout my entire life I've lived with the fear that grown adults with access to power believe ridiculous shit for obviously bad reasons, and that people like that are dangerous. So I used to wake up afraid that theists are working against the perpetuation and mitigation of climate change, and that it would likely lead to unforseeable numbers of deaths and human suffering. Or that people like that would get hold of a huge bomb and maybe kill us all because god told them in a dream that the earth had to be destroyed and they believed it. Or they might take control of planes and use them as weapons against citizens. And that's exactly what has happened except for the nuclear bomb actually being used yet. But highly religious societies and governments have had the means to kill us all for a while and it might just take one fanatic to push them over the edge taking us over the cliff with them. I don't remember who the quote is attributed to, but it's something like It's both a blessing and a curse being right while being surrounded by people who don't care what the truth is. It's terrifying.
Only two things really fire me up when it comes to religion: 1. Attempts by religious people to use the force of law to impose their religion - some of them just can't seem to help themselves. 2. Creationists trying to pretend that they're doing science when in fact they're doing religion. Not because they're wrong, but because of the motive behind their pretending...which is to wedge their religion into the public school system. THOSE two things get me pretty fired up. People just believing their chosen mythology...not a problem for me.
One reason for this is that atheists who were, for example, Christians for many years, have the benefit of an in-depth knowledge of BOTH sides of the "Christianity v atheism" debate.
I'm a queer female who grew up in the bible belt. When i was outed to my parents they kicked me out because of their religious beliefs so i got the homeless queer teenager experience. This and many other bad run ins with superstitious beliefs hurting real peoples lives has given me a burning disdain for religion and woowoo of all stripes.
Hope you are in a good place now. I still cannot understand how a religion that is supposed to be about love can be so hateful in practice - even to their own children.
Im not an ex believer.. Im a born again atheist. I born as an atheist and since Hungary become an indoctrination state I'm a born again atheist with the enthastuwatever of a no longer believer. I was the kind who heard some stuff about Jesus and thought he is a good guy. Until I dig into it and see he is the worst you can be. Judging your every freakin move with an angelic smile... My grandmother was a catholic but never mentioned religion to me. Both of my parents were "christianized" sprinkle of that "spoken onto it water". They never indoctrinated me and never practiced it... My mother realized at age of 6 that the Adam n Eve story makes no sense.
Dunno how you do it, especially considering how other call in shows struggle, but your audio quality is amazing, noticeably so in every clip i click! That's very pleasant, from a listeners pov, thank you!
I'm passionate about being an atheist because theists think we should all live like them and make laws so we have to. Keep your religion to yourself. Keep the separation of church and state intact. Freedom of religion AND freedom from religion.
Shoot. I needed this video yesterday when a very loud, very LDS guy on a cell phone was bemoaning that the younger generations are in the church because of the feeling of community and they aren’t concerned with “The Truth (tm).” Part of me WISHED I had said something since he repeated that phrase over and over again. “Yeah, all they care about is how they feel in church, they don’t really care about the truth.” If I had seen this video just before that, I might’ve told him the feeling of community those younger kids get is the truth, because that’s the only thing we’ve got reliable evidence for.
As an atheist, I am NOT angry nor can I be, at a mythical being. I am, however, quite incensed at the tooth-fairy who didn't even bother to collect my discarded teeth, much less leave any $. Which is why I am not a denture-peri-ist.
Drew, there's an easy answer to your question. As a former evangelical christian myself, and the son of a free methodist minister, I was brought up to believe that being gay was a sin. It was a choice. For DECADES, I tried to live faithfully, loyally, and celibately in order to honour the version of god in which I was brought up to believe. That left me old, alone, and stunted sexually and romantically. I don't wish that on anyone, so I will spout my opinion on religion to anyone who will listen. I no longer believe the version of god I was taught exists. An all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful god is anachronistic by my lights. And if he does exist he refused to answer any of my prayers so I want nothing to do with him.
Even though I sound like I am, I'm not. I just like taking down the liars and deceivers from time to time when their smugness regarding claims of science being wrong gets to me.
My late mom tried her best to get me to be a methodist, attend church, pray etc but I never bought it. Hated sunday school and basically opted out on my own. Could never believe the bible stories were real. did a short stint in my teens as my best mate convinced me to try church. Only thing I looked forward to were the teen girls in their mini skirts while they did bible readings.. Then some group tried to "save" me.. That freaked me out and never went back.. Except weddings and funerals when I have to go. But churches still give me the creeps..
I’m an antithesis because of the damage my upbringing in religion did to me. Then I got out and I started to see the damage it has done to so many others and the world in general. Religion is an evil in the world, on balance, and needs to end as soon as possible.
I didn't actually care about atheism when I first became an atheist. I was like most people, live and let live and don't think about it much, if at all. That was around a full decade or so of, I dunno, non chalant atheism? It wasn't until I recognized the social harms which come from religion that I started paying more attention and being more critical of the concept. The more I investigated the experiences of other people, the more I recognized the darkness inherent in these kinds of false beliefs. Once you get to that point, when you see people literally traumatized and abused by this stuff. Once I considered that because of the nature of religion that there would always be self perpetuating cycles of this stuff, it became difficult not to care. There was one key phrase which set me down this path and it didn't come from a theist, "Some people just need religion." All I could think about in response was, "Do they?" I've been asking that question ever since.
I deconverted in my early teens and I did ponder it a lot at the time, but I’d never read much of the Bible and hadn’t taken any theology or philosophy classes (cause I was 13) so I didn’t have much understanding that I could explain to someone else except that it sounded fake. Then I barely thought about religion for twenty years and as an adult I could only vaguely remember my religious upbringing or all the reasons I deconverted. So I certainly couldn’t start a UA-cam channel with that! P.s. In my 30s I happened to drive past my old church for the first time and I was shocked to see that I used to be Roman Catholic!
As a 3rd generation Swedish atheist, the passionate atheist is something I never knew existed until I stumbled on theists vs atheists on Steve Savage's channel some 10 years ago. There I managed to upset both passionate apologists and passionate atheists with the average Swede's indifferent version of atheism.
I was angry, and still am sometimes, bc I feel like I was lied to but there was no one in particular to direct my anger towards. I also feel like it affected my ability to learn and how to think bc you have to suspend reality and/or deny scientific evidence in order to maintain these beliefs. I wonder sometimes just how far our society would be if Christianity, regardless of whether it was a Catholic or a Protestant denomination suppressing knowledge, hadn't held us back for so long.
Would have thought that the weight of statistics would mean that more there are more ex-theists than never theists. Maybe those who have had more negative experiences as theists are going to be more outspoken against theism because they are more viscerally aware of the harm it does.
I agree with what you both said. Another thing, coming from another never-theist who is also careful to not ascribe motivation, is that many of the atheists seem to have deconverted from high maintenance/control religions that want followers to evangelize. Maybe those from mainstream and lower control religions just have people who fall away and who may not feel the same kind of need to still evangelize. Maybe these mainstream religions are perceived to have done less harm to them. Perhaps?
I can't remember if I mentioned it already, but both my wife and my brother have multiple sclerosis. I do not know what services are available where you live in Canada, but if there is a multiple sclerosis clinic available to her, I hope that she is taking advantage of it. A good neurologist with experience in MS is advisable. My wife has had the benefit of being followed by Dr. Mark Freedman here in Ottawa for many years.
i've always been atheist. and by that i mean i've always been a person, god plays no part in my life, "atheist" is probably one of the last ways i would describe myself. i never gave god a second thought. other than when my spiritualist parents took me to church i thought i was surrounded by lunatics. religists think that because they spend all day everyday sucking up to god in order to avoid hell, we do too. i don't at least, i have things to do, god is just clutter.
Labeling oneself a true believer is an individually determined value. Who decides what true Christianity is? Bibles are contradictory in ideals, rules, and laws. Therefore, which version does a believer practice to satisfy the true believer requirement(s)? The answer is: each believer's individually determined opinion. People choose whatever ideas make them feel good. Dr. Robert Sapolsky in his book "Behave", states that people can hold two contradictory ideas as true, so long as they benefit from them. Rejecting one idea over the other requires in many cases complex logical thought processing to mediate emotions away from drawing irrational conclusions.
Selection bias. I suspect most ex-theists are largely indifferent. A small number are passionate and loud about atheism. But those are the only ones people hear.
"Hate". I raised my kids to reject using the word hate. They were taught to use "dislike", ... alternatives. That applying the term "hate" to something, especially some ONE, creates a more negative and angry mindset. That using the word "hate" so casually diminishes it's power and/ or moves that thing to too low of a negative position. I've actually been complimented by teachers at conferences when my child corrected their usage of "hate".
i can imagine that people who have realised that god is imaginary get quite angry with themselves because the only person who really gets fooled by the superstition is you. it's obvious from the outside that people are hiding the truth as deep in the back of their mind as possible - orwell called it doublethink, to hold two conflicting ideas in your head at the same time - and when you realise you've been doing that, it must be quite irksome to say the least. especially if you've been "spreading the word" too.
I think it’s worthwhile to challenge the premise. I’m not sure it’s false, but I’m not sure it’s true either. Zealous atheists are the minority in any event and are certainly over represented on social media. I think justifying the premise would require defining a zealous atheist and then establishing that ex-theists are disproportionately represented amongst them in relation to their appearance in the general population. I suspect that ex-theist atheists do outnumber lifetime atheists that it creates a substantial sampling bias in convenience samples.
Think about all the MONEY given during the time in theism!!!! I shutter to think how much money [tithes, offerings] I gave to the church, because it was required, off the gross, along with all the time given to what appears to be the biggest delusion, religion. It can cause people to harshly critique those online, at times.
I noticed that immediately as I first began to watch atheists' videos. They are as zealous about debunking religion as they were religious - it's called repentance - an inverted Paulus. Today I've stopped watching them out of spite - for not using their superior knowledge, intellectual skills and great eloquence on fighting the Christian Zionists, who are calling for a third temple, red heifers and genocide. It's such a shame that they remain silent on what would have been their real redemption.
I'm a recidivist myself. After praying for God to grant me certain things for years and receiving no answer; or worse praying for a particular thing, seeing events unfold that consistently reassured me that my prayers were going to be answered affirmatively, and then to have the promise voided at the last second, persuaded me that I had been lied to. Later reflecting upon my rejection of God, and my reasons for it, it occurred to me that the ideal of Christ was just too important for me to let go of. I returned to faith with the full understanding that my repentance may yet be completely in vain. "(4) For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, (5) And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, (6) If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." [Hebrews 6:4-6]
I'm an ex-theist who is passionate about atheism because if the religious right gets its way I'll have to live on my knees, and I'd rather die on my feet.
Right?! If theists would leave me alone, I’d leave their beliefs along. I just want my basic human rights.
You’ll be living on your knees no matter what or who is in charge
You’ll be living on your knees no matter what or who is in charge
@@user-by3ks9bp5d this comment is too deep for me. What do yo mean?
Pretty natural for people, who have learned that they were misled, to want to prevent others from being similarly misled.
Why are ex-theists the loudest voices? Because we've been to the Dark Side and fought back to the Light Side of no apparent force.
I find your lack of faith........ disturbing....
**uses force choke**
I'm passionate about being an Atheist, and I've never been anything else, ever. No religious indoctrination. One of the lucky ones.
Dude, in terms of not believing in religion & not having to go thru the pain of it, you're so lucky.
I have no conscious memory of ever believing. It is possible that I did as a young child, but whatever religious education I had did not take at all.
I have been a skeptic since before I knew what being a skeptic was. I don't remember ever believing in God. I am open to new information, but all the arguments for God/s fall particularly flat by my reasoning. I am opposed to bad ideas, and believing in god/s looks like a really poor idea.
I was very lucky myself. I asked my mom when I was 5 years old what happens when you die and she said "nothing.". It's amazing how easy that has made my life in terms of detecting bulshit. I was not primed to believe in a fairy tale when I was too young to understand.
There is something after we pass. But the Christian explanation is NOT IT!
It's easy to understand why former smokers can be quite passionately critical of smoking.
They understand from firsthand experience what a trap it is, how much denial and cognitive distortion is entailed in tolerating a habit that is actively harming the smoker and those around him.
They may have had to fight very hard to overcome this addictive mindset, to say nothing of the physical addiction. They had to draw upon some degree of passion in order to motivate themselves, and to prevent themselves from lapsing. That passion remains both activated and justified, not only for themselves but also for those who not only remain caught in the trap but also caught in the defiant rationalization that the trap isn't so bad.
Yes it is. And now you know all about theists.
I think you hit the nail with that. A great example that almost everybody can understand better...
Look no further than the state of Oklahoma. Christians forcing their beliefs onto others....that's my reason for being passionate.
And Louisiana…
@@sarahchristine2345 of course!
Hearing about the new memo from Walters that all teachers must explicitly promote Christianity makes me a rabid anti-theist
I’m sorry Paul about Shannon Q’s diagnosis. I hope that both of you can successfully manage it.
What's going on with Shannon?
@@Nazzul she has MS
Oh, man, I'm.
Sorry to hear that. So Shannon is dealing with the same thing Dave warlock is dealing with.? Because I can't remember what Dave Warlock is dealing with ,is it MS or is it ALS ?
If I can't be a good example, I'll just have to be a horrible warning!
I'm not passionate about atheism, I just see the dangers of theism and want to do my part opposing it.
When you find that society and those people in a position of trust were lying to you, you get passionate. And when you see that people in positions of power are abusing that power to force religion into public policy, you get passionate.
"The aim of a religious movement is to inflict a malady on society, then offer the religion as a cure." ~Eric Hoffer
I find this to be a very interesting question that I’ve thought about a lot for myself.
I wasn’t raised deeply religious, but was being brought into religion by my wife and community. Before I fully accepted it all I hit a roadblock that really made me start analyzing everything I thought and how I thought it. But that process was intense. I’ve spent the last , three years really deep diving on ancient history and religion, psychology, human nature, etc. Once I got to a place where I felt like I really understood just how screwed up the human mind is and how so much of what we believe is bullshit I completely let go, Not just my religious beliefs, but also just the crazy way of believing nonsense. I used to love stuff like Bigfoot sightings, ancient aliens, Graham Hancock’s Atlantis nonsense. It was just a completely faulty way of thinking. Not critical not with reason.
But here’s the rub - I spent so much time learning about all these things and understanding how the mind works that now I can’t let it go. The analytical part of it the reasoning of it is too essential to my daily
Life. I wasn’t deeply religious, but I feel like the time I spent self reflecting and analyzing can’t just be put on a shelf to collect dust. I’ve tried and thought about how to just go about my life with a new way of thinking and just leave all this atheist community and ancient history studying and communicating behind but I can’t. It would feel like a waste. I’ve invested time and a lot of emotional energy into my own awakening. To just go about my business somehow feels like a diminishment of that awakening. Sometimes it feels like a reinforcement of what I’ve learnt. Like I have to exercise my critical thinking muscle lest I fall back into an irrational way of looking at life. And since I can’t just walk down the street flexing that muscle I keep coming back to a place where I can.
Love this individual clips from The Line which I watch individually even after having watched the full show before. Only thing on these short ones is hearing from Faia as no timestamp is required here. (Thanks Faia!)
Technically, this is Paul's channel
I came out to my sister's family as having no religion. I was forbidden contact with my niece and nephew. Conversion is well accepted - only the "I'm not convinced" position shunned. Two sisters raised Congregationalist took their husbands' religion: one Roman Catholic, the other Orthodox Jew.
I’ve always thought that it’s strange that as much as people only believe in their one religion, they have more respect for other religions than they do for those without religion.
Why is that? Aren’t we all going to hell anyways?
I think it’s because they believe that people seeking god are better human beings & more moral than those that don’t. They often believe that atheists are intellectually lazy or have no understanding of morality. They can’t imagine that atheism could itself be the result of long contemplation on how to be a better person & make the world a more equitable place.
@@LOwens-xf8yo It's become a meme, but there's a significant number of theists that believe atheists 'deny' god because they 'just want to sin'. When they hold that belief, it should be no surprise that they see atheists as fundamentally immoral.
I've stopped using the word atheist because there's so much baggage, listen to J. Peterson describe atheists for example. There's a more open response to non-believer, or even agnostic.
@@markoshun That’s the exact reason why I use the word atheist. Because I can do that without sacrifice and so many others can’t.
As for atheists wanting to sin, that’s stupid. If I wanted to sin and not be punished for it, it would be smarter to stay a Xian, because all their sins are forgiven. To maximize getting away with sin, being a Xian is the way to go!
Maybe that’s why the prisons are full of Xians, not atheists! lol
I've never for one second believed theism was true or that theists had sufficiently justified their beliefs. From the first time I went to Sunday School and they told me about just takin it on faith. Even by that age, I'd heard kids doing the "Nuh uh I'm right times infinity" bs.
But even as a 5 year old, I could not pretend that "just takin it on faith" was anything but dishonesty. And I was not shy about pushing back against anyone promoting theistic claims.
The experience of theists being so goddamn condescending while trying to convince you that something that was obviously not true was true has always been fuel for my opposition.
I am convinced that religious thinking (just takin it on faith) is the single worst thing humans do because it poisons your ability to think and it teaches you to devalue the truth. I think that's evil. And that's enough for me to never ever stop opposing their magical claims until the highly unlikely day they can actually make an evidenced based case it's true.
I've never woken up in the middle of the night with a fear of hell in my mind as Paulogia mentioned, but throughout my entire life I've lived with the fear that grown adults with access to power believe ridiculous shit for obviously bad reasons, and that people like that are dangerous. So I used to wake up afraid that theists are working against the perpetuation and mitigation of climate change, and that it would likely lead to unforseeable numbers of deaths and human suffering. Or that people like that would get hold of a huge bomb and maybe kill us all because god told them in a dream that the earth had to be destroyed and they believed it. Or they might take control of planes and use them as weapons against citizens. And that's exactly what has happened except for the nuclear bomb actually being used yet. But highly religious societies and governments have had the means to kill us all for a while and it might just take one fanatic to push them over the edge taking us over the cliff with them.
I don't remember who the quote is attributed to, but it's something like It's both a blessing and a curse being right while being surrounded by people who don't care what the truth is. It's terrifying.
5:20 this is me too. Deconverting was really easy for me because I never really cared that much anyways.
Only two things really fire me up when it comes to religion:
1. Attempts by religious people to use the force of law to impose their religion - some of them just can't seem to help themselves.
2. Creationists trying to pretend that they're doing science when in fact they're doing religion. Not because they're wrong, but because of the motive behind their pretending...which is to wedge their religion into the public school system.
THOSE two things get me pretty fired up. People just believing their chosen mythology...not a problem for me.
One reason for this is that atheists who were, for example, Christians for many years, have the benefit of an in-depth knowledge of BOTH sides of the "Christianity v atheism" debate.
a wise person once said - people change their minds in private
I'm a queer female who grew up in the bible belt. When i was outed to my parents they kicked me out because of their religious beliefs so i got the homeless queer teenager experience.
This and many other bad run ins with superstitious beliefs hurting real peoples lives has given me a burning disdain for religion and woowoo of all stripes.
The evils of Christianity.
Hope you are in a good place now.
I still cannot understand how a religion that is supposed to be about love can be so hateful in practice - even to their own children.
Im not an ex believer.. Im a born again atheist. I born as an atheist and since Hungary become an indoctrination state I'm a born again atheist with the enthastuwatever of a no longer believer. I was the kind who heard some stuff about Jesus and thought he is a good guy. Until I dig into it and see he is the worst you can be. Judging your every freakin move with an angelic smile...
My grandmother was a catholic but never mentioned religion to me. Both of my parents were "christianized" sprinkle of that "spoken onto it water". They never indoctrinated me and never practiced it... My mother realized at age of 6 that the Adam n Eve story makes no sense.
Dunno how you do it, especially considering how other call in shows struggle, but your audio quality is amazing, noticeably so in every clip i click! That's very pleasant, from a listeners pov, thank you!
I'm passionate about being an atheist because theists think we should all live like them and make laws so we have to. Keep your religion to yourself. Keep the separation of church and state intact. Freedom of religion AND freedom from religion.
Shoot. I needed this video yesterday when a very loud, very LDS guy on a cell phone was bemoaning that the younger generations are in the church because of the feeling of community and they aren’t concerned with “The Truth (tm).” Part of me WISHED I had said something since he repeated that phrase over and over again. “Yeah, all they care about is how they feel in church, they don’t really care about the truth.” If I had seen this video just before that, I might’ve told him the feeling of community those younger kids get is the truth, because that’s the only thing we’ve got reliable evidence for.
As an atheist, I am NOT angry nor can I be, at a mythical being. I am, however, quite incensed at the tooth-fairy who didn't even bother to collect my discarded teeth, much less leave any $. Which is why I am not a denture-peri-ist.
Drew, there's an easy answer to your question. As a former evangelical christian myself, and the son of a free methodist minister, I was brought up to believe that being gay was a sin. It was a choice. For DECADES, I tried to live faithfully, loyally, and celibately in order to honour the version of god in which I was brought up to believe. That left me old, alone, and stunted sexually and romantically. I don't wish that on anyone, so I will spout my opinion on religion to anyone who will listen. I no longer believe the version of god I was taught exists. An all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful god is anachronistic by my lights. And if he does exist he refused to answer any of my prayers so I want nothing to do with him.
As an ex-theist What is beyond me is not relevant whats within my understanding is more relevant because it needs me.
Even though I sound like I am, I'm not. I just like taking down the liars and deceivers from time to time when their smugness regarding claims of science being wrong gets to me.
My late mom tried her best to get me to be a methodist, attend church, pray etc but I never bought it. Hated sunday school and basically opted out on my own. Could never believe the bible stories were real. did a short stint in my teens as my best mate convinced me to try church. Only thing I looked forward to were the teen girls in their mini skirts while they did bible readings.. Then some group tried to "save" me.. That freaked me out and never went back.. Except weddings and funerals when I have to go. But churches still give me the creeps..
For the algorithm
I’m an antithesis because of the damage my upbringing in religion did to me. Then I got out and I started to see the damage it has done to so many others and the world in general. Religion is an evil in the world, on balance, and needs to end as soon as possible.
I am zealous for Atheism because I have seen many, many people damaged by religious trauma.
I didn't actually care about atheism when I first became an atheist. I was like most people, live and let live and don't think about it much, if at all. That was around a full decade or so of, I dunno, non chalant atheism?
It wasn't until I recognized the social harms which come from religion that I started paying more attention and being more critical of the concept. The more I investigated the experiences of other people, the more I recognized the darkness inherent in these kinds of false beliefs. Once you get to that point, when you see people literally traumatized and abused by this stuff. Once I considered that because of the nature of religion that there would always be self perpetuating cycles of this stuff, it became difficult not to care.
There was one key phrase which set me down this path and it didn't come from a theist, "Some people just need religion."
All I could think about in response was, "Do they?" I've been asking that question ever since.
I deconverted in my early teens and I did ponder it a lot at the time, but I’d never read much of the Bible and hadn’t taken any theology or philosophy classes (cause I was 13) so I didn’t have much understanding that I could explain to someone else except that it sounded fake. Then I barely thought about religion for twenty years and as an adult I could only vaguely remember my religious upbringing or all the reasons I deconverted. So I certainly couldn’t start a UA-cam channel with that!
P.s. In my 30s I happened to drive past my old church for the first time and I was shocked to see that I used to be Roman Catholic!
As a 3rd generation Swedish atheist, the passionate atheist is something I never knew existed until I stumbled on theists vs atheists on Steve Savage's channel some 10 years ago.
There I managed to upset both passionate apologists and passionate atheists with the average Swede's indifferent version of atheism.
I was angry, and still am sometimes, bc I feel like I was lied to but there was no one in particular to direct my anger towards. I also feel like it affected my ability to learn and how to think bc you have to suspend reality and/or deny scientific evidence in order to maintain these beliefs.
I wonder sometimes just how far our society would be if Christianity, regardless of whether it was a Catholic or a Protestant denomination suppressing knowledge, hadn't held us back for so long.
Would have thought that the weight of statistics would mean that more there are more ex-theists than never theists.
Maybe those who have had more negative experiences as theists are going to be more outspoken against theism because they are more viscerally aware of the harm it does.
I agree with what you both said. Another thing, coming from another never-theist who is also careful to not ascribe motivation, is that many of the atheists seem to have deconverted from high maintenance/control religions that want followers to evangelize. Maybe those from mainstream and lower control religions just have people who fall away and who may not feel the same kind of need to still evangelize. Maybe these mainstream religions are perceived to have done less harm to them. Perhaps?
I can't remember if I mentioned it already, but both my wife and my brother have multiple sclerosis. I do not know what services are available where you live in Canada, but if there is a multiple sclerosis clinic available to her, I hope that she is taking advantage of it. A good neurologist with experience in MS is advisable. My wife has had the benefit of being followed by Dr. Mark Freedman here in Ottawa for many years.
i've always been atheist. and by that i mean i've always been a person, god plays no part in my life, "atheist" is probably one of the last ways i would describe myself. i never gave god a second thought. other than when my spiritualist parents took me to church i thought i was surrounded by lunatics. religists think that because they spend all day everyday sucking up to god in order to avoid hell, we do too. i don't at least, i have things to do, god is just clutter.
Labeling oneself a true believer is an individually determined value. Who decides what true Christianity is? Bibles are contradictory in ideals, rules, and laws. Therefore, which version does a believer practice to satisfy the true believer requirement(s)? The answer is: each believer's individually determined opinion. People choose whatever ideas make them feel good. Dr. Robert Sapolsky in his book "Behave", states that people can hold two contradictory ideas as true, so long as they benefit from them. Rejecting one idea over the other requires in many cases complex logical thought processing to mediate emotions away from drawing irrational conclusions.
Selection bias. I suspect most ex-theists are largely indifferent. A small number are passionate and loud about atheism. But those are the only ones people hear.
"Hate". I raised my kids to reject using the word hate. They were taught to use "dislike", ... alternatives. That applying the term "hate" to something, especially some ONE, creates a more negative and angry mindset. That using the word "hate" so casually diminishes it's power and/ or moves that thing to too low of a negative position. I've actually been complimented by teachers at conferences when my child corrected their usage of "hate".
I hate this comment
i can imagine that people who have realised that god is imaginary get quite angry with themselves because the only person who really gets fooled by the superstition is you. it's obvious from the outside that people are hiding the truth as deep in the back of their mind as possible - orwell called it doublethink, to hold two conflicting ideas in your head at the same time - and when you realise you've been doing that, it must be quite irksome to say the least. especially if you've been "spreading the word" too.
I think it’s worthwhile to challenge the premise. I’m not sure it’s false, but I’m not sure it’s true either.
Zealous atheists are the minority in any event and are certainly over represented on social media.
I think justifying the premise would require defining a zealous atheist and then establishing that ex-theists are disproportionately represented amongst them in relation to their appearance in the general population.
I suspect that ex-theist atheists do outnumber lifetime atheists that it creates a substantial sampling bias in convenience samples.
Think about all the MONEY given during the time in theism!!!! I shutter to think how much money [tithes, offerings] I gave to the church, because it was required, off the gross, along with all the time given to what appears to be the biggest delusion, religion. It can cause people to harshly critique those online, at times.
A "True Believer" *_must_* support Jesus, or else He'll get bμtt-hurt and burn ya forever.
Not really an atheist, just dont subscribe to Yahweism.
I noticed that immediately as I first began to watch atheists' videos. They are as zealous about debunking religion as they were religious - it's called repentance - an inverted Paulus.
Today I've stopped watching them out of spite - for not using their superior knowledge, intellectual skills and great eloquence on fighting the Christian Zionists, who are calling for a third temple, red heifers and genocide. It's such a shame that they remain silent on what would have been their real redemption.
I'm a recidivist myself. After praying for God to grant me certain things for years and receiving no answer; or worse praying for a particular thing, seeing events unfold that consistently reassured me that my prayers were going to be answered affirmatively, and then to have the promise voided at the last second, persuaded me that I had been lied to. Later reflecting upon my rejection of God, and my reasons for it, it occurred to me that the ideal of Christ was just too important for me to let go of. I returned to faith with the full understanding that my repentance may yet be completely in vain.
"(4) For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, (5) And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, (6) If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." [Hebrews 6:4-6]