Atheists raised by Christians

I am an atheist who was raised in a Christian family. I attended Catholic schools my entire life until I went to college. I do not in particular view the religious ceremonies, praying, church, and religion classes as having been a waste of time. It dawned on me today that I could be angry that I spent a good deal of time devoted to something that doesn't exist, but in reality it doesn't bother me. Are there any atheist children of Christians here that feel the same or different?

 

I'm agnostic and nonreligious spiritual, and grew up spending a lot of time doing church stuff. Some of it was a waste, but not all of it, and there were definitely worse places I could have been. A lot of that time was spent socializing, and religious background knowledge often comes in handy. How could you understand America without it? I also heard some good sermons on the importance of helping the poor.

 

Good for you OP.

 

I was raised Roman Catholic, and I shifted through several beliefs in my youth before leaving the Judeo-Christian faith behind. I was Wiccan, Pentecostal Christian, Agnostic, bordered on Atheism, went back to Wicca, became a spiritual pagan unrelated to the title Wiccan or religious, and now I am an Agnostic Theist.

My most trying time was probably during my Pentecostal phase. At first, it seemed that the church accepted me, but eventually I learned that they were merely attempting to banish the demon of homosexuality from me. I left in a hurry once I discovered a supposedly good friend betrayed me to the Pastor, who wanted me to join him at the front of the church so that everyone could pray over the homosexual demon inside of me. The pastor claimed God informed him of it, but I knew it was the friend I never spoke to again after that.

As I mentioned above, my current belief system is Agnostic Theist. I believe that the Judeo-Christian God does not exist, but I do believe in the Goddess and revere Her more as the Earth itself than an actual deity. I am spiritual in the sense that I acknowledge the Earth's existence, but I do not worship the Earth.

 

I reckon pre Christian atheists are as bad as die hard Christians themselves. They hold so much ardent hatred for Christianty that it's all very petty when they go on rants.

 

I was raised in a southern baptist church. My parents weren't overly religious; we didn't go to church every week or anything but we went every once in a while. When I was a teenager I did start going every week but that was more about socializing with the youth group than anything else. My mom did make me go to a Christian camp for a few summers.

I don't really hate my upbringing or regret it. They taught me a lot of crap that I remember questioning even at a young age, but I enjoyed the community of it. Potluck dinners, the youth group, the comfort of knowing people were praying for you when your family was going through a hard time.

I think my religious upbringing did have a lot of value for me personally. From the time I was in second grade until I was in fifth grade I lost several family members that were very close to me. Believing in Christianity and Heaven gave me a lot of comfort at the time and helped me get through it.

 

I was raised protestant christian and I feel kind of the same way as the OP. I did for a short while felt a grudge (as most kids do) when I was hitting puberty and discovered for myself Jesus probably wasn't the son of God and of course loved rubbing that in my parents face too (did not really impress them). But I have since long time mellowed out and frankly I would not want to have been raised otherwise. I also love the stories in the bible and am glad they were part of my youth.

Well not all of course but there certainly seem to be a lot that can't seem to get over it.

 

I am the same. I went to a catholic school, CCD, had to to altar serving weekly. It was ridiculous. Now I believe in science and happiness, going with the flow and etc.

It's much better this way.

 

Nah. My time spent at church was really good for me in a lot of ways. Actually, I am going to be spending next weekend at events for my former pastor who's retiring. Including going to her last mass.

I do get resentful that I was promised an afterlife, though..

 

I suspect it's like a werewolf being raised by vampires. In the end, when all is said and done, there is love.

 

^ did that just happen?

 

So it seems then that most of us either don't mind or actually are thankful for our religious upbringing. The reason that I started this thread is that I was listening to a speech by Richard Dawkins, and he related a story about a woman who became an atheist. Apparently this women regretted the time that she had wasted on a false god. I actually don't think I've met an atheist that regrets being raised in a religious family. That itself is interesting. It would not be illogical to be upset about it.

I agree with many of the points that have been brought up. Especially about the social value of a religious upbringing. When I look back on my time as a theist I mostly remember celebrations and gatherings, not dogma.

 

I grew up Roman Catholic but became disillusioned at an early age. I learned the teachings well but did not see them reflected in the people who came to church. After I left home I explored other teachings but in the end I see myself as a spiritual person who does not follow any religion.

 

At the least you can look at it as an education on religion. Even if you don't believe in it, it's important to have an education on it, since most of the western world is based upon the bible.

 

I'm an agnostic atheist, raised with Christian influence. My father never spoke about his beliefs, he wasn't very interested in the religion question and didn't ever attend church with us. My mother was a believer, but her interest in church fluctuated a lot. We didn't go much when I was very young, but when I was about 15 she suddenly got back into it and made us go with her on Sunday mornings and also on Wednesday nights for youth group.

It didn't actually effect me much because by that time I already had my own ideas about the origins of life and morality, so I pretty much scoffed at most of what we were taught. I remember the youth minister speaking out against sex before marriage, and internally thinking how silly it was to think that God (I did believe in God then) would even care if we had sex before marriage.

By then I had started seeing the holes in the logic of the Bible and completely disregarding some of the more blatantly ridiculous and outdated edicts. After a few years, my mom again stopped regularly attending church, and I drifted away from it and started calling myself agnostic. It was a few years later that I began calling myself atheist.

It seems some Christians think that atheists are angry because they had bad childhood experiences with religion. That may be true in some cases, but not in others. Personally, I'm definitely angry at religion, but my reasons are very different. This blog article covers some of them: http://gretachristina.typepad.com/greta_christinas_weblog/2007/10/atheists-and-an.html

 

I used to say that I'm the product of a Catholic and an Agnostic and that's how Discordians are made.

Dad was raised Catholic but his beliefs tended less towards the church and more towards 'true Irish ghost stories' and rural Irish fortune tellers.

My mom is agnostic. I got sent to Sunday school with the Presby's down the road mostly just so I was out of her hair for a few hours a week. I was the kid that would get told not to ask questions. Thankfully that never changed.

My dad's involvement in speculative Masonry was more of an influence on me. I was 12 when I first stepped into lodge and I was fascinated by the symbolism. It struck a chord because my father was an operative mason as well and I kinda grew up with a trowel in my hand. I also loved a good mystery and unravelling secrets and cryptography. Dad never told me anything out right, I had to research and figure it out myself - which was a good deal harder without the internet being around. This included Masonic conspiracy. Anti-masonic dudes today have no idea how easy they have it. I had to work and search to get the info that's now at the touch of one's fingertips. I had to look for years for a library that had an uncoded version of the Work. Up hill, both ways.

I was anti-Christian by 15. I think I was 17 when I gave the Baha'i a shot. I had a Persian friend that got me into that. The people that I met in that community were freakn' awesome. Stories of escaping Iran. Tight loving community vibe. I really felt like a part of a large family. Saw Mary Maxwell speak once (incredible!) and spent a weekend with a lady that had been imprisoned with Mona. But eventually my desire for belonging and reaching out to God could not trump my skeptical side and when I found out what they really thought about homosexuality, I dropped it like a hot potato. Great people. Shitty dogma.

As typical of a female in her early twenties, I did a decade of various forms of paganism. Still searching for that something bigger to connect to but I always kept a skeptical edge to things by also embracing Discordiansim. I sort of saw my paganism as mainly a psychological tool and not just another version of theism. But even my Erisian tenancies couldn't keep the tidal waves of pure bullshit from knocking me over and so I left that too.

During my rollercoaster of grasping, I noticed that agnosticism was my default state. And that a decade of trying pagansim was often trumped by my early experience of reading the Tao of Pooh on the downside of a bad acid trip. So it was little surprise that my next foray was into the Eastern religions.

By thirty, I wasn't really interested in joining a religion, just pilfering philosophy and psychological techniques from it, without the woo or a sky daddy. And that's how I've approached Buddhism and Taosim.

Which is pretty close to where I am now at 40. I don't bother searching anymore. I've gotten the data I need. I pilfered the tools that were useful and just get on with things and living in reality.

The thing that tends to get me is when I call bullshit on someone and they tell me to 'research' it or open my mind or whatever, with them not getting that I formed my opinions not only on research but also by direct involvement. Been there done that, formed my own opinion. So sorry that it doesn't match yours but that does not mean that I'm close minded or ignorant or what ever other insult they want to toss at me.

And I think that's the longest Hip post I've ever written.

 

I liked it, very interesting :2thumbsup: And yes we can't share every opinion naturally. Nor do we have to.

 

Nice to meet you, I am a Christian Buddhist.

 

I was raised by Christians. Was christened, went to church a lot, got confirmed at age 12.

None of my kids are christened or have been to church. I don't really believe in god, but it's not something that I go around arguing about, either.

Thankfully, my family doesn't bother me about it. I know my grandma used to cry and try to shame my uncle into going. ( that side of the family is Catholic) she knew better than to try that on my dad. :2thumbsup:

My dad is also a mason, Manservant Hecubus, but he didn't get into that until I was long out of the house.

So yeah, athiest raised by Christians here, and it didn't do me any harm.

 

FYI
Agnostic atheism, also called atheistic agnosticism, is a philosophical position that encompasses both atheism and agnosticism. Agnostic atheists are atheistic because they do not hold a belief in the existence of any deity and agnostic because they claim that the existence of a deity is either unknowable in principle or currently unknown in fact. The agnostic atheist may be contrasted with the agnostic theist, who believes that one or more deities exist but claims that the existence or nonexistence of such is unknown or cannot be known.