Hi. Newly atheist. Just want to share the love.

[CarbonDate]

I did the pagan/Wicca thing for a while, but I think that was sort of my "patch" to ease off of Xianity. I also figured if witchcraft couldn't produce tangible evidence of a higher being, nothing could.

Well, it didn't. So here I am, newly joining the rational. That's the short story; I've been going through the motions for a while, but it wasn't until today that I honestly realized that I don't believe any of that shit, anymore.

It's a little weird suddenly being a true member of the "reality-based community". However, I don't want to be one of those guys who bashes the religious folks, since it wasn't that long ago I was one of them, so I'll use this space as my little "support" group to ease me off of that co-dependent relationship I had with religion.

Thanks.

[Taxloss]

1. Hi! Disorientating, isn't it?

Like climbing the stairs in the dark and there's one fewer step than you expect, and you stamp down on a step that isn't there. You don't lose your balance, but your worldview wobbles a little. Then you feel foolish.

Any questions?

[FiveGoodMen]

2. Welcome!

The reality-base community needs all the help it can get.

[beam me up scottie]

3. Welcome CarbonDate.

You'll get used to it.
It's quite involuntary, just like breathing.

And you don't have to bash anyone or do anything you don't want to.
We have no creed, no dogma, no rites or rituals.
We're free.
Enjoy it.

[trotsky]

4. Hello and welcome.

Nice to have another poster here. I too went thru a gradual process from Xianity to atheism; I paused at a form of paganism along the way as well.

Hope to hear your viewpoint on lots of topics!

[Taxloss]

5. It seems to be a recurring theme that we need a "rest" along the way.

I gently drifted from High Anglicanism to Low Anglicanism and was arranging my outright exit from Anglicanism to become a Quaker when I suddenly had the definitive moment that pulled me into reason - what someone with faith might call my "crisis of faith". The odd thing is I was really feeling positive about Quakerism when it happened, and it happened very quickly, and suddenly I was an atheist.

I didn't actually tell anyone for a year. But I was no hypocrite, I did not worship, pray, or claim faith.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

6. hi

and welcome!

:hi:

[BiggJawn]

7. Wow! You have a story with a lot in common with mine!

I did the whole "Born-Again" said the prayer with Billy Graham on TV and send him a letter thing when i was 12 years old. Never gave it much thought, but I read the Bible and worried about "Judgement Day".

Then after rejecting THAT ("Nothing FAILS like Prayer")I got into the New Age/Plastic Medicine Man thing, had all my crystals, and went to Pipe Ceremonies and all that stuff.

Then I finally decided after much thought and reading, that there was NO "Sky Daddy", or "Grandfather Sky" or "GAWD" up "there".

9 years working for a holy-roller TV station helped me "lose my Faith", too.

Welcome aboard!
Now, you have to read every book Carl Sagan ever wrote, build an altar with his picture on it, and celebrate his birthday...

JUST KIDDING!!!! :evilgrin:

[CarbonDate]

10. I read "Demon Haunted World" some years ago....

It was the first recreational reading I picked up my freshman year in college (1996). I guess it planted the seed in my brain that has blossomed into full-blown atheism. Along the way, however, I found myself going from wanting to become a pastor (1998) to being a practicing witch (2000; which, from an atheist's perspective, is a lot more similar than it is from a Christian's perspective) to being where I'm at today.

Moreover, the book taught me a sense of wonder in regards to science, to appreciate just how amazing the universe is on its own without having to decorate it with the lawn ornaments of religion.

[PassingFair]

8. Welcome to the unobstructed view!

I'm a halfbreed myself. Born to an Episcopalian woman and her life-loving atheist husband.
Apparently, the Episcopal gene was the recessive.....

[Book Lover]

9. So did I

I still collect tarot decks as a matter of fact, out of literary and historical interest. Welcome to the shackle-free life :-)

[BurtWorm]

11. I love that metaphor!

Witchcraft was your "patch." That's so apt! :applause:

Welcome!

[onager]

12. Welcome!

:hi:

Looks like the "stopover" is a common theme. When I was a kid among the Southern Baptists (SoB's), I guess I thought the whole world was Baptist or Methodist or Holy Roller. Except for a few Catholics who lived somewhere out there beyond the edge of the earth, and even fewer Jews.

I too did a lot of reading on mystical subjects and halfass believed some of it for a while.

Sometimes I think I can spot others coming our way. Like a few posters who are always extolling the Muslim mystics, the Sufis.

I'll have to remind them about that famous Sufi student, Ayatollah Khomeini. (I believe the last thing he wrote was a book of Sufi-themed poetry.)

[rexcat]

13. Welcome...

My transformation was rather abrupt. Religion just does not make sense.

[Arianrhod]

14. Yes, looking for proof of a higher being in Pagan religions

would be quite disappointing.

Modern Pagan belief systems stress personal responsibility, the accumulation of genuine (scientific) knowledge, and a compassionate relationship with all other parts of existence. I don't know of any that promise to provide you with a direct line to some deity or other. Rather, like Zen, Pagan religions are experiential, leaving the decision as to the reality of gods up to the individual adherent.

My path to reality began with Carl Sagan's PBS series Cosmos, which weaned me off of Christian Fundamentalism 25 years ago. The rational Universe was a marvelous revelation to me back then, and it has been my great pleasure to have spent the last two decades pursuing the details of what that Universe is.

Welcome aboard. :)

[Modem Butterfly]

15. Welcome!

Gald to have you!

[progressoid]

16. "Patch!" Thats pretty good.

I think I had quite a few patches. Most I didn't even put on but brought home from the store, read the instructions, and then promptly ignored.

Welcome. You'll start to see the world in a whole new light with out the blinders of religion. It's exciting.

[zippy890]

17. welcome to the truly liberated

I loved finding this group - especially when things get really wacked out (Schiavo)

I have always been an atheist - went to first congo protestant growing up, and never really 'got' it- the god thing.

Seems to me a lot of people 'go through the motions' but few have the courage to really think about it -- and it does take courage.

Good for you, and welcome

:)

[really annoyed]

18. Welcome!

I keep "searching" for the "perfect" religion - then I keep realizing that NO religion makes me pretty happy.

I was raised Baptist - my friend actually dragged me to church because she was trying to "save" me.

Then I went "New Age" for a while. I still have all my tarot cards, crystals, and "ghost hunting" books.

But, I really don't care for religion. I wouldn't call myself atheist though - I'm more agnostic.

But anyway, howdy. :)

[toddaa]

19. Think of it as living without a safety net

Wish I could remember when I had that "I don't believe any of that shit" moment. It's weird. I remember everything down to the most minute detail of my "born again" experience, but nothing of my "no thanks, got it right the first time" conversion. One was emotional, the other rational.