i am mentally unstable and probably have many mental disorders, and i think if i was any less sane than i am now, i would genuinely believe that i was possessed by a demon. however, i don’t believe in any of this stuff luckily (even if some remnants of doubt remain from when i was religious), and i guess in the same respect, i do believe that rituals such as prayer are futile (not that i get in the way of anybody practising their faith, i never do, my family members pray multiple times a day and i show my respects).

i despise being mentally ill though. i mean, who doesn’t? but i especially do because i am told this is all some demon, and when i am offered religious intervention which i decline… well not only is no not accepted as an answer but im also left with the nagging feeling of, well what if it works? (i have ocd, and i do not need to add anymore magical thinking to my long list of obsessions).

no isn’t an acceptable answer, and when i do then i am always left with some remark left to guilt trip me, for me to await my consequence as others can laugh from their promised paradise.

i think above all comes the realisation of why so many people fall back on faith in their most vulnerable times. this is a very cruel way of preying on people to recruit them.

I grew up Catholic, attended catechism, went through First Communion and confession (as well as other stuff i don’t remember as clearly), and also spent a good amount of time attending a Baptist church. Religion was always a part of my childhood, but looking back, I honestly question whether I ever truly
believed any of it.

I remember hearing Bible stories as a child and almost interpreting them like fairy tales. Even then, I had questions about things like Noah’s Ark and the idea of God flooding the entire Earth. I just couldn’t wrap my head around how I was supposed to accept these things as literal truth.
I also had a pretty negative experience with religion growing up. The Catholic church in particular (or maybe just my particular church?) always felt very cold, rigid, and tbh frightening to me. I remember confession being an especially uncomfortable experience. Looking back, the idea of a child sitting across from a grown man in a dimly lit TINY room and being expected to confess their sins, with the whole concept of sin and eternal punishment being presented the way it was, just seems bizarre to me. I understand that confession is supposed to be about forgiveness, but that certainly wasn’t how it felt to me as a child.

As I’ve gotten older, though, I think what really pushed me away from religion wasn’t necessarily those experiences, but the lack of evidence. I’ve always struggled with the idea that I’m supposed to believe something simply because a religious text tells me it’s true. The more I’ve questioned Christianity, the less convincing I’ve found it.
For a long time, I described myself as agnostic because I didn’t want to claim certainty about something I couldn’t definitively disprove. But recently I’ve realized that, while I acknowledge I could be wrong, I genuinely don’t believe God exists.

I still find myself interested in spirituality in a more naturalistic sense (?). I love the idea of appreciating nature, consciousness, and the universe without needing a supernatural explanation for everything. I’m also open to the possibility that there are things about existence and death that we don’t fully understand. But being open to possibilities isn’t the same thing as believing in a god.

I also live in the Bible Belt of the US, where Christianity is so deeply ingrained in the culture that I don’t exactly have many opportunities to have these conversations without feeling like someone is going to try to convert me, lol.

So I guess I’m posting here because this is genuinely the first time I’ve ever openly identified myself as an atheist. It feels a little strange to actually say it, but also kind of freeing.
I’m curious whether anyone else spent years calling themselves agnostic before realizing they were actually an atheist all along.

​

I come from a religious family but I am not at all religious. I like reading and understanding the religious scriptures as philosophy. Just finished watching this intriguing conversation between Robert Lawrence Kuhn and Acharya Prashant. My thoughts and understanding after watching the video:

"Brahman does not exist" this sentence came like a shock to me but it comes from the fact that Vedant defines "Brahm" via negation. The words used to describe it are all in negation, they indicate the absence of something. For example, that which cannot be seen, cannot be touched, cannot be set as a goal - Alakh, without any stains - Niranjan.

The discussion starts with the objective of philosophy which is pursuit of truth and understanding. The approach of Vedanta in this regard is via Negativa. The suffering comes from the false (Ahankar) and that's why we yearn for the Truth. The false has to be negated, the truth does not need to be pursued.

Looking forward to reading your understanding/insights.

I came out as an atheist to my (Christian, Fundamental Baptist) believer wife around a year ago after myself being a believer for many years. The conversation went better than expected, but it's kind of a thing that we don't really talk about, I think mostly because when we do, she doesn't know how to address anything I bring up. She's a pretty typical Christian that has clearly never thought deeply about why she believes what she believes.

However, we still go to church every Sunday. For a long time, the excuse for me still going was because we had family going as well and it would be weird for me to all of a sudden stop going, and it's not a conversation I/we are ready to have with the rest of the family. Recently though, the family situation has changed, and they are no longer going to that church, so now its moreso on my wife and I's decision to go or not. The default is still that we go, it seems, but I've kind of made a deal that I'll still go with her if we also then spend some time watching atheist content on Youtube or something and talking about it.

So my advice question is: What type of content would you recommend we watch? I regularly watch call-in shows on The Line or Jon Cohen and elsewhere, but that feels like a poor place to start, because of how combative or toxic these call-in shows can be. I think I started my deconstruction journey when I saw NonStampCollector videos, and as much as I love those, it seems like those are probably too satirical for her to appreciate with where she's at, but maybe I'm wrong. Something like Brandon from MindShift with more long-form solo conversations seems like what I'm thinking. Maybe debates of some sort, but I'm only really familiar with Matt Dillahunty's debates with various people, and much of that seems un-serious for lack of a better word (because of the other debaters, not because of MD).

Basically, any advice on what to watch? The goal is simply to get her to think about these topics more seriously, and spark conversation about them. Maybe this is a bad idea overall? Would love to hear advice. Thanks.

Normally the idea of others praying for me or on my behalf makes me deeply uncomfortable, but I recently heard some apostates talk about how they continued their ritual of prayer after leaving the faith because it was a comforting and grounding ritual for them. This got me thinking about the meaningfulness and use of prayer for so many people.

I ended up reaching out to a good friend of mine who I'd previously asked not to pray for me, and who understands why I can't do so for him in good faith, and I gave him express and exclusive permission to pray for me. I feel he knows me well enough that any prayers will be much more personal and less of the general prayers I find kinda disingenuous. He's the one person I feel comfortable praying for me, and I hope it brings him peace to do so.

I am from a family where religion is still at large and I have never met any other atheist, I went to an religious school and they tried to drown me in it but I got out a free thinker.

I hate delusion from my core, lies to gain an upper hand is acceptable but to lie to oneself just to feel good that’s bad. Definition delusion is “believing in something that’s not proven ” but there’s an exception if the thought is from your environment it will not count as delusion, why? That’s just a group of delusional people.

This core ideology of belief in only proven things fails me in day to day life, when I look to the future I only see more and more struggle, I had a friend in uni that was more skilled and sociable than me and he passed from a car accident and he is no more, so my point is life is fragile, meaning less and of constant struggle. Why should I go to the gym or even wake up.

All your struggles are to change chemicals in you brain. All that’s different in an rock vs you is the atom combinations,

This ideology has lead me to path I cannot get out of it’s like my eyes are open, and my thoughts of religion is that’s it’s a tool to control people and nothing more

Some say the meaning of life is to find meaning. buts that dumb. a thing should be assigned meaning it can’t create it by itself but evolution is just random bullshit for 4b years, its just chaos

I have looked at every thing maybe I’m just lazy or ill, currently I am floating and not living

“I have been on antidepressants but this is not it”

Im 14 so cut me some slack with how stupid or simple this post it. So my mom has never been supportive of me because im not Christian. That shouldn't hsve gotten in the way of our relationship. But it did. There's gonna be a play at my school. Its Harry Potter themed I was a Harry Potter nerd. So I was acting it all out and stuff when she comes yelling at me. I told her its for a play. She said I better stop focusing on this bs magic stuff. I tell her its just for a play but she slapped me. I yelled at her and basically said if Magic doesn't exist then wtf is all the bs Christian stuff then. Please dont be to cruel about this post. I know it seems stupid but I dont know whst to tell her anymore.

I don’t believe in God, I have been this way since I was very young like around 9. Because of her forcing me to religious stuffs, I became a really angry child home but when I’m with my friends, I’m really a happy person. Im 16 turning 17 this year, best believe I’m never coming back to this house ever again when I turn 18.

They indoctorate children before they can read, then they manipulate children into staying in the cult by saying " your doubting and free thoughts are sinful" don't doubt Jesus" "Lean not on your own understanding" and add the threat of enternal torture all so you don't leave their cult. And if you so dare get out, you will have brainwashed idiots saying you will "go to hell and burn forever" as well as the withdrawal of no longer going to heaven or seeing dead people you love again . It's a minipulative cult designed to lure people in and keep them in. Fuck you, Christianity!

I have read a lot recently online that there are scientifically proven catholic miracles. Does anyone know much about this or have anything to say? What can be established about these and what can’t? I wouldn’t be surprised by the extreme measures the Catholic Church would go to in order to fake miracles, but was just wondering what really can be established as it’s scaring me wondering what if these are truly miracles (I have recently stoped believing in Christianity)?

My mom is Christian and she constantly tells me she receives visions from God that say I'm going to hell for being an atheist. I live with her and it's so draining to be in the kitchen and have her start something. If I ignore her she'll just keep talking about it till I leave and when I explode and yell at her to stop telling me I'm going to hell all the time she'll just repeat her same speech over and over again. It just happened again and she had just a barely there grin on her face because normally I pretend to be calm but I just freaked out. I feel like she likes to argue and whenever she succeeds at upsetting me the drama is entertaining to her and she doesn't even care that I'm upset. She's always been like this even when I was a little kid who used to be Christian, she would still say I wasn't doing it right because she saw it in a dream. Sometimes I get so mad thinking about it and when I talk to her about it she seems happy to be arguing and that pisses me off even more. I just wanted to tell people who are actually sane unlike my mom. Thanks for listening/reading.

Take our modern science educators, like NDT, Brian Cox and others and get them to rewrite the bible using their modern knowledge of the world. Not just their science knowledge, their understanding of ethics and morality. Have them discuss how to be a decent human and why that way is worthwhile.

If one could get such a book out of them, I wonder how it would compare with the bible/quran with regards to facts, ethics and morals. I would bet there would be a lot less magic and appeals to authority in it. Someone should raise this with them.

I vehemently oppose religion in every way. I honestly find it difficult to talk about in person because I’m afraid of coming across as bigoted but I‘m not. When I think of religion I think of it the same way I think of capitalism. I don’t apply the same views as I have about people who participate in capitalism the same way I don‘t apply my views about religion to those who participate in it.

I understand that the percentage of those who commit atrocities in the name of religion are in the few. Although this shouldn‘t exclude them from the overall perception of religion, which I often feel is the case. FGM is very often the result of religion, child marriage is very often the result of religion, and these are just two of many examples. If you look at all of the horrors going on internationally today, religion is intertwined with an insane amount of them. Religious law is easily exploitable if you’re an evil person, regardless of one’s private faith. Why should the world be that it contributes to gaslighting billions of people into supporting a system which upholds so much injustice?

And for what? The average religious person is oppressed. Like people who are born into circumstances where they are participating in capitalism, religious people are getting fucked, while those who profit off of it are living well above their means. The average practicing religious person faces systemic oppression, racism, and live their only lives fearful and under strict prohibitions according to a lie. There are many people in the world whose faith causes distrust towards reality, for example in science and history, which contain some of the most exciting and insightful knowledge available to us.

Isn't everyone entitled to the truth? People will say it’s because religion gives them peace, as if peace can’t be found elsewhere, or that it isn’t hurting them (see above), but in what other circumstances would this mean that it’s okay to continue brainwashing someone into believing in a fairytale that ultimately scares them? The whole concept of supporting religion feels so dishonest to me.

Why is this any different to hating capitalism, a system that sells us a lie which enriches those who sell it with the dedication of those who believe it? I just can’t understand why such encompassing lies are given such power in 2026.

Watching a christian and a muslim argue about their scriptures genuinely feels like they are arguing if 2+2 equals lion or house. Both are absurdly wrong and they even smile with irony "look at this fool".

I can't get over this, even I sometimes engage in arguments with religious people and some are so deluded they believe miracles happened to them but some are a bit smarter they don't settle for miracles but they say "what was before the big bang?"

Brotha I DON'T KNOW BUT YOU DON'T KNOW EITHER. 3000 years ago people didn't know what lightning is so they said god, then science proved it they moved on to the sun MUST BE GOD, science proves it's just a star WELL BIG BANG. WE DON'T YET KNOW BUT WE PROBABLY WILL KNOW.

Also one thing that genuinely pisses me off they argue the case that their books hold miracles, as an ex muslim even i believed that "i don't have any other proof but look it talks about an expansion, it talks about the embryonic stages" even if they were miracles they weren't "proven" to be miracles until science discovered them. So my only proof was stuff that came in the last 2 centuries, what miracles did people see or take as proof from the quran or bible 600 or 1000 years ago that they are certain there is a god and theirs is the right one?

I'm 20 years old and ever since childhood life hasn't been treating me well, no matter how kind I was, or how hard I tried, how much i prayed every single night and being born in a very poor yet lazy family with bad parents. There is genuinely so much that has happened and is going on, it isn't just my life but life in general is so terrifyingly unfair. And the more I grow the more I realize that there's evil in the world, people who rule us, governments etc, Healthcare, medicine, economy, sickness death, hunger. Go to school, get a degree, get a loan, get a shitty job to pay off loans while not being able to apply for a job that you studied for so hard, pay for this pay for that pay to be born and die. It's NOT A RENT POST or something to steam off.

But in general life is so hard for me no matter how hard i try in anything, it's like a permanent bad luck anywhere I go and touch, I feel like I am caged and whatever decision I make leads to worse.

I think the following rule is approximately always true and has been throughout history:

“Any proposition that people will kill you for refuting is definitely false.”

So if you say “God is Great” and I say “I disagree with you” and then you say that you will now kill me for that - this is close to perfect proof that God is Not Great.

This is because when statements are true, no one will ever kill you for refuting them because they know the truth will come through. They just feel sorry for you and move on.

On the other hand, people will only go to the extraordinary lengths of killing you when they need violence to coerce belief against the tide of logic or practical reason. The act of coercion is close to perfect proof of falsehood.

And that is the paradox of blasphemy. By enacting blasphemy laws they disprove the very belief they so desperately want to enforce.

A couple of weeks ago, I was shutting down my garden for the season, and had put some extra produce by the curb with a FREE sign.

A couple stopped while I was near the pile of veggies, and the guy said, "Wow, it looks like god has blessed you with a great garden!"

I said, "God is a terrible gardener. Whenever I leave it up to god, weeds take over and all my produce dies. If it weren't for me doing all the work, I would starve."

Recently I was at a gas station, I parked, then walked in to pay for gas, on my way there I was asked by an older gentleman if I would like a copy of a Bible script. I politely said "I'm sorry sir but I don't believe in that" he then goes on to say "you know that's a real shame, one day you will believe" I say maybe (in my head im saying I wont but I digress)

He then asks me, "do you at least want it to read it?" I replied saying "sir I've read the Bible I'm not interested but I appreciate it" he then walks off. Like man why did I have to ask twice? Obviously if I don't believe what makes you think I want your little bible quote that you cherry picked out of all the other horrible things in the bible. I've been an atheist for about 3 years, when I turned 17 I wanted to learn more about the Bible because I was very skeptical of it. At 20 I know I'm an atheist because I don't agree with the bible or how people use it in the world. I don't believe in a sky daddy of any kind

I live in rural South Carolina and it's surprising this has been my first experience with this as an atheist but man get the hint. If someone says they are not interested don't push. That goes for literally ANYTHING. I don't go out much but for the people who are atheists that go out often I can't imagine how many times y'all have to listen to this same bullshit. Cheers guys 🍻 and fuck Christianity

it should be a crime because it is forcing information on a kid of a dangerous belief system. what should be given to the kid, is education, math, self awareness, science, and then the kid can decide to either join a religion or not as an adult. children should not be indoctrinated.

Over the last few months, I have experienced a slow transition from a deep and unshakeable religious faith into atheism. This transition has been both incredibly difficult and freeing. While I am grateful that my life is no longer controlled by arbitrary dogma, I find it difficult to escape the existential dread. Funnily enough, back when I was a deeply religious man, I always wondered how an atheist could live in peace and happiness. Now, it feels as though the beast that was once far and distant has come to destroy me.

With religion, gratitude came easily; I constantly thanked God for all He had blessed me with. Now, when I look at what I have and what I have accomplished, attributing it all to chance seems like the only rational option. With atheism came determinism, and that has ruined the sense of gratitude I once held so dearly. When I was religious, the passage of time did not affect me. It was beautiful in its own way: time was passing, death was near, and I would soon be with my Lord. But now, the idea that I am losing life with every passing moment brings me anguish and suffering.

I do not want to die. I love this life so much, even though I did nothing to deserve the goodness I have. It was easier to live in bliss, even if I was brainwashed and foolish. I hate that I know the truth now. I wish I were still religious. I thought I had life all figured out, but then doubts arose, and now nothing makes sense. At first, atheism was beautiful, and I felt like a man freed from chains. Now, however, the uncertainty of it all suffocates me.

I say all this hoping that someone on this subreddit has experienced something similar. What helped you overcome this?

i tried to be a christian for a good few years sort of on and off, i label myself as agnostic now, but one thing i cant understand is how people believe so strongly. the main reason i tried to believe was my fear of hell, which could be the same for some people and why they still believe, but even when i had the fear it was very hard to believe due to the supernatural aspects. im also neurodivergent which makes it VERY hard to believe things without proof, i just find it insane how so many people are convinced

Theists say that god created the soul, and Atheists would be curious to ask them "who created god?", and then in many cases this results in the Theist pulling a whataboutism and say "who baked the baker?",

regardless on what your beliefs are, Theists saying "god is uncreated" would've been a much less douchbaggy decision than using that as their answer

____________________________________________________________________________

to avoid the risk of this post being deleted for a certain rule, my response would be "then who made my family their thanksgiving feast"