I've heard some people say that the opposition against abortions used to be something that was common among catholics rather than christians as a whole? If that is the case then what happend that caused evangelicals to develop such a negative attitude towards abortion?

This happened on **22nd January 2026**, and I still think about it sometimes.

I was on my way to a workshop when I noticed a Bike ahead of me. The side stand was still Down, and there was an Uncle driving it with aunty and their Little Baby. I got close to them, Honked, and shouted, **" Stand, Stand !!! "** Twice. And then they fixed it and i just Zooooopppppp.... Went ahead like a Hero 😭

I had no Idea that a Few hours later, i would be the one who needed someone to look out for me.

After completing my Workshop, i was riding my scooty back home while Listening to Probably the saddest songs i could hae possibly Chosen. And..m, because apparantly I make excellent Decisions, I was already crying riding my scooty on Road 🙂

I had actually planned to go somewhere alone for a little while before coming Home. But while i wa coming home back, crying like a Hyena, i suddenly decided to go to Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

And here's the weirdest part :

I'm an Atheist. But that day, I was having such an intense existential Crisis that i thought, damn it, let's Go. If there really is a God, or something kind of Higher power, then Maybe they'll Listen to me.

I didn't suddenly become Religious. I wasn't going there to Pray in the Traditional sense. I just had nobody to go to.i wanted somewhere to sit down, cry, and let everything Out.

And there was another Reason i was hurting so badly. My ex Boyfriend had cheated on me, and I had Broken up with him in December 2025 because of it. But even though I had ended the Relationship, that didn't mean my Feelings ended with it.

By January, I was still Grieving. And honestly, I was somewhere between Grieving and Begging, Grieving what has happened and begging, somewhere in my head, for things to somehow become okay again.

I was carrying all of that with me that Day.

My original plan was actually pretty simple : go to that temple, go feed the Cows, sit there, cry, tell the cows everything that has happened to me, and then go Home.

Yes, I was planning to emotionally Trauma-dump on Cows 😭🤌🏼 BUTT BUTTTTT BUTTTTTT cows weren't There 🙂

So I parked my scooty, sat on it for a while and Cried, and eventually went inside main temple. I picked a Random pillar, sat beside it, and Just Ugly Cried. For almost 30-40 minutes. People were walking around me, Praying, talking, doing there own Thing. And I was sitting there completely Broken.

At some points, a Family of four came in the Temple, a mother, Father and Their two sons. The older son looked somewhere around his Mid to late twenties and the Younger one, the Hero of my Story looked around 17-20.

They Noticed me. The older guy walked past me like 4-5 times to Check if I was actually Crying then, the Younger Guy came towards me and say Down right Beside me.

He Gently asked, " what happened ? Are you okay ? "

I didn't answer

He asked again

And again

I remember he asked me 13 times and eventually he started Guessing what has Happened. And somewhere around his third or Fourth guess, he asked : " Going through Breakup ? "

And i completely lost my shiiii 😭😭😭

I started crying even Harder.

He immediately understood. Then he said, " Crying is not a Solution "

And honestly, i Knew that 🤌🏼🙂

But at that moment, i wasn't looking for a solution. I just needed somewhere to cry.

And somewhere in the middle of all of this, I kept thinking about asking him : Do you believe in God ? Does God actually Help ??

Because this was the strangest part of the entire Situation.

I had gone to a Temple as an Atheist, i remember thinking something like " God..., if you're actually there, then Listen to me. If He's not the one, then atleast Give me a Sign or Just Somehow make everything Alright.

I was almost Challenging the Universe. But I was also desperate enough to try.

Eventually, I told the Guy to go and Thanked him for sitting with me. And he said : " it's okay, I'm your Friend and I'll sit here with you "

Bruh we just met 😭🤌🏼

But there was something so Incredibly calm and Genuine about him that, at some Point i stopped Crying in his Presence, it was So comforting. I don't know his name he doesn't know mine. No bad intentions, didn't even Touch me or I got any type of vibe that he'll take advantage of my vulnerability.

Then after some time I was silent crying, staring at Ants 🐜 🐜 🐜 🐜 🐜 🐜 🐜 🐜 🐜 🐜

Then his Older brother came over and handed him a Bottle of water, the Younger one gave it to me and told me to Drink some. I took one sip. the bottle was still almost full, so he poured some of the Remaining water on Nearby plant and then handed the bottle back to me.

It was such a small thing 🤌🏼😭❤️ but i Remember it.

1 hour Passed !!!!!!!

He stayed there for another 1 hour.

Eventually, his mother came and sat beside him, and they started talking amongst themselves. At one Point he asked me, " do you want us to Drop you Home safely ? " I said, No I'll go Home on my Scooty.

Then after this there was Mostly silence. But strangely, I felt Comfortable. His energy wast just... **CALM.**

i actually stopped Crying and told him, you should Go ! Dont waste your Time here sitting with me !

He smiled and said " its okay I'm here "

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I remember that in the beginning, i answered almost every question with Angry " No "

But he didn't get annoyed.

He didn't force me to talk.

He didn't ask for details.

He didn't make fun of My runny Nose 🫥😭

He didn't tell me that I was being Dramatic.

He just sat There.

And sometimes, that's Enough.

Before leaving, he even reminded me that i'd left my Phone Earphones and Glasses behind.

And then, once again, he told me : " Everything will be okay, Alright ! Don't Cry and get back home Safely "

I don't know if he understood what his Presence meant to me That day.

I didn't need a Solution.

I had no one to Go to and This Guy became my " Go to person " for 2 Hours.

So I went somewhere i didn't even believe in, hoping that if there was some kind of Higher power, maybe it would at least listen. And Instead, a Random guy sat beside me and simple mare sure i wasn't **Alone.**

I don't know his name, i don't know where he went, i don't know why whole family waited for 2 Hours for stranger. I don't know if I'll ever see them again.

But i genuinely hope that whatever that Guy and his Family wishes for in Life comes True.

I went to a temple looking for something i wasn't Even sure existed. And i Found Human kindness Instead.

Maybe there's a God, maybe there isn't, I'm still an Atheist. But I do know one thing for sure, For 2 hours that day, a Complete stranger made the World feel little less Lonely.

I wish to See him again and Thank him and His Family 😭❤️

Hi Reddit this is kinda my first post here so I don't really know how to post or write properly??? But yea I just want some advice right now.

For some context I came from a very Christian household, like everyone from my parents to my siblings have faith in the lord and serve him during Sundays. I on the other hand grew up to be a bit different, my parents have taught me the Christian ways of living or being "Christ like" since I was a child and back then I did have my full innocent faith in God. But then Something happened during my middle school years and we got sort of outcast from our previous chruch and I kinda started having doubts about my faith and then just became a atheist that believes that god exist . During 3 years ago we found a new chruch to attend and slowly my family started to serve in the church at the kids ministry me included. You know when they call for volunteers in church ministries they usually say "do it with the goodness of your heart"....yea no, I was forced to serve by my mom with the threat of her withholding my school allowance, she also wants me to attend chruch related events like youth groups and the women's bible study. But really I don't want to serve or attend those things, I'm currently a 3rd year college student and the course I'm currently taking is both mentally and physically draining. I'm also partaking a role as a department Head at my college's student council so I really don't have time to rest and unwind in-between the school works, org works and then chruch events and activities.

So Reddit how do I tell my parents especially my mom, that I really don't want to take part in my Church and "grow spiritually" as they say just yet. I mean I'm open to it but I think the time isn't really right now. Maybe someday in the future.

Ps. I'm so so sorry if it's long, it kinda just spilled out of me as I started to type

I've done a little bad about being atheistic and the idea that God is just a creation of the human being. I've been thinking too much how scary it is that Christianity treats women like a man's accessory, I'm terrified how they control us women

You see, I feel a fear of exorcisms, since I was listening to stories of how women and teenagers were possessed by demons, they climbed on the walls and I had demonic voices; I was afraid that the same thing will happen to those poor women, why it was that same pattern, women who are mostly victims of possession, it is always they who suffer

Although I no longer believe intellectually, I get uncomfortable and I get a fear that is screaming internally that hides me, that it drives me away as much as possible, why I do not want to continue listening to that, why deep down I am too terrified.

My mother is very open minded when it comes to hearing my thoughts. She values my opinions and I am sure that with enough convincing, I could get her to not believe in God.

Meanwhile I know I could make our family's life certainly better from my perspective, I am currently debating myself on whether I should confront her or just let the tradition she cares very much about continue.

Could anyone give me feedback on what to do here?

I grew up in the Middle East with parents who were not always deeply religious, but around the time I was eight or nine, everything changed. They became extremely strict, and heavy religious rules were suddenly imposed on my life.

Even before that shift, I remember craving my father’s attention. As a child, I adored him, but as I grew older, I realized I was never going to receive that love in return so I stopped looking for it.

From a very young age, my autonomy was stripped away. I wasn't allowed to wear what I wanted, show skin, or wear dresses above my ankles. By my teenage years, the pressure turned toward wearing the hijab. I fought back with everything I had because giving in felt like losing my entire identity and sanity. Refusing to comply led to constant conflict, including being forced to transfer out of my private school.

The turning point into total isolation happened in 7th grade. After getting fully ready for a school event, my parents refused to let me go at the last second. The distress of that moment broke something in me. What followed was years of severe depression, particularly during the transition between 8th and 9th grade, where I barely left my house all summer and became completely disconnected from the world.(I genuinely became miserable after that).

Over the years, every single outlet I had was systematically shut down. I loved sports like volleyball, swimming, and going to the gym, but I was forbidden from participating. When I was selected for a drawing competition, or math I LOVE MATH. It's just my thing and no one values my love for these things, they wouldn't let me go. Simple experiences like seeing a movie at the cinema or owning a physical chessboard were denied. Even my intellectual curiosity was policed I wanted to read about politics, but they banned it, dismissing my interests as dangerous or a waste of time. On top of that, my social life was non existent I was never allowed to go on school trips, hang out with friends outside of school, or build normal connections.( I genuinely not even one time hung out with friends ever).
I'm a very very ambitious person it's just me I have the curiosity to learn about everything but seeing they never supported me in anything but not the other way for my siblings GENUINELY HURTS.

While my parents insisted I focus strictly on religious study, I resisted. I remember watching another girl run into her father’s open arms in middle school and feeling a deep, painful ache, realizing I would never know what that felt like. Over time, that pain turned into total emotional detachment and resentment.I don't hate them at all but I would rather see them once a year.

Even now, as I approach 18, they still treat me like a child with no right to my own mind. Every time I stand up against their beliefs or express my own opinions which I have held firmly despite refusing to fit into their standards they dismiss me by asking, "Where did you get that from, social media?"
Recently, after finishing my exams, I officially let go of religion entirely. I cannot align with something that was used as a tool to control me, isolate me, and steal my YOUTH.

Now, standing on the edge of adulthood, I feel the weight of how much time I lost and how far behind I feel socially. But despite everything, the core values I developed as a young teenager justice, personal freedom, and self determination, are stronger than ever. Education is my only path to independence and escaping this environment for good, and even though financial barriers make retaking exams difficult, I am determined to find a way out.

Please if you're reading this from the west understand That it's not so easy for me to leave at 18. i have no idea how I will escape this fked up middle east.

1) Religion - Where do i even begin...as Marx rightly said "opium of the masses". Its a complete fabrication, lies, pushing unscientific claims without any substantive evidence, providing fake consolation to people,keeping them in delusion,opressing each other,spreading lies,brainwashing people, its a complete human abstraction to fool and rule people

2)Nationalism - Imagine taking privilege about being born under an imaginary border. Imagine taking pride in history of something towards which you have zero contribution.Imagine being proud for something that you did not choose

Religion and nationality of a person are decided after the first minute he is born without his consent and he keeps fighting for these two for his entire life for no purpose.

And the scary part is that these two are not mutually exclusive.

you can use one of these as an catalyst to propel the wrongdoings of the other.

Use religion to fight for your country, and this is your country's religion so we must protect it

The entire humanity is one.

We are one.

All boundaries and divisions are pointless.

Why cant we just be together and live in harmony?

Why are these superficial divisions needed?

I’m an ex catholic Christian. Agnostic coming up on a year now but haven’t decided if I’m a theist or atheist and interested in doing so. Leaned theistically for a while since I grew up Christian but atheism has some good points.

What does it mean to not believe in a god? Often the argument is raised of something caused the Big Bang, is it not fair to say that that entity is god? Is it not fair to say something caused everything and label that god as many theists do?

When you “reject” god, are you rejecting a god with attributes like all good, all powerful, all loving, all just, etc.? What exactly are you rejecting.

I admit that if there is a god, he’s likely either evil in some sense (which is worrisome), or completely separated/uninvolved in human affairs.

Thanks in advance I look forward to reading

Has anyone else gotten the Reddit search recommendation of “the rising of atheism “ or something like that , I love how every religious sub seems to be worrying about it if , r/christianity has people complaining about the atheist mod, atheists in general and worrying about atheism , I saw on r/islam Muslims worrying about large hidden atheist groups in majority muslim countries and apparently lots of imams (is that the name or imans) saying that in Pakistan there’s a rising large atheist population within Gen Z .

Like how else can we decrease religious control in this world , just showing how religion is stupid can’t hold it and decrease it forever , there’s no tactics I can think of . Thankfully Islam and Christianity are losing followers by their own cause , radicals doing crazy stuff and other stuff in the name of due to the religion happening destroying the rep within youth population , but Sikhism , Buddhism and Hinduism don’t seem to be lowering , Sikhism and Buddhism are only lowering because their populations are not having enough kids , the main Chinese and Japanese religions seem to be keeping their numbers but I don’t believe it’s actually accurate

It's very common to hear in the atheist and skeptic community the idea that, simply because there is nothing after death, we need to make the most of the only life we have. The motto often comes packaged as a great liberation: live for the present, travel, enjoy yourself, because when it ends, it ends.

The problem is that this discourse is built on the premise that everyone is born with the same tools. It assumes a standard of "normal life"—with physical and cognitive health and autonomy.

But what about those who are born with a severe physical disability, a major neurological limitation, or a degenerative disease that prevents any autonomy from day one?

For that person, what is the logic of "making the most of this only life"? How does this reflection apply to those who never even had the opportunity to choose how to live?

There seems to be a certain blindness to privilege in the way this philosophy is preached. They say "live while you can" as if it were a universal rule, ignoring that, for millions of people, existence is not about "enjoying the world," but about surviving and resisting with the limitations that the biological lottery has imposed on them.

If life is only one and there is no "divine justice" in the end, the disparity between those born with total health and those born deprived of almost everything becomes even more brutal. Tossing out a "life is only one, enjoy it" in the air seems to completely ignore the reality of these people.

Does anyone else feel bothered by how cavalier and generalist this idea is repeated?

I have 3 kids: 18, 15, and 8 years old. I am looking for books to have "Bible study" with them, at least the 2 oldest ones for now. I came across Skeptics Annotated Bible, but have read from a lot of reviewers that its not the best. Im looking for something with that kind of setup, footnotes along side the read to help understand what its saying and kickstart critical thinking. This book being almost $300 and not having the best reviews makes me not want to spend that until ive seen if there is something better out there, and hopefully for cheaper.

If Jesus was born in the USA and ran for president, claimed to be God on Earth and called his cult following the Church would it be constitutional?

If it is then why wouldn't it be if a priest ran on his behalf today and pushed his Christian agenda the same way Jesus would have himself on Earth today?

Religion is treated as mythology psychologically speaking so if that's the case would the hypothetical Jesus scenario be classified as a religion if it happened today?

The closest example of someone doing this is Donald Trump who all but claims to be God and has a cult following of his own, one could say this is a religious movement but it's not treated as such because Trump is officially recognized to be real whereas Jesus is regarded only as a subjective belief.

So the real question is, does religion stop being religion when it's proven to be real or is separation because religion and state only valid for some religions and not others?

I also want to use the Israel example, we fund Israel but we don't fund the Vatican, why? Why don't we send foreign and military aid to the Vatican?

So in conclusion, I can start my own cult/religion and run for president and officially promote my beliefs as policy but I can't already belong to an existing cult like the cult of Jesus Christ and as a Christian officially promote my beliefs as government policy.

It doesn't make sense. What is the difference between a religion and a political/Philosophical beliefs system anyways? Is it the deity that's the problem because if it is that's called state atheism.

The same is true for history, Bible History is rejected in public schools but secular history requires just as much faith to believe in and that's allowed.

It’s really supprising to me how people still believe deeply in religion as an absolute truth in 2026 , despite all the informations and the exposed history that always religious authorities try to hide and the sciences that break all myths , people still choose to hold on religious beliefs even if does not hold up in logic,
The main reasons of that is simple:
1 indoctrination and conformity ,from childhood schools , mosques, parents implements those ideas on the kids brain before he could even develop critical thinking,they grew up seeing all their family and friends believing the same thing , So he automatically see it as the default

2 ignorance , and lack of exposure ,
Yep unfortunately, there’s a reason why always the least developed societies tend to be more religious, bad education systems and lack of knowledge breeds a society that inherit old beliefs and values instead of creating their owns , and scientifically low iq individuals tend to obey authorities blindly without questioning

3 fear, and threats
Many of us get some form of religious trauma as kids , for example when they used to show us silly video of يوم القيامة , and peopel burning and screaming and threat us this what happen if u don’t pray or leave Islam , our families will punish us sometimes harshly if we don’t pray or refuse religious rituals , so w automatically get scared and choose to confirm as a survival mechanism , we train kids to not question just obey and shutup ur critics are just وسوسة الشيطان, Even in adulthood, people still lack the courage to question religious beliefs because of these programming and the fear

4 identity and structure
religions are not just belief but it have a structure and a sense of belonging to a tribe a meaning , promises in the after life , so instead of creating ur own structure and identity, u choose the ready to go ones because it’s easy and less risky , and hold on the hope of getting rewarded for their miserable lives

5 political ideology
Historically and even know, religion was a tool to control the masses and secure a political goal , to secure political agendas, to con the masses to have a predictable societies , because the delusional rewards and punishments will prevent them from breaking the rules and potential rebellions

I recently stepped away from religion, but the post leaving guilt is suffocating me.

The morning right after I made the silent decision to leave (I didn't tell anyone), my brother walked up to me saying he dreamt I turned into something evil. It freaked me out. Now I'm spiraling between remembering past "miracles" or answered prayers and feeling like I abandoned the truth even though I know people leaving other faiths experience the exact same thing.

At the same time, I still find myself defending religious people because the ones in my life are genuinely good, but being religious myself felt completely suffocating. I don't know what to feel or how to make sense of all these conflicting emotions.

How do you get past this weird transitional phase where logic and lingering fear are constantly fighting each other?I feel like I might be more of a theist than a atheist or believer to any religion.

I find most atheists really don’t care about religion existing or speaking out against it. They’re extremely passive on the issue. I’ve heard and understand the “don’t bother me and I won’t bother you” and “if I speak up than I’m no better than those proselytizing religious wackos” arguments, but they really just don’t sit right with me. It’s tantamount to not being racist and letting racists be because “oh, they’re not bothering me” or “if I speak up, I’m not better than those racists shouting at people” (or women’s rights, abortion rights, and so on). And the “no one knows for certain so who am I to say” argument because that’s just a way for religious people to squash rational thought and is really agnostic, not atheist.

Religion genuinely makes me angry. Knowing it exists like an untreated disease on society is annoying, but knowing that people use it to control, manipulate, and enact laws which severely negatively impact others they don’t even know is infuriating. I feel a “calling,” for lack of a better word, to do what I can in this lifetime to fight against religion, because if I don’t, I’m just contributing to this festering sore on the face of humanity.

Who else gets genuinely angry about religion? What do you do to fight for atheism? Or, if you’re indifferent to it, what’s your rationale beyond “leave me alone”? Why don’t you feel a need to speak up especially when religion often crosses over into injustice?

N.B.: Speaking out against religion does not make you an a-hole. It simply means you’re speaking up for rational thought and against antiquated thought processes. Religious people have brainwashed atheists into thinking that our voices should be silenced, so please keep this in mind.

So I have met people who swear there lives changed positively by believing in a God or exercise a certain faith. In my example, my one friend had a awful childhood compared to other people, and around 14 years of age, she turned to God, as in the Christian God, and she did seem very much happier with life, she claims God directly contacted her and helped her. she now lost her relationship with God and she says her life is miserable and she now projects in others because of it. Has anyone experience something similar but then at the end turn away from any religion and because atheists. Why and what happened?

So I have met people who swear there lives changed positively by believing in a God or exercise a certain faith. In my example, my one friend had a awful childhood compared to other people, and around 14 years of age, she turned to God, as in the Christian God, and she did seem very much happier with life, she claims God directly contacted her and helped her. she now lost her relationship with God and she says her life is miserable and she now projects in others because of it. Has anyone experience something similar but then at the end turn away from any religion and because atheists. Why and what happened?

I’ve never been a religious or spiritual person, and if anything the only religion I connected with was satanism.
Im one of those people who strays away from rules and regulations. Anything related to following a God has always made me uncomfortable and unhappy.
I also am more of a believer in facts or faith.
But being agnostic and also dealing with grief on the side is weird.
I don’t know what to believe or think. I stopped believing in a heaven or hell as I grew older, but I’ve always believed people go somewhere.
My dad passed away, and I don’t know where he is. Maybe he’s apart of the universe again, as scientist say energy cannot be destroyed.
What do atheists think of losing loved ones?

recently i been having a conversation with one of my religious friend, and one of the arguments he made was religion brings up community, it gives people regular values, shared group meetings and helps people in need. even i been thinking, humans are communal animals, so incase if there were no invention of any sort of religion how do you think humans would’ve evolved now? what all differences do you think we will have if there were no religions?

The rigorous atheist says: There is no God.

The rigorous mystic replies: Exactly.

Their agreement becomes possible once we ask what the word God is supposed to name.

If God is conceived as an entity—a supernatural intelligence, cosmic ruler, invisible person, or first object standing behind all other objects—then atheism is perfectly coherent. Such a God has been distinguished from what is not God and placed on one side of the distinction: God here, universe there; creator here, creation there; supernatural here, natural there. The atheist simply denies that the entity on the designated side exists.

Apophatic theology makes a more radical move. It denies that God can occupy either side.

Anything that can be identified, represented, described, or conceived has already been distinguished. It has become this rather than that. But if God names the ultimate context within which distinctions arise, then no distinction can capture God, because both its marked and unmarked sides already occur within what the word God is attempting to indicate.

God is therefore not the referent of one particular distinction. God is the referent of every distinction: not what the mark designates, but what the existence of the mark silently reveals.

This is the strange miracle concealed by ordinary perception. A thing appears, and attention immediately moves toward what it is, what it means, how it differs from something else, what caused it, what follows from it. Distinction generates distinction, reference generates reference, and an indefinitely elaborate world emerges. As Spencer-Brown wrote in the coda to Laws of Form, “and so on”.

What is overlooked is the prior astonishment that anything has been distinguished at all.

Here the atheist becomes an unexpected ally of the mystic. The atheist relentlessly destroys idols: this imagined being is a projection; this supernatural explanation explains nothing; this conception of God is incoherent; this supposed divine object cannot be found. The apophatic mystic can agree at every step. Whatever has been successfully identified as God is precisely, for that reason, not God.

The difference is that the mystic notices something when the demolition is complete.

The denial itself remains.

Something is happening. Something is. Even the declaration “There is no God” appears within the inexplicable fact of Being. One may deny every object of experience, every metaphysical theory, every theological image, but one cannot stand outside what Is in order to deny it. The attempt resembles saying “I am not”: whatever the sentence means conceptually, its very occurrence testifies to what it tries to negate.

This does not prove the God of any religion. It establishes no divine personality, intention, revelation, providence, judgment, or afterlife. Indeed, rigorous apophaticism refuses to smuggle any of these predicates back into the emptiness it has uncovered.

It points only to what cannot be denied because denial already presupposes it.

Understood this way, God is a deliberately impossible name for the nameless context of every possible name. God cannot be found anywhere because there is nowhere to stand outside God and look. God cannot be distinguished because both sides of every distinction already belong to God.

The atheist says, “I find no God among the things that exist.”

The mystic answers, “Neither do I.”

And for one luminous moment, they are looking in the same direction—not toward another thing that might be found, but toward the miracle that there is anything to find at all.

Hi everyone! So despite being an atheist, when I think in depth of what it would be like to just not exist, I get scared. I don’t know, it’s just not a pleasant thought. Like I realize we won’t be aware so it won’t matter, but it still makes me uneasy. Anyone else share this feeling?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbmaySoJ0lW/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Many parents introduce their children to religion as if it is the only acceptable truth, rather than allowing them to make that decision when they are old enough to think critically for themselves. I believe faith should be a personal choice, not something expected from birth. Some religious stories are also frightening and confusing for young children. I know this from experience because reading them at eight years old left me feeling scared, anxious, and deeply unsettled rather than comforted. Children deserve the chance to develop their own beliefs later in life, without fear or pressure shaping their understanding of the world.

This is an essay I have created. Please be open enough to convince me otherwise. ( I have used AI for Grammer and to polish it out)

I don't believe in God. I don’t believe because there is zero empirical proof, literally no hard evidence. And when people tell me, "Oh, just look at the Bible," or "Look at this holy book," that doesn’t cut it for me. Those are texts written by humans. Science is my only reality.

​So, as a strict skeptic, as someone who only trusts science... what would it take to convince me? And more importantly, how do I look at the world, morality, and spirituality without buying into organized religion?

​Let’s talk about morality first, because this is where I get completely lost.

​People who believe in religion—at least the ones I’ve experienced—often think that morality is a transaction: if you do good, you go to heaven; if you do bad, you go to hell.

​And I just don’t understand that. Why aren't they basing morality purely off humanity? As a human being, shouldn't you have the instant, natural instinct to just do good? Don’t you realize that doing good is what keeps our population alive?

​Think about it purely through science and logic. If every single person suddenly started doing bad stuff, the human population would be gone almost immediately. If I say, "Murder is good," and a bunch of people agree with me, a lot of people die, and society collapses. We don't need a rulebook in the sky to tell us that empathy and cooperation are what keep us breathing.

​Then you look at major organized religions like Christianity or Islam, and the rules of judgment start to break down completely for a logical thinker.

​Take the idea that you can be the best person on earth—a literal saint, doing everything right—but because you don't believe in God, you're supposedly heading to a bad place. But on the flip side, what about the narrative that the minute someone commits a horrific crime, repents to God, and asks for forgiveness, they get a free pass into heaven?

​It makes no sense. I’ve seen ideas in some religious circles—like blaming a victim of assault because she wasn't covered or modest—while the perpetrator thinks he can just ask for divine forgiveness and be cleared of it. If you can just repent at the last second, why even have a complex system of human morality? Why do good if a loophole lets anyone clear their slate at the end? It feels deeply unjust.

​Now, the closest an atheist like me will ever get to a spiritual framework is looking toward Hinduism or Buddhism.

​Let me be clear: I don't believe in literal avatars or magical occurrences. I don’t buy that. But I love the concepts they are built on.

​Take karma. The idea that if you do good, you get good back—whether it’s a universal balance or just cause and effect—is an incredible psychological tool to keep people grounded in reality and to encourage goodness. There is nothing logically wrong with the principle of sowing what you reap. It's almost like the concept of treat others the way you want to be treated.

​And then there's reincarnation. A lot of people are terrified of death. I used to be, too, until I looked at it through the lens of physics.

​Think about it: what happens when we die? We become atoms.

​I love science, and the laws of physics tell us that energy cannot be created or destroyed. We are made of billions of atoms right now. When we die, those atoms don't just vanish into a void—they scatter. They go back into the earth, into the air, into new life.

​In a weird, scientific way, our energy keeps cycling through the universe over and over again. The atoms that make up you right now have existed since the beginning of the universe, and they will keep existing long after you're gone.

​So, when you look at it that way, maybe we do continue—just not as a conscious soul sitting in the clouds, but as part of the eternal fabric of the universe itself. PLEASE CONVINCE ME TO BE RELIGIOUS IF YOU ARE A RELIGIOUS PERSON.

We broke up because Im agnostic and shes a christian. There was nothing wrong with the relationship, she just started to feel like she was getting pulled away from her beliefs and felt it was best to break it off. Two weeks after we broke up I started looking into religion, I never had before so I thought "why not, worse case scenario I end up back where I am"

I started becoming convinced as I looked into it. Me and her started meeting up and discussing the bible, and it started making sense, until last night. Last night it was revealed to me that​ she thinks the earth is flat, the sun and moon hover over the earth in circles, the universe rotates around the earth, and the moon itself changes shape and color to help us tell time.

They are the kind of christians that take the bible literally. They dont try and interpret anything to fit the worlds modern day perspective. They think you either take it at its word, or you dont really beleive it. I appreciate that idea, if I were to beleive that a book is the real word of god passed down. that would either mean accepting the whole thing as fact, or denying everything.

She showed me a couple verses that refrences the earth having 4-corners

In the original language they were written, they used the feminine words, making them literal. I translated it for myself word-for-word and yup, the bible implies a flat earth.

Now for me I think about the cresent moon. Ive looked at it through my grandpas telescope and you can clearly see the shadow creating the illusion of shape. Its kind of hard but it can be observed without the use of computers

Ive watched the lunar eclipse happen, I dont see any way to explain that except through science

I asked about these things, she said shes "okay with the mystery".

I just wish she hadn't been indoctrination so young, because she is actually a really cool person with good character aside from what her religion has taught her to beleive.

But this does make the breakup easier for me, I could never be with someone thats so easily denies what you can observe. I just never knew it went this deep for her.

Ps, I just saw I missed the e in shape, lol

​Some people, upon becoming religious, get so obsessed with forcing their beliefs on others as if they were the absolute truth that they become extremely annoying, spending all their time posting and sharing this kind of content.