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The Lobby => Introductions => Topic started by: Rosycheeked_rebel on July 11, 2020, 07:46:06 PM

Title: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Rosycheeked_rebel on July 11, 2020, 07:46:06 PM
NULL
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Mike Cl on July 11, 2020, 08:44:57 PM
Hey--welcome home.  And it's alright to be a little angry.  Or a lot angry, at times.  Like now. 
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Unbeliever on July 11, 2020, 08:47:28 PM
I'm looking forward to your posts, you seem to be someone who'll have fun here. I don't really know how to ''come out'' as an atheist since I was never in a situation where I had to worry about it, but you may have better luck with other posters here.
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Blackleaf on July 11, 2020, 09:37:26 PM
Considering how much Christians have fucked up our country, and how they continue to do so, I'd say we're justified in being pissed off at them. Evangelical Christians still support Trump after all this shit, so fuck them.
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Hydra009 on July 11, 2020, 09:45:36 PM
Quote from: Rosycheeked_rebel on July 11, 2020, 07:46:06 PMI'm obsessed with space and the ocean. I love rock music, though I will never have the voice for it, and chocolate and vanilla millshakes are the best!
Oooh!  I like this one.  Welcome!
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: aitm on July 12, 2020, 08:58:00 AM
Welcome. Hope you stay. We only have one butt-head here. Easy to spot so no reason spoiling the discovery.
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: SGOS on July 12, 2020, 10:14:54 AM
I hope you stay.  I'll be happy to hear more from you.

Quote from: Rosycheeked_rebel on July 11, 2020, 07:46:06 PM
outing myself as an atheist will also mean outing myself as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, which undoubtedly played a large role in me leaving Christianity and not liking religion, and going into detail about the trauma I have and how Christianity has played a significant role in it. Not everyone deserves to know, but I also want to stop putting on a facade,
I don't make a big deal about outing myself.  At one time when I discovered I was an atheist, I felt like I needed to talk about it, but I don't think it's necessary unless you want to be a part of an activist organization.  I don't have an interest in that.  I originally started participating in forums like this just to help sort out my own issues, and learn more about who I was. 

Over the years I found out some of my closest friends were atheists.  Can you imagine?  I never knew because that's who they always were and it wasn't an issue for them like it was for me early on.  They never brought it up.  I don't think they were hiding it.  It just wasn't that important to them.  That's kind of the way I've become.  I'm just happy with myself, and tend not get in other people's faces unless they demand that I be there. 

Religion is a private matter.  At least I think it should be, and the same goes for atheism.  People that make issues out of everything, have too many issues, IMO.  They are close cousins to the chaos junkies. I don't need that in my life.  I probably make this sound too overly critical.  I just don't find chaos and conflict very helpful to myself.

I did out myself as a wilderness advocate one time.  I became president of an advocacy group.  I became known as an environmentalist in Montana, which is not really the same thing as a wilderness advocate, but it does piss a lot of people off, especially those in industry.  In order to move our agenda along, I had to out myself by calling attention to the failures of forest destruction.  True, I made some very close friends, but some bitter enemies as well.  It needed to be done, but it's a roller coaster.  Some adapt to that better than others.  So outing myself is something I'd only do when it reaches a certain level of necessity, or serves a greater purpose.
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Sal1981 on July 12, 2020, 10:36:55 AM
Welcome to the super fun house. Enjoy your stay.

I'm a Christian apostate. I became convinced that the Bible was no better than horseshit (although horseshit you can at least use as manure) when I was around 13 years old due to inconsistencies within the Bible, but it took me 4 grueling years to accept it and leave it behind. To me atheism (and every personal conviction) is a private matter that I only share with close friends and family, without wearing it on my sleeve. This wasn't always the case as, like most recent apostates share, there was for me a period of anger stemming from being left with the feeling of being lied to about the nature of faith. In that period I was an insufferable "activist" in my little personal circle of friends and family trying to deconvert them. I look back now at that time with disdain for my past self, because I admittedly was quite intolerant of other people's convictions. This, in turn, is why I think it's so easy for people to 'other' people different from themselves, instead of accepting differences in convictions people have.
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Baruch on July 12, 2020, 02:35:51 PM
Quote from: aitm on July 12, 2020, 08:58:00 AM
Welcome. Hope you stay. We only have one butt-head here. Easy to spot so no reason spoiling the discovery.

Hey!
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Baruch on July 12, 2020, 02:37:29 PM
Welcome also.  There is some religion discussion going on.  Given the times, politics rules everywhere ;-(
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on July 12, 2020, 03:46:28 PM
I was born an atheist, so I had  nothing to be angry about.
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: SGOS on July 12, 2020, 04:22:13 PM
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on July 12, 2020, 03:46:28 PM
I was born an atheist, so I had  nothing to be angry about.
So was I, but then they took it away from me, and didn't want to give it back.  Actually, I don't think I was angry about being fooled.  I was angry and cried when they told me there was no Santa Claus, so when it dawned on me that God was just the grown up version, I'd already been through the worst of it.
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on July 12, 2020, 06:35:34 PM
Quote from: SGOS on July 12, 2020, 04:22:13 PM
So was I, but then they took it away from me, and didn't want to give it back.  Actually, I don't think I was angry about being fooled.  I was angry and cried when they told me there was no Santa Claus, so when it dawned on me that God was just the grown up version, I'd already been through the worst of it.
I was expelled from Sunday School when I was seven years old. I asked them why God had to kill all the kittens and puppies.
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: SGOS on July 12, 2020, 08:17:03 PM
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on July 12, 2020, 06:35:34 PM
I was expelled from Sunday School when I was seven years old. I asked them why God had to kill all the kittens and puppies.
Let's face it; Christianity is one morbid religion.  It worships an idol nailed to a cross.  It's absolutely barbaric at it's core.
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Rosycheeked_rebel on July 13, 2020, 02:58:30 AM
NULL
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on July 13, 2020, 08:46:00 AM
Quote from: SGOS on July 12, 2020, 08:17:03 PM
Let's face it; Christianity is one morbid religion.  It worships an idol nailed to a cross.  It's absolutely barbaric at it's core.
Well, it originated with old men talking bullshit while sitting around camel dung fires, so what would we expect.
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Mr.Obvious on July 13, 2020, 09:56:16 AM
Welcome to our little band of heathens.
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Baruch on July 13, 2020, 12:11:19 PM
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on July 13, 2020, 08:46:00 AM
Well, it originated with old men talking bullshit while sitting around camel dung fires, so what would we expect.

Those were the winners.  You should see the losers.  Wiping their ass for millennia with hot sand!
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: trdsf on July 14, 2020, 01:42:45 PM
Quote from: SGOS on July 12, 2020, 08:17:03 PM
Let's face it; Christianity is one morbid religion.  It worships an idol nailed to a cross.  It's absolutely barbaric at it's core.
I suppose if Christianity were starting now, the symbol for it in a thousand years would be a hypodermic needle, or a noose, or whatever execution technique is in vogue wherever it might start today.

It's hard not to define Christianity as a sort of death cult -- the worship of the cross, an object of death by torture, the beatification of martyrs, and the teaching that this life is bad or tainted or impure or something and that the "real" life comes 'after death'.
Title: Re: Honestly...so happy to be here
Post by: Draconic Aiur on July 14, 2020, 11:59:05 PM
Quote from: Rosycheeked_rebel on July 11, 2020, 07:46:06 PM
Hi everyone.

First, huge thanks to the admins for letting me in.

I'm a 20-year-old from New York. I left Christianity right before my 15th birthday I think. I started off as the stereotypical angry atheist, before relaxing and easing into agnosticism. I stayed there for a while, and made my way back to atheism only within the last month or two. I'd like to think I'm not angry now, but unfortunately due to the hold religion and fundamentalist Christians still have on my life, I am. I wouldn't say I'm anti-theist, but with time I've become more and more anti-religion.

I like to separate the reasons why I left religion and why I'm so critical of it now into subjective and objective reasons. Subjective pertaining to personal experiences, particularly negative ones and let-downs, that showed me Christianity was full of it; and objective pertaining to the typical, universal questions and reasons that cause people to leave (seeing the contradictions, how much it clashes with science, how it fuels and endorses division, etc.). With more time and posts, I could probably delve into this more.

I really would like a place where I can be myself, around like-minded people. I'm not out to a lot of people in my life, some by choice and many not so much, about this (although I have been more open about critiquing and showing distaste for religion as a whole). The people close to me who do know are not respecting it and seem to have a large desire to "bring me back". There will have to be a time, probably soon, where I will have to just be honest and tell the truth. It's so loaded; outing myself as an atheist will also mean outing myself as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, which undoubtedly played a large role in me leaving Christianity and not liking religion, and going into detail about the trauma I have and how Christianity has played a significant role in it. Not everyone deserves to know, but I also want to stop putting on a facade, allowing people who do know to think they have some right to walk all over me for their own gain, and just be able to live my truth fully. I'll probably ask here or in some other atheist groups I'm in how to prepare for that when the time is right.

This is getting heavy and a little too long, so I'll wrap it up with some fun facts: I'm an anthropology major and psychology minor, hoping to maybe pursue a PhD. Cultural and linguistic anthropology are my niches. I'm hoping to maybe work in victim advocacy, healthcare, or the legal system. I'm passionate about mental health awareness and reform, as that is something close to my heart. I consider myself to be a feminist (also undoubtedly plays a large role in everything). I love fashion and beauty, I'm a huge girly girl, and my favorite colors are purple and pink. I'm definitely a cat person. My favorite flowers are roses and sunflowers. I'm lowkey starting to hate summer and am waiting for the day our planet can provide steady, stable weather that isn't one extreme or the other again (assuming we haven't damaged it too much...). I'm obsessed with space and the ocean. I love rock music, though I will never have the voice for it, and chocolate and vanilla millshakes are the best!

I can't wait to be active here and possibly even make a few friends. I know I damn well need it.

Welcome! Also it's great to meet someone close to my own field. I'm a History major and a Anthropology minor.