Glad to be out

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There's only about week left for our Spring Cleaning Contest (details here fav.me/d5zxa0d ).  So get your submissions in!

In case you need some inspiration, let me list a few things I'm personally glad to be rid of after leaving Christianity:

:bulletblack: Shitty Christian music.

:bulletyellow: Shitty Christian books.

:bulletblack: The stares and disapproving glances at church.

:bulletyellow: The self righteous pissing contests over who can be the most “godly” (ie not masturbate the longest or who can quote the most scripture).

:bulletblack: Constantly wasting time reading and memorizing the pointless rewritten retranslated words of ancient ignorant flat earthers as if it was the most important task in life (for said pissing contests).

:bulletyellow: Constantly praying, whether physically on my knees or having a one-way conversation with Big Brother in my head, despite never seeing prayer answered or understanding the purpose for it if god supposedly had a plan anyways.

:bulletblack: The feelings of self doubt and not being good enough (rather, religious enough) when prayer didn't work, being told it was my fault for not having enough faith or that some mundane harmless “sin” was separating me from god.

:bulletyellow: Feelings of guilt over things not worth feeling guilty over, because they were “sinful”, despite their being benign or even natural.  Indeed even being burdened with a need for redemption from “sin” I was supposedly born with.

:bulletblack: Shame over human anatomy and anything even remotely sexual, with the mere glance at an attractive woman being compared to adultery and worthy of going blind over.

:bulletyellow: Fear over displeasing Santa, I mean god, by being naughty or having bad thoughts or somehow upsetting his ridiculous oversensitivity which could result in his not talking to me, raining down fire or some severe punishment, or perhaps sending me to burn in hell because that will show me.

:bulletblack: Being pressured to conform not only to someone else's twisted ideas of “morals” but also a conservative lifestyle with “family” constantly emphasized, where everyone has to get married and have a million kids and work 60 hours a week in a cubicle at some monster company, and essentially have your life sucked dry, by the time you're 25.  And if you don't meet their requirements, then you have to pray and “seek god's will” more.

:bulletyellow: The racism, sexism, homophobia, antisemitism, or any other demonization of anyone outside the group, from politics to other church denomination, and then being the one looked down on or criticized for speaking against it because I somehow offended the “true victims” of society, the white middle-class male Christian.

:bulletblack: Waking up early on one of my few days off to hear awful music, to be preached at about how I'm not good enough through the selected quoting of an immoral contradiction filled book, to talk to people I neither really know nor really like and having them pry into my life to ensure I'm living up to their expectations, to give up at least 10% of my income (plus more so some other person I don't know can go tell poor people in other countries how they're not good enough), to take a shot of cheap grape juice and stale crackers, and to pray yet some more usually for help to be as good as that immoral book just quoted said I should be (and maybe to ask if I should give some more money).

:bulletyellow: Pressure to proselytize to and drag to church any unbelieving (or other denomination attending) family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances and total strangers, with the implied consequence of not doing so being their eternal damnation and me to blame for the failure of conversion.

:bulletblack: All the time and energy wasted discussing, debating, reading, and thinking about all the different theologies, dogmas, and biblical interpretations, pondering which were correct and revealed the “true” character of god, because apparently he couldn't be bothered he make it clear, and despite everyone having a “relationship” with him no one seemed to agree on all or any of the numerous tedious points.

:bulletyellow: Church politics and bickering over ridiculous pointless things, like whether the kids in Sunday school should get crayons while they're indoctrinated.  The never ending discussions on church buildings and property, with some new construction projection or expansion or upgrade always needing attention (and, of course, more money).  The constant expectation that you drop everything in your life to rush to the needs of the church, that you better show up other days besides Sunday morning, and even if you're there 7 days a week it's still not enough.  Anything which takes you away from the church, even family, is looked down upon and hints that you're not really devoted to the faith because you skipped one event are anything but subtle.  

:bulletblack: Having to put on a fake smile and a clean wholesome appearance all the time like a character out of some 50s sitcom because otherwise something “must be wrong” with my spiritual life.  Any mention of something not being “just dandy” becomes an instant confession of my corrupt evil sinful ways, only to be remedied by false pity, pious judgment, and more prayer.

:bulletyellow: Being content having simple “answers” which don't really explain anything, and viewing any doubt or questioning of the spoon fed clichés as wrong or even “of the devil”.  

But the thing I'm most glad to be rid of with my former religion is the rejection of reality and stifling of the mind through fear.  I'm not sure if anything is as satisfying for me than learning new things in science, history, world cultures, and the natural cosmos.  I have a new found love for information and education, and a refreshing healthy curiosity about the world that denied me for so long.  Science has opened my eyes, provided answers, explained things and taught me how to think in ways religion never could, and through discovery and enlightenment much of the fear and uncertainty of the world faded away.  When I was still in the religion I heard a lot of talk about “joy” that Jesus could give (it's certainly a good marketing technique used for all sorts of products), but I learned it's something inside yourself, you just have to follow those things which make you happy.  Family and friends were always the ones to give me joy, not the dogma they follow.  For me it's also nature, exploration, discovery, life in general (and good music!).  The feeling I get being up in the mountains, alone except with any animals I happen to see, all the life and fresh air, and that excitement I get when I stumble across a 500 million year old fossil, when I reach a summit and the whole landscape opens beneath me, those moments give me more joy than any I got from religion.  Reading books which expand my mind and open new possibilities gives me more joy than reading that old stale book of torture and genocide, and the poorly written books which just talk about how great that one is, which close the mind and discourage discovery (especially of self).  It was always my search for truth, to dig deeper (especially when told not to), and ask questions which drove me, and eventually lead to rejection of faith and now continues without being chained down.  That's a freedom Christians can't understand until they have the courage to break free themselves.


That's just me, and just a few of many things I'm sure you could come up with, but I hope it inspires some ideas and art.  And makes you glad you're out too ;)





"God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might ." 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 (NIV. Emphasis mine).
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fuzz3Knavel's avatar
Being an atheist who grew up in a with my dad as a minister, I was expected all those things.

Plus I figured, my choice to be baptized.

Nope, my parents made me get baptized. I didn't feel different.

After my dad quit, I started to question Christianity.

I finally didn't feel afraid to start freely thinking.