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Kilted_Warrior
Skeptic Friend
Canada
118 Posts |
 Posted - 10/11/2002 : 18:43:45 [Permalink]
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My Story is also different. My parents decided to not force any beliefs on me, and let me choose for myself. I chose science at a very early age, an havent wavered since.
Uh oh, I'm ranting again... |
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Radar
New Member
United Kingdom
20 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2003 : 06:46:37 [Permalink]
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Never had any religious bumpf put on me by my olds at all. I although was christened as it was the done thing, and had C/E marked as religious choice, I still have no interest in any religion that tell me what I can and cannot do what so ever.
I was raised under the tidy your room philosophy though! |
Tact is the ability to tell a man he has an open mind when he has a hole in his head.
I spy with my little eye a UFO, Unattached fit object. |
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ljbrs
SFN Regular
USA
842 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2003 : 19:30:38 [Permalink]
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Actually, none of the choices reflected my home religious environment and my non-believing despite all of this.
My selection was:
quote:
Raised completely without religious bias, Still atheist or agnostic.
However, my family was religious, but I never took the bait. Their attempts to make me religious were rather silly. I saw right through their attempts. So, I have always been a non-believer in religion of any kind. I was never given valid information to think otherwise. They tried....
ljbrs  |
"Innumerable suns exist; innumerable earths revolve about these suns in a manner similar to the way the seven planets revolve around our sun. Living beings inhabit these worlds."
Giordano Bruno
(Burned at the stake by the Roman Catholic Church Inquisition in 1600) |
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tomk80
SFN Regular
Netherlands
1278 Posts |
Posted - 04/03/2004 : 18:59:21 [Permalink]
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Since I'm new here, this seems like a good topic to start posting.
My parents were Christian, although my mother isn't a practicing Christian. I went to Sundayschool untill I was twelve, and stopped going after that. Since that time I've been agnostic. |
Tom
`Contrariwise,' continued Tweedledee, `if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.'
-Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Caroll- |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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SemolinaPilchard
New Member
1 Post |
Posted - 04/06/2004 : 15:38:27 [Permalink]
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I as born into a strong Roman Catholic family, attended parachiol school  (and colleges ), went to church every Sunday till I was 18.
I akways had my suspicions, but once I studied the Bible, Josephus, The history of Rome, specifcially the Roman / Judean conflict it became clear to me how and why Christianity developed. I do believe that the stories are probably based on an historical character, but he is barely recognizeable in the extant literature. Some parts of it are most likely factual (NOT the parts that violate the laws of physics), possibly in some different way than told.
(but even his historicity as been questioned of late by Earl Doherty  ) |
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Tom Morris
New Member
United Kingdom
10 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2004 : 11:23:37 [Permalink]
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| I'd say I fall somewhere between "Raised completely without religious bias, Still atheist or agnostic" and "Raised in a nonpracticing religiousenvironment, stopped believing". My parents were/are (semi-)religious (I can never really tell - in Britain, one can qualify as an Anglican by, well, having a glass of wine at Christmas - I can't remember the joke about the vicar welcoming Satanists to the vicar, but it was funny nonetheless), but they never had me baptised and, although I went to a religious school, it wasn't for religious reasons (in the UK, primary schools are overwhelmingly religious but secondary schools usually aren't - my primary school was Catholic, with the full daily prayer trim, and my secondary school wasn't). I started questioning religion by the age of about six, and by about ten or eleven, it was fully sealed in my mind as being complete nonsense. It wasn't until I started browsing the Internet and reading about fundamentalists and other illogical idiots that I started getting really angry about it... |
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coffee_is_lord
New Member
New Zealand
2 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2004 : 16:09:55 [Permalink]
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Intro: I'm agnostic in the sense that I acknowledge the fact that human existence has certain properties which will always remain beyond the ability of science to fully answer or explain - like the question of ultimate origin and purpose.
I accept the conclusions of evolutionary biologists regarding the origins of life on this planet.
It's exciting to live in this modern era, in which the work of evolution theorists, cosmologists and physicists are providing us - meaning, the common man! - with greater knowledge of man's place in the universe than we have ever possessed before.
I wonder, however, if there are other skeptically-minded people, like myself, who find some of the implications of these insights a trifle depressing? That is to say, the "open-endedness" of the theories, the fact that we can't make the comforting glib "absolute" pronouncements of religion regarding ultimate truth and destiny and purpose? The fact that life may be well and truly "meaningless", that a human life (or any life) has no intrinsic value, is not in some way precious?
In a world without faith, what distinguishes an evil act from a good act? What is the ultimate basis of a system of ethical behaviour?
And if I contrive such a system (as all communities do), why do I choose to direct my actions towards "the good" rather than towards "the evil", apart from the fear of retribution?
Why do I love my children, apart from the fact that I've been programmed to behave that way by evolutionary biology, to nurture my genetic potential?
Questions like these need to be attended to. We need to look beyond mere petty squabbles with religionists; while it's obvious that the scientific world-view has superceded the religious world-view in terms of the former's ability to explain the "how" of phenomena, it's equally obvious that BOTH world-views lack the ability to answer the "why" questions.
Now that we've thrown off the shackles of the religious mindset, we find ourselves adrift in an amoral (or at best, morally ambiguous) void - how do we define meaning for ourselves without faith?
My strategy has been to accept the meaninglessness of existence, but internally to embrace a kind of defiant stance towards it. I will die, possibly suffer in the process, and be consumed by like any other organism; there will be no continuation of my life-essence, no nirvana, no reincarnation, no paradise. But while I live I choose to behave in a compassionate manner towards others. Being amongst the very few (as a proportion of total world population) persons who are privileged to have attained to these insights - not through my own efforts but through the good fortune to have read the right books, interacted with the right people - I also feel that it is part of my "duty" to impart these insights to those still locked into religious modes of thought.
There's a certain irony here, because in a sense I've undergone a "conversion" experience from a pre-agnostic state to a definitely agnostic, skeptically-minded state; and I now see myself as privy to knowledge ("truth"?) which I would like to share with those still "ensnared" by superstitious/religious ways of thinking.
Now who does that remind me of ;) ??? |
He who has imagination without learning
Has wings but no feet. |
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Zygor7
New Member
2 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2004 : 22:18:38 [Permalink]
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You need an other.
Raised in practicing Christian household, taught to think for myself, study my butt off in math and sciences and found that 30 years of studying actually solidified the Truth of Christ and Scripture.
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2004 : 23:37:07 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Zygor7
You need an other.
Raised in practicing Christian household, taught to think for myself, study my butt off in math and sciences and found that 30 years of studying actually solidified the Truth of Christ and Scripture.
I should think this option covers it: "Raised in fervent religious environment, still believe."
No? |
"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 11/13/2004 : 01:51:54 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Zygor7
You need an other.
Raised in practicing Christian household, taught to think for myself, study my butt off in math and sciences and found that 30 years of studying actually solidified the Truth of Christ and Scripture.
Yah, right...science sooo backs up the Bible.
You sound a bit trollish to me. I'll bite. Since nothing in the Bible amounts to more than the group of men who wrote it knew about the world at the time, just where or what in the Bible solidifies anything true about Christ and the book itself?
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Shlomo Alkabetz
New Member
5 Posts |
Posted - 11/13/2004 : 11:38:47 [Permalink]
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Uh, perhaps an other would be nice. Something like raised in a religious background, strayed, came back, something like that.
I was raised Catholic with absolute minimal 'religious' pressure or guidance, you know, typical Northeastern Us Catholic...first Communion, Confirmation, weddings, funerals, Easter, Midnight Mass on Christmas, the occassional Sunday. My Methodist father believed a kid should be raised in the denomination of the mothere, but then, when old enough, be allowed to choose to stay or switch. Not a bad idea.
Army...Viet Nam....hospital for a year, some bad stuff. No religious nothing for the next 20 years or so, even looked at Wicca.
Then came back, but not Catholic, but since then have dropped a lot of the animosity towards Cathoicism. Things I got sent home from school for asking about are now in the CCC. Go figure.
Jusr my opinion, but as for science vs the Bible, the bible wins everytime. The scientific types refuse to deal with anything they can't explain and there are just too many things that can't be explained.
Seek ye your own salvation, with fear and trembling
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| Edited by - Shlomo Alkabetz on 11/13/2004 11:48:43 |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 11/13/2004 : 13:10:04 [Permalink]
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Welcome to SFN Zygor7, Shlomo Alkabetz, and (albeit belatedly) coffee_is_lord, SemolinaPilchard and Tom Morris.
I'll put my two cents in, but I thought I'd comment (somewhat off-topically (if that's a word)) how interesting it is to read through this now two and a half year old post and see all the people who were once regular posters but now never make appearances. Where did they go?! 
Anyhow, my story is, I imagine, more traditional for an atheist-skeptic: grew up in a traditional Christian-practicing house without thinking much about the alternatives. During college, though, the conforming pressures of home were lessened, and new avenues of thought could be explored. Over time, the inability of Christianity (or the supernatural in general) to be adequately defended in any logical or rational manner led me to abandon the whole thing. And now, some (few) years after college, here I am happily posting on a website devoted to skepticism. |
| Edited by - Cuneiformist on 11/13/2004 13:11:25 |
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