I think it's very noble of you to express your belief. The world is made for all. But, be kind to others people's beliefs. You might get people to listen to you. It's just called,"understanding". Like a small child, some parents "tell" a child what to do. While others explain "why" to a child to understand the reason.

So, that being the case. Just explain when and why did you decide to be an atheist? And, what was you "religious" upbringing before the change? (not that it means anything, it's to give a broader picture)

Thank you for you honesty. And, I could understand completely how you feel. My mother-in-law (she passed away 11 years ago) as a young child was put in an orphanage due to the fact that her mother died (she was not given her last rites, we don't know why). And her father could not take care of all of his children on his own. And, run a business at the same time. This was in 1918. It was a Catholic orphanage miles away from her family. And, the nuns were cruel to her. One, day a young child of three died in her sleep from an illness. She was in the next bed over. She was frighten to be sleeping next to a dead child for the whole night. But, they made her. Other things happened as well. Then her father brought her back home when she was in her teens. She changed her religion to Protestant. So, I do understand complete how you feel.

As, for myself, even though I was baptized. I had no religious upbringing, period. Nothing. Never went to church. Never knew how to read the bible. I was like a "throw-a-way" child. In more way then one. But, I went through the opposite experience. I understand what you and my mother-in-law went through. I met a Monk. He was the most wonderful person I have met in my life. A good person. A good soul. And, at the same time I met a woman who was a Jehovah Witness, she was great also. These two came into my life not wanting anything in return. And, that was what was important to me. Religion didn't come into my life until years later. And, that was totally my own decision.

Don't you think that proof can be subjective though? What constitutes proof for one person may not for another. Ooooo…I think I feel a blog coming on….

LMAO! Yes, the Proof is in the Pudding. For me we are not here to give proof. We have to "get it" /wink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> .

Regan, very true.

I was raised in a Roman Catholic household, and attended a Catholic school from grades 1 through 8. We had no "diddling" priests at our school but had a few sadistic nuns. It was their behavior that made me start to question the whole religion thing. There were more than just rulers applied as weaponry, and the "penquins" as we called them seemed to take great glee when applying punishment, which isn't to say some form of discipline wasn't deserved. But it was the sadism that gave me pause.

I was an altar boy (which brings smiles to the faces on those who know me) and I remember with perfect clarity a thought that came to me while serving Mass. Why would an omniscient, omnipotent, all-loving God create creatures he knows will let him down? And doing so be damned to eternal torture? He would certainly "know" he'd be sending most of his creations to the fire, so why bother? This is where one might insert one of those "God works in mysterious ways" apologies and I didn't buy it then any more than I do today. I wondered why the great "thinkers" of the Church, Thomas Aquinas, and Augustine argued that torture and death were appropriate punishment for heretics. Didn't seem in any way moral to me. Was this really the teaching of Gentle Jesus, meek and mild? And hitting puberty at the time, I wondered what all the antipathy towards sex was about, though you can see this in many other religions. Fear of the birth canal as well. Even Budda is said to have come onto this vale through a slit in his mother's side.

I became agnostic as I headed into a secular high-school, a fence-sitter so to speak. It was in college after a semester in a Logic class that I just said eff it, I'm an atheist. Reading Hume and Shelley and Paine made me see things more clearly and I never looked back.

On the morning of September 11, 2001 I changed again. I became an anti-theist. Watching the images of the planes smashing into the buildings, over and over, I looked to a co-worker, a man from Iraq and said "Bin Laden." We would come to learn that many of the hijackers were of the middle-class, and well-educated, some with advanced degrees. Their anger with the West, the US in particular, wasn't because of hegemony, politics; no it came from the Quran, the Haddith as interpreted by the militant mullahs at their mosques. They were bedazzled, beguiled and bedeviled with thoughts of glorious martyrdom, and took thousands of innocents with them. There are far more eloquent authors than I that can detail the dangers of militant religionists; and I would gleefully assist in any way to defeat those militants who chose to bring harm to ourselves or our way of life.

Of course there is much more to it than that, but it's a pretty good thumbnail.

Thanks for your honesty. I agree with you, to a point. I’m a Roman Catholic, too. It’s a part of who I am and I don’t feel the need to question whether there is a God, or if He’s good. All those things that you saw and experienced were clearly wrong. In my opinion, religion, when passed through the lens of the human eye, can get warped when its translated into an institution. I believe that there is a pure and shining truth out there, but human intervention tarnishes it. Those instances that you cite, Bin Laden, the cruel nuns, Aquinas, seem to me to be the evolution of thought in the instance of Aquinas and Augustine, if they did indeed say that, and warping religion’s intent and message to satisfy purely evil desires in the instance of Bin Laden. At one time, women were thought to be no more than moronic children, not fit to make their own decisions. At one time, women were not allowed to own property. Over time, we’ve learned differently, perhaps ignoring Plato, when he said that everyone should fulfill the job they were meant to perform. The world has come to agree that torture is a criminal offense. I’ve heard Muslim scholars say that Bin Laden has perverted the meaning in that religion for his own political end. Personally, I don’t believe that God is vengeful and that most of his children will pass into fire at the end. I believe that if there is a shred of regret and a desire for forgiveness, that that person will not pass into death at the end. And I’m not trying to proselytize anyone. I’ve had this conversation with my husband. He had a bad experience when he was growing up and he blames the church for it. In essence, he’s throwing out the whole of religion because of the actions of one person. Sorry if I went O/T…I guess I'm guilty of that often.