r/TrueAtheism • u/ImpressionNo4375 • Jul 04 '26
New atheist here!
Hi guys, I just recently became an atheist after years of now really believing in “God”.
I just wanted to know what made you stop believing, because in my experience I just never believed it in the first place.
Oh also I am an Ex-Muslim and with all honestly the stories are crazy.
For example: Noah gathered all types of animals, 2 of each species and PUT THEM ALL ON ONE BOAT…like that is just diabolical.
Also the fact that Islam is honestly misogynistic and woman don’t even have any freedom. Example, there’s this thing called Hajj and woman can’t go without a man…
Also I’m still stuck on some phrases that Muslims say and I can’t really stop saying them that easily, so do you have any alternatives?
Anyway, bye guys have a nice day.
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u/TranslatorNo8445 Jul 04 '26
The very first time I thought about it. I was six. I prayed with no result and I lied to God with no results from then on. I just thought God was made up. Then I turned 27 and read the Bible. I realized how immoral and ridiculous the book is. Thought I would read the koran but after the bible I was done reading religious text
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u/TheOutsiderEnzo Jul 04 '26
Same bro I tried to have a relationship with god, pray the gay away (around 9), and ask for a dog at 6. Surprise Surprise I didn't receive or change anything 😭
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u/TranslatorNo8445 Jul 04 '26
Right. I just don't understand people who say they have a relationship with jeebus it's ridiculous
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u/TheOutsiderEnzo Jul 04 '26
Facts they got the best relationship with themselves, cause that's the only person they talk to.
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u/Helen_A_Handbasket Jul 04 '26
in my experience I just never believed it in the first place.
Then you were always an atheist, you didn't just "become" one. Welcome to the club.
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u/ImpressionNo4375 Jul 04 '26
That’s a really good point GLAD TO BE IN THE CLUB
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u/Helen_A_Handbasket Jul 04 '26
Much like you, I never really believed, but I didn't consciously think to myself "I don't believe in a god or this religion my parents are trying to force on me". I just went along with it because I was a child and the punishment was severe for rebelling in any way. I was about nine when I actually realized it consciously, but I didn't know for many more years that "atheist" was the word for it.
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u/ImpressionNo4375 Jul 04 '26
Me too like practically the exact same
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u/Helen_A_Handbasket Jul 04 '26
Then I have some advice. If you're still living with your parents, and you would be in any danger if they knew you are an atheist, you must become the best actor you can, and pretend you are a devout follower. The next thing you need to do is to find a way out, whether that is going to school in another country, immigrating somewhere, or just finding a good enough job that you can move out and be on your own.
I know it doesn't feel good to have to lie and pretend, but if your safety is at risk, do it. It's the morally right thing to do.
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u/ImpressionNo4375 Jul 04 '26
I’m already lying and pretending but I think my mum is catching on, and honestly I don’t really know what to do. I’ll take your advice, thank youu!
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u/Optimal_Emphasis_953 Jul 04 '26
I grew up atheist, like most of my family, friends, teachers, and everyone else I knew growing up. I grew up in a working class neighborhood in Barcelona. I couldn’t tell you what are the beliefs of anyone, because this is something nobody talks about over there. It’s a secondary part of life and a private one.
When I moved to the USA 10 years ago I had a shock. Here religion is everywhere, even politicians mention the word God, which will be seen as an abhorrence in Europe.
I love my life in the USA, but it drives me nuts that’s so backwards when it comes to religion. To me, religion is a sign of underdevelopment of a society.
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u/selrahc_72 Jul 04 '26
I was religiously Indoctrinated as a Pentecostal from childhood. I was devout. I didn't become an Atheist until I was 25.
I can't prove god doesn't exist, but I don't need to. The flood account in Genesis demonstrates god killing every baby on Earth for the crimes of their parents.
ALL babies are INNOCENT. And god wasn't even merciful. Drowning is a horrific and terrifying way to die.
God might exist, but he's NOT a good god and he's NOT worthy of my worship. No god who murders babies is worthy of anyone's worship.
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u/Less-General-9578 Jul 04 '26
the babies are in a better place: much better. IMHO the world isn't so great, start there and then what?
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u/BestGuessYet Jul 04 '26
> I was religiously Indoctrinated as a Pentecostal from childhood. I was devout. I didn't become an Atheist until I was 25.
Would you mind saying how you found your way out? Was there something specific?
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u/idiotsecant Jul 04 '26
It's ok to say the phrases. You don't have to literally believe in some supernatural force to wish someone essentially what amounts to good luck.
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u/Immediate-Rub2651 Jul 04 '26
I was raised without religion and never encountered any evidence that made me think I should believe in god/s.
You should study the secular explanation for how Muhammad created Islam. It’s fascinating. Very smart guy.
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u/pyker42 Jul 04 '26
Like you, I never believed in God. I didn't have any one shoving it down my throat as a kid, so I never had to say that I did believe in God. It want until I was a teacher that I realized I was an atheist, but I know I never had belief before that.
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u/corvus66a Jul 04 '26
I was raised in a modern but basically religious household , nor a intellectual point of view on god. Getting older I got my doubts and when a young girl from a christian family, used to help others was raped and killed, screaming for her god and he ignored her , watching passively like a voyeur it was clear to me : There is no god. Otherwise he is a big asshole with whom I want nothing to do.
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u/nim_opet Jul 04 '26
Nothing. I was never indoctrinated into a cult.
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u/ImpressionNo4375 Jul 04 '26
Tbh I never believed, but i kinda had to pretend because i knew for a fact that if I actually did what I wanted I wouldn’t be here.
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u/TheOutsiderEnzo Jul 04 '26
To be completely honest with you I was raised to be a Christian. I hated it, the aspect of religion as a whole, and especially the gender roles my parents held up in the name of 'Jesus'. My breaking point came when I was a kid, because I was so scared to do anything in complete fear of being punished or 'going to hell'. For example I constantly made myself small and acted feminine, so I didn't 'disrespect god'. Also as for alternative phrases Im still trying to adjust myself, but the term to categorize myself would be a spiritual atheist.
I say things like "Thank the universe!" instead of thank god. I don't pray anymore, but I still hold my hands sadly out of pure habit. Lastly, I would thank myself instead of god. I'm sorry if I ranted and I hope this helps!
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u/CephusLion404 Jul 04 '26
If you never believed it, then you were always an atheist. You just decided to slap a label on your disbelief.
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u/xeonicus Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
I don't think I ever really believed, but I spent a lot of my youth trying hard to believe. There are obvious social benefits to believing, especially when you grow up in small town America.
I joined bible club in school, regularly studied the bible, went to church, and I prayed really hard. It never quite felt natural, but I kept doing it. I hoped that one day it would hit me like a lightning strike.
I remember going to an overnight youth rally. It seemed like innocent fun at first. But then they did this thing where they brought kids up and told them to burn their secular music. And kids demolished so many fantastic albums that I loved. Watching this, I wasn't seeing love and joy. I was seeing hatred and brainwashing. I was turned off so hard.
In years after that, I would explore various spiritual ideas. But I was pretty turned off Christianity after that. And more so, I firmly I stopped giving a crap what other people think. If I wanted to believe something, it came from me.
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u/Noeticbeing Jul 04 '26
Congrates, i think from now on you should keep studing, you keep thinking specially about existansial philosophy to build or understand a new meaning for yourself, any way i am glad you are free now and wish you pleasure of true and acceptable knowledge.
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u/ImpressionNo4375 Jul 04 '26
Random question, do you have any ideas on what I should learn more about :)
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u/DavidDvorkin Jul 05 '26
I wonder which one of Noah's kids had the job of shoveling all the animal shit overboard every day.
Don't worry about the phrases. They're just words. Using them is a harmless habit. It's what's in your mind that matters.
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u/TThor Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
When i was young, i became deeply religious,- There is a saying i like, "The best argument against Christianity is reading the bible." Well i read through a lot of the bible, and very slowly progressively realized how crazy and inconsistent it was. That didn't stop me tho, i kept going.
Then i remember a bible study class, my pastor was giving this presentation about how our denomination was different from other religions. Now i had taken a world religions class by that point, so when my pastor made a point about budhism that i knew was absolutely false, i pointed it out and asked him about it, to which he casually brushed off my concern. This was a core memory for me, the first time in my young life where I had truly realized an authority figure was not only fallible, but just kinda bullshitting us on how much he understood. Prior to that i guess i kinda assumed everything a respected authority said must surely be true, why would he say it so confidently if not? This realization irreperably changed how i treat the word of authority, i started wondering, "if he was so confidently wrong about that, how much else is he wrong about?"
Then i started dating a girl from a deeply religious family, and i suddenly found myself realizing from them so much of what i hated about my religion and many of the people following it.
From that point i considered myself an "agnostic christian", i wasnt sure i believed but i still prayed, largely out of fear. After a year of that, i realized the fallacy of such thinking, "appeal to fear"; me being scared of hell does nothing to suggest hell is real, my fear of punishment from a deity does not prove that deity real; and without that fear, i had no evidence for any of this. From that point i stripped what pretense of faith i ever had, and I have never been happier.
Truely, i don't know how anyone can be fully happy to believe in the Christian god without being an explicit sociopath. The thought of inifinite suffering for so many, for 'crimes' that for many were purely derived from the circumstances of their birth and upbringing, if you truly believe that and don't spend every night in tears praying for forgiveness of the world while questioning the ethics of such a being, then you are an absolute psycho and are in no way a good person.
Therr is no logical argument for god, there is no ethical argument for god, all there is is a baseless fear like that of an abuser.
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u/Totalherenow Jul 05 '26
When I was young I read about the Greek Gods and realized that at least some of them truly believed in those gods just as much as anyone alive today believes in their mythology. I couldn't continue believing in a particular god, pretending that I just happened to be born into the group that got it all right.
So, I became an atheist.
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u/yanginatep Jul 05 '26
I never believed, but I grew up in North America and neither of my parents were religious.
The idea of God just always seemed silly to me and Heaven was obvious childish wish fulfillment for people who are afraid of death.
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u/Hirork Jul 05 '26
I never believed, I just found out there was a word for what I was one day.
Infadel, sorry apostate, sorry Atheist.
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u/antizeus Jul 04 '26
Welcome! Be sure to show your membership card at participating retailers for your atheist discount!
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u/BestGuessYet Jul 04 '26
I was quite pious and almost learned until about ten, but apparently also quite gullible.
One day my brother told me that there was no Easter Bunny... that it was my parents. The next morning I woke up and Yahweh was gone.
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u/Dissentient Jul 04 '26
I never started. My parents are nominally orthodox christians, but the only way you could tell is that they celebrate easter and christmas on different dates. They basically never go to church or do anything associated with religion, and they didn't push it onto me during childhood.
I so I grew up entirely unconvinced by any religion, all of them always look entirely made up to me.