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At what age were you properly introduced to science?

Started by Amicale, April 28, 2012, 02:54:33 AM

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Sweetdeath

Gosh, i'm sorry to hear about your friend's little sister.
I was never religious myself, but my dad is/always was. I think a lot we have in common is as going through a traumatic event, understanding that life is random. Nothing is divine. There is no such thing as luck or god's protection.

We learn. We grow wiser. We hopefully (if you were a theist)  leave religion.
Law 35- "You got to go with what works." - Robin Lefler

Wiggum:"You have that much faith in me, Homer?"
Homer:"No! Faith is what you have in things that don't exist. Your awesomeness is real."

"I was thinking that perhaps this thing called God does not exist. Because He cannot save any one of us. No matter how we pray, He doesn't mend our wounds.

ThinkAnarchy

Quote from: Amicale on April 29, 2012, 07:08:02 PM
I guess a better question really would have been at which age we were properly introduced to skepticism.

My general skepticism started around 15 to 16 years old for me. I began asking a lot of questions in Religion class and could feel my blood pressure rising when one of my teachers would deflect a question. One I remember is when we were being taught that anyone not baptized would go to hell, to which I raised my hand and asked. "What about children that die before they even have a chance to be baptized? How would a god, who is deserving of our respect, sentence young children to hell when they didn't even have a chance to be baptized?" To which the teacher answered, "Well he sends them to purgatory for a while, because he does't think that would be fair either." I followed up asking, "How is that any better? Why should they be punished for something they aren't responsible for." If memory serves I still didn't get a satisfactory answer and that Q&A ended there.

At around 16 or 17, I began dating an atheist, which helped me see how big of a douche Catholicism led me to be. I was seriously struggling with my own beliefs at the time, so I overcompensated by trying to convert her. Needless to say, that relationship was doomed early on.

At 18, we went on a two day religious retreat during school hours. At the time, I really wanted to believe in god, but knew I had no reason too. I woke up around 5:30 AM and drove to school just like every other day, where I hopped on a school bus to head to the retreat. It was a 1-2 hour drive. When we got there we did some team building exercises, we than played frisbee football before lunch. We did some more games and more physical activity. This went on until midnight when we headed to the chapel for prayer.

In the chapel, there were men who could speak in tongues, my teacher being one of them. They offered to pray over us, much like what you see on tv when the person grabs another's head, starts shouting at them, and they collapse. I sat in my seat watching. They warned us that it wouldn't work if we didn't truly open our minds and hearts to the Holy Spirit.

I eventually worked up my courage to stand in line. Still praying for god to prove he existed through this practice. When it was my turn, my teacher put his hands on my head and started screaming. A surge of energy traveled down my body, from my skull to my feet. It was euphoric. It was really amazing. I fell and was caught. I sat on the ground for a while crying. I finally knew for certain god existed.

This lasted until the next morning when I started to think about the previous day. I thought about how they drained us of energy through physical and mental activity. I quickly realized that what had happened to me was not evidence of god, that I was weak at the time, both physically and emotionally. I suspected this was nothing more than my mind playing tricks on me.

Oddly enough, an experience that solidifies most peoples belief, actually was my final step in escaping my bondage.

After that point, my skepticism began to evolve into other areas.
"He that displays too often his wife and his wallet is in danger of having both of them borrowed." -Ben Franklin

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." -credited to Franklin, but not sure.

ladyblackwell

I had been introduced to science from an early age. My favourite places when I was younger were the local science and natural history museums, and I was given my first encyclopaedia when I was five. My parents never made a connection between science and religion, so it never really impacted me.

MariaEvri

hmm I don;t remember age exactly. I remember when I was in elementary school, the one (of our two) tv stations was showing national geographic documentaries every weekend afternoons. I guess I started from there
God made me an atheist, who are you to question his wisdom!
www.poseidonsimons.com