intro

[el_presidente]

I've struggled with a religious identity my entire life. I was raised in a nominally Christian household, and I was scared into being "saved" and attending church later on. At that time in my life, "I am not worthy" was a fundemental part of my day to day life; the fear angle certainly worked for a while. The absurdity of Biblical literalism - and the fervent way that people performed the most amazing mental gymnastics to make it all "fit"in their mind - brought me largely to my senses.

For about ten years I've considered myself agnostic. In actuallity, I just gave up looking and made a concerted effort to ignore anything religious. I confused atheism with arrogance (it took me a while to realize that, like anyone else, atheist individuals are just individuals; some people are arrogant and unpleasant regardless of their position on god). It was intellectually lazy of me to make sweeping assumption about a philosophy - or whatever you want to call it - based on limited exposure to:

1. Stilted portrayals of Richard Dawkins
2. My incredibly bitter atheist ex-girlfriend
3. Several national atheist organizations I have a negative impression of for assorted reasons.

...but over the past several months I've been compelled to find an answer of my own. I wanted to have a position of some kind, whatever it was.

Finally on Thanksgiving Day, it occured to me that I have no reason to believe in God. None. Since I do not have faith, I would therefore have to be persuaded by logic to get/have it... just saying "I have faith" or "I believe" doesn't make it so. And, to the surprise of nobody who is reading this, my investigation has not produced any faith in God; the more I investigate, the less I believe in God.

And thus I became an atheist. I do not believe in God because I have no reason to believe in God.

[Traveler]

Welcome aboard, and thanks for sharing your story. 

[OldGit]

Welcome, presidente.  You have come to a good forum for one in your position.  Merry Xmas!

[Tank]

Hello el_presidente

Good to see you finally made it out from under the influence of institutionalised Superstition!

Thanks for making the effort to sign up and join in.

Welcome to HAF.

Regards
Chris

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Some threads you might find interesting.
Where did you get your username from?
10 Things About Yourself
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Photography
Non-religious pet peeves
Pets...what do you have?
Favorite Song, with video
How to tell your family you are an atheist.*

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[xSilverPhinx]

Welcome!

[Chronos]

Welcome to skeptical belief/reason/rationalism/atheism ...

... just saying "I have faith" or "I believe" doesn't make it so. And, to the surprise of nobody who is reading this, my investigation has not produced any faith in God; the more I investigate, the less I believe in God.

I was the same, but I never became atheist, per se, I merely started using the term for my self since it is appropriate.

However, I consider myself a born-again atheist, which is another experience entirely.

[The Magic Pudding]

Welcome el_presidente. 

I can think of one member who'll be pleased to have a president, it opens the way for a brutal uprising.