Deconversion stories?

I used to be baptist as well, but only when I was really young.
Religion stopped being a fit for me around age 10 or so...but my family is extremely religious, and I still (mostly) pretend to be a christian.
I'm double closeted lol.

 

I was born and raised Catholic, even went to Catholic school all the way up until high school graduation. My family was never super-devout-Catholic or anything, but I stopped following religion informally around 13 or so, conveniently right after my Confirmation.

I think I just decided I didn't like believing in a bunch of things just because other people did. I'm not opposed to religion, but I'd rather find that belief myself.

 

My father is religious, but not that much. And my mom likes reading and learning about the bible, but she is not crazy about religion. I was never religious, neither was my brother, we are both atheists. Sometimes I'll label myself as an agnostic, but... yeah. I don't like religion that much and it doesn't make my life better or worse, so... it's all good. My mother's family as a whole is not religious, so... we don't ever discuss about that.

 

I went from Southern Baptist to Buddhist.

Does that count?

 

I was raised Christian/Catholic, and was until I was about 13. Then I started questioning, did some research and realized there were huge, gaping holes in it. This was about the time I realized I was transgender, too. It's a religion written around the fact that there's nothing there. Atheist and proud now.

 

I was raised catholic, i went to catholic elementary school and I currently go to catholic high school, I think I went athesit not so much because the thought of a God, just the God that catholicism as well as many other relgions portray. And one day I got tired of being called an abomination or hypocritical and hateful things about me so I quit. I am more a man of science personally and my personal beliefs go against the church beliefs, so I didn't have much of a choice from that aspect.

 

Raised Roman Catholic, followed all of the traditions and went to church, that such. I still have to pray when I'm at my dad's, or nonna's house since they're both extremely devout Roman Catholics.

I'm agnostic, even as a kid I never understood the dedication to an imaginary figure. Or following a book that wasn't even written by "God" himself. And why follow a religion that criticises me, and says that I'm going to burn in hell because I'm a sinner. It was illogical to me. As I grew up, I guess I started identifying as agnostic, agnostic-atheist, when I learned those terms.

 

Before I was 11 I was christian then I saw a program on tv called "The problem with atheism" the arguments were so pathetically weak I became an atheist

 

I was raised in a family that did not really have any religion in it. I went to a united methodist church on my own because of an after school program. It was held at the church down the street from me. This got me really involved in the church.

I started to question my faith and my sexuality at the same time. It confused me that when people told me that "God loves everybody" and then told me right after that "God hates fags" (Yeah... I went to a church that used that statement). At this time, I was the youth group president and I was really active in the church. So, I just buried my feelings by keeping myself busy.

When I went to college, I met other atheists and heard their stories. Some of them directed me to this youtube video series. I finally realized that I was actually not a christian anymore. I'm not at all opposed to religion, but I just cannot believe in it anymore. I still find religion really interesting though. I enjoy to study it. I'm hoping to take a comparative religious thought course next semester at college.

 

I was raised in a very Christian home, was baptised at ten, and counted myself as strongly Christian until a few months ago. Then I just slowly stopped believing in God. I hadn't been to church groups for some time due to illness, where I used to go up to five times a week (though more often only twice); this meant that I was no longer in the Christian culture and was not having my faith reinforced regularly, which I am certain contributed. There wasn't any great event or struggle that triggered my deconversion, just doubts followed by disillusionment both with the glory of the church and with the idea that Christianity is (a) correct and (b) consistant.

It was mid January when I began to really question whether I believed in God, and I was utterly terrified. I pushed away the questions and the doubts; they were wrong. It just got bigger, though, and I eventually talked about it with a Pagan friend. If you're interested in our conversation, it's here (mods: I cannot be identified or contacted with that link). It is now at the point where I am an atheist, and I'm slowly becoming okay with that. It's important that I do not want to go back to Christianity out of fear for what others may think of me if I'm not Christian, so at camp this Easter I'll be poking and prodding people's beliefs. I hope to either come away with a strong faith once more or to be sure that I do not want to be Christian again.

 

Well, I went from an agnostic to an athiest. That count?

 

I was brought up Christian/Catholic...never truly believed in it. Actually I hated having to go to church and what not. Then my entire family (mom,dad and sister) just fell out of the religion, and we all stopped believing at the same time. So now we're pretty much buddhist/atheist.

 

Grew up Presbyterian, realized the sheer stupidity and moral double standards, became atheist/agnostic. Which is not good for me (and I can't be open about it) because I live in the land of the religious psycho.

 

I definitely believe in a higher being. I grew up believing in god and all of that. I'm definitely becoming spiritual! But a friend of mine... my gosh. Total 360.

Her dad is a pastor. She was always my "spiritual advisor." However, she started to cut back on her beliefs. She realized that women weren't being treated fairly in the church and a lot of the fellow church goers were NUTS. When her grandpa passed away this year, she just up and quit. She's pretty much anti-church now.

I think this is what is happening. A lot of people are becoming more "spiritual" - - yet they are ditching church, and for good reason. Mind you - there are some great churches out there. It's just a huge hassle to figure out "will this church want to burn me at the stake?"

 

I have grown up a Roman Catholic and attended Catholic school all my life, including the High School where I am right now. My family was always very faithful, but would never be considered "bible humpers".

Through the past 3 years or so, including last year when I finally came out to them, I've noticed that we've kinda moved aside from the one faith to see the "Big Picture", all of us together. Personally, I feel we have a deep sense of spirituality, but we don't limit ourselves to a flawed, and man-made organization.

 

I'll add that to my list of videos to watch after midterms! Thanks for the suggestion!

 

I was raised Baptist. Spent most of my teenage life wondering why I didn't feel close to God and afraid I wasn't really "saved." I didn't feel the "love" I was supposed to have for God. Then I realized that a god who sends people like me to hell for not having faith, when he refuses to give me any reason to believe, is not a just god. Since then I've come to realize the many other contradictions of the Bible and now I base my beliefs on reason and experience. I'm an agnostic deist.

 

OMG I went through exactly this! I was raised religious and I think religion is a terrible thing! -well there are some things from my religious teachings that I value so I dont think its all bad. But I feel brainwashed, still to this day I can hardly shake the idea of "heaven" and "hell" from my beliefs. I always say to myself "I dont believe in hell" and I think its actually starting to stick!