Ex-Lutheran Now Atheist

[Skip]

Hi friends, I'm a 31 year old software developer and storm chaser living in Illinois, originally from the Chicago area. I've recently made the transition from the Lutheran denomination to atheism. This is my story, and it's super lengthy so I apologize for just showing up and dumping it on the forum here. I have read several other testimonials here, and it's great seeing the diversity in perspectives and histories. If you have the time to read this, I'd greatly appreciate any feedback or critiques. This was written for my friends and family, the vast majority of whom are Christians, as kind of a coming out of the closet type speech. I expect some rebuke when I post this for them, but I'm looking forward to that. I enjoy engaging in debate and hearing all the arguments as I'm more interested in looking for truth and valuable insight rather than consolation. Hopefully this has some value for you and my friends as well. I suspect some of my friends are closeted atheists or are harboring serious doubts and don't even realize it since they've never been exposed to these concepts.

 

Skip

 

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Like in a dream, I fell from grace and awoke to reality.

 

I’d like to share my journey through faith with others because I feel there may be some out there also on this journey, those with their own questions, and others who’d just like to know they’re not alone. My journey down this road certainly isn’t over, so I’m open to suggestions, criticisms, or alternatives. However, if you’re easily offended by challenges to religion, are uncomfortable about others sharing their religious views, or are going to type “tl;dr” (too long didn’t read) then please move along. This is meant to be a positive piece and certainly not something over which to get upset or which should provoke you to remove me or others from your friends. This journey has brought me great joy and this story has a happy ending.

 

The long back story is the start of the journey. I was born into a Christian family, baptized as an infant, and confirmed as a young teen in a church of the Lutheran denomination. I’m not sure which subsect of the Lutheran denomination. It mattered to some of my family, but the details seemed irrelevant to me. The important thing was that I was a believing Christian. My grandfather was very active in the church. I remember him donning robes and addressing the congregation, although I was too little to understand any of it and spent most of the sermons sitting on the floor with crayons coloring. I remember my grandma telling me grandpa would be giving a sermon on Noah. It was exciting because that was one of the few parts of the bible that made sense to or could hold the attention of a small child. I loved my illustrated book of the flood story. The church was this massive, seemingly ancient building in Chicago with gothic architecture, huge wooden doors with wrought iron, and a dark, somber interior lit through stained glass and pale yellow lights hanging off of large dark, wooden trusses. My grandma could play the huge pipe organ. The sun was always blinding when church was finally over and you’d stumble outside. One day I remember approaching the altar when no one was around. There was some sort of large metal structure with very intricate, ornate, and gothic patterns. It was roped off and looked like some sort of scaled down castle. It was super serious and a little scary even. As I approached the rope, I felt this force through me, vaguely like electricity, like there was real power there and that it would be overwhelming if I continued on past the rope. It was the Holy Spirit or what a five year old could only assume was the Holy Spirit.

 

My next most memorable encounter with the Holy Spirit was when I was an adolescent at a Christian summer camp in the north woods of Wisconsin. You’d spend a couple weeks in the woods doing various activities like kayaking, climbing, and archery, but prayer and praise was a big part of the camp as well. The counselors would guide you through various lessons in life and faith. It was a great time making friends with many memorable moments and learning experiences. It was tough too. We’d spend several nights in the wilderness on a low impact camping trip, hiking and canoeing tens of miles, carrying everything on our backs, and leaving no marks on the land. We’d have to fight swarms of mosquitos, pick ticks off, and eat out of the same mug for a week, which inevitably added a healthy dose of sand and pine needles to each meal. It was a real challenge and at times I’d want to give up, but that was also part of the spiritual experience. The camp would culminate in this mass praise session. The entire camp would gather around a bonfire holding hands and singing. We’d lift our voices to the sky singing “Our God is an Awesome God”, swaying, embers from the fire soaring overhead. Chills ran down your spine and you’d be filled with this drug like euphoria. The emotional high would fade in a couple weeks after you’d return home, but you could still remember what it was like to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

I bring these stories up because I feel they’re important in showing that I was strong in my faith. I believed because I had felt it in my soul. It wasn’t just emotional either. I tried to be a diligent Christian. I read the bible. I studied for my communion and confirmation classes. I made time for prayer every night. I asked Jesus to enter my heart, and felt that he truly had. I was saved.

 

Yet there were things that bothered me about my faith. My mind is constantly overanalyzing things to the point that I can’t enjoy a movie if I perceive some sort of technical flaw in the plot or effects. And there was something bothering me about my faith. It was very subtle at first, an annoying tick that I could easily suppress or ignore. It might have been where God was, or perhaps it was the stories in the bible. Where was God though? People could look at nature and see God, but I didn’t. I saw wondrous and amazing nature, but not God. We look to nature for inspiration to God’s creation, but I saw just natural processes at work. Science coexisting with faith was never a problem for me. The two operated in harmony, in their own separate spaces. Science doesn’t touch matters of faith, and likewise faith is above and beyond science. I told myself that God was out there beyond the universe and he was also in our hearts and conscious souls. I hadn’t realized that science had shed light on everything else in just a few short centuries so those were the only places left for God.

 

The stories of the bible bothered me a little bit. I would dwell on the flood story. Taken literally, how could a guy stuff possibly millions of animals into a boat much smaller than a modern cruise ship? Where does a six mile depth of water above sea level come from? I’d have to tell myself that I was overanalyzing the story. It wasn’t to be taken literally. I used to watch Road runner cartoons and get angry when the coyote ran off the cliff and didn’t fall until he realized he had run off the cliff. The physics violation angered me because it was unrealistic, when as a child, I missed the point that it was intended to be funny. So I was missing the point here again. The flood story told the tale of man gone astray and rebirth of good from destruction. I could reason and attempt to rationalize away all of these nagging questions about nonsensical biblical stories and a lack of evidence for God. The core of my faith was still true, even if large portions of the bible were fable and metaphor. The vast majority of people on Earth couldn't be wrong that God was up there, that there’s more when we die.

 

The beginning of the end of my faith began in college when I took philosophy. I had one of those rare instructors that was truly passionate about what they taught and cared that their students understood. It wasn’t just a job for him, pushing students through an elective blow off course. There were no answers in the class, but the deep questions were explored. Our critical thinking skills were pushed to new levels. Some of the concepts and questions I found truly offensive. They challenged my core beliefs, and I dismissed certain philosophical problems of evil, morality, free will, and views of the world based only on the easy answers that my faith offered. But the spark had been lit, the wheels set in motion. The annoying tick over the years developed into a nagging ache that I thought a lot about now with new ways to look at these problems and deeper critical thinking skills.

 

Questions of morality bothered me the most. I’d return to the flood story. Sure, it’s a fable we tell children, but what is the lesson we’re really teaching children? Everyone was so evil they had to be destroyed? Even kindly old grandmothers knitting socks in their villages and children just beginning to take wonder in the world succumbed to horrific drowning deaths? It was absolutism and genocide. That can’t be right. Surely the flood story was just ancient mythology passed along orally for hundreds years, across several different cultures and groups of people. I had to extend this rationalization to the entire Old Testament. It’s Bronze Age mythology. It has little basis in reality.

 

And then there is hell, a spelled out threat of the New Testament. I’ve come to know and love people of different faiths, and I’m to believe that if they don’t have my faith, that they are going to burn for eternity? These are decent people that are going to be punished infinitely for the finite crime of having the wrong beliefs. What if my beliefs were the wrong ones and some other religion got it right? Even the lighter concept of hell as a place away from God, outside the light, still seemed fundamentally wrong. I’m going to spend eternity in heaven, away from the people that I love and be happy about that? I rejected that.

 

My morality was now at direct odds with my faith. I clung to my faith despite these dilemmas though, for who am I to judge God? Well, I’m somebody who learned at a very young age that my actions have consequences on the wellbeing of others. I could recognize when I was hurt and see the importance of not hurting, as well as the benefits of sharing with and loving others. If I took a toy that didn’t belong to me, I could see the hurt this action caused, and remember the hurt when my toys were taken from me and the friendships that this had broken. It’s basic morality we all learn as children from natural empathy. When I took a wild animal out of its home for a pet, the irreparable harm became painfully obvious when, unable to provide for its needs, that animal died. Children need guidance, but I didn’t need to rely on a book to tell me what is right and wrong, and I couldn’t possibly rely on a book for every moral decision.

 

The supernatural has always fascinated me. I used to read books about all kinds of weird and unexplained phenomena as a kid. The stuff was enthralling: UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, and telekinesis. I’ve always been a skeptic too though. I couldn’t believe incredible claims without some really compelling evidence, and it seemed that no matter where one looked there was nothing supernatural at work in the world. Claims of ghosts, monsters, angels, and miracles always turned out to be unsubstantiated, false, hoaxes, or have some mundane explanation. Magic is an illusion. Many have claimed to have had supernatural encounters but they never have any compelling evidence for it, just stories or blurry photos. Such claims were impossible for me to believe. That I should just take their word for it was not a good reason to believe an extraordinary claim. Extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence, not hearsay. So then why would I believe a story about a virgin birth and a resurrection from death? It was a second hand story at best. I believed in it because I liked it, because I was raised on it, because I wanted it to it be true.

 

Tornadoes are a favorite act of God for my pastor, smiting evil doers, sparing their wrath upon true believers. Story after story about the believer that prayed and was miraculously saved from a tornado, some I had even personally witnessed. I found that so dangerous and so short sighted to appeal to the supernatural for what was an awesome natural phenomenon. Tornadoes aren't some god's tool. They aren't evil. They're a set of differential equations operating in the field of fluid dynamics. They're terribly beautiful, formidable forces of nature that command respect and our curiosity. They're wildly complex and they care nothing of humans. Why were these people standing outside with their hands outstretched to the sky? There's nothing supernatural happening here. Take shelter THEN pray! How many true believers reached out to God before they were utterly obliterated by flying debris, their stories never reaching my pastor?

 

The process was slow to begin with questions that I didn’t have answers for, and which those of my faith offered poor answers to, but there certainly was no shortage of poor answers. History offered little solace. There are so many depraved and horrific incidents throughout history done in the name of God and Jesus Christ: the crusades, inquisitions, witch hunts, wars, torture, executions, and terrorism. So organized religion has been responsible for some evil, and we can distance ourselves from it by saying we’re spiritual and not religious. Where does your faith come from if not for religion though? Does it come from the Bible, the product of that religion? Why is the Bible credible? This is a series of Bronze Age mythologies, followed by a number of gospels written anonymously by different people after the supposed events, tweaked and revised by the early church. Why would you accept that as fact? Why this book and not Muhammad’s version or Joseph Smith’s or L. Ron Hubbard’s? Many would cite appeals to popularity and authority. We accept the bible because our parents, respected elders, and church leaders told us it’s true, because everyone around us believes it’s true. My grandparents came from Germany. It’s why I’m a Lutheran. Had they come from Spain I’d more than likely be a Roman Catholic and if they’d come from Saudi Arabia I’d be a Muslim. My Catholic or Muslim peers would cite the same appeals to popularity and authority, and that scholars of their texts cite truth from historical context and consistencies, even though these faiths have varying texts and their believers make different claims.

 

The internet changes everything. For the first time in mankind’s history, ideas and knowledge from across the planet are available anywhere in real time. Ideas that never found their way into close knit communities of believers are now at the fingertips of anyone who is curious. I read everything I could find: arguments from both sides, critical, secular reviews of the bible, apologist explanations, lectures, debates, blogs, and stories of those who had found faith and those who had lost it. There was so much I didn’t know about my faith, the bible, other religions and their books, and it was fascinating.

 

Back to the flood story, did you know that in Hebrew the word for rainbow and warrior’s bow are the same word? The flood story’s promise is naturally assumed to be a rainbow since it’s referred to as a bow in the clouds and we sometimes see rainbows after it rains. However, the context and usage suggests to others that it was a warrior’s bow. Gods of other ancient tribes in the area, which were recognized but not worshipped by the Israelites, were often depicted with bows in their hands. In the alternate meaning a powerful, warring god, who lives in or above the clouds, is setting his warrior’s bow into the clouds, or setting his weapon down as a sign he is done destroying. The connection between a bow and promising to end destruction has a much stronger connection here. These different interpretations are fascinating. There are a variety of flood myths from the region which share many parallels, some much older than the first known copy of Genesis. This suggests that the Genesis flood story may have been derived from a mix of even earlier stories and traditions. Religions and their stories may be evolving entities undergoing natural selection, changing with the times, and the most favorable, adaptable, or strongest ones enduring. So now we have Christianity and hundreds of denominations, each undergoing their own evolution through natural selection. It’s why every child knows the story of Noah and the rainbow instead of Gilgamesh, Ishtar’s jeweled necklace, and Ashur’s warrior’s bow. These stories likely share a common ancestor, and one endures over the other not because it’s true in any historical or moral sense, but because it was selected through this evolutionary process. We have an evolved and enduring fable with undertones of genocide, that’s now a classic children’s tale.

 

Through my research I came across atheism and atheists. My preconceived notion of these people was that they were filled with hate, led meaningless lives, and needed just as much faith that there was no God as the believers had that there was. Thanks to the internet, these folks now have a voice and it’s often one of reason, concern, and compassion, not hate. My understanding of unbelievers turned out to be misinformed prejudice instilled on me from those of my faith. Most atheists care about people and life, not salvation, and that gives their own lives so much purpose. They don’t need or have faith because most aren’t out to prove God doesn’t exist. Atheism simply means you aren’t convinced that there is a god, not that you positively know there isn’t.

 

One of my best friends introduced me to the Atheist Experience, a local public access TV show out of Austin run by volunteers that has gained a huge audience. It was the first time I heard atheists speaking openly about their thoughts and own journeys. These are honest, down to earth people that field calls from believers and nonbelievers. They were engaging and generally positive. They cared about the wellbeing of their callers and others. I discovered that many were very much like me, skeptical but fascinated by extraordinary claims. They had dealt with their own religious dilemmas and journeys through faith. Some had even been or were studying to be clergy. Others had never been raised with any religion at all, but still lead happy and meaningful lives with their families. A few had served in the military while doubting the existence of a god and an afterlife and thus prepared to sacrifice even more than the believers. Above all, they shared a wealth of knowledge and reasoning that up until then I was only slowly stumbling upon.

 

What had started out as a very slow and gradual process, the departure from my faith was now like a landslide with all of these resources so freely and readily available. It was the lack of evidence for a god, the absurdities and contradictions in the bible, blatantly obvious flaws in other faiths that applied to my own faith after a change of perspective, and the dangers and damage of extremism that religion gives rise to. There was nothing supernatural operating in the world, no miracles, no angels, no demons, and there likely never had been; only ignorance that yielded appeals to the supernatural. My best friend is an atheist and her heart is so much bigger than mine. She’s filled with love and awe. How depraved to think that she deserves to be tortured forever. The strings of my faith were being cut like snapping guitar strings, tightened under reasoning and knowledge. I wasn’t completely ready to let go though. I told myself I was a very liberal or secular Christian, but a voice of reason gave me a reality check. I no longer had any good or compelling reason to believe in a god, and so I didn’t. The last string sounded like thunder when it snapped. Many gradually realize they don’t believe, but it was an overwhelming epiphany for me. It was astounding.

 

So I’m an atheist now, and that’s a great and beautiful thing. I’m not mad at the idea of a god and there was no trauma or upheaval in my life that caused me to flip. This is the result of years of critical thinking and research. If there is compelling evidence for a god or even a good reason to believe in a god, I’d be eager to hear it and test it. There might be a god out there, but at this point it seems as likely as there being a Santa Claus or gremlins out there. I can’t prove there are no gremlins, and despite how often machines break, I see no compelling reason to think that there are gremlins. But what if I’m wrong you might ask. “Aren’t you scared of hell?” Are you scared of the hells of other religions? No, because you know they aren’t real. If some underworld was a reality, how could you be sure you’ve picked the right beliefs to prevent from going there, anyway? Indeed it seems hell is an invention or evolved trait used to scare those into believing who weren’t sold by the advertised perks of the religion. What happens when we die? Nothing happens as far as we can tell. You cease to exist. Does that bother me? Not existing before I was born doesn’t bother me, and I think that same notion can apply to after our lives are over as well.

 

Life and love are so much more precious to me now that I realize that this is all we have. This one shot is it, so it’s so much more important to me to make the most of it, to live life to its fullest, to experience all that I can, and to bring love and happiness to those around me. I’d be happy to embrace a loving god and an afterlife if I met one after I died, but that may very likely just be wishful thinking. This life is the only certain thing we have.

 

I’m more moral than I was as a Christian. I can use my understanding of wellbeing, empathy, and critical thinking to determine right from wrong. I no longer have to defer to a book written by warring Mesopotamian tribes. I used to think of animals as soulless beasts. It was ok to kill them and use them for whatever purpose seemed best since the bible says that man was given dominion over them. Yet the bible also says we’re given dominion over our slaves, something that modern society has (only just recently) come to reject. I’ve come to understand that all life is precious. We should cherish and protect it, and the world that we all share. Earth isn’t a god’s creation that is beyond our control. It’s the only home we have and our actions have very real and often permanent consequences for all that live here.

 

What about the Holy Spirit though? I believed I had actually felt it, the chills down my spine and the euphoria. It was not unlike the chills I get from being fully immersed into an amazing movie or hearing a deeply moving song on the radio. The euphoria is there too. I’ve jumped from an airplane and the feeling after you land, that rush and sense of accomplishment, is an incredible high. I’ve felt overwhelming power and awe while storm chasing too. When you stand in front of a tornado that is over a mile wide, wider than it is tall, and it fills your entire field of vision you become overwhelmed with awe. You feel the roar in your chest and pressure drop in your ears as you witness the mesmerizing spectacle of that huge spinning and churning mass, itself filled with smaller and smaller vortices in wildly deep and complex fractal patterns. It overwhelms all of your senses. You are completely blown away by the power of that terribly beautiful force. Words fail. It’s not a holy spirit. It’s living and experiencing life and this awesome world. There is so much more in this world to experience and such precious little time to do it. The universe is so much larger without a supernatural dead end. We don’t know what’s out there. We have to discover it, and not appeal to our ignorance and laziness, leaving the frontiers of humanity to claims of magic, supernatural powers, and gods.

 

Like in a dream, I fell from grace and awoke to reality. It took me 31 years to realize I was clinging to my beliefs like a child clings to a security blanket or the idea of Santa Claus. I feel a little embarrassed about that, but that realization was incredibly empowering and awe inspiring. I see the world with new, wondrous eyes. Letting go of faith has opened the door to so many new possibilities. I’m excited to live life and discover what’s out there for my journey is only just beginning.

 

 

 

[TheSerpent]

Hi Skip!

 

What an amazing testimony -- you write beautifully by the way.

 

I especially like this:

 

 

 

I’m more moral than I was as a Christian. I can use my understanding of wellbeing, empathy, and critical thinking to determine right from wrong. I no longer have to defer to a book written by warring Mesopotamian tribes.

 

We're so often portrayed as immoral sociopaths.

 

I've always been fascinated by Lutheranism, it's not a very common denomination here in Oz. I look forward to reading more from you.

[Overcame Faith]

Welcome to ExC, Skip, and welcome to the world of those of us who, like you, have overcome the chains of Christianity.

 

I enjoyed your extimony. It was moving and well written.

 

I hope that when you share it with others as you have said you intend to do, that your audience finds it helpful. Don't be disappointed if the Christians with whom you share are not moved by it, at least not at first. Remember that many Christians will do all they must to keep their faith, including especially to reject rational thought. After all, for many Christians, there is one prime virtue - to maintain their faith in the face of all obstacles. The important thing is that you escaped and now you are free from the religious dogma.

[BrotherJosh]

Welcome, Skip! Your post was a very good read. Glad to see you made it out. Storm chaser, huh? So how accurate was Twister? 

[Skip]

 

 

I've always been fascinated by Lutheranism, it's not a very common denomination here in Oz. I look forward to reading more from you.

 

Thanks for the comments. Yes, Lutheranism has a following in the upper Midwest as a good number of Germans immigrated to Chicago, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. It was one of the common points my wife and I have as her grandparents are also German, and I thought that was important at the time when we met. My wife maintains her beliefs as she's never had any serious reason to challenge them, but as a scientist she is very much grounded in logic and reasoning. Fortunately, when I came out as an atheist to her she didn't seem care much at all. The gist of the conversation was, "That's nice, honey." That's a bit of an exaggeration. She did have several questions about religion in general from a pure curiosity standpoint, and it made me realize she never seriously dug deep into what she believes and why. I'm extremely thankful to be in a position where I can "come out" without fear of reprisal or jeopardizing my well being and critical relationships. Hopefully someday that can be true for everybody.

 

 

I hope that when you share it with others as you have said you intend to do, that your audience finds it helpful. Don't be disappointed if the Christians with whom you share are not moved by it, at least not at first. Remember that many Christians will do all they must to keep their faith, including especially to reject rational thought. After all, for many Christians, there is one prime virtue - to maintain their faith in the face of all obstacles. The important thing is that you escaped and now you are free from the religious dogma.

 

Thanks for the comments. Yes, I've had a few Facebook debates with my friends already. A good number of them are Young Earth Creationists. It blows my mind that following even if exists in sizable numbers. I'm certainly not out to change the minds of those arguing with me. The true believers have committed to their faith, openly admitting that absolutely nothing will change their minds. I am friends with some scientists that are inerrant bible/creationists and they've gone so far down the rabbit hole that when backed into the corner they claim that proofs of math and logic could be wrong if it conflicts with their faith. Essentially true could equal false, potentially invalidating everything we know.

 

The story is for those who are listening, watching from the sidelines and thinking about it. Those who haven't made their minds up. I used to be one of them, and I had never heard these views before. We can't reach some of the true believers. They're too far gone. But those watching and considering the arguments can take note of how absurd and delusional they are.

 

Welcome, Skip! Your post was a very good read. Glad to see you made it out. Storm chaser, huh? So how accurate was Twister? 

 

Twister is one of my most beloved movies. There are glaring and humorous flaws in every scene, but pointing them out with friends makes the movie that much more endearing. The only thing in the movie that makes me cringe is the cow scene. It's so over the top it's cartoonish. About 90% of the movie is laughably quotable during real chases.

[Helvetios]

Welcome! This is a powerful testimony, Skip. I can identify with a lot of what you've said, except you write it better than I could.

I also came from the Lutheran tradition (evangelical). Were you ever a young earth creationist yourself, given that your friends are?

[Skip]

Welcome! This is a powerful testimony, Skip. I can identify with a lot of what you've said, except you write it better than I could.

I also came from the Lutheran tradition (evangelical). Were you ever a young earth creationist yourself, given that your friends are?

 

 

Thanks. I remember counting up the genealogies when I was little and coming up with a number fairly close to 6000 years, but no I was never a Young Earth Creationist. Science always trumped any sort of science like claims religion made. Thankfully my folks encouraged my pursuit and interest of science and put a strong emphasis on education. My grandparents were anti-evolution, Young Earth Creationists. I don't think I really realized the significance of that before they passed away though. My creationist friends will probably say my loss of faith was the result of me leaving the door open to doubt by accepting science above scripture. Another way of looking at though of course, was that I kept my mind open and was skeptical enough to prevent from being brain washed.

[Ellinas]

Welcome.

 

You've had the courage to throw over the indoctrinated beliefs of your upbringing in favour of seeing th world as it make sense to you.  That is a considerable achievement.

 

Your history is well written - expect some fairly extreme reactions, though, when you unleash it on friends and family; and don't be surprised if you end up facing emotional blackmail rather than rational debate.

 

All the best.

[Positivist]

My mind is constantly overanalyzing things to the point that I can’t enjoy a movie if I perceive some sort of technical flaw in the plot or effects. And there was something bothering me about my faith. It was very subtle at first, an annoying tick that I could easily suppress or ignore.

Hi Skip! Welcome!!

 

I too love your writing.

 

I can relate to a lot of what you said. I felt like the "Princess and the Pea" sometimes--that vague gnawing sense that something is wrong. As well, I too find it hard to suspend my disbelief long enough to swallow BS. That said, I've chugalugged my share of KoolAid. 

 

As I have embraced atheism I have felt a quietness in my brain; the warning light is no longer constantly flashing in my brain.

 

So glad you found your way to Ex-C!!! I hope you write more. 

[Merlin]

Hi Skip,

 

Welcome to EX-C! I just wanted to tell you that I really enjoyed your story.  There were so many points in it that I was able to personally relate to.  I'm glad you took the time to post it.  I'm almost one hundred percent sure that the message it contains will do more than a hand full of people a lot of good.

[blau1976]

Great read.  Life is better without the constraints of religion.

[Burny]

Thanks for sharing and welcome to ex-c Skip! Like others have said, your writing is excellent.

 

Don't be discouraged when your xtian friends and family either completely ignore your so-called rebellion (most likely) or engage you like you're a personal threat. I deconverted almost 2 years ago and the most shocking thing about it for me was the complete lack of engagement from friends / family. It scares them so much they'd rather not get close to the agent of Satan. LOL.

[Skip]

Shared the essay with my friends and the response was overwhelmingly positive, including from family. A couple of fundamentalist responses that were easy and fun to handle: "If the ark doesn't seem realistic, how do you explain everything from nothing?" and "The problem and the answer to it all is simple Skip. Your family introduced you to religion, the answer is to find salvation through Our Lord Jesus Christ."

 

Thanks for the feedback all.

[Orbit]

Welcome!