bird28 Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 I wrote a letter that I hope will end up on the first page of this site, but thinking back, I really thank this guy for all he has done for me: https://www.msu.edu/~pennock5/ I took Pennock's class as a freshman and I had to write a paper proving or disproving evolution or creationism... I so desperately tried to scientifically back up Noah's Ark... but I failed... I remember searching through books and books at the library, trying to find one good creationist argument for the Ark... nothing. Because of him, seeds of doubt have been planted that lead me to first believe in Evolution. Who do you thank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulQ Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 Hmm...Penn and Teller, Carl Sagan, my uncle Carl (not a Sagan), an old security guard (can't remember his name), George Carlin, James Randi...but most importantly, these three web sites (in the order I discovered them during my de-conversion): losingmyreligion.com The Church of the Apathetic Agnostic (where I became ordained) jhuger.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 I thank my nemesis in middle school, James Glander. He was my math teacher, history teacher, religion teacher, and taught my confirmation classes on Sunday. He was so fucking wacko in his vigilance in making sure nobody fell into satanism. As a pre-teenager just falling in love with music and specifically heavy metal, he ended up harassing me for 3 years about everything, and made me see just how wacko you can take religion. He was the first one to make me think that religion was crazy, because he made me think about what the bible actually said, and ask myself it was still relevant today. It was the total opposite of what he probably intended, but thanks Mr. Glander! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddinhead Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Great question! The biggest thanks go to Dr. Arlen, well "Dr." Arlen, who recieved his doctorate at Dallas Theological Seminary. He taught my Hermenutics Class during my Sophomore year of bible college. He had us translate (and sentence diagram) the book of I John. I found that the little holes, that didn't make sense in KJV, made even less sense in the original languages. The absolute last thing I expected to find. That started the first pebble rolling down the mountain. Then, much credit goes to all my professors at the state university I ended up at. Anthropology, History, Bible as Literature, so many people to thank! Also to Daniel Quinn, who talked about spirituality in a non-christian way that helped ease me out of it. Carl Sagan, Internet Infidels, and the #atheism channel on IRC! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bird28 Posted August 20, 2009 Author Share Posted August 20, 2009 I also thank this site! I have to check out that #atheism channel, I love IRC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 I thank an author whose name I can't remember who wrote a book trying to prove Noah's Ark was real. It had the opposite effect. I also have to thank the pastor of the independent baptist church where I went 1971-1976 - he did more than anyone to turn me away from the church. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Hmmm... I actually did most of the work on my own. It was a lonely journey without encouragement and support, but I suppose I'd have to thank one high school teacher who, though he was a Christian, taught me a lot about skepticism and critical thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiddlingAround Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 A friend of mine in high school named Damon. He used to call me up and want to debate religion. There I was, a fairly new Christian, trying so hard to tow (toe?) the party line, but he kept making sense, dammit! It was several years before I left xtianity entirely, but he probably deserves a lot of credit for starting the process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 I guess I'd have to thank the lousy authors and editors of the gospels for screwing up details. It was in my own personal Bible studying that I came to see how there were irreconcilable contradictions between some of the stories in the gospels, as well as them taking OT texts out of context in order to fabricate prophetic fulfillments. That's what opened my eyes. After pretty much giving up on the Bible and Christianity, I came across the Skeptics' Annotated Bible Message Board, where a few of the (then) regulars helped me see even more problems in the Bible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenhunter Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 i'd have to say my mother, who has an open mind about certain things. and the entire or certain religious right wingers who told me i was wrong for being a democrat and i was going to hell for not believing what they do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpheliaGinger Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 I don't think there was one single person who made me question the reality of my beliefs, but I think the person who poked the biggest holes in what I believed in was my anthropology teacher in college Dr. Hamm. I think having taken anthropology exposed the reality of the evolution of man and religion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vixentrox Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 The Bible itself and a Moroccon Muslim friend I had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurisaz Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Who do you thank? Strictly speaking I can't thank anyone because I always saw christianity as a 99 % social thing, not a religion in the sense of "something supernatural is involved"... but that said, if I have to thank someone it's a multitude of posters to various newsgroups, and soon after the webmasters of many websites, including this one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 www.infidels.org and dear old ex-c. I thought atheist a long time before I declared it. Finding like minded individuals helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvaholic Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 When I was in high school (a tiny christian fundamentalist crappy school) I looked up a Bible verse in a different translation - I thought it made so much more sense NOT in the KJV and then a teacher told me how beautiful the KJV verse was and the the other translation was wrong. It was probably at that moment that I started to have little tiny doubts. Too bad it took 20 years to see the light! Then I became a staff member at a Southern Baptist church. I'd love to do a poll on this site to find out how many people here were former staff members at churches. I think being on staff at a church is probably the fastest way to lose your christianity! LOL! The biggest influence though - probably the entire country of Japan. I went to Japan 2 years ago and came home so humbled because of how I was treated. I came home thinking "if that Bhuddist country can treat me, an outsider, better and more "christian" than any other christian I've ever met at home, how can Bhuddism not be a valid path in life?" So that was the start of me thinking maybe christianity isn't the ONLY thing - which, as you know, pretty much makes christianity invalid. So here I am - just journeying through life searching for answers that seem right and true to ME regardless of what anybody else says or tells me is right. I know now the truth is within me, not out there in some religion! ~b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Ultimately myself. I had lingering doubts for a long time and a lot of things/situations/people helped me formulate better questions and then come up with answers, but I think I'm just wired to question things. It's something I did even as a very small child. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hereticzero Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, and the Southern Baptist Convention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted August 20, 2009 Super Moderator Share Posted August 20, 2009 I thank my former pastor. He had some well intentioned but rather absurd answers to my tough questions, which caused me to study even more. Faith is not the answer, the answer is the answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Genesis Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 I thank 1)my DNA for making me gay, 2)the church's ban on homosexuality, 3)the support from ex-c. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noob Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 For some reason, I was never able to let myself believe to the extent that it seemed others could. I often found myself listening to a sermon or doing a bible study and feeling uncomfortable with the stories and the concepts. Then, when my nephew, Matt, was in his early teens he developed a strong interest in world religions. Our conversations and his questions raised my uneasiness to an even higher level. But, I didn’t allow myself to spend a lot of time thinking about what was bothering me and the idea that perhaps the god of the bible was a myth did not crack the surface of my conscious mind. So, I guess I have to thank florduh, although I will admit he initially pissed me off when he sent me the Zeitgeist movie. I know that it is not entirely factual, but for some reason watching that movie ripped away my filter and forced me to consciously admit what I had been able to suppress for years. At the time, I thought I was sad to lose my comfortable, familiar religion. But after spending time on this site reading, learning, and finding support and encouragement, I’ve come to a point where I am much happier without the delusion. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, “Thank you, florduh!!!” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted August 21, 2009 Super Moderator Share Posted August 21, 2009 Don't thank me. Thank Satan. See you in Hell! Bwaaaaahhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HRDWarrior Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 I don't have anyone in particular to thank - but most likely all the fundy Christians who I grew up around and their views on women especially really got me started on my path out of the religion. The inability to answer some questions I had (or the pastor(s)' reluctance to admit the truth); the lack of in depth teaching; the divisions between "christians"; the hatred towards other religions; the bandwagons the fundies were always jumping on - all of that, added together with some college education and actually learning about other religions (other than pointing out how "evil" they were) is what got me finally letting go of something I have no idea why I held onto for so long. If I was to thank anyone, it would be my mom, becuase eventually she got to the point of not accepting some of the views of women that the fundy churches were telling her (like that she should live with her abusive husband no matter what he did and still needed to "submit"). Granted, she's still claiming fundy Christianity, but at this point she's kinda created her own version of it, picking and choosing what she agrees with and not Or maybe myself for having the questions that were never satisfactorily answered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bush country Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 First - me. I have a brain and I used it. Second - the southern baptist church, that I was a member of, and its pastor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 I have to add Fred Phelps to my list. It was him and people like him that made me consider options other than Christianity. Until that point I didn't want to let go, but after reading about what he does I didn't want to be associated with people like that in any way. That got me to finally accept that I was no longer a Christian, even though my beliefs had been shifting that way for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noob Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 Don't thank me. Thank Satan. See you in Hell! Bwaaaaahhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Satan… florduh… Sometimes I use one name, sometimes the other. What’s the difference??? (Hell will never be the same!!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts