Hello (again)

[Adam5]

Hi All, not checked in for a good many years. Registered in 2012 when de-converted. Was very helpful the support then. Hope you're doing ok coming out of the pandemic.

 

I still stupidly struggle with breaking completely free from the self programming. I've been back to church a few times as one offs (why!?) and sometimes look up bible stuff, then have to consciously remind myself what nonsense it is.

 

I'm the UK which is very secular and nearly everyone has no religion or in name only here. But I was brought up by Christian parents, went to Sunday school, church choirs. This is the root cause I think of my problem. I went on and off through 20s, then very into it in my 30s, and hardly at all in my 40s.  I wish it was easier to turn off. Others can just click a switch and leave. But think I've had such a dose of it that it's not easy to mentally break free completely. See from the forum others have had similar problems.

 

I think the internet and the pandemic will to a large extent reduce, kill off? religion. It's a good thing that most of the youth are growing up without this nonsense. They unfortunately seem to have other mental health issues to deal with with social media etc. My guess is in uk/Europe Christianity it will be gone in a generation, will take longer in the US. Islam will take longer too. But eventually humanity will have grown out of it.

 

I remember about 30 having a 'religious experience' (in the mind), on holiday, with amazing views and warm fuzzy feeling. I put this down to 'God' and led to 10 years of what I thought was liberal Christianity whereas looking back on it was what we'd call fundy phase (crazy).

 

I also took a following, keen interest in conspiracies. Think they are related in terms of willingness to suspend rational thought. To think the time I've wasted obsessing about such things!

 

Since deconversion about 9 years ago i now try and see the world in reality, in it's natural state. I try to see reality rather than comforting myths or wild conspiracies. Most of the time I do, occasionally backslide.

 

And to think We were told...  God sent himself to pray to himself, then sacrifice himself to himself, to save himself from himself.. hmmm makes total sense i don't think!!

 

Thanks for letting me share my story and little rant. Take care.

[TABA]

Hey Adam5, nice to meet you!  I see that the last time you posted here was in 2015, which was after I had created an account, but before I summoned up the courage to introduce myself.   I’ve come a long way since then, thanks to this community, and I now try to give back by helping others through the deconversion process.  
 

 

1 hour ago, Adam5 said:

I think the internet and the pandemic will to a large extent reduce, kill off? religion. It's a good thing that most of the youth are growing up without this nonsense. They unfortunately seem to have other mental health issues to deal with with social media etc.

No doubt the internet has proven to be very damaging to religion.  I’d like to think I would have deconverted sooner if the net had been around when I was in my teens and twenties.  
 

It would be nice to think that the decline of religion means people are becoming more rational and less easily deluded but I’m afraid the human mind is all too easily led into the weeds.  The pandemic itself has demonstrated this, not just in the obvious case of people preferring prayer over medicine, but in a different  way with other folks having an exaggerated fear of the virus, even after being fully vaccinated: I’ve started to see this recently.

 

Anyway, I’m glad you stopped by to say Hello after such a long absence!  Some people only come here for a short time and then move on.  Others like myself stick around to enjoy the fellowship of fellow travelers over the long term.  Not just fellowship but also gaining confidence in our deconversion by learning more and more objections to Christianity.  Some people probably need to stay longer than they do, thinking that announcing one’s deconversion is the end of the process.  I’ve written before about the importance of “full deconversion”.  I think it’s key to a happy post-Christian life. 

 

 

All the best to you Adam5!

[Joshpantera]

4 hours ago, Adam5 said:

I'm the UK which is very secular and nearly everyone has no religion or in name only here. But I was brought up by Christian parents, went to Sunday school, church choirs. This is the root cause I think of my problem. I went on and off through 20s, then very into it in my 30s, and hardly at all in my 40s.  I wish it was easier to turn off. Others can just click a switch and leave. But think I've had such a dose of it that it's not easy to mentally break free completely. See from the forum others have had similar problems.

 

Welcome back! 

 

I assume we're running behind that general European trend here in the US. We have pew surveys showing decline in religious affiliation. Plus increases in non-theism coming up from the other way. Now in a place like that where people religion mainly in name only, why is hard to turn it off? There's a similar situation with my friend Robert Tulip where he grew up in Australia under very liberal sounding conditions. He considers himself a christian atheist because he doesn't really believe any of it literally. But he likes the christianity as he understands it. Doesn't really care to leave. 

 

What I'm wondering is whether it's easier to leave christianity when you've grown up like a lot of us in these rabid fundementalist settings. It's much more obviously bullshit because they're so deep into literalism. And biblical inerrancy. And things which are more easily recognized as bullshit. Maybe when it's very liberal the bullshit part isn't so up front and there for the taking? 

 

 

[LostinParis]

On 5/6/2021 at 3:33 AM, Adam5 said:

I also took a following, keen interest in conspiracies. Think they are related in terms of willingness to suspend rational thought. To think the time I've wasted obsessing about such things!

What conspiracists and creationists have in common is not just a suspicion of science, but “teleological” thinking patterns. A belief that there is a purpose or intent behind every event. “Everything happens for a reason”:

 

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/theconversation.com/amp/theres-a-psychological-link-between-conspiracy-theories-and-creationism-101849

[Myrkhoos]

On 6/2/2021 at 1:34 PM, LostinParis said:

What conspiracists and creationists have in common is not just a suspicion of science, but “teleological” thinking patterns. A belief that there is a purpose or intent behind every event. “Everything happens for a reason”:

 

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/theconversation.com/amp/theres-a-psychological-link-between-conspiracy-theories-and-creationism-101849

Well, science is also like that. I mean "laws of physics" are just patterns with evidence for it. And it does kind of "assume" methodological determinism - everything happens for a reason, otherwise studying cause and effect would be impossible. Or maybe you meant something else?

     I think the testing and questioning part is the big difference here.