Atheist unite!!

[Chiqui]

Christmas and New Year on my own. They have been the Best end and beginning of the year ever. Proud of myself, I have done the best for me. Now I am more ready to say no again to any "commitment" that I don't want to go. Every year I ended crying for one reason or another....no this time

 

[BuildingSelf24]

I've only been an atheist for 4 years now. I noticed myself still being pulled toward religions even though I don't believe in God or their teachings. I came to realize that I was seeking out someone who would show me mercy, specifically keeping or saving me from harm. I know it's tied to my trauma of pleading with my family not to hurt me as a child and constantly wishing for a relationship where I would be safe and free from harm.

Has anyone else noticed or wrestled with religiosity specifically due to trauma, like the trauma response leading to religiosity?

 

[Lost in the Woods]

I had the shit kicked out of me for years by “Christian” Brothers in boarding school. I did a PTSD retreat a couple weeks ago and the woman running it call that religious abuse. I had never thought of it that way.

I am reading a great book right now called I Am Part Of Infinity about Einstein’s spiritual beliefs which are remarkably similar to my own but of course he thought it out much more deeply.

 

[chrysaliscrushed]

yes i think i can relate. lots of orthodox stuff happened while i was a kid (grandma a hardcore believer) i was baptized and told by grandma that mom and i should be as much believers as she is. now that mom is studying hinduism she explains all the bad things that happened to me by telling me it is my horrible karma from past lives which is to blame, if there really are past lives then i have done so much bad things then i am going to keep trying to get good karma for a long long time lol. i tend to lean towards the concept of humanity just being jerks. pretty sure she might also apply good features on herself explaining it by her good deeds to deities that give good thingies to her for being nice to whoever. but she still continues to do negative stuff in the style of a christian who cleans his sins in a church only to keep continuing doing the sins and going to cleanse himself again and the cycle goes on. now i am learning the atheism point of view and the concept of natural selection is much more appealing to me and i am going to learn more about that.

 

[whiteraven]

Hm...first time I'm visiting this thread--I grew up in a UCC (in 3 choirs, taught in summer church school, etc.), and it was really my home away from home. I loved it there because it felt safe. I remember telling one of the ministers (all of whom felt more like family than my own) that I just didn't believe any of the stories told by the church, and he said, "it doesn't matter." He didn't expand on that, but I did continuing going, simply because it felt safe.

I finally left completely when I was in my 20s, and I've explored other things since: Buddhism, paganism, etc. Was even leader of a pagan group for a while and gave sermons at the UU Church.

I've only started considering myself an atheist recently. I attended a conference recently of primarily atheists and agnostics, and I never felt more seen. I think I fit in the secular Buddhist and pagan categories, not believing in a god or higher power.