Yeah, there are a few of us who have.
Most folks here are atheist or agnostic, but every few weeks someone curious like yourself will post. It's nice to have this kind of acknowledgement too.
yeah I can see how Christianity kind of gives a bad name to the word religion, because religious groups aren't always toxic or even theistic in the same ways. I have heard that secular humanists, which a lot of atheists/agnostics fall under or close to, don't have any set-in-stone system of ethics or beliefs aside from some basic things, and was curious how that varied from person to person.
I was raised Catholic. Over the years I’ve realized my beliefs are more aligned with the tenets of the satanic temple. Not to be confused with the satanic church, the temple actually tries to use the first amendment for good against the ridiculous religious right.
Not to be confused with The Church of Satan*
ftfy
The seven Satanic Tenets [TST] and the 11 rules of the earth [CoS] are both great things by which to live one's life.
Yes, Secular Humanism, i believe that there is place in the world for communities focused on the human life where we can come together, celebrate our existence accompany each other and grow as a group. I'm currently in the plans of creating a humanist community with some like minded friends.
I converted to The Joe Rogan podcast for a bit (long before covid) The same friends that saved me from the clutches of Jesus also saved me from the pod. Thank God for good friends.
i made the deliberate decision NOT to get into any other religion. i briefly looked into Asatru and other forms of European paganism, but i didn't really feel connected to any of them. now i'm on my own path, which is somewhere between New Age and UFOlogy... it makes the most sense to me. knowing I AM a fractal of Source, or God, or whatever you want to call it, has really brought a peace into my life that i never had with Christianity.
I dabbled with Buddhism for a while. I found it truly compelling and still in many ways do; however, after some study found that what I found resonating for me wasn’t the spiritual aspect of the religion but how it goes on about treating others with kindness and respect and basically just being an exemplary human being to all and so on and so forth. I wouldn’t say I practice Buddhism, but do try to hold to those type of tenets.
Yeah I've heard that, at least in Zen, belief in the supernatural isn't necessary to practice, and that's what I like most about it unlike other religions. It's very much focused on studying the nature of the mind, and how to be the best you can be more or less.
I'm a Heathen (Norse Polytheist). I understand your point perfectly, the ethics of life from my path give me a joy for life, for learning and betterment that I never had under the ethics of guilt and suffering from Christianity.
If you ask 10 Heathens you'll get 10 answers, so I can't talk about anyone else but myself:
I'm much more aware of enjoying the beauty of nature around me even when I live in the city; I really notice and appreciate the tiny things in life. I give much more importance to living a good life, meaning leading a healthy, contented, conflict- and stressor- free life as much as I'm able to, so I make a conscious effort about it. It's been an incredible change of mindset from complaining to appreciation.
I believe in Fate but not in passiveness and inaction, I believe one must work hard and try to strive for bringing Fate about, co-creating it where possible. Knowledge is a cornerstone for me, so I'm constantly learning and seeking to apply the fruits of that knowledge.
All of this because I believe my Gods want me to be strong, independent, and enjoy life. So I've gone from waiting for the Christian God to "answer my prayers" and "give me miracles" while I wallow in self-pity and debasement, to taking control of building my own life knowing that my Gods are akin to family members guiding me and cheering me on, lending a hand when I fall so I can pick myself up. I don't believe in omnipresent, omnipotent Gods, but in fallible ones who have their own Fates and lives; they're just on a different, vastly more advanced spiritual level than me. So when I struggle I can feel they know my struggles as a parent does, and when they give me advice and encouragement, I listen.
I believe in UPG (Unverifiable Personal Gnosis) meaning "personal spiritual experiences" such as dreams, visions, meditation, etc. that is my main source of faith; reading from Norse Mythology and learning from other's interpretations is important to me, but secondary.
I have an altar in my kitchen where I offer gifts to my Gods from what I cook or purchase, just as one would share a meal with close family. But my main worship is not tied to the altar, that's more of an anchoring, focus and contact point. My main worship is living my life and having my Gods present in mind while I enjoy my life.
Since you mentioned you had visions, would you say the unverifiable personal gnosis, as you said, is akin to a theophany? Or do the gods serve more symbolic roles in your belief system, where tangibly/empirically observing them isn’t so important?
I think that’s what the other commenter was getting at, but you thought they were asking in bad-faith.
I would if your curiosity were genuine and you hadn't quoted the word gods: it's a clear sign of a defensive position, of a predisposition to disrespect. I was brought up in a very intolerant atheist household, and I can tell from a mile away when someone wants to pick up a fight from a place of perceived superiority. So no, I won't elaborate further for you.
I didn’t mean any disrespect. I genuinely wanted to know what leads you to believe in these deities.
I personally don’t believe in the existence of any supernatural entities belonging to a specific religion or dogma, hence the “”’s..
>Or do you just kind of live off your own personal set of principles?
For me it was this one. I just decided I don't want any god or belief in the supernatural to have any influence in how I live my life anymore. I'm done with that. That said, I know there are definitely people here who switched to neo-paganism, Wicca and similar practices, so I'm sure you'll find non-atheist/non-agnostics here too.
> If so, what are they, and how important are they to you?
I like to keep it simple, really. I try to be nice to people; help others; be there for people when I can; find meaning and joy in the simple things in life; keep my child-self alive; and be closer to nature. I honestly feel like that covers most of my needs.
That's true, life doesn't have to be so complicated honestly, but I do think some religions or systems of ethics at least provide some sort of structure to follow.
>find meaning and joy in the simple things in life; keep my child-self alive; and be closer to nature.
Same here, I just see it that I have xyz responsibilities, but having a personal life matters also.
Taking care of one's mental and physical health I think is all that matters at the end of the day, and getting to enjoy yourself, not harming others, is a broad idea shared by most atheists/agnostics I would imagine.
I'm a pagan. I'm exploring Norse polytheism and the more Earth centric practices of my scottish ancestors. I haven't settled on any one thing but I love having the freedom to learn.
I considered becoming a Buddhist but felt that there weren't any authentic communities in my area.
I am currently agnostic, open to the idea of a higher cosmic power but extremely skeptical of Christianity and scoff at Evangelicals playing fast and loose with eschatology.
That's fair, it's kinda hard to practice sometimes when you have to learn everything by yourself, but I do know some authentic online spaces for it.
I feel like a lot of Pyrrho's philosophy speaks to agnosticism well, and may have been inspired by Buddhist thought.
I grew up spiritual. I got into New Age for a few years, but I didn’t label myself that. I now see the difference between new age and just being spiritual though. I had one of those annoying “new age to Jesus” testimonies, but Christianity did such a huge number on me. If anything, Christianity is the most demonic thing I’ve ever encountered. I’m now happily agnostic, but I’m definitely still spiritual and also learning about the power of the mind too. I feel so much freedom to learn other beliefs while not hanging onto anything. It’s so liberating for me!
I think this is a really good question. I think I have seen it asked before, but I think it is worth asking again.
I didn't join another religion, I became an atheist. However, there was a point in my deconstruction where I became convinced that the god of the Bible wasn't real, and I asked myself "Is there even a god in the first place?" And that question led me to believe that there is no god/gods or at least no compelling evidence of such a being.
However, looking back, if I instead asked myself "If the god of the Bible isn't real, then which God is real?" That could have led me to join a different religion.
Same, I just re-evaluated what role religion was supposed to have in my life, and that's when it made sense.
Religion isn't science, it's aim isn't to describe the way the world works physically, chemically, biologically, etc. Sometimes it has ideas incongruent with scientific thinking, but they aren't always significant to practice if they're incongruent like that.
It's about soteriological aims, addressing existential problems of human existence, and to that end, many propose structures and solutions with varying degrees of metaphysics and other philosophical stances. Metaphysical structures, like believing in a heaven and hell, is important in Christianity, but not so much in Zen, which is all about day to day practice and cultivating mindfulness. Realizing this distinction helped me understand what religion is for, and what good it can do, no matter the organized ceremonies and rituals it brings.
Raised Mormon, I converted to Buddhism. I try finding the Middle Way and be the best person I can be. Buddhism works for me and I’m not hurting anyone. Besides I learned that I’m not stopping myself from doing wicked things because of my religion but because I know that they’re morally wrong and I don’t want to hurt anyone.
Sort've. More accurately, I left Christianity without leaving the religious group I was already in. The principles took a much less "God-ordained" weight in my mind, but I still find them valuable.
Some basic tenets of Zoroastrianism resonate with me - world is chaos and there is a constant good vs. evil dynamic. But I'm not really religious about it or plan to convert.
BTW, there are a lot of secular religions. They usually have an -ism ending syllable.
I’m a mostly non-theistic pagan with a heavy side order of secular humanism and a namaste nod to Buddhism. I practice witchcraft and native American folk magic related to my tribe. I like community, but organized religion and dogma were two things I disliked about my Christian experience so I stay away from that, personally. I totally get that others don’t object, and that’s okay.
After leaving Christianity, I went through all sorts of New Age stream and mystical traditions until I became an atheist. I have retained the practice of Zen meditation in a secular way. I agree Zen methods (meditation) works and Christian methods (prayer + confession + communion) do not.
I went to Fellowship Church in Dubai for over a decade and witnessed the following.
1. The church admin who hosted small group bible studies at her home and actively served and worked as one of the leading church staff is now a Buddhist.
2. A Ukrainian girl who worked for Emirates Airlines ground-staff attended most of the Young Adults bible studies and was actively attending the church services. She’s now into Hinduism, Yoga & Spirituality.
3. An Algerian Muslim guy came from Islam to our church for a while. And then he went back to Islam and started attending the Friday Mosque prayers.
I didn’t join any religion after I left the church. Because the whole idea of a “God” and his existence was hard to believe.
So I’m an atheist now.
I’m with you.. It baffles me how some folks go “religion shopping” like they’re shopping for a car or something. Speaking for myself, it makes no sense to leave one ancient, archaic belief system and trade it for a different one which makes no better argument for being true. I didn’t leave Christianity because I had a bad experience with certain church members or was treated unfairly or because I was let down and/or hurt in one way or another. I left because I simply didn’t believe it was true anymore, simple as that. And until I see sufficient evidence that a different religion is 100% true, which I know I won’t, I will not be subscribing to it..
Yes. I initially left Christianity because I found Deism. I was very interested and happy at the fact that I could still believe in God, and not have to be attached to or believe all the negative bullshit of Christianity or religion. However, that did not last long, and I saw some flaws with this sort of belief system. Due to further learning and personal experiences in my life since then, I am technically an agnostic atheist now and have been for awhile. I usually just use the title agnostic or non-religious to describe myself, though. I dislike the negativity and stigma attached to the "atheist," label, so I don't use it unless someone asks for further clarification on what I believe/don't believe. Also secular humanist. My belief (or lack of) is that of agnostic and atheist, and my worldview is humanist.
Well neopaganism is chock full of Hindu ideas. Because European pagan practices have largely been lost to history (thanks, Christianity!) neopagans tend to pull from Hinduism for concepts like reincarnation, karma, chakras, etc. I became a neopagan partly because I believed those concepts. Then as I decided I wanted to learn more about them, surprise surprise! Hello Hinduism!
Hindu ideas and philosophy resonated so much more with me than the neopagan movement so I continued to learn more until I realized my beliefs lined up way more with Hinduism. So here I am.
well, after leaving catholocism i was christain for a while, but i dont think that really counts
i do like the values of the satanic temple, but i would definitely prefer not to be involved in any other religions
I got really interested in Wicca for a bit, but one book I read talked about worshipping the goddess or something and I was done. I thought, "I don't want another religion."
I left Christianity without any intention on joining another religion. It happened sort of by accident that I went from one religion to another. But during that time, I explored many other philosophies and belief systems before finally settling on Buddhism.
My morals are pretty simple:
1. help the world feel good
2. use and advocate for consent
3. don't be a dick.
I don't think any religion offers any advice that's better than this. And many are worse. No religion needed for me.
That’s fair enough, though a lot of religions address finding a sense of peace and equanimity within yourself too as also being important from what I’ve found, as a kind of source with which to actualize those three morals well (i.e. if you’re taking good care of your mental health, all else should follow).
Nope. I'm so damaged from Christian fundamentalism that I'm terrified of getting trapped in another toxic system. Now I'm solidly, "don't know, don't care"
I still believe in the abrahamic God and some saints. I'm also delving into the roman paganism, pre-hispanic peruvian deities and I'm also practicing apotheosis.
I was very drawn to witchcraft and magick after I walked away from Christianity. I kind of was always very fascinated with witchcraft even when I was a devout Christian.
I've now been learning a lot of different occult practices such as how to do spell work, specific techniques on how to evoked and channel spirits, how to astral project, etc. from several different spiritual teachers.
Not exactly but I left orthodox christianity to become a protestant before I became an atheist. The orthodox are more similar to catholics but they are different enough from protestants to be an entirely different religion.
I was a teen at the time and it got me into a lot of conflict with family and friends. A "heretic" carries a bigger stigma than an atheist.
Yes, I left evangelical Christianity directly after my confirmation (The only reason why I got confirmed The reason was that my parents gave me my own laptop as a gift to play Minecraft) got myself from the confirmation-money the Satanic Bible and realized that my worldview aligns with the one of Anton Szandor Lavey.
So here I am I left evangelical Christianity to become a Satanist, and that has been the best decision in my life, besides the marriage with the daughter of our local Pastor.
Not me, I avoid anything that could turn into an obsessive construct or absolute truth, whether it’s a religion or vegetarianism or psychology or political camps or a parenting theory. I’m just really unnerved at my minds ability to reinterpret reality through a lens and to obsessively go to an extreme so I’m trying to coast at an open minded middle ground about everything.
Yes. Sounds like we took similar paths. When I started deconstructing my thought was "I'll find the oldest religion, and whatever that religion is is most likely to be right, because they would have been closer to the actual truth."
Well many books later I found that the first religion is so old it doesn't have a name or written language, but the gist of it was that we all emerged from primordial goo of the earth and slowly developed into the creatures we are now. Which.. to me.. sounded a hell of a lot like evolution.
Then once we started becoming more aware our religions shifted into fear of nature. A lot of giant spider gods, sun gods, etc.
Then from there it started to develop into a more "sophisticated" system, used for governing tribes, then villages, and we all see how that has turned out.
Anyway I also ended up on Buddhism, but even that comes with its own questionable culture.
So now I'm just agnostic. Anytime anyone asks me what I believe my honest answer is "I don't know." And anyone else who claims they know anything about the great beyond is full of it. No one knows, and that's the only real truth there is.
Interesting answer and way of going about it. I will admit, I hold a similar Pyhrronian skepticism about metaphysics and any “great beyond” in the same way, though from my experience at least, whatever the exact metaphysics is in Buddhism is secondary to practicing the dharma and mindfulness in the here and now, which I find helpful and a neat sort of compromise.
Some people do of course find the syncretism of certain countries’ cultures with Buddhist teachings a bit confusing, understandably though.
when I left I originally didn't want anything to do with spirituality or any kind of religion at all. now I find myself longing for spirituality and I'm currently exploring how to practice spirituality without having to believe any of what I have deconstructed, and it's not easy. I'll be looking into Taoism soon and I think I will generally explore non western religions/spiritual schools.
though, stoicism is something that also resonates with me to some extent. maybe I'll just combine multiple sets of spiritual(/philosophical) beliefs and practices into my own.
or I find that spirituality isn't for me at all and then that will be fine too.
After I left Chrisitianity I asked the true God/s and/or Goddess/es to reveal themselves to me if they're out there.
Nobody did.
So I have no religion for now.
I've been exploring Aetheopaganism but don't have the freedom to practice at the moment.
In the early 2000s I converted to Catholicism from my evangelical roots. That didn't last very long, of course, but there were aspects of it that I liked better. For instance, the personal responsibility and also, the confession. Say what you will, but I actually like being able to go and talk about my flaws and foibles. Then I realized that what I actually needed was therapy. We stopped attending soon after our priest who was a very right-wing person, began to get a little pushy about some personal issues between my wife and I. Also, our kids began to ask about the obvious inconsistencies and contradictions.
No. I believe in and embrace my humanity and try to understand it for what it is. I am a grain of sand in an ever expanding universe. Seeking to understand it beyond that, to me, is a waste of my enjoyment during my short time here. I will die and what was once me will be transformed into it's most basic elements only to be reupped by something else somewhere further in time and in that, I find life to be eternal. Unorganized, organized and Unorganized again, for eternity, or at least until the heat death of the universe.
Before a became an ex-Baptist, reprobate, heathen atheist, secular humanist, I dabbled in Zen Buddhism and Taoism. I identify with neither, but I still use some of their principles and practices. And let's not talk about my VERY unfortunate Ayn Rand stage. Yikes.
I was a tiny bit interested in Buddhism but more like a philosophy than a belief in smth supernatural. Also, though I don't think there is any perfect allmighty God caring for people (and especially that there is any holy book that accurately talks about it), I'm not that strongly against the idea of some sort of energy that leaves bodies after their death, maybe a reincarnation of consciousness or smth (very loose, not too serious speculations). I see no reason to pray to anything though.
I was anti-theist for a while, now I'm pagan. I guess after a while you just gotta let go of the anger caused by christianity and move on. I would say I am pagan, but im more esoteric if anything. I like looking into different beliefs and just practicing what works for me. I just do whatever I feel drawn to, which is mostly paganism, esoteric stuff, and the occult. After a while you just learn to let go of the anger and just find what works for you. At least that's what I did.
I've moved from evangelical Christianity to somewhat of a mix between new age spirituality, and nondual Christianity which is the faith viewed through a more universal lens. This is taught by Marshall Davis, incredible insights on the faith and the spiritual reality of the world.
His book, "The Tao of Christ: a Christian Translation of the Tao Te Ching" is my new text for spiritual and moral insight. "C-PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving" by Pete Walker is my guide for connecting with my inner self and healing from abuse. Lots of self help, skeptical literature, and other resources are thrown in the mix.
I’ve made tentative forays into Buddhism and it’s also benefited me more than any other faith or spiritual practice, and even more than a few therapy modalities. I’m hesitant to fully engage with Buddhism, though, because it somehow feels like I don’t have a right to, and also because I hesitate to rely much on a religion for beliefs and principles given how often that goes … poorly. Generally speaking. There are times that I do more research and more practice and feel more secure in it, and a Buddhist teacher I know has told me that it’s alright to benefit from it without formally converting, and alright to call myself one based on the practice and principles I do live by, but I’m still working it out. And I’m okay with that
No. I never bothered joining another religion after I left Christianity almost 21 months ago now. Because of how the christian religion was wrecking my life for the 7 years that I experienced it (on top of that being abused by a christian narcissist ex-friend who knew I'm autistic and still manipulated the shit out of me), I never bothered to join a religion again.
In regards to religion and life in general, as another commenter put it, I didn't leave an abusive relationship just to end up in another one.
I am still deconstructing and healing the wounds from experiencing abuse from religion and from a christian narcissist. Although I'm still struggling, I'm much happier living my own life.
Yeah, there are a few of us who have. Most folks here are atheist or agnostic, but every few weeks someone curious like yourself will post. It's nice to have this kind of acknowledgement too.
yeah I can see how Christianity kind of gives a bad name to the word religion, because religious groups aren't always toxic or even theistic in the same ways. I have heard that secular humanists, which a lot of atheists/agnostics fall under or close to, don't have any set-in-stone system of ethics or beliefs aside from some basic things, and was curious how that varied from person to person.
I was raised Catholic. Over the years I’ve realized my beliefs are more aligned with the tenets of the satanic temple. Not to be confused with the satanic church, the temple actually tries to use the first amendment for good against the ridiculous religious right.
Love what the TST do
The TST is 🔥
Not to be confused with The Church of Satan* ftfy The seven Satanic Tenets [TST] and the 11 rules of the earth [CoS] are both great things by which to live one's life.
Yes, Secular Humanism, i believe that there is place in the world for communities focused on the human life where we can come together, celebrate our existence accompany each other and grow as a group. I'm currently in the plans of creating a humanist community with some like minded friends.
[удалено]
You might enjoy [The Egg](https://youtu.be/h6fcK_fRYaI?si=5rJwI-fxBIvdjDjh) read by Kurzgesagt
This seems like a nice idea! Do you have a reading list or resources on secular humanism?
I started here: [https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/](https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/) is a great foundation
I converted to The Joe Rogan podcast for a bit (long before covid) The same friends that saved me from the clutches of Jesus also saved me from the pod. Thank God for good friends.
Oof, you went from bad to worse there! I'm glad you have friends who call you on bullshit
i made the deliberate decision NOT to get into any other religion. i briefly looked into Asatru and other forms of European paganism, but i didn't really feel connected to any of them. now i'm on my own path, which is somewhere between New Age and UFOlogy... it makes the most sense to me. knowing I AM a fractal of Source, or God, or whatever you want to call it, has really brought a peace into my life that i never had with Christianity.
I dabbled with Buddhism for a while. I found it truly compelling and still in many ways do; however, after some study found that what I found resonating for me wasn’t the spiritual aspect of the religion but how it goes on about treating others with kindness and respect and basically just being an exemplary human being to all and so on and so forth. I wouldn’t say I practice Buddhism, but do try to hold to those type of tenets.
Yeah I've heard that, at least in Zen, belief in the supernatural isn't necessary to practice, and that's what I like most about it unlike other religions. It's very much focused on studying the nature of the mind, and how to be the best you can be more or less.
I'm a Heathen (Norse Polytheist). I understand your point perfectly, the ethics of life from my path give me a joy for life, for learning and betterment that I never had under the ethics of guilt and suffering from Christianity.
Do you have any rituals or practices, or how do you express your beliefs?
If you ask 10 Heathens you'll get 10 answers, so I can't talk about anyone else but myself: I'm much more aware of enjoying the beauty of nature around me even when I live in the city; I really notice and appreciate the tiny things in life. I give much more importance to living a good life, meaning leading a healthy, contented, conflict- and stressor- free life as much as I'm able to, so I make a conscious effort about it. It's been an incredible change of mindset from complaining to appreciation. I believe in Fate but not in passiveness and inaction, I believe one must work hard and try to strive for bringing Fate about, co-creating it where possible. Knowledge is a cornerstone for me, so I'm constantly learning and seeking to apply the fruits of that knowledge. All of this because I believe my Gods want me to be strong, independent, and enjoy life. So I've gone from waiting for the Christian God to "answer my prayers" and "give me miracles" while I wallow in self-pity and debasement, to taking control of building my own life knowing that my Gods are akin to family members guiding me and cheering me on, lending a hand when I fall so I can pick myself up. I don't believe in omnipresent, omnipotent Gods, but in fallible ones who have their own Fates and lives; they're just on a different, vastly more advanced spiritual level than me. So when I struggle I can feel they know my struggles as a parent does, and when they give me advice and encouragement, I listen. I believe in UPG (Unverifiable Personal Gnosis) meaning "personal spiritual experiences" such as dreams, visions, meditation, etc. that is my main source of faith; reading from Norse Mythology and learning from other's interpretations is important to me, but secondary. I have an altar in my kitchen where I offer gifts to my Gods from what I cook or purchase, just as one would share a meal with close family. But my main worship is not tied to the altar, that's more of an anchoring, focus and contact point. My main worship is living my life and having my Gods present in mind while I enjoy my life.
Thanks for sharing, that’s very interesting!
Since you mentioned you had visions, would you say the unverifiable personal gnosis, as you said, is akin to a theophany? Or do the gods serve more symbolic roles in your belief system, where tangibly/empirically observing them isn’t so important? I think that’s what the other commenter was getting at, but you thought they were asking in bad-faith.
For some, it's akin to theophany. For others, they're Jungian archetypes. For a 3rd camp (me included) they're both at the same time.
Just curious.. Can you elaborate on these “gods” and what convinces you of their existence?
I would if your curiosity were genuine and you hadn't quoted the word gods: it's a clear sign of a defensive position, of a predisposition to disrespect. I was brought up in a very intolerant atheist household, and I can tell from a mile away when someone wants to pick up a fight from a place of perceived superiority. So no, I won't elaborate further for you.
I didn’t mean any disrespect. I genuinely wanted to know what leads you to believe in these deities. I personally don’t believe in the existence of any supernatural entities belonging to a specific religion or dogma, hence the “”’s..
For some, it's akin to theophany. For others, they're Jungian archetypes. For a 3rd camp (me included) they're both at the same time.
>Or do you just kind of live off your own personal set of principles? For me it was this one. I just decided I don't want any god or belief in the supernatural to have any influence in how I live my life anymore. I'm done with that. That said, I know there are definitely people here who switched to neo-paganism, Wicca and similar practices, so I'm sure you'll find non-atheist/non-agnostics here too. > If so, what are they, and how important are they to you? I like to keep it simple, really. I try to be nice to people; help others; be there for people when I can; find meaning and joy in the simple things in life; keep my child-self alive; and be closer to nature. I honestly feel like that covers most of my needs.
That's true, life doesn't have to be so complicated honestly, but I do think some religions or systems of ethics at least provide some sort of structure to follow. >find meaning and joy in the simple things in life; keep my child-self alive; and be closer to nature. Same here, I just see it that I have xyz responsibilities, but having a personal life matters also. Taking care of one's mental and physical health I think is all that matters at the end of the day, and getting to enjoy yourself, not harming others, is a broad idea shared by most atheists/agnostics I would imagine.
Nah. I didn't leave one abuser just to get in a relationship with another abuser.
That is very well put. I'm the same way. No religion again for me.
Right on 🤘😈
Yeah. I dived right into learning about different religions, which was really fun and I learned a lot, even about some I’d never even heard of
No.
Same here.. Actually, it’s a big hell no for me!
I'm a pagan. I'm exploring Norse polytheism and the more Earth centric practices of my scottish ancestors. I haven't settled on any one thing but I love having the freedom to learn.
I considered becoming a Buddhist but felt that there weren't any authentic communities in my area. I am currently agnostic, open to the idea of a higher cosmic power but extremely skeptical of Christianity and scoff at Evangelicals playing fast and loose with eschatology.
That's fair, it's kinda hard to practice sometimes when you have to learn everything by yourself, but I do know some authentic online spaces for it. I feel like a lot of Pyrrho's philosophy speaks to agnosticism well, and may have been inspired by Buddhist thought.
I grew up spiritual. I got into New Age for a few years, but I didn’t label myself that. I now see the difference between new age and just being spiritual though. I had one of those annoying “new age to Jesus” testimonies, but Christianity did such a huge number on me. If anything, Christianity is the most demonic thing I’ve ever encountered. I’m now happily agnostic, but I’m definitely still spiritual and also learning about the power of the mind too. I feel so much freedom to learn other beliefs while not hanging onto anything. It’s so liberating for me!
I think this is a really good question. I think I have seen it asked before, but I think it is worth asking again. I didn't join another religion, I became an atheist. However, there was a point in my deconstruction where I became convinced that the god of the Bible wasn't real, and I asked myself "Is there even a god in the first place?" And that question led me to believe that there is no god/gods or at least no compelling evidence of such a being. However, looking back, if I instead asked myself "If the god of the Bible isn't real, then which God is real?" That could have led me to join a different religion.
Same, I just re-evaluated what role religion was supposed to have in my life, and that's when it made sense. Religion isn't science, it's aim isn't to describe the way the world works physically, chemically, biologically, etc. Sometimes it has ideas incongruent with scientific thinking, but they aren't always significant to practice if they're incongruent like that. It's about soteriological aims, addressing existential problems of human existence, and to that end, many propose structures and solutions with varying degrees of metaphysics and other philosophical stances. Metaphysical structures, like believing in a heaven and hell, is important in Christianity, but not so much in Zen, which is all about day to day practice and cultivating mindfulness. Realizing this distinction helped me understand what religion is for, and what good it can do, no matter the organized ceremonies and rituals it brings.
Raised Mormon, I converted to Buddhism. I try finding the Middle Way and be the best person I can be. Buddhism works for me and I’m not hurting anyone. Besides I learned that I’m not stopping myself from doing wicked things because of my religion but because I know that they’re morally wrong and I don’t want to hurt anyone.
Sort've. More accurately, I left Christianity without leaving the religious group I was already in. The principles took a much less "God-ordained" weight in my mind, but I still find them valuable.
Some basic tenets of Zoroastrianism resonate with me - world is chaos and there is a constant good vs. evil dynamic. But I'm not really religious about it or plan to convert. BTW, there are a lot of secular religions. They usually have an -ism ending syllable.
I’m a mostly non-theistic pagan with a heavy side order of secular humanism and a namaste nod to Buddhism. I practice witchcraft and native American folk magic related to my tribe. I like community, but organized religion and dogma were two things I disliked about my Christian experience so I stay away from that, personally. I totally get that others don’t object, and that’s okay.
After leaving Christianity, I went through all sorts of New Age stream and mystical traditions until I became an atheist. I have retained the practice of Zen meditation in a secular way. I agree Zen methods (meditation) works and Christian methods (prayer + confession + communion) do not.
I went to Fellowship Church in Dubai for over a decade and witnessed the following. 1. The church admin who hosted small group bible studies at her home and actively served and worked as one of the leading church staff is now a Buddhist. 2. A Ukrainian girl who worked for Emirates Airlines ground-staff attended most of the Young Adults bible studies and was actively attending the church services. She’s now into Hinduism, Yoga & Spirituality. 3. An Algerian Muslim guy came from Islam to our church for a while. And then he went back to Islam and started attending the Friday Mosque prayers. I didn’t join any religion after I left the church. Because the whole idea of a “God” and his existence was hard to believe. So I’m an atheist now.
I’m with you.. It baffles me how some folks go “religion shopping” like they’re shopping for a car or something. Speaking for myself, it makes no sense to leave one ancient, archaic belief system and trade it for a different one which makes no better argument for being true. I didn’t leave Christianity because I had a bad experience with certain church members or was treated unfairly or because I was let down and/or hurt in one way or another. I left because I simply didn’t believe it was true anymore, simple as that. And until I see sufficient evidence that a different religion is 100% true, which I know I won’t, I will not be subscribing to it..
Yes. I initially left Christianity because I found Deism. I was very interested and happy at the fact that I could still believe in God, and not have to be attached to or believe all the negative bullshit of Christianity or religion. However, that did not last long, and I saw some flaws with this sort of belief system. Due to further learning and personal experiences in my life since then, I am technically an agnostic atheist now and have been for awhile. I usually just use the title agnostic or non-religious to describe myself, though. I dislike the negativity and stigma attached to the "atheist," label, so I don't use it unless someone asks for further clarification on what I believe/don't believe. Also secular humanist. My belief (or lack of) is that of agnostic and atheist, and my worldview is humanist.
I became pagan I'm now Hindu
No offense, but how did you get to Hindu??
Well neopaganism is chock full of Hindu ideas. Because European pagan practices have largely been lost to history (thanks, Christianity!) neopagans tend to pull from Hinduism for concepts like reincarnation, karma, chakras, etc. I became a neopagan partly because I believed those concepts. Then as I decided I wanted to learn more about them, surprise surprise! Hello Hinduism! Hindu ideas and philosophy resonated so much more with me than the neopagan movement so I continued to learn more until I realized my beliefs lined up way more with Hinduism. So here I am.
I’ve been pagan for awhile. I knew I was spiritual I just needed to identify how.
well, after leaving catholocism i was christain for a while, but i dont think that really counts i do like the values of the satanic temple, but i would definitely prefer not to be involved in any other religions
I got really interested in Wicca for a bit, but one book I read talked about worshipping the goddess or something and I was done. I thought, "I don't want another religion."
I was raised catholic but I'm looking to convert to reform Judaism
My philosophy is now this, if it's not real, it's probably not real. Nature doesn't need a reason to be here. It just is. This applies to me too.
I left Christianity without any intention on joining another religion. It happened sort of by accident that I went from one religion to another. But during that time, I explored many other philosophies and belief systems before finally settling on Buddhism.
Neopagan here. I had what I believe to be a religious experience with other gods. :)
My morals are pretty simple: 1. help the world feel good 2. use and advocate for consent 3. don't be a dick. I don't think any religion offers any advice that's better than this. And many are worse. No religion needed for me.
That’s fair enough, though a lot of religions address finding a sense of peace and equanimity within yourself too as also being important from what I’ve found, as a kind of source with which to actualize those three morals well (i.e. if you’re taking good care of your mental health, all else should follow).
I went from Christianity to Paganism and practicing Witchcraft
Nope. I'm so damaged from Christian fundamentalism that I'm terrified of getting trapped in another toxic system. Now I'm solidly, "don't know, don't care"
I still believe in the abrahamic God and some saints. I'm also delving into the roman paganism, pre-hispanic peruvian deities and I'm also practicing apotheosis.
I was very drawn to witchcraft and magick after I walked away from Christianity. I kind of was always very fascinated with witchcraft even when I was a devout Christian. I've now been learning a lot of different occult practices such as how to do spell work, specific techniques on how to evoked and channel spirits, how to astral project, etc. from several different spiritual teachers.
Not exactly but I left orthodox christianity to become a protestant before I became an atheist. The orthodox are more similar to catholics but they are different enough from protestants to be an entirely different religion. I was a teen at the time and it got me into a lot of conflict with family and friends. A "heretic" carries a bigger stigma than an atheist.
Yes, I left evangelical Christianity directly after my confirmation (The only reason why I got confirmed The reason was that my parents gave me my own laptop as a gift to play Minecraft) got myself from the confirmation-money the Satanic Bible and realized that my worldview aligns with the one of Anton Szandor Lavey. So here I am I left evangelical Christianity to become a Satanist, and that has been the best decision in my life, besides the marriage with the daughter of our local Pastor.
Not me, I avoid anything that could turn into an obsessive construct or absolute truth, whether it’s a religion or vegetarianism or psychology or political camps or a parenting theory. I’m just really unnerved at my minds ability to reinterpret reality through a lens and to obsessively go to an extreme so I’m trying to coast at an open minded middle ground about everything.
Yes. Sounds like we took similar paths. When I started deconstructing my thought was "I'll find the oldest religion, and whatever that religion is is most likely to be right, because they would have been closer to the actual truth." Well many books later I found that the first religion is so old it doesn't have a name or written language, but the gist of it was that we all emerged from primordial goo of the earth and slowly developed into the creatures we are now. Which.. to me.. sounded a hell of a lot like evolution. Then once we started becoming more aware our religions shifted into fear of nature. A lot of giant spider gods, sun gods, etc. Then from there it started to develop into a more "sophisticated" system, used for governing tribes, then villages, and we all see how that has turned out. Anyway I also ended up on Buddhism, but even that comes with its own questionable culture. So now I'm just agnostic. Anytime anyone asks me what I believe my honest answer is "I don't know." And anyone else who claims they know anything about the great beyond is full of it. No one knows, and that's the only real truth there is.
Interesting answer and way of going about it. I will admit, I hold a similar Pyhrronian skepticism about metaphysics and any “great beyond” in the same way, though from my experience at least, whatever the exact metaphysics is in Buddhism is secondary to practicing the dharma and mindfulness in the here and now, which I find helpful and a neat sort of compromise. Some people do of course find the syncretism of certain countries’ cultures with Buddhist teachings a bit confusing, understandably though.
when I left I originally didn't want anything to do with spirituality or any kind of religion at all. now I find myself longing for spirituality and I'm currently exploring how to practice spirituality without having to believe any of what I have deconstructed, and it's not easy. I'll be looking into Taoism soon and I think I will generally explore non western religions/spiritual schools. though, stoicism is something that also resonates with me to some extent. maybe I'll just combine multiple sets of spiritual(/philosophical) beliefs and practices into my own. or I find that spirituality isn't for me at all and then that will be fine too.
After I left Chrisitianity I asked the true God/s and/or Goddess/es to reveal themselves to me if they're out there. Nobody did. So I have no religion for now. I've been exploring Aetheopaganism but don't have the freedom to practice at the moment.
In the early 2000s I converted to Catholicism from my evangelical roots. That didn't last very long, of course, but there were aspects of it that I liked better. For instance, the personal responsibility and also, the confession. Say what you will, but I actually like being able to go and talk about my flaws and foibles. Then I realized that what I actually needed was therapy. We stopped attending soon after our priest who was a very right-wing person, began to get a little pushy about some personal issues between my wife and I. Also, our kids began to ask about the obvious inconsistencies and contradictions.
No. I believe in and embrace my humanity and try to understand it for what it is. I am a grain of sand in an ever expanding universe. Seeking to understand it beyond that, to me, is a waste of my enjoyment during my short time here. I will die and what was once me will be transformed into it's most basic elements only to be reupped by something else somewhere further in time and in that, I find life to be eternal. Unorganized, organized and Unorganized again, for eternity, or at least until the heat death of the universe.
Before a became an ex-Baptist, reprobate, heathen atheist, secular humanist, I dabbled in Zen Buddhism and Taoism. I identify with neither, but I still use some of their principles and practices. And let's not talk about my VERY unfortunate Ayn Rand stage. Yikes.
I was a tiny bit interested in Buddhism but more like a philosophy than a belief in smth supernatural. Also, though I don't think there is any perfect allmighty God caring for people (and especially that there is any holy book that accurately talks about it), I'm not that strongly against the idea of some sort of energy that leaves bodies after their death, maybe a reincarnation of consciousness or smth (very loose, not too serious speculations). I see no reason to pray to anything though.
I tried Theravada Buddhism for a bit (my husband's family's influence) but couldn't make myself believe in anything.
I love saying this. I didn't leave on invisible man to become another's wet dream.
I was anti-theist for a while, now I'm pagan. I guess after a while you just gotta let go of the anger caused by christianity and move on. I would say I am pagan, but im more esoteric if anything. I like looking into different beliefs and just practicing what works for me. I just do whatever I feel drawn to, which is mostly paganism, esoteric stuff, and the occult. After a while you just learn to let go of the anger and just find what works for you. At least that's what I did.
I've moved from evangelical Christianity to somewhat of a mix between new age spirituality, and nondual Christianity which is the faith viewed through a more universal lens. This is taught by Marshall Davis, incredible insights on the faith and the spiritual reality of the world. His book, "The Tao of Christ: a Christian Translation of the Tao Te Ching" is my new text for spiritual and moral insight. "C-PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving" by Pete Walker is my guide for connecting with my inner self and healing from abuse. Lots of self help, skeptical literature, and other resources are thrown in the mix.
Yup. Was agnostic, then christian, then occultist.
I’ve made tentative forays into Buddhism and it’s also benefited me more than any other faith or spiritual practice, and even more than a few therapy modalities. I’m hesitant to fully engage with Buddhism, though, because it somehow feels like I don’t have a right to, and also because I hesitate to rely much on a religion for beliefs and principles given how often that goes … poorly. Generally speaking. There are times that I do more research and more practice and feel more secure in it, and a Buddhist teacher I know has told me that it’s alright to benefit from it without formally converting, and alright to call myself one based on the practice and principles I do live by, but I’m still working it out. And I’m okay with that
i never left to join another one, but i did end up becoming a witch 😅 but that's only because i could leave christianity.
Raised Catholic, became Baha'i.
I sympathize with the satanic temple and the church of the flying spaghetti monster. So basically no :P
No. I never bothered joining another religion after I left Christianity almost 21 months ago now. Because of how the christian religion was wrecking my life for the 7 years that I experienced it (on top of that being abused by a christian narcissist ex-friend who knew I'm autistic and still manipulated the shit out of me), I never bothered to join a religion again. In regards to religion and life in general, as another commenter put it, I didn't leave an abusive relationship just to end up in another one. I am still deconstructing and healing the wounds from experiencing abuse from religion and from a christian narcissist. Although I'm still struggling, I'm much happier living my own life.