Boston Atheists member Dave ("proudly a new card carrying member of American Atheists") writes:
First I’d like to start by saying that I was brought up Catholic. The Catholic Religion did nothing to keep me from their religion. However as I entered my teenage years, I started to question things as many teens do. The more I was exposed to people of different religions; the more I started to wonder if Catholicism was the “right” religion. They all laid claim to being the only religion that would allow you into heaven. This led me to question all religions including my own; spiraling me into being an Agnostic. Then after years passing of being an Agnostic, I took an introductory to philosophy course.
This is where everything involving religion in my life had turned around and changed forever. I clearly recall what - what I call now – my “ah ha moment”. I call it this because it precisely what I thought after the following. One day after my philosophy class I was praying to god. I was praying for god to forgive me for not believing in him. It was in this moment something clicked in my mind like never before. It just simply occurred to me how absurd it was to be praying to someone I didn’t believe existed. I wanted to believe but just couldn’t. There was nothing left to go on but faith which I ultimately found to be irrational. That is how I became an Atheist.
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This post is part of a series, in which members of the Boston secular community explain how they came to the decision to identify as atheists. To read more posts in the series, click here. To submit your own story, email bostonatheists@gmail.com.
First I’d like to start by saying that I was brought up Catholic. The Catholic Religion did nothing to keep me from their religion. However as I entered my teenage years, I started to question things as many teens do. The more I was exposed to people of different religions; the more I started to wonder if Catholicism was the “right” religion. They all laid claim to being the only religion that would allow you into heaven. This led me to question all religions including my own; spiraling me into being an Agnostic. Then after years passing of being an Agnostic, I took an introductory to philosophy course.
This is where everything involving religion in my life had turned around and changed forever. I clearly recall what - what I call now – my “ah ha moment”. I call it this because it precisely what I thought after the following. One day after my philosophy class I was praying to god. I was praying for god to forgive me for not believing in him. It was in this moment something clicked in my mind like never before. It just simply occurred to me how absurd it was to be praying to someone I didn’t believe existed. I wanted to believe but just couldn’t. There was nothing left to go on but faith which I ultimately found to be irrational. That is how I became an Atheist.
*
This post is part of a series, in which members of the Boston secular community explain how they came to the decision to identify as atheists. To read more posts in the series, click here. To submit your own story, email bostonatheists@gmail.com.
