The religion you rejected - why did you reject it?

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Inspired by this thread: The religion you believe in - Why did you choose to believe that religion?

I'm not talking about religions where a passing familiarity was enough for you decide they weren't for you. I'm talking about religions that you were once immersed in: the ones you seriously considered a participated in, or where you were a full member.

If you are no longer a part of a religion you were once in - or were at least on a path toward - why did you reject the religion?

 

[Kenny]

Inspired by this thread: The religion you believe in - Why did you choose to believe that religion?

I'm not talking about religions where a passing familiarity was enough for you decide they weren't for you. I'm talking about religions that you were once immersed in: the ones you seriously considered a participated in, or where you were a full member.

If you are no longer a part of a religion you were once in - or were at least on a path toward - why did you reject the religion?

I was totally immersed in my religion of secularism. I guess, after seeing what life was with no God, I began wondering where are all the miracles that I had heard of in the Bible.

Finally came to a point were I realized that my life was going from bad to worse and said, "The Bible is either true or false. I will start by believing it is true and test the sucker. I'll find out soon enough if it is false".

Of course, It still is holding true for me.

 

[Nakosis]

Inspired by this thread: The religion you believe in - Why did you choose to believe that religion?

I'm not talking about religions where a passing familiarity was enough for you decide they weren't for you. I'm talking about religions that you were once immersed in: the ones you seriously considered a participated in, or where you were a full member.

If you are no longer a part of a religion you were once in - or were at least on a path toward - why did you reject the religion?

God told me to.
Yes, I used to have conversations with God, maybe God, a creation of my subconscious but they felt real.
Anyway, "God" told me that all religions were the creation of man. None of them had any real knowledge about God.
Yes, some felt they had received knowledge from God and started religions.
While I understand this feeling, having had such conversation myself, I had come to understand that God was beyond man's ability to comprehend.
Whatever man thinks they know about God is wrong. So no point in following any religion.

 

[Revoltingest]

I was totally immersed in my religion of secularism.

But did you ever reject a religion you belonged to?

 

[DharmaCatLamp]

Inspired by this thread: The religion you believe in - Why did you choose to believe that religion?

I'm not talking about religions where a passing familiarity was enough for you decide they weren't for you. I'm talking about religions that you were once immersed in: the ones you seriously considered a participated in, or where you were a full member.

If you are no longer a part of a religion you were once in - or were at least on a path toward - why did you reject the religion?

I used to be a Muslim and was fairly devout. I would do the five daily prayers and would often find ways to do some of the sunnah extra prayers as well. The biggest reason I ended up rejecting Islam was the way it was taught to me. I was told that Muhammad was the last messenger and that he was the seal of the prophets. I was taught that the Quran was the perfect word of God. I was taught that Islam was the perfect way of life.

The issue with that kind of teaching is that all it takes is one flaw and the whole thing comes apart. If the Quran is the perfect word of God then even the single tiniest mistake is enough to discount the entire story. If Muhammad is the perfect man then all it takes is one bad activity to put the whole thing into question. There was all of that plus the fact that as I came to terms with my own sexuality it became obvious to me that if I made my true feelings known I would of been rejected by large amounts of people who called themselves my brothers and sisters.

The only thing that kept me going during my last year of being a Muslim was my only real friend being a Muslim as well. We would practice together but when he left I just sort of stopped. I found that the prayers felt hollow, Muhammad struck me more and more as a rather imperfect man. The Quran didn't feel like it stood up to scrutiny. So It just stopped making sense to practice at all.

Funnily enough I probably read more Islamic literature now than I did back in the day. I just have access to more sources and have been able to find some incredible Sufi texts. It's interesting how much my views have changed. I will admit Muhammad is still a figure I have mixed feelings about. The biographies we have of Muhammad make me skeptical to say the least but I can look past all of that to the sources within Islam that I find inspirational.

I hold nothing against folks who are Muslim. The thing Is I have to be honest with myself and what I think.

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

But did you ever reject a religion you belonged to?

Well, yes. But some of them are not religions according to your religion of rational.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I eventually came to think of my impassioned atheism as tiresome and presumptuous. That said, I haven't moved particularly far: perhaps from militant atheism to cautious ignosticism, from the "no way" of Richard Dawkins to the "not yet" of Franz Rosenzweig.

 

[Erebus]

If you are no longer a part of a religion you were once in - or were at least on a path toward - why did you reject the religion?

Satanism.

I found that there comes a point when heterodoxy becomes the new orthodoxy. So many Satanists seem to get wrapped up in bickering over what counts as "true" Satanism that they end up becoming just as dogmatic and cliquish as the Christians* they theoretically oppose. I started to feel that if somebody has been a Satanist for a while, the most adversarial thing they could do would be to start wearing pastels to their church bake sale.

I do still have a soft spot for groups like the Satanic Temple and some solitary practitioners. The Satanic Temple actually makes practical use of Satan as a symbol and I've found that Satanists who emphasise doing things their own way are less likely to join in on the "eviler than thou" merry-go-round.


*Some Christians at least. I used to think of Christianity in fairly simplistic terms, treating it as a monolithic whole that was to be opposed in its entirety. Abandoning that mentality probably also contributed to my departure from Satanism.

 

[Kenny]

But did you ever reject a religion you belonged to?

It was my religion. It was based on a faith position that there was no God. It had its tenets of faith that we came from monkeys, life in the womb was expendable, that sex was whatever you wanted it to be and other position. If you did not believe those things, then you weren't part of that family of faith. I religiously lived by those faith positions.

 

[Wildswanderer]

But did you ever reject a religion you belonged to?

We all belong to sin.
To reject it as having a hold on you is to reject the religion everybody's born with.

 

[PureX]

I reject any religion that tries to place itself between myself and my own personal relationship with the god-ideal. And that seems to be nearly all of them.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

It was my religion. It was based on a faith position that there was no God. It had its tenets of faith that we came from monkeys, life in the womb was expendable, that sex was whatever you wanted it to be and other position. If you did not believe those things, then you weren't part of that family of faith. I religiously lived by those faith positions.

If you're going to tell us that you considered secularism your religion, then I'm going to remind you of the commandment against bearing false witness.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I reject any religion that tries to place itself between myself and my own personal relationship with the god-ideal. And that seems to be nearly all of them.

Again:

I'm not talking about religions where a passing familiarity was enough for you decide they weren't for you. I'm talking about religions that you were once immersed in: the ones you seriously considered a participated in, or where you were a full member.

 

[Starlight]

I was born in a family where we was Christian. Lutheran Christians. But i can not ever follow lutheran Christianity again, because Martin Luther was a antisemitism. He was not a good man. When i read what he wrote about jews, then i understood that lutheran Christianity is not the truth.

 

[PureX]

Again:

I'm not talking about religions where a passing familiarity was enough for you decide they weren't for you. I'm talking about religions that you were once immersed in: the ones you seriously considered a participated in, or where you were a full member.

I was raised Catholic, was an 'alter boy', and had a personal experience of God as a child.

Nevertheless, I could not abide the dictatorial, 'gate-keeper' nature of Catholicism, especially after having my own personal experience of God, which was in no way dictatorial or reflective of any religious depictions.

 

[Revoltingest]

It was my religion.

Secularism isn't atheism.
I've known many believers who like secular government.
Are you saying you were once an atheist?

 

[Revoltingest]

We all belong to sin.

Speak for yourself.
I've no sin...in the same way I've no wizarding powers.

To reject it as having a hold on you is to reject the religion everybody's born with.

My question to the other poster was about
whether he gave up a religion he once held.

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

It was my religion. It was based on a faith position that there was no God. It had its tenets of faith that we came from monkeys, life in the womb was expendable, that sex was whatever you wanted it to be and other position. If you did not believe those things, then you weren't part of that family of faith. I religiously lived by those faith positions.

Well, my faith is that is and is no God depending on how I do it for a given context and another context.

 

[mangalavara]

If you are no longer a part of a religion you were once in - or were at least on a path toward - why did you reject the religion?

But i can not ever follow lutheran Christianity again, because Martin Luther was a antisemitism.

I was a Lutheran by conversion for a few years. I eventually left Lutheranism (and Christianity) because I was not honestly a monotheist, my spirituality was unfulfilling, and I personally found a biblical worldview unsatisfying.

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

I was a Lutheran by conversion for a few years. I eventually left Lutheranism (and Christianity) because I was not honestly a monotheist, my spirituality was unfulfilling, and I personally found a biblical worldview unsatisfying.

I was one kind of atheist, but that was not me, so now I am another kind.