and if you atheist/switched faiths, why did you do it and what faith did you choose?

im in a curious mood today :>

  • twice_hatch@midwest.social
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    2 hours ago

    Atheist, universalist Unitarian. Other people’s theism is just at the bottom of my priorities these days lol. UUs seem like nice people

  • Maiq@lemy.lol
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    4 hours ago

    This one thinks there were three cycles of moon giving from our mother Fadomai. Ahnurr gave Fadomai her cubs. First was Alkosh, followed by Khenarthi, Magrus, Mara lastly there was S’rendarr.

    During the second moon gift there was now Merrunz, Mafala, followed by Sangiin.

    Although Ahnurr’s house was full, Alkosh and others wanted more cubs to bask in lights warmth.

    So Fadomai gave her first cubs their wishes. Azurah, Nirni, Y’ffer, Masser, Secunda all joined with the light children.

    Fadomai still had longing for small cubs so she fled to the void and one cub, Lorkhaj was given.

    Exhausted, Fadomai knew her time of ending was near. So a gift was given to Nirni, for she desired to give cubs the light.

    So it was that Nirni came to her brother Lorkhaj for she needed a new dwelling for her cubs. Lorkhaj did just so, forming the mortal realm. Some of Fadomai’s first cubs were imprisoned in the new realm. The second set of Fadomai’s cubs saw what had happened and did not follow.

    Mayhaps was not just Nirni who was given the gift of cubs. So is said Azurah came down to one of Nirni’s cubs and shape his form most desirably, so log as they would be given their mother Fadomai’s Beauty, Ahnurr intelligence and Alkosh’s streingth.

    Azurah found some of Nirni’s cubs in the forest and from them Khajiit were born under Masser and Secunda’s light.

    Angered by Azurah’s decision to take so many cubs Nirni came to Y’ffer and ask for punishment. He did so turning the grasses to warm sands and forest to marsh.

    Azurah loved her cubs and taught them the ways of the moons and the gift of shapes.

    However not all her children were given the gifts of Azurah and favored Nirni. By her hand the fur was taken and the forest given. For Nirni also loved here cubs and their grandcubs.

    Although maybe not M’aiq is very practical. He has no need for mysticism.

  • Scott_of_the_Arctic@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    Grew up atheist, went through a semi serious pagan phase, got certified as a shaman, went back to atheism. Will still throw in the odd ritual, but more with the expectation that it will affect the way I think about a problem rather than the ritual doing anything on its own.

    So like if you have a job interview you can either raw dog it and show your lack of confidence or.preform a ritual and gain some confidence which will count in your favour during the interview.h

    Is the ritual doing any direct alterations? No, but it’s still useful.

  • zenforyen@feddit.org
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    16 hours ago

    My true faith is: don’t be an asshole and be a decent, rational and empathetic human being.

    Everything else I may or may not believe does not matter, it’s decoration.

  • Dae@pawb.social
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    14 hours ago

    Zen Buddhist. I grew up Christian, realized I was believing out of obligation rather than genuine conviction, but also I’m pan and Christians have made it very clear that’s not okay with them.

    I was areligious for awhile. Which I use because I am still an atheist; I don’t see much evidence for gods, but that isn’t important to Buddhism.

    I appreciate the Buddha’s teachings and find them incredibly helpful. I’m calmer, more focused, and over all, happier for my practice. It gives me a spiritual outlet that doesn’t make me feel “dirty” the way Christianity did.

    There are aspects to Buddhism that I have to take on faith even though I am otherwise a skeptical individual. But ultimately, those things don’t change how I would have had to live my life. And I believe that a true practitioner needs a balance of logic anf faith: too much logic, and you kill your faith. Too much faith and you wind up in a cult. You need enough logic to stay grounded, and enough faith to believe. But you have to acknowledge that you can rarely prove the things you take on faith and because of that, there will always be non-belivers, and that has to be okay.

  • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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    15 hours ago

    Satanist.

    Raised Mormon, was a Mormon missionary. Had a nervous breakdown, and religious leaders said that I must be sinning, and needed to pray more, read my scriptures more, and repent. But… What sin? And how was I supposed to pray/study more when I had already dedicated two years of my life to preaching? E.g., there’s 24 hours in the day, and I’m already spending multiple hours doing that stuff, so where am I supposed to fit that in?

    That was the first crack in the foundation. Took a while, but once you realize that religious leaders are just men (and yes, it’s always men in the Mormon church), and that despite their claims they don’t have any prophetic powers, then you start questioning a lit of things, like how you can even know truth. (Spoiler: you can’t know truth without some kind of objective evidence, and all religions’ truth claims are based on subjective evidence and “see?, it says so, right here in my book!”)

    Atheist is a label that says what you don’t believe. Satanist is a label that says what I do believe. So I eventually settled on Satanist.

  • Dr_Box@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    I’m an atheist. I grew up super religious and had a falling out with my church due to their “if someone believes different than our denomination they are going to hell” mindset. After that I found out that most other denominations are like that except for mormons but they are worse in other ways. Then I did more and more research that sort of caused what belief I had left to fall apart and now its kind of like Santa Claus, once you figure out its your parents putting presents under the tree theres no believing in Santa anymore

  • markovs_gun@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    It’s complicated but I used to be essentially atheist but now believe that there is something one might as well call “God” after studying philosophy. Essentially everything has a cause and something must be at the end of that chain, and we might as well call that “God.” I also practice Christianity because I feel that it is good to have the community and structure that a religion can provide but I don’t think that “God” necessarily exists in the way Christianity typically presents it.

    • Dr_Box@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      Upvoting you because as an atheist I think its stupid that others are downvoting just because someone says they lean towards christianity

      • markovs_gun@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        Eh. I could care less about downvotes and I understand that the idea of practicing Christianity for reasons beyond personal faith in it is going to be controversial to Christians and atheists alike. If someone made a chill Atheist/agnostic “church” where there was singing and discussions on moral philosophy, and a community of people devoted to helping each other and their community I’d probably be doing that but as it stands religion is the only game in town for such things and I think that it’s good to do something like this. Plus I don’t know, it’s kind of cool to be a part of rituals people have been doing for thousands of years.

          • markovs_gun@lemmy.world
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            14 hours ago

            It’s more complicated than that since I do believe God exists but in a way that is incomprehensible to humans, and, according to all evidence, doesn’t “intervene” with the universe. I say “intervene” because God, as classically described, is simultaneously incapable of intervening and incapable of not intervening. If we define God as “an omnipotent being”(which, for the record, I do not), then He is necessarily also all knowing and exists outside of the limitations of time and space. Such a being would be perfectly optimized as well, and so it would be impossible for anything to occur without its express permission and cause. Therefore, under classical theism, it seems impossible for God to say, answer prayers, because this would imply that He could possibly change His mind or that what was happening wasn’t already what He wants to begin with.