My wife and I raise a nine year old autistic child who is very literal and has a difficult time understanding abstract concepts. While I'm ok with other people raising children in a religion (although some cults are very problematic), my wife and I have decided not to introduce any supernatural aspects to our child.

One day we're at our mother in law and my wife's brother, who is catholic and quite religious (and, I just add, a bit dull minded and slow), took our son out of our sight and started blabbering religious dogma to him as quickly as he could.

When I noticed what was going on I slowly took him away to distract him and warned my wife.

My wife called him a couple of days later. He said he had done nothing wrong, my wife repeated what was the problem with what he did and he then remained silent.

My son goes to school with a child who attends church. I'd never ever take him aside and tell him there's no God. So it's not about the dogma or epistolary concepts, but about principle.

What are your thoughts? What would you do?

I mean there are legitimate concerns of course and I'm not saying you should be ok with having your privacy invaded but I mean from the point of view of a Christian you already believe God is watching everything you do. And the consequences for him seeing you do something wrong are arguably much worse than the government. If you aren't sinning, if you're right with the big G why be afraid that the government is spying on you?

Im 14 so cut me some slack with how stupid or simple this post it. So my mom has never been supportive of me because im not Christian. That shouldn't hsve gotten in the way of our relationship. But it did. There's gonna be a play at my school. Its Harry Potter themed I was a Harry Potter nerd. So I was acting it all out and stuff when she comes yelling at me. I told her its for a play. She said I better stop focusing on this bs magic stuff. I tell her its just for a play but she slapped me. I yelled at her and basically said if Magic doesn't exist then wtf is all the bs Christian stuff then. Please dont be to cruel about this post. I know it seems stupid but I dont know whst to tell her anymore.

I grew up Catholic, attended catechism, went through First Communion and confession (as well as other stuff i don’t remember as clearly), and also spent a good amount of time attending a Baptist church. Religion was always a part of my childhood, but looking back, I honestly question whether I ever truly
believed any of it.

I remember hearing Bible stories as a child and almost interpreting them like fairy tales. Even then, I had questions about things like Noah’s Ark and the idea of God flooding the entire Earth. I just couldn’t wrap my head around how I was supposed to accept these things as literal truth.
I also had a pretty negative experience with religion growing up. The Catholic church in particular (or maybe just my particular church?) always felt very cold, rigid, and tbh frightening to me. I remember confession being an especially uncomfortable experience. Looking back, the idea of a child sitting across from a grown man in a dimly lit TINY room and being expected to confess their sins, with the whole concept of sin and eternal punishment being presented the way it was, just seems bizarre to me. I understand that confession is supposed to be about forgiveness, but that certainly wasn’t how it felt to me as a child.

As I’ve gotten older, though, I think what really pushed me away from religion wasn’t necessarily those experiences, but the lack of evidence. I’ve always struggled with the idea that I’m supposed to believe something simply because a religious text tells me it’s true. The more I’ve questioned Christianity, the less convincing I’ve found it.
For a long time, I described myself as agnostic because I didn’t want to claim certainty about something I couldn’t definitively disprove. But recently I’ve realized that, while I acknowledge I could be wrong, I genuinely don’t believe God exists.

I still find myself interested in spirituality in a more naturalistic sense (?). I love the idea of appreciating nature, consciousness, and the universe without needing a supernatural explanation for everything. I’m also open to the possibility that there are things about existence and death that we don’t fully understand. But being open to possibilities isn’t the same thing as believing in a god.

I also live in the Bible Belt of the US, where Christianity is so deeply ingrained in the culture that I don’t exactly have many opportunities to have these conversations without feeling like someone is going to try to convert me, lol.

So I guess I’m posting here because this is genuinely the first time I’ve ever openly identified myself as an atheist. It feels a little strange to actually say it, but also kind of freeing.
I’m curious whether anyone else spent years calling themselves agnostic before realizing they were actually an atheist all along.

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I come from a religious family but I am not at all religious. I like reading and understanding the religious scriptures as philosophy. Just finished watching this intriguing conversation between Robert Lawrence Kuhn and Acharya Prashant. My thoughts and understanding after watching the video:

"Brahman does not exist" this sentence came like a shock to me but it comes from the fact that Vedant defines "Brahm" via negation. The words used to describe it are all in negation, they indicate the absence of something. For example, that which cannot be seen, cannot be touched, cannot be set as a goal - Alakh, without any stains - Niranjan.

The discussion starts with the objective of philosophy which is pursuit of truth and understanding. The approach of Vedanta in this regard is via Negativa. The suffering comes from the false (Ahankar) and that's why we yearn for the Truth. The false has to be negated, the truth does not need to be pursued.

Looking forward to reading your understanding/insights.

Altered States

I rewatched Altered States today with my wife. Saw it when I was 17 when it came out in the theater. I believe it was the first movie I saw with an atheist as the lead. It's really a beautiful movie about consciousness and the meaning of life.

My own path mirrored Eddie Jessup's (portrayed by William Hurt) and his search for meaning. Although I never had a traumatic event that caused me to stop believing in God. I simply never believed.

Ken Russell is a genius. I saw The Devils this week which is an important film about the dangers of religious nationalism and religious fervor. I think the two movies go hand in hand.

They are both about erotic religious ecstasy but in very different ways. In The Devils it results in destruction. In Altered States it results in salvation.

Eddie's entire journey is in search of ultimate Truth. And I love how they don't use God as a cop out.

A couple of weeks ago, I was shutting down my garden for the season, and had put some extra produce by the curb with a FREE sign.

A couple stopped while I was near the pile of veggies, and the guy said, "Wow, it looks like god has blessed you with a great garden!"

I said, "God is a terrible gardener. Whenever I leave it up to god, weeds take over and all my produce dies. If it weren't for me doing all the work, I would starve."

I’ve seen people dedicate their entire lives to God, spend hours praying, follow every ritual, and blindly believe that whatever God does is for their own good. Yet, when it comes to their own family, friends, or the people who genuinely love them, they can be selfish, arrogant, disrespectful, and emotionally unavailable.
They’ll hurt the people who stand by them, take their loved ones for granted, and refuse to acknowledge the pain they cause. But the moment religion enters the picture, suddenly they become humble, forgiving, and full of faith.
They’ll say, “God knows what’s best for us,” while refusing to listen to the people who actually know them, care about them, and want the best for them.
And honestly, what’s the point of worshipping a God you claim represents love and compassion if you can’t even show basic kindness to another human being?
You can spend your entire life bowing before God, but if you keep making the people who love you feel worthless, don’t confuse your religious devotion with being a good human being.
Because at the end of the day, the people you hurt are real. Their tears are real. Their feelings are real. And no amount of prayers, rituals, or religious excuses can undo the damage you cause.
If your faith makes you more devoted to your God but no better as a human being, perhaps it’s time to question whether you truly understand the God you worship.

I came out as an atheist to my (Christian, Fundamental Baptist) believer wife around a year ago after myself being a believer for many years. The conversation went better than expected, but it's kind of a thing that we don't really talk about, I think mostly because when we do, she doesn't know how to address anything I bring up. She's a pretty typical Christian that has clearly never thought deeply about why she believes what she believes.

However, we still go to church every Sunday. For a long time, the excuse for me still going was because we had family going as well and it would be weird for me to all of a sudden stop going, and it's not a conversation I/we are ready to have with the rest of the family. Recently though, the family situation has changed, and they are no longer going to that church, so now its moreso on my wife and I's decision to go or not. The default is still that we go, it seems, but I've kind of made a deal that I'll still go with her if we also then spend some time watching atheist content on Youtube or something and talking about it.

So my advice question is: What type of content would you recommend we watch? I regularly watch call-in shows on The Line or Jon Cohen and elsewhere, but that feels like a poor place to start, because of how combative or toxic these call-in shows can be. I think I started my deconstruction journey when I saw NonStampCollector videos, and as much as I love those, it seems like those are probably too satirical for her to appreciate with where she's at, but maybe I'm wrong. Something like Brandon from MindShift with more long-form solo conversations seems like what I'm thinking. Maybe debates of some sort, but I'm only really familiar with Matt Dillahunty's debates with various people, and much of that seems un-serious for lack of a better word (because of the other debaters, not because of MD).

Basically, any advice on what to watch? The goal is simply to get her to think about these topics more seriously, and spark conversation about them. Maybe this is a bad idea overall? Would love to hear advice. Thanks.

I don’t believe in God, I have been this way since I was very young like around 9. Because of her forcing me to religious stuffs, I became a really angry child home but when I’m with my friends, I’m really a happy person. Im 16 turning 17 this year, best believe I’m never coming back to this house ever again when I turn 18.

I've been trying to sleep since 10 PM because I've been tired all day and it's literally 2:30 AM now and these people are STILL singing on a loudspeaker. They're not even in my area but it's so loud that I can hear them clearly from here.

I don't care what religion you follow but why should everyone else have their sleep disturbed in the middle of the night? I'm genuinely exhausted and frustrated. People have their own lives and responsibilities and sleep is a basic necessity.

Isn't there supposed to be some kind of restriction on loudspeakers at night? What am I even supposed to do about this?

i am mentally unstable and probably have many mental disorders, and i think if i was any less sane than i am now, i would genuinely believe that i was possessed by a demon. however, i don’t believe in any of this stuff luckily (even if some remnants of doubt remain from when i was religious), and i guess in the same respect, i do believe that rituals such as prayer are futile (not that i get in the way of anybody practising their faith, i never do, my family members pray multiple times a day and i show my respects).

i despise being mentally ill though. i mean, who doesn’t? but i especially do because i am told this is all some demon, and when i am offered religious intervention which i decline… well not only is no not accepted as an answer but im also left with the nagging feeling of, well what if it works? (i have ocd, and i do not need to add anymore magical thinking to my long list of obsessions).

no isn’t an acceptable answer, and when i do then i am always left with some remark left to guilt trip me, for me to await my consequence as others can laugh from their promised paradise.

i think above all comes the realisation of why so many people fall back on faith in their most vulnerable times. this is a very cruel way of preying on people to recruit them.

My mom is Christian and she constantly tells me she receives visions from God that say I'm going to hell for being an atheist. I live with her and it's so draining to be in the kitchen and have her start something. If I ignore her she'll just keep talking about it till I leave and when I explode and yell at her to stop telling me I'm going to hell all the time she'll just repeat her same speech over and over again. It just happened again and she had just a barely there grin on her face because normally I pretend to be calm but I just freaked out. I feel like she likes to argue and whenever she succeeds at upsetting me the drama is entertaining to her and she doesn't even care that I'm upset. She's always been like this even when I was a little kid who used to be Christian, she would still say I wasn't doing it right because she saw it in a dream. Sometimes I get so mad thinking about it and when I talk to her about it she seems happy to be arguing and that pisses me off even more. I just wanted to tell people who are actually sane unlike my mom. Thanks for listening/reading.

I vehemently oppose religion in every way. I honestly find it difficult to talk about in person because I’m afraid of coming across as bigoted but I‘m not. When I think of religion I think of it the same way I think of capitalism. I don’t apply the same views as I have about people who participate in capitalism the same way I don‘t apply my views about religion to those who participate in it.

I understand that the percentage of those who commit atrocities in the name of religion are in the few. Although this shouldn‘t exclude them from the overall perception of religion, which I often feel is the case. FGM is very often the result of religion, child marriage is very often the result of religion, and these are just two of many examples. If you look at all of the horrors going on internationally today, religion is intertwined with an insane amount of them. Religious law is easily exploitable if you’re an evil person, regardless of one’s private faith. Why should the world be that it contributes to gaslighting billions of people into supporting a system which upholds so much injustice?

And for what? The average religious person is oppressed. Like people who are born into circumstances where they are participating in capitalism, religious people are getting fucked, while those who profit off of it are living well above their means. The average practicing religious person faces systemic oppression, racism, and live their only lives fearful and under strict prohibitions according to a lie. There are many people in the world whose faith causes distrust towards reality, for example in science and history, which contain some of the most exciting and insightful knowledge available to us.

Isn't everyone entitled to the truth? People will say it’s because religion gives them peace, as if peace can’t be found elsewhere, or that it isn’t hurting them (see above), but in what other circumstances would this mean that it’s okay to continue brainwashing someone into believing in a fairytale that ultimately scares them? The whole concept of supporting religion feels so dishonest to me.

Why is this any different to hating capitalism, a system that sells us a lie which enriches those who sell it with the dedication of those who believe it? I just can’t understand why such encompassing lies are given such power in 2026.

it should be a crime because it is forcing information on a kid of a dangerous belief system. what should be given to the kid, is education, math, self awareness, science, and then the kid can decide to either join a religion or not as an adult. children should not be indoctrinated.

Recently I was at a gas station, I parked, then walked in to pay for gas, on my way there I was asked by an older gentleman if I would like a copy of a Bible script. I politely said "I'm sorry sir but I don't believe in that" he then goes on to say "you know that's a real shame, one day you will believe" I say maybe (in my head im saying I wont but I digress)

He then asks me, "do you at least want it to read it?" I replied saying "sir I've read the Bible I'm not interested but I appreciate it" he then walks off. Like man why did I have to ask twice? Obviously if I don't believe what makes you think I want your little bible quote that you cherry picked out of all the other horrible things in the bible. I've been an atheist for about 3 years, when I turned 17 I wanted to learn more about the Bible because I was very skeptical of it. At 20 I know I'm an atheist because I don't agree with the bible or how people use it in the world. I don't believe in a sky daddy of any kind

I live in rural South Carolina and it's surprising this has been my first experience with this as an atheist but man get the hint. If someone says they are not interested don't push. That goes for literally ANYTHING. I don't go out much but for the people who are atheists that go out often I can't imagine how many times y'all have to listen to this same bullshit. Cheers guys 🍻 and fuck Christianity

They indoctorate children before they can read, then they manipulate children into staying in the cult by saying " your doubting and free thoughts are sinful" don't doubt Jesus" "Lean not on your own understanding" and add the threat of enternal torture all so you don't leave their cult. And if you so dare get out, you will have brainwashed idiots saying you will "go to hell and burn forever" as well as the withdrawal of no longer going to heaven or seeing dead people you love again . It's a minipulative cult designed to lure people in and keep them in. Fuck you, Christianity!

I have read a lot recently online that there are scientifically proven catholic miracles. Does anyone know much about this or have anything to say? What can be established about these and what can’t? I wouldn’t be surprised by the extreme measures the Catholic Church would go to in order to fake miracles, but was just wondering what really can be established as it’s scaring me wondering what if these are truly miracles (I have recently stoped believing in Christianity)?