Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by BTB (John) on April 20, 2011 at 3:49am

You know my story thank "god" for the internet and the information on it and of course all those great Atheist podcasts. Love ya Hun xoxox

Permalink Reply by Felicia on April 20, 2011 at 9:50pm

Me? I was forced into going to church as a child. My mother took us too church on Wednesdays and Sundays so she can have time to herself at home. She never came with us. It was a pentecostal church of all things. Scared the living hell out of me every week when people talked in tongues. Later when the pastor tried to molest my sister we stopped going. I grew up and had a faint belief in god still. I realize now it was just the trail end of all the propaganda taught to me at a young age;The fear of hell and all that jazz. in my 30's I went on some sort of spirit quest looking for myself. I read all the books and chanted all the chants danced a few dances and I had come to the conclusion that there really was no god and that I am the center of my own universe. Everything around me is my own view , opinion and judgment made by me or even an"society" based idea( NOT THE DEVIL). Jesus seems to be a good idea for some and that's OK with me. Religion has done a lot of damage to society and yes I have some icky view on it but it has also helped people that need it and continues to help.Being a grown up now, I am glad I live where I can still choose to NOT have a religion and my rights are still acknowledged by some.

I never prayed for my hair and never blamed anyone for loosing it. I don't feel like I am being punished or anything insane like that. I am just lucky I guess that I get to experience more out of life. oh,lucky me!

Permalink Reply by Pat on April 20, 2011 at 11:38pm

I wonder if we all came to atheism after our experience with religion?

Permalink Reply by Trish on April 24, 2011 at 2:01pm

Roflll...ditto that John! I dont know if I would have been an Atheist had I not had Alopecia, but in my case I've had it so long its really more of a "which came first..." type of situation. Whatever the reasons, circumstances or fate, its a good thing I got it because I'm such a vain and self centered person as it is (well, sounds worse than it is, but trying to be honest lol), that WITH hair, OMG, I would have been somthin' else, let me tell ya. This just keeps me grounded, if you know what i mean.
Like its been said...theres no rhyme or reason, not even in the way this disease progresses, what with the one eye brow, one eye with lashes, one arm with hair, one without and all that going on, much less someone or something that planned it that way! Just is!

Permalink Reply by Virginia on January 24, 2012 at 4:51am

Some background information: I was raised in an Italian/Irish Roman Catholic family in Italy. You can imagine. Luckily, my parents are quite liberal, that can not be said for most of my extended family. My Nonna does the rosary every day with the radio. It starts at 7am, if she wakes up at 4:30 to go to the bathroom, she will stay up and wait until 7, because she is afraid she will miss it. I have not told her I am an atheist. My younger sister converted to Judaism and that didn't really sit too well with the relatives. They accepted it but were disappointed. Now, on we go to my story of liberation. lol. I have always been a non believer. I can remember being 5 or 6 and sitting in CCD (catholic sundy school) thinking this is crazy. After a confrontation with my CCD teacher when I was 8, I realized you can't argue with some people, so I pushed my reason aside and went through the motions. There was a period of time in my late teens early twenties when I believed. I think I was lost and I wanted so badly to believe in something, but in the back of my mind there was always that little voice, questioning. I went to college as a Fine Arts major and switched to Religious Studies my junior year. I was on a mission to find the truth. I even took Biblical Hebrew. The more I studied the louder that voice became. Finally, I had arrived. The truth for me is- this is it. I MUST make it count. Once I finally listened to myself I felt so free.

Permalink Reply by Pat on January 24, 2012 at 5:23am

Absolutely! It really is the most freeing thing to get to that place where you know - this is it! It took me a long time to get there, 30+ years of my life actually, but I got there in the end, woohoo!!! My parents aren't impressed but pretend I'm still a believer...I couldn't care less what they think of me...I'm over the hypocrisy they practice. They are the most prejudiced, judgemental people while coming across all sweetness and honey. Ugh...I feel ashamed at myself for once thinking that way too without seeing anything wrong about it - all because the bible said so!