I think that this will be the most quiet fan club on here, simply because a lot of Atheists don't put that much thought into religion.  It's always nice to see another Atheist though.  :]  Your deion was very nicely stated, and simply explains what I feel myself about the existence of a deity.  Unfortunately for a chat forum, I don't have much to say on the subject, since I just...don't believe.  That's all.  XD

 I've always been an Atheist.  I was raised by happy, caring Presbyterians who took me to church every Sunday.  Our church was AWESOME, and some of my happiest memories come from my time there.  There was no traumatic event, no bad experience, no destruction of faith...I've just never believed, so as I got older I felt somewhat hypocritical going.  And I stopped. 

I'm happily married to a Catholic man.  There has never been an issue about religion in our house.  We sent our oldest child to the classes to take her first Communion, as my husband wanted to please his parents.  It went no further, as she simply wasn't interested.  I never talked about religion in front of the kids, though I encouraged them to read about it and go to church if they wanted with their friends (or their Dad).  As adults, all three of my children are Atheists. 

I've actually had people ask me over the years how I raised my children without religion, i.e., how do you teach them values, etc.  I've never understood that at all.  Values don't have to be faith-based.  I don't need a desire to please a deity or fear of "hell" to make me do what I should.  The principle thing that I taught my children (and that I *try* to practice) is respect and kindness for others. It's not difficult.  It's what I hear from most other Atheist parents as well.  :]

I have no issue at all with religion, until its followers attempt to impose their beliefs on others.  Same with Atheism...to me, a militant Atheist who goes around inciting argument and fighting for the abolition of religion is no better than a fundamentalist who wants prayer in schools.  I don't understand why it's so hard to simply respect others beliefs (or the lack thereof).  Believe (or don't believe) what you will, just stop with the arrogant, misled assumption that everyone else needs to think as you do.  I think that religion is a good thing for an individual if it brings you happiness and peace, and makes you a better person.  It's just not for me.  That's all.

These really are some lovely posts. I must agree that this will likely be a very quiet club though. To be honest, I wanted to post when I first saw it, but I was holding out until someone else did first. I think most atheists/agnostics, at least those from the US, will admit that there is a chance that even saying this will put them in a bad position with other people. But, I keep telling myself to come out of my shell, so I suppose this is probably a good way to pry it open a bit more.

I think I've always been atheistic/agnostic to some extent. Mother used to bring me out to church when I was little and I would go. It was Sunday school, we had storytime and played games. At the age of five, I liked that. Even so there were many times where I tried to skip out so I could sit at home and play Spyro, so I didn't really care much. It was mostly a "this is what I was told was right..." thing. I even went as far as to get baptised, only because they made it sound like I would get praise for doing so (which I did. Majorly so. Money and presents are very convincing to a child.)

My family essentially agrees that I went through a major reform at age eight. It wasn't so much trauma as a realization to things. That was the year my grandparents divorced. My father left after I was around three months old, so Mother and I had been living there. We ended up having to leave. Promises were broken and I also lost quite a few of my pets, all of my big dogs (four of them) and a couple of the cats. It was at that point I began I realizing that people don't always keep their promises and questioning things that I had been told using a lot more scrutiny than I ever had before. I abandoned religion entirely shortly after in fifth grade.

I continued through school with this belief with no problems in sixth grade. I was acing my classes and having fun with marching band since I joined that year. It wasn't until the next year I began experiencing issues. That summer I had begun experiencing a lot of issues medically. I didn't manage to get a diagnosis until two years later (Fibromyalgia and Ehelers Danlos Syndrome) and I'm still going to doctors for new things that keep showing up. I learned to manage it better now, but before I adapted to it I missed a lot of school. I began to fall behind, especially with a young math teacher who refused to follow the policies and work with me. I became bitter and stopped acting like I liked everyone because, truthfully, I didn't. This was my line, these are the six people I get along with and anyone not behind that line was faced with what was often called a wolf or a demon. Even some of my teachers went as far as to say they expected leather wings to sprout out of my back.

It was also around that time that a die-hard Christian began following me despite the fact that his attempts to "save" me were met with teeth bared. At first he would just bother me in homeroom as we didn't have other classes together. Then he began invading the lunch table that my friends and I would sit it. I packed my lunch and we weren't permitted to move if we had already been seated. I asked for an exception, but the teachers wouldn't listen. He even managed to steal my phone number from a friend of mine because they were on the same bus. It came to the point where the words "Jesus loves you" were near enough to make me violent.

Needless to say I was getting pushed a lot by that and some other people as well. My mother had also left the household at the start of grade eight. She had decided to date and was living with her now-current husband Roger. I had essentially been left behind. Eventually I got dragged into moving in with them no matter how hard I ended up fighting. After eighth grade I switched to online school. I did great in the online classes, but one by one people dropped contacts with me until there wasn't anyone else.

Since then I've been on my own. I haven't managed to meet anyone new and I spend most of my time in my room online. Mother and I still don't get along, but we have a silent agreement that if I act like we do and let her live her delusions, she'll support me through college. I managed to test into a good program here, so I'll be starting college early to work towards a history degree next month. 

That said I've become incredibly nervous that religion is going to chase after me. It was hard to find a college where I wouldn't have to take a religion class. Even so, I've been told that my professors may very well put me under more scrutiny due to differences in beliefs. Personally, I don't care what people practice, but I don't really want to hear about it. I think that if people want to practice such a thing, it should be something between them and their god of choice. People have blown that out of porportion to make me seem anti-religious, but my major issue with it is when people are not really educated about what they're believing or the history behind it.

I'm hoping to eventually leave America entirely when I'm older. I don't much see myself as a person for relationships and I'm not going to be having kids, so I'll very likely remain alone. Even so, I can't help but wonder if it's just because I believe that America is going to come crashing down on itself or if I'm trying to escape religion as well.

EDIT: Woah. Monster wall of text. Sorry about that.

Agnostic, so can i join

I'm curious about other religions though.

Used to go to a catholic school, and pretty much got sick of getting god shoved down my throat.

People have a right to believe  in what they want, who am i to judge.

Atheists and agnostics gathering to talk isn't meant to be something hostile or a reaction to something else.  It's just people who believe (or don't believe, lol) in the same things gathering to chat.  Just like any other group of like-minded users.  ♥

Drocell, I'm so sorry that you had experiences like that.  My sons met a lot of great people in college; it's not like high school, as a rule there's a lot more people for you to interact with.  I guess it depends on where you go.  (Tip:  AVOID THE DEEP SOUTH.  I can say that as a Louisiana native.)   XD  I have to tell you though (regarding you mentioning leaving America)....I miss Europe.  I only lived there for 3 years, but I'd go back in a heartbeat.  The rise of the Tea Party and these theocracy-minded politicians here really bothers me.  They yell "FREEDOM" at the top of their lungs, but aim to deny it to anyone who doesn't believe as THEY do.  Meh.  Even my Catholic husband is disgusted.

Hey Jemi!  :)

Fizz!  ♥

It was unfortunate and hard, but it shaped me into what I am now. While I don't ever want to see any of those people again, I can't say I regret the outcome. I'm looking forward to the college thing myself, despite being a bit nervous at being around people again. I'll be staying in Ohio, so hopefully it won't be as bad. I know I wouldn't be able to handle the sun and the heat in the South anyhow.

I've noticed that with politics as well and to be honest it both disgusts and terrifies me. I've heard America being referred to as the new Rome, the new Nazi Germany, the new Soviet Union...and the thing is it wouldn't be that far-fetched for something like that to happen. Anyhow I've never quite been happy here, but the idea of leaving seems better and better the more I study the other countries. It'd be hard but it seems like the efforts would be worth it.

Serenity; For some reason you kind of remind me of a guy who would debate every point with our history teacher in one of my old classes. XD

I have to agree with humans being terrible. Not that it is always related to religion but, well, the Teutonic knights conquest of Prussia (as well the actions in Lithuania and Poland), the Templar knights, the Reconquista, the French Religious Wars, the Spanish Inquisition, quite a bit of Nazi propaganda...nevertheless I could never list it all.

But then, you do have to remember the general rule of the time - one faith, one law, one king. Belief in the Bellum iustum was normal for the time. Thus, the sheer power of the church when looking back isn't that surprising in context. (Again this is not to say wars are not caused by Atheists or other such things. No one freak out at me, please.)

Religion in general can indeed be an extremely powerful tool when used by those in power to manipulate those below them. I think I have an old Bible laying around somewhere in the house. Much as I don't want to I probably should read through it considering my career choice. I was a bit nervous at seeing this and the Christian clubs go up, but at least for now I think this is okay.

I'm Agnostic. Though my fiance is somewhat of a Christian, but he doesn't even practice that fractionally into it.

I heard something on a Christian radio (in my fiance's dad's car, whose heavily Christian), that the American Atheists organization were complaining about a statue of a large cross, I think, saying that the cross made them depressed and physically injured somehow. They're actually suing. xD It was funny and stupid, like smh stupid. Just throwing that out there about what I heard. :T There's a point where atheists like those shouldn't be that rude and just keep it to themselves.

I know plenty of atheists that do hold their tongue against that and simply don't care. xD

Well sometimes a religious symbol depending on what it is (I'm not talking christmas trees), in a government building for example, can be a little unsettling, because of what it would stand for. I wouldn't want to see a crucifix in congress because it shows a union of church and state. I think there was an issue about the ten commandments being dispayed in front of some government building and I can understand why, for at least four of those commandments. The others are fine there.

But since everyone is posting their religious stories here's mine.

My mom's an atheist and my dad's mormon. Anyway, I've never believed in god. In fact I was bullied because I didn't. I remember in first grade when I told my friend I didn't she stayed away from me for days. Now I know that this seems really young but I was a pretty thoughtful kid, in fact that's what I would do for fun. Just think about things. So I did ponder my situation but I decided that I never felt that a god existed and since there was no absolute proof my mind was pretty much made up.

I felt a bit outcasted because of it, especially when I went to catholic school. But I decided to learn what I could about the religion. Still I worte my paper on why I believed in god as a why I didn't believe and got an A. So I have found a bit of acceptance in my life.

My best friend is a devout christian and we get along just fine. Though she thinks my soul is in danger, but she doesn't mention that to me like my dad does xD.

Okay, I have to say that I am religious (Buddhist). However, I do respect people of all religions and people who have no religion. But I just want to say that I don't believe that there is only one diety, I think that dieties of all religions exist and they like to have tea together and people on earth have pointless religious wars against each other about who exists or not (well, I don't think buddhists care if other dieties exist or not, no need for haters man).

So if you're agnostic or atheist, you're really not a team supporter (for example, you're not all like 'TEAM JACOB' or something) and just like hanging around not fighting about which one exists.

By the way, if I found out that none of the dieties existed, I wouldn't care. I cherish all of the lessons that Buddhism has taught me as it gave me a set bunch of values for me to learn from and I'll never regret the time that I believed in something that really didn't exist (which is completely hypothetical, because I think they do exist. They can do magic oAo). It's very nice to see a group of nice agnostic/atheist people who can talk about not believing in something without being offensive, I was kinda expecting some trash talk when I clicked on this. Thank you guys ;D

btw, there was a point in my life when a bunch of christians would come to me everyday and tell me to join them. I was all like 'NO MAN', it was very annoying.

...Now that I think about it, am I intruding here? xD

Friendly, thought-provoking conversation is never "intruding."  :]  If I believed there were deities, I think they'd be playing cards and having a brew (or a nice glass of red wine) while they discussed how sad it was that people weren't more open-minded.  Very civil and chilled out.

Zebez, a crucifix in a government building would bother me if they didn't display other religious symbols alongside it.  To me, that's picking one religion over others to represent government.  The first step towards theocracy, yuck.  So yeah, in that case it would upset me.  Good point.

Im an agnostic atheist I believe that gnostic atheism is just as much of a faith claim as any religion. I find some aspects of certain religions disagreeable because of their brutal history and holy texts. Some would call this militant atheism but I have no problem with actual religions of peace like jainism for example. When I do get into discussions it is genuinley to get a better understanding of the religion whilst explaining my view, it isn't to troll or get a reaction. But with discussing things central to one's world view can easily get emotional.

 Responding specifically to this.

" Same with Atheism...to me, a militant Atheist who goes around inciting argument and fighting for the abolition of religion"

 -Jzbelle

To me an civil argument or discussion are essential to weed out good ideas from bad ones and participating in them is not a sign or act of aggression. I do not see why faiths should be exempt from the scrutiny of civil discourse. I don't know of any atheists militant or otherwise who wish to ban religion, people can believe whatever they wish as long as they practice within the bounds of the law. Which is why a secular government is so essential so people of faith or no faith can practice or not practice together peacefully.

Garr:  Reading your post, you don't sound like a "militant atheist".  I am personally acquainted with quite a few atheists who just won't be happy until other people's religions are abolished.  *That* to me is a "militant atheist," and I think they're like any fundamentalist who thinks that everyone else needs to think as they do.  Yuck.

Wanting to discuss issues doesn't make you "militant" to me, just interesting company.  :]