Did you ever believe in a god?

[Jason Harvestdancer]

Still do.  Bunches of them.

[Mike Cl]

Still do.  Bunches of them.

Which is your favorite?

[Jason Harvestdancer]

Prometheus.

[Mike Cl]

Prometheus.

That is an okay choice.   Mine is Dibella.

[drunkenshoe]

May I have Kali?

[Mr.Obvious]

Only if I can have Sean Connery as my personal deity to pray to.

[Mike Cl]

May I have Kali?

I don't see why not.  But what leads you to her?  Change, creation..................destruction?????

[Baruch]

Kali is one of my personal choices if I were Hindu.  I like goddesses ... like Saraswati better ... goddess of learning.

Kali ... she takes on a terrible aspect, to scare away the demons possessing you.  As she approaches you are terrified, because of the possession, and then once the demons are scared out of you, you experience bliss.  Think of Kali as a psych counselor.

[ApostateLois]

I used to be a Christian. Went to various churches over the years, including the Worldwide Church of God (which rejected pagan holidays and kept the Jewish ones, and also kept Saturday as the Sabbath). Tried really hard to fit in. I went to church and Bible study, I prayed and believed, I tried to have faith in God, but when I prayed, it never felt like anyone was listening. Figured there must be something wrong with me, or I wasn't doing it right or something.

What started me on the path of unbelief was getting a computer, joining several forums, and meeting people of different religious beliefs. See, I was always told that any non- Christians were worshiping the devil, but i met pagans, Wiccans, and Hindus and they didn't seem particularly bad. Somehow, I ended up on some atheist website (can't remember the name of it), and it brought up a lot of issues that I hadn't considered, asked questions for which I had no answers. The more I studied the bible, the more convinced I became that it wasn't what I had been told it was. It was not the word of God, it was not infallible, creationism wasn't true, and Jesus was unlikely to have been a real person. Eventually, I turned atheist.

[TopCat]

Yes. I grew up baptist in a strict religious family. All about Jesus.

[SGOS]

Looking back on my past, I keep adding new little tell tales that should have alerted me to my atheism sooner.  Recently, I was thinking about the utter boredom of going to church.  I used to think it was just immaturity, but now I'm sure it was the futility and irrelevance of it.  I paid fairly good attention, but what I was aware of was mostly was the constant ritual, sitting, standing, praying, taking turns group reading as a response to minister, and the singing.  All of it was ritualistic and stylized, but never once giving me a connection to God, or ever giving me the feeling that something was at the other end of all the worship.  It was a pointless endeavor for me, because I understood underneath it all, it was nonsense.

[Baruch]

I always enjoyed the group singing.  Other than that ... most people aren't into ritual these days.

[Mike Cl]

Kali is one of my personal choices if I were Hindu.  I like goddesses ... like Saraswati better ... goddess of learning.

Kali ... she takes on a terrible aspect, to scare away the demons possessing you.  As she approaches you are terrified, because of the possession, and then once the demons are scared out of you, you experience bliss.  Think of Kali as a psych counselor.

Sounds promising to me. :))

[Baruch]

Sounds promising to me. :))

Dr Freud's worst nightmare ... Kali as her Jewish mother form ;-)

[MOO]

Yeah I was raised as a protestant, then I thought about it ............................................................................. that and girls pretty much kicked what thin vestige of faith I'd managed to drag with me into my teens right out the back door.

I see all types of faith more and more as something which people just kind of grow out of.