@@Anonymous-md2qp To play devil's advocate, if it never crosses their minds to question certain aspects of the world, they may never develop a tendency to. In a way, I'm kind of grateful that I was given the opportunity to question the legitimacy of certain ideas. If I had not been raised to believe in Santa, I would have never been able to challenge that belief, which helped me learn the importance of critical thinking. (Not to say that this method should necessarily be utilized.)
@@bluedreamer6564 Questioning the world is a good thing and it should be encouraged. Children are inquisitive and ask many questions. I would never promote “belief” in something. The definition of belief is acceptance that something exists especially without proof. I prefer to show them how to test claims, research topics and examine reality. All I was trying to highlight with my first comment is that Santa isn’t something that a child will naturally ask about. It’s a character that has to be introduced by the parents. I would be completely honest about the Santa story. I wouldn’t deny them gifts, they would just be fully aware of where they are coming from.
@@Anonymous-md2qp I totally getcha. I don't think that the concept of belief is a good one to teach, either, for that very reason. I guess, what I was getting at, is that, if the concept of Santa will eventually be challenged, the concept of belief in itself with also be challenged. Like, being taught to believe in Santa, is exactly what challenged me to reject the idea of belief. So, at the end of the day, I wasn't really being raised to "believe" anything. To the contrary, I was being raised to eventually challenge preconceived notions. I might not have been so critical of the concept of belief, had I not been taught to believe something that my parents knew I'd eventually have to come to terms with the illegitimacy of. (Again, not suggesting that this is a method that should be utilized, just that it was personally beneficial to me, in certain ways. It's arguable that it could possibly cause trust issues.)
Probably no one has studied this but, I wonder if getting told about myths, ghosts, Santa or culturally specific other legends creates a stronger belief for a God in the invisible more than physical beliefs...
ghozt man hello 👋🏼, very good, evolution is just a theory, I’m indeed addressing facts, what I’m also pointing out is the title has to do with God not religion; about what Hemant and 2 Spiffy say “Teach them how to think not what to think.” Teachers are doing the opposite since before Hemant put on his video. Quick side note 📝 (macro) evolution is actually being taught as fact though it’s fiction.
@@Daniel-cz7kd _evolution is just a theory_ And you're just an idiot who doesn't know what 'theory' means in science. Or 'evolution', for that matter. _(macro) evolution is actually being taught as fact though it’s fiction_ Way to prove me right.
I'm an Atheist but I used to be a Catholic, I so wish as a child I never had religion shoved down my throat. I have and always will have emotional scars due to religion
I was forced to go to Saturday church school and go to church on Sunday. ABSOLUTE waste of a weekend. I was still drained when I returned to school on Monday.
@@Ascend777 sure is a waste of a weekend, I used to go to church twice a week when I was in primary school, as soon as I started in the public high school I told my father no more church.
I'm from the Philippines, a christian country. Like everyone is addicted to different kinds of fellowship and religions. Everytime I tell someone I don't believe in God, they look at me like the most evil person in the world. To be honest, people who go to church are the ones who judge others, they are those who are greedy and they are those who don't know the true meaning of kindness. I feel sorry for them really.
I'm from the Philippines, too. And even those who aren't really active in their religion will still think you're the worst just because you don't believe in God. Btw, if you haven't yet, you may want to check out 'Atheist Joy Philippines'.
Yram Nadlor you don't have to say to those strangers that you're an atheist or you don't believe that god exist, just keep silent, make your own business and enjoy your life. You yourself said so, philippines is a christian country, that itself is a huge red flag, don't mention to them that you don't believe in god, because saying to the strangers that your an atheist in a religious country is just like saying to the stranger in north korea that you don't believe to their supreme leader kim jung un, what do you think you would expect? They will understand you? Ofcourse they will treat you as their enemy.
''''My best advice to anyone who wants to raise a happy, mentally healthy child is: Keep him or her as far away from a church as you can.''''' Frank Zappa
How are other people not fearful and angry for all of the people in hell and that they were only lucky to be born in AD otherwise nobody would’ve cared like wtf and your told to be thankful when you have nothing to be thankful for then just thankful to be born in AD but then I don’t believe in Jesus and then I’m going to hell........
I wish I had been spared from religion. I wasted 40+ years of my life believing I was being judged and watched, and made a lot of bad choices as a result. The freedom now is wonderful, but I had to arrive at it the hard way.
I agree with you totally! I put about the same amount of time in it as you did(40?))and have very little to show for it-if anything.Forty wasted years! Wheeew! I only became an atheist about 5 yrs ago,and I am going to be 65 yrs old in August.My intire immediate family are evangelical and conservative Christians,including my wife,due mostly to my influence when I was a believer.We've had a few arguments but now we just agree to disagree.It gets real frustrating sometimes.Especially when I hear how my grandkids are being indoctrinated.If I only knew then what...well,you know.
Same here. So many things i wouldve done differently had i not been conditioned to think that i was inherently broken and sinful or that I would be going to hell if I didnt believe the doctrine 100%. Maybe i wouldve learned so much more if i hadnt been satisfied with "God did it" or "God will take care of it".
As someone who is currently losing my faith, I don't think I could ever raise my child in religion. My "deconverting" process has been nothing but painful and scary and I would not wish it upon anyone.
Hi, could you tell me some reasons why you are losing your faith. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent Christian, and frankly, I believe this guy does not use sound logic most of the time, especially when it comes to having a basis for the moral framework. Thanks
@@KingjaxThebest Yeah sure! It' quite a process so please bear with me, it'll be a pretty long reply. Basically, I lost the two things my faith in God were based on: (1) a belief in the bible/gospels/resurrection story and (2) a personal relationship with God (1) I was confident in the resurrection story, this was because the way I had been told the resurrection story was that historically it was proven that: 1. Jesus was a real person who lived 2. Jesus was crucified by the Romans 3. Jesus was placed in a grave 4. That grave was found empty 5. 500 people said they saw Jesus after his death And I never thought to question these "facts" and them, combined with the unlikelihood of the alternatives to an empty grave and the persecution the early christians faced, made me confident that the resurrection story was true, and if that was true then Jesus really was the son of God and died for our sins (Kinda a Lee Strobel's Case for Christ style reasoning). What changed this was learning what other people accepted as historically proven. Which is none of the above points. Even for the first point, while largely believed, there are quite a few educated, intelligent individuals who hold a mythicism position on Jesus. That he was not a real person, but rather a made-up person that stories of various other people were all attributed to. (2) My relationship with God would vary in strength, sometimes I would struggle to feel his presence and other times I felt the comfort more clearly. But whenever I couldn't really feel God it didn't bother me too much because I had such faith in the gospel. But then I lost that faith. And then someone close to me died and I was forced to struggle with the suffering question again (I've heard the free will and fallen world arguments, I just think they are garbage). And without the faith in the validity of the gospel, I came up empty. I was so mad at God, i wasn't able to pray and I lost that relationship.
So that's it. I lost the reasons I had for believing. Right now I don't feel I have a label religiously because I am at such a point of uncertainty. I want the truth, and I want to find it in the most intellectually honest way possible. Which I realized means I can't hope for one outcome, so I don't want to label myself before I find out what that outcome is.
Sorry for the long reply, hope it answered your question! I'd love any advice or resources. I also posted a more detailed version of this to reddit a while ago bc I was looking for advice, so check it out if you are interested in even more background, but this response hopefully covered the most important parts and the ones most relevant to your question. www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/gm7j5m/i_think_im_losing_my_faith_in_god_help/
@@justaperson6593 If I may give a bit of advice. They drill hell in deep. It will pop into your mind for a while. So just ask yourself, "Do I fear Thor's hell?" Of course not, that would be silly. Once I realized that, "hell" never bothered me again.
@@justaperson6593 Hello... I just wanted to tell you that Jesus was indeed a real person..whether he was the son of God or not(or whether God exists or not) is what the world constantly argue on... Also if you were really a Christian, I believe God is still waiting for you even if you leave Him. I feel the best thing is to be honest with Him. Tell Him that you lost someone and you don't understand why and it is very important that you wait to hear what he has to say. I know what I'm about to say may not be the most comforting to you but God can always bring good out of any situation, nothing is too hard for him.
Exactly. All humans beings are born non-religious. Religious parents begin the indoctrination process from the moment the child can speak. They are essentially installing software into their minds that the child never agreed to.
Yeah, my kids learned about god when a friend asked them to go to church with them. They were curious and they were old enough, and smart enough, to handle the experience. They went and came back with questions. I did my best to answer, and we went to the library (this was back before internet is what it is now). My son started reading the bible. From the beginning. He's now atheist. He investigated other religions, and found similarities. Now he's a writer who pulls from ancient stories of all gods. I'm pretty proud of him. My daughter is spiritual, she believes there might be a higher power and occasionally prays, that's okay as well, cause she is also very verbal about what she wants and needs. I'm proud of both of them.
Glad you are proud of your children. They both hold the opposite view about God, the creation and the meaning of life. Only one can be correct. If your son's view is true, your daughter has nothing to lose. But, if your daughter's view is accurate ( God of the Bible), then think about your son.. judgment day.. heaven or hell!
@@diodrawz The great thing is that now we have TH-cam, so you can find out how a washing machine works, and how the fabric conditioner dispenser is like the "greedy glass".
I am in the Bible Belt and wanted to give my son a good education and I did a few walk throughs at religious schools, but I just couldn’t do that to him
Speaking predominantly for myself, it might actually be a good thing to send your kids to a religious school. How else can you expose them to full-force religious hypocrisy? Sure, it's probably best to hold off on the exposure, but they should definitely witness it at some point before college. I recommend South Park age at the earliest. The kids I've been teaching for the past few years sound like they walked out of a season or two - and that actually gives me hope for them. To be fair, I have to give a big asterisk in that I got lucky going to a Catholic school that was run by a religious order of brothers who were fully committed to teaching earthly knowledge and the Platinum Rule above even the Bible. So yeah, you got to be REALLY selective on which school you send them to. If anyone's going to damage your kids, don't let it be you for sending them to the wrong religious school.
I had stepsisters who went to a religious school. They had a teacher that told them in the classroom that the cause of earthquakes is hell expanding, and that the reason there are earthquakes in California is because there are a lot of sinners there so hell needs to expand to accommodate them there more than in most places. To be clear, the context in which I heard this was that everyone in my family thought it was absurd, but that was still where they were sent.
@@mysticwine Absolute and silly logic, my father fought in the desert in the eighth army, with the LRDG, then in Italy and finally with the Italian and Yugoslav partisans, had plenty of very close scrapes and came through by the skin of his teeth. He says what he saw in the war made up his mind that there’s no such thing as a “god”.
@@mysticwine That’s absolutely not true but even if it were true that would be you admitting that your religion is best propagated through scare tactics. I know that it wasn’t intentional but I thought I’d let you know that you are mocking your own religion.
@@mysticwine And when you say we have no recourse when things go astray you’re inferring that we don’t have any way to figure things out? Or you’re just saying that we don’t have an imaginary thing to blame? It’s just so hard for me to understand but maybe you’ve never thought about these things before. Every time something has gone astray in my life I figure out a way to make things better. You may think that I have no ability because I don’t believe in a god but it doesn’t lessen my ability as a human at all. You and I can do the same things, you just think that you have an imaginary person helping you and I know that I don’t.
@@doneestoner9945 They've formed their own religion in colleges and it's ugly. They try to censor or cancel people with different points of view. Atheism does not make one above spouting dogma and going off on their own crusades.
matt S hello, you’re right, many are exchanging one religion for another religion so they can make their own religion, their own habit/addiction and their own rules🙂
If God truly exist, wants us to know he exists, has infinite wisdom knowledge and power.. then he doesn't need ME to convince others of his existence. I'm pretty sure with his infinite power and his infinite wisdom he'd be able to figure out a better way, than to have flawed dumb humans talk 10.000 different versions of him.
I like the diplomacy in this message. So many atheists just use the CliffsNotes way to explain things, which are solid points but tend to patronize believers, rather than just inform. 👍
Funny thing is I do use my real name and I do tell people exactly the same things I say on the internet. I'm not subtle if people shove their crap in my face.
I am forced to use a moniker on line because I live in a religious small town, and would jeopardize my safety and standing in the community if I "came out."
I tried, oh I tried to be honest with my kids. Then one day my eight-year-old daughter caught me off guard with, "Mom, what is oral sex?" Now you may be thinking that you'd respond this way or that, in a warm, wise and well-thought-out way. Well, the kid is staring at you and you don't have a lot of time to mull it over. So I said, "It's sort of like kissing on the privates." "Yuck," she responded and that was that. Years later she told me that she'd found out on the playground (where everyone really learns about such things) and she'd been testing me to see if I'd answer honestly. Little twerp!
My smart-ass daughter grew up to be a self-described "pessimistic agnostic" and her brother calls himself a "Petersonian Christian" (Jordan Peterson.) I'm an atheist but, every now and then, when I missed tradition, I'd trot them off to the Unitarian church.
Grams and Gramps sitting on the porch, Rocking back and forth! Gramps: "Kiss my under-parts, woman! Grams: Lick my labia, old man!" Gramps: "Lick my pisser, Wench!" Five minutes of this go bye. Gramps: "Ya know, Ma, this oral sex ain't all they said it was!" Grams: "Well, they said I might get a sore throat and that there is happening!" Gramps: Which one of them kids thought this crap up?" Grams:All of 'em, I think!"
@Eva People’s beliefs encroach on human rights and try to dictate how they live. They say that they are superior and that their specific rules are the only way humans should live. Religious people threaten me often with hell. I will never have respect for these people.
Religion was pushed on me as a child and it had a severely negative effect on me. I'm a naturally a creative person and I felt constantly guilty and ashamed for thinking and questioning basic things.
When I was really little, I remember being told that god can see through me and knows my thoughts. I had also been taught at church that god will be angry at me if I sin. of course, both these things together made little-me terrified of thinking what I wanted to think. I taught myself to think in the way the bible and church told people to act because I was so scared of god seeing I wasn't good enough, or perfect, and I would get hurt or shunned. It took me years to learn that god isn't always looking at my thoughts to find fault, I think I was almost 9 when I finally let myself think freely. This wasn't the only way religion messed me up as a child. Shortly after my parents divorced, (my mom had custody, and was getting only more and more religious) I remember my mom brought up god, and someway or another the conversation was brought to her listing the things she loved most/were most important to her. I remember it went: 1. god, 2. me and my sibling, 3. other things. It might not seem very significant, but a child hearing that their mother loves god more than them very soon after their parents separated, and hearing this while having difficulties with friends and school would hit them pretty hard. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time I would hear something like this. She would often bring up how much she loves god, ('and her children after that of course, she loves me so much, don't get her wrong!') be it subtly dropping it in conversation or bluntly stating it. I doubt she meant anything malicious by this, but because of that I grew up thinking that I was only ever second best, second place in the tier list of loved ones, only ever in the background of my loved ones lives. It may sound petty, I'm sure, but I grew up thinking I would never be the most important to the person I loved most. Even though I thought this as fact, I tried so hard to be perfect so I might just one day be important enough to my mom. I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense, I'm kinda just rambling here. These are just two examples of how religion and being told about god at a very young age messed with me as a child, and while they might not be very important, they really hurt me. I'm still quite young and might not be the best for saying any of this, but I guess I just really needed to get all this off of my chest. If you read this, thank you, and I'm sorry for taking up your time. Have a lovely rest of your day/night!
Don't be sorry for expressing your very valid concerns and thoughts. Have you ever told your mom about your concerns about being 2nd place in her life? Based on the description of events religion may have been her way if grieving the loss of an important relationship. Your tale also highlights the real trauma religion can cause children (or anyone else really) by constantly telling someone they are worthless garbage especially from those they trust. They will probably start thinking they are worthless garbage. I do wish you and your mom the best have a wonderful day.
The Platinum Rule....yeah, I've heard that mentioned before on FFRF's segments. It's a damn good idea. And, also saying things on TH-cam comments pages that you'd also say in person, and not hide your identity. A noble idea, but the trouble is, these comments pages attract a great number of trolls, and those trolls are more than likely to be christians hiding their identities behind fake user names.
some people think their farts don't stink and want to be treated like royalty.. No thank you. i will never treat people the way they want to be treated.
I 100% agree with all the points, yes even 10. So much of this toxic religious beliefs that my family followed caused nearly all my self-esteem and mental issues that were once at the point of causing me to be suicidal. No thanks to "God", I'm out of that suicide nonsense. I am also working hard to build trust with myself again through therapy. Hate that it took me 30 years to figure out I was broken because of broken religious ideas and not just because "I'm sinful and strayed from God". UGH even typing that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
The same here. I know how you feel. I went through unnecessary suffering because of being raised in an evangelical cult. I understand that my parents were just passing down beliefs that were passed down to them. I'm not resentful because they really thought that they were doing the right thing for me. It wasn't easy dispelling all of that religious nonsense that was programmed in my mind, but being free from all of that bullshit is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It was like being released from a life term incarceration, howeever a prison that was in my imagination, but seemed so real.
I spent the first 10 years of my life going to a Christian church and finally stopped going when I was 10. The only logical excuse I had at the time was that the music was too loud for me. 8 years later, I realized that I'm meant to be a witch instead and worship the ancient gods and goddesses, including my ancestral Norse gods and goddesses such as Thor, Loki, Odin, and Freya. Unfortunately, they're literally the only Norse gods I was able to memorize over the years.
Still sitting here under Mormon parents and am forced to lead effectively a double life just because my real identity would be rejected on the spot and I kind of need to eat.
@@avimohan6594 Godly things like: genocide, incest, murder, looting and raping, stone to death and all kinds of warm and fuzzy things. But remember to give your loyalty and work to "god", and of course your MONEY, because "god" is such a LOSER, he needs it ! ..............
But as a theist you have no moral system to teach them. As commandments do not constitute a logical system of oughts derived from an understanding of the nature of things and therefore of actions. Unless you’ve adopted a secular moral code that’s separate from your religious one.
Damn am I glad to have been raised in an atheist household in a very atheist part of Germany. I was told about god and gods in general but more in the "people believe in that, learn about it so you can respect others better" not in the sense that I should thank that being for anything. Obviously because everyone in my family is an atheist.
Same here. The best part about it was that my parents and grandparents taught me "Don't mock others for believing in that stuff, even though you don't! Listen and learn and THEN form an opinion; but don't mindlessly attack them over it!"
Yea I mentioned to my then 21 year old cousin that I had doubts and she shamed me. She said, "Good girls don't question god." I was 15 at the time. But she's still this way. And she's lived all over the country. I don't understand how you can live in so many places and still be so narrowed minded.
Thats messed up. Asking questions is apart of humanity. Basically christianity tries to supress emotions, making you the dullest slice of bread on earth
I raise my nephew, and as a skeptical atheist I’ve been doing my best not to introduce him to religion until he’s older so he can make his own decision about religion when he’s old enough to understand. Sadly, his PUBLIC SCHOOL decided to tell him about Jesus and God. Now he’s got it in his head that because a teacher who is supposed to know everything told him about god it must be real. I don’t mind if he becomes a believer, but I wanted him to be old enough to understand then decide. We removed him from that school because they wouldn’t listen to us when we told them they shouldn’t do that, but it’s still stuck, and trying to explain evidence for god, and why I don’t believe was really difficult for someone so young. He just doesn’t understand it yet.
I'm one of those people that don't necessarily feel comfortable telling my kids the Santa Claus story because of that very reason you stated. I don't like lying to my kids. But my wife and I came up with a compromise that I think works very well. We still talk about the Santa story, but I make sure my kids are in on it on day one. I talked about Santa like he's a fun character like Tom Bombadil in Lord of the Rings. And just have fun dressing up and giving out presents, as long as my kids know that it's me in the Santa suit. And it seems to work quite well. The kids get to experience Santa, and I don't have to lie to them.
Good luck! I've been downloading the different bibles to my kindle so when the kids are old enough I can show them all the different ones and they can decide for themselves. My oldest is agnostic, I never pushed religion on her, she came to that conclusion on her own. 😊
As a child I was fearful to do what I knew my parents told me not to do knowing I would be punished for it. Thus I was kept out of alot of trouble & stayed safe. So how much more we should have a respectful fear of the Lord to serve Him & stay out of hell!!! I THANK GOD I was warned that hell is real & to do what's right in God's sight!
@@leahanderson1576 yes if the world were full of God fearing, bible believing, full of the Holy Spirit children of God the world would be so much better! Sadly it will not be that way until Jesus come, then it will finally be Heaven on earth!
If I have kids I want them to be better than me. While watching this I considered a way to teach them about liar's. Teach them about how we know Earth is a sphere, then introduce them to flat earth TH-camrs, then teach them about how liar's.
Kids become who they are because of their parents. Religion is unnecessary. You can see that dogs and cats can show love to other animals, and you know they don't know what the hell a deity is.
@SigmaTauri2 I agree with you on teaching the scientific evidence. Also, I knew the apostrophe thing. Don't know why I did it other than the typo. I'll leave my error though as your comment provides a learning opportunity for others. To add to it the apostrophe show possession, i.e. Larry's car. Plural possessive you would add the apostrophe after the "s". It is early right now and I can't at present think of a good example for plural possessive.
Most flat earthers like religious people aren't intentionally lying . It's that their harboring a delusion they can't rationally justify . Their minds automatically resort to dishonest tactics to protect the delusion . Part of the delusion is it can't be wrong no matter how much it seems to contradict reality . And that's why it's so frustrating trying to reason with them and why holding religious delusions are so dangerous .
@@Daniel-cz7kd Does God exist? I would first have to know what defines this particular God of your question to even answer this with anything other than an honest I don't know. 🙂 Do you think the specific God of your question does exist?
Love this! I'm a pagan who loves to learn about everything. And after a bad way from a church I was at when I was younger I refuse to teach my kids anything about religion. Let them choose it themselves
I was once shocked when my mom realized I no longer believed in god and asked me "Are you telling me that you go outside everyday without making the sign of the cross, *like an animal would*?". Yes, she literally compared me to an animal for not making the sign of the cross everyday. I'm in good terms with her even now, and she has learnt to be more open minded. But that time I was shocked that my own mom would think of me like that.
Humans *are* animals--we're not plants or fungi. Thankfully, my folks were not overly religious, though they did drag me off to church on Sundays until about the time I was in junior high. I never believed in religion and have been questioning things (or looking for my own answers) for as long as I can remember.
@@ronaldlebeck9577 Yeah, by biology Humans, are animals. We have lungs, heart, brain, etc. If you see the animals most of them can understand and do something just like humans. We just have more brains and intelligence. We can speak and understand things even if it is a really difficult thing and impossible for animals to understand. I know that what you mean is that your mom said that to her own son. What your mom wants during that time is that you have to be obedient. Maybe she has a hard time that day.
Man, when my daughter asks me questions? I tell her good job, always ask questions, always want to know how the universe works. I want her critical thinking skills to be strong.
People told me I would go back to church once I had children because they need to be taught how to be good people. Nope. We’re all so much better off thinking freely. (Although I did go along with the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus narratives.)
Every time my nephews come around telling me about "God" and "heaven" I just scream internally. They are 6 and 7 years old. They shouldn't be thinking that people go to hell just because some imaginary tyrant isn't getting the attention he wants. So I generally have to lie to them and tell them I believe just so I don't have to argue with my brother as to why I should be honest with them and not lie about my position. Once they get older I know this is going to backfire. I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad knowing what's coming a few more years down the road
When my parents told me Santa wasn't real, I cried for three hours and threw a tantrum asking why they lied to me. I was also raised in a religious family so of course I asked them if Jesus was real right after. I was eleven then, now I'm 18 and I don't follow any organized religion. I fell out of belief in God along the way, but it definitely wasn't due to the Santa incident. It was do to literally everyone not giving me solid answers and shutting down my questions and me seeing some of their bigoted ideals. The shame I felt going through that was much worse than any sort of sadness of realizing Santa isn't real. I felt as if my whole life was a lie and my entire world was crumbling down on me
I'm starting to think I was lucky to never of had a deep emotional investment in religion. I ultimately reconverted during high school when I was suffering from depression. I tried asking god for guidance on what to do for months on end. But he was always silent. The only way for me to take that was there wasn't anything there to talk to but myself.
People tell you Santa Claus isn’t real is very unkind , I am forty five years old and still believe in Santa. The Fatman still owes me a bmx bike from 1988. I can understand you not believing in Jesus because that Christianity stuff is just hogwash.
I born and raise as a Jehovah Witness and I can tell that it is really traumatic to grow up in a religion that demands all of you since you are a child, they demand to preach since the kid learn to speak and every time the childrens are baptized younger and younger, baptize in this cult is a everlasting comintment, because once you stop driking the kool-aid and decide to go out you loose your family, your friends and all your community. It's traumatic to grow up as religious child. Greetings from México! 👍
Good video, as always, Hemant. I just stumbled on Pensacola Christian College and as an atheist... wow... I had no idea religious colleges were a thing. Why are these institutions accredited? I'm astonished.
If you really want something to wash your eyes with, go to Frontier School of the Bible in LaGrange, WY. frontierbible.org ALL they teach is reading the Bible - and going to church - for 4 years. They do not study the Bible, nor look at historical contexts, or anything like that. They are not accredited and do not get government funds, but they are far from cheap. It seems to be a way to get homeschooled kids out of the house, but kept "safe" and away from much of society for 4 more years. It's a LONG WAY to any sort of typical teen or young adult events. Even the local people - mostly ranchers and a few other businesses don't interact with them much. I had no idea that such things existed until I accidentally ran across them while traveling off the beaten path.
@@loriw2661 Yes that is one thing I am aware of and find frustrating. I grew up and still live in the province of Ontario (Canada). I had to go to catholic school until I left for college. It was the only option for french-canadians in my hometown at the time. I did get the essentials and most teacher were not keen on preaching (the were in similar shoes) but we all had to go to church for confession and other rituals, listen to prayers on the intercom and take the cateshism course until high-school. I remember some students couldn't participate in activities because they weren't baptized catholics (even though they might still be Christians). I feared the same consequences if I didn't do all the rituals (confession, communion and "confirmation"), so I kept my skepticism to myself until high-school. As much as I did get a propper education (the rest of the curiculum was pretty secular if I remember correctly), it seems unfair that the government funds an institution that pounds a specific dogma on the young and innocent. Religious indoctrination should be a private matter, not a public one IMO.
Teaching children about God. Could be much worse. I was sent to catholic parochial school since kindergarten in the mid-1950s. Religious indoctrination was essentially integrated into every subject. By the time I was in 4th grade (the earliest I rememberclearly) i had many questions. At first answers ranged to "don't question the Bible", "just have faith", "pray on it", "say 20 rosaries", ect. Then came threats of damnation, repeatedly writing some religious nonsense for hours. The range of psychological punishments seemed infinite. Classmates were encouraged to mock and ridicule and shame. Then the physical abuse came. Being forced to not go to the bathroom until I would defecate or urinate in my clothes and forced to wear the soiled clothes for hours. Again, Classmates encouraged to ridicule and shame. Other abused were even more violent, such as being paddled with a board with holes drilled (enhances the pain), getting slapped in the face so hard it left finger and palm impressions and hurt ones neck. Other implements were employed in a daily basis such as having fingers, knuckles and hands hit hard with rulers with metal reinforced edges, oak rods were used in many body parts such as hands, arms, legs and back. And these methods were always enhances by getting the other children to shame and ridicule. Sex abuse by priests was bad. I'd heard of it. But no one seems willing to talk about the pure continual saturation of these sorts of abuse and torture at the hands of the nuns. For asking questions they couldn't answer. Thousands of children were held prisoner in this unbelievable horror chamber. And the was nowhere to seek help. At least in my case and doubtless many if not most other kids' parents took part in the torture "If you got hit then you deserved it so here's more" was typical mentality. Hours long denigration and shaming would go on until the middle of the night. Sleep deprivation after weeks of this torture would frequently set in. I know i was not alone because I saw other kids get the same treatments and done would talk about it. So, teaching kids about religion I'd bad enough but there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of kids who were permanently traumatized at the hands of terrifying torture in the name of religious compliance.
I’ve told My kids about gods, unicorns, gnomes, trolls, wizards, demons, Mickey Mouse and many many more fairytale figures. I’ve told them that some people believe gods exist for real, the earth is flat, some people are shape shifting lizards, they can talk to dead people, read minds and many many other things. I’ve raised My kids to think and to be free and the do and they are. Our world is filled with fantasy and reality. My kids know the difference and enjoys both. For what they are.
@@mysticwine This is nonsense because it's a pretty good bet that not all atheists call out in foxholes. Those that do: out of fear of death ..probly; because of being convinced of an existant God ..probly not. And if you know your Bible then you know God does not accept that kind of belief ..same as a wishy-washy, "just in case" Pascal's Wager believer.
♪♫Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak but he is strong.♪♫ I remember singing this song as a little child before I even knew what a Jesus was.
I had to grow up in Catholic school system and it was that system that poisoned my young mind. I should be able to sue them for what they did but the worst thing that happened were those residential schools. I'm so glad I wasn't part of that.
YES!!! YES!!! AND A THOUSAND TIMES YES!!!!! by doing that you are creating memories with them and the are loving you more as a mother or father (Sorry, im not english so it is hard for me to know if your name is a masculine name or a feminine name)
Probably and for much the same reason as Father Christmas. It's fun, it teaches them about deception (and religion) in a fun way and it teaches them that deception is not always a bad thing. It depends on the context. I mean every work of fiction is a deception but the world would be a poorer place without it. Admittedly I was a cynical kid, something I've carried over into adult life, but I know that most kids were like me and went along with the deception long after we knew it was a deception and long after our parents knew that we knew. I never really got why some atheists even worry about the whole Santa thing. It's not even vaguely comparable to religion... It's just story telling mixed with role-play and apart from the whole naughty / nice thing in December Santa doesn't make any real demands and doesn't seem that bothered about that one.
this is easily your most thought out, and common sense video i have seen. 12 minutes of truth and fact,that will serve all humanity better than ANY religious indoctrination.
Back in the day, I managed the portrait studio at Marshall Field's Old Orchard. Some grandma brought her granddaughter in for a sitting but the girl wasn't having any of it. She was maybe four years-old and crying because she was scared. Grandma got right in her face and said, "God will be mad at you if you don't smile." It wasn't helpful, but I finally knew what it felt like to want to smack an old lady. Instead of doing that, I asked her to leave. After we both calmed down a little bit, the girl and I were both smiling. The portraits? They turned out great. No thanks to grandma. Or god.
Tell your kids about god, don't teach them to believe in god. The world is filled with people who believe in god and are willing to manipulate children to get them to believe. If you don't tell your kids about religion, someone else will.
5:33 Kid:"So let me get this straight: First you told me about Santa Claus. Then you told me he's not real and you have been lying all the time to make be behave. Now you're introducing me to this Jesus Christ character and you're expecting me to believe it's real and not another lie to make be behave? How dumb do you think I am?" Dad:"I told you it won't work!" Mom:"It's all your fault. I told you it was a bad idea to start with Santa Claus. Now our child is an atheist!" Kid:"What's an atheist?" Father:"It's a person that doesn't believe in Jesus Christ!" Kid:"There is a word for that? Wow! And how is called a person that doesn't believe in Santa Claus?" Dad:"Uhmmm..." Mom:"Please, stop! You're ruining Christmas!"
The first time I was exposed to the bible, I was about 7-8 years old. I remember my friend telling me that a person once lived to be over 900 years old and I was like "nuh uh". Then he told me that it was in the bible. So a few years after that, I've always thought that the bible was like the Guinness Book of World Records. And when a person would tell me that a person could lift a truck, I would be like "wow, he must be in the bible then". I miss those days before I knew what religion was.
This was an interesting story. I believe the world's strongest man though is Mark Henry. He inducted quite a few people into the Hall of Pain with the World's Strongest Slam.
This is sort of how I grew up non religious. My parents didn’t shelter me from religion, but they didn’t actively tell me about it either. I just thought they were stories in the same way as fairytales. I was still fairly young when I realised that some people (even adults!) believed in it. My dad’s side of the family weren’t at all religious, but my Grandparents on my Mam’s side were very religious (their church was a bit weird, but not culty or preachy - they very much kept their religion to themselves). Discovering their belief was a shock. My Grandad in particular was a very intelligent man, and I struggled with that being the case, and yet he was religious. I remember my Mam telling me not to say that sort of thing to them, as they would be hurt by it. I never did, but I still find it hard, because in many ways I have a lot of my grandad’s traits.
I spent 36 years as a pastor in a major denomination. About 3 years ago I completely changed my mind about god and became a nonbeliever...long story but was the most freeing thing I ever did...
I wasn't raised with religion and my childhood was super happy and awesome. Didn't even really get any kind of sadness or depression about life until I was confronted with these bigger issues but that didn't start until high school so at least was oblivious in my younger years
As a parent I never ever use the justification, "Because I said so." If I need the conversation to end for whatever reason I will tell them, "Look, I have reasons, but for the moment I just need you to trust me. I will explain it to you later." And then if they want to know later I will explain it when I'm not two seconds away from jumping off a bridge because they are driving me nuts.
My 6 year old came home crying, saying jesus died for his sins! Luckily I could pull him out of that class and he could go to the library for that time they did religious studies, he is 24 now and not a believer!
The only rule I care about 1) Don't teach your kids lies are truth. That goes for all the others too, Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy etc etc. Realize that you are raising your children to think lying is right
I grew up fearing going to hell as a child and being told my disobedience was rebellion that deserved that hell. I would have nightmares about this and spent hours praying about it. I would go to confession whenever possible as soon as I had my first communion at age 8. As a teenager I knew I was a sinner that could do nothing right. My parents and the priests were always in the right and were to be respected and obeyed. It's not surprising that this upbringing set me up to be sexually abused by a priest. I don't blame my parents because they themselves were raised to believe in this crap. It was years before I was able to see reality and leave the church. I tried other religions but I just couldn't hand my mind over to some other pastor to be told how believe or act. My own children were raised religion free and grew up to be good people. They were spared a childhood living in fear or wasted by trying to please some deity in the sky. They have their own children now who are also religion free and are happy little guys.
An ideology should be followed because it’s consistent and logically sound, not because superstitious people forced their impressionable children to follow it.
I once had, ahem, a situation when I was still Christian. One day, I asked my friends if they were religious. They both said no. And then over the next couple days I worried that they would burn in hell. Most stupid situation ever. Happy I left.
Funny how I was always worried that my friend/ family member's non- belief would send them to eternal torture, but never questioned whether the god that was supposedly "love" would send them there for merely not being convinced 🤔
“Treat others the way they want to be treated “ Some people think they are better than everyone else and should be treat that way. So I don’t think that’s a good idea,
True, but you can't treat me the way you want to be treated either. I hate being praised. I find it insulting and uncomfortable. Should I just have to shut up and endure what I consider humiliation just because YOU like it?
Yup, my friend didn't introduce her son to religion. She let him discover it himself and, as far as Abrahamic religions go, he was not convinced. But what do ya know? He STILL knows right from wrong! Whoa!
I'm not gonna tell my future kids about God or my old religion UNLESS they ask. We'll still celebrate Christmas, it will be a season of family, not Jesus's birthday.
I personally think, that kids who are raised to be replicas of their parents either grow up completely rejecting their parents at some points, or they become uncomplete persons who can't grow out of the shape their parents put them in and are therefore unable to reconsider certain points and are destined to grow more and more out of touch with the times, the older they get.
My only experience of Sunday school was after a sleepover at a christian friend’s house. The “teacher” spewed fire and brimstone at us for an hour. My eleven-year-old self was absolutely horrified and disgusted that other kids my age were subjected to that stuff regularly. Serious mental health issues completely predictable outcome.
yeah, I really hated my mom for dragging me to Sunday School when I was a kid, but I still get annoyed at her talking about religion. Well, at least she's been there for me as a mom, and she's still there for me, as a mom. The religious aspect is just hella annoying. I'm glad she didn't beat me, like most conservative parents do. And I'm glad that she doesn't even believe in beating kids. But the constant "it's God's plan" is fucking annoying.
My son is autistic and takes many things quite literally (much less so as he gets older). I didn’t know this when I quit church, but it sure makes me glad I never subjected him to the beliefs and stories I grew up with. Of course, I do want to thank one particular a$$h0le pastor. He decided to invite all the kids to the pulpit for a short teaching. Then he proceeded to be super rude to one particular kid who was being a kid (couldn’t sit still, wanted to ask questions). I got up and walked out and I haven’t been in a church since. That was the last straw for me.
1:35, totally agree with this one. Morality doesn't require God. When I'm about to do something wrong, my heart can't do it. It is just wrong. It feels wrong. Not because of God. On the other hand, people doing something really wrong but don't feel wrong because they are doing it in a religious way. So scary. An example of this is terrorism, marrying someone you don't know, etc.
Not really because it still wouldn't address most of the issues, however if people were more skeptical and logical and didn't try to kill eachother for their beliefs that would be nice.
My father is an atheist; but he made us go to Sunday School & Confirmation (in a Methodist church), so we would know the basics of what we were accepting or rejecting. He had been planning to be a Lutheran minister, but seminary prep school made him an atheist-- he knew his bible. I appreciate the background knowlege that I have, which helps me understand the Christians that are currently running this country. After a a few years as a Born-Again (I had to rebel against my parents somehow!), I'm not sure *what* I'd label myself now. My late husband (who was Jewish, but not religious) & I took our kids to a Unitarian Church when they were little, but then stopped when they begged for a "day of rest" (Unitarians can be pretty cerebral, so Sunday School was similar to "regular" school-- I would have preferred they had those kids play more, instead of discuss concepts). Sometimes I feel guilty that my kids don't have the background knowlege of why this country is the way it is, but I'm also glad that they seem to be completely shame-free, and *SO* kind to others.
I'm actually one of the rare kinds of people who was raised without being baptised or taken to Sunday School. The school system in my my state in Australia had a "Scripture" class once a week (starting in kindergarten) where people from outside the faculty would come and talk about Christianity, give all the basic Bible stories, etc. It was basically a way to try to indoctrinate the children through school and it is unfortunately allowed in public schools here. Since I had never been exposed to religion other than through these "classes", it took me a few years to realise what was going on and I wasn't interested. I was already interested in science from a very young age and the two just didn't seem to fit together. In year 3, I discovered that one could be exempt from scripture classes if you had a note from your parents, so I got my parents to write me a note to exempt me from scripture classes. Then i found out you needed a new note EVERY TERM (4 terms per year). So every term from about year 3 until I didnt have to take scripture any more in year 10, my parents gave me a note to take to my school to exempt me from scripture classes. This was entirely my choice as noone was forcing their beliefs on me other than the scripture teachers and a select few evangelical teachers who only let biblical videos be played in the school (again, nothing seems to be done about that here). As such, my knowledge of religion, biblical stories and religious beliefs was next to nil but I am still a good person. I'm honest to a fault, I volunteer help when needed and I try to treat people fairly. I used the time when not in scripture class to further my scientific studies in my school library and now I'm an industrial chemist, which was one of my dream jobs as a young child. In the end, I can say I followed my dreams and a lack of religion did nothing to prevent me from geting where I am or leading a good life. My wife, on the other hand, was raised catholic but her parents weren't especially religious. When we met she still identified as christian but was definitely on her way out as a lot of her beliefs had already been challenged and all she saw of the religious community was infighting and grabs for power and influence. Very much a "holier than thou" attitude which is the complete opposite of everything Christianity claims to represent or strive towards. Eventually she realised that her faith seemed unreasonable and she no longer considers herself religious or spiritual at all. I think meeting me and seeing how much more free I was convinced her atheism can be a good thing. She still has troubles with the underlying fear of Hell and eternal damnation instilled in her by the church but she is getting through it. I try to help support her as much as I can but it's a lot like mild PTSD. She has had counselling but it doesn't really work for her so we deal in other ways and she is doing a lot better now. It didnt help that most of the counsellors were religious and one even tried to get her to come back to the church. I discovered later in life that those scripture classes are optional and are supposed to be made available for those students who want to persue studies in their chosen religion, which I think is a fair thing to do. But when the student needs a permission note from their parents to not attend the class, that is wrong. It's also wromg that these classes are allocated time that would otherwise be ordinary class time. I don't mind them being available at public schools but they should be held either before or after school or during lunch breaks. They should also represent all religions but, from my experience, they only offered certain variants of Christianity (usually from various protestant churches that encourage young Earth creattionism). I never heard of any Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist classes at any of my schools, even though the act that makes the classes available says it should be for the student's chosen religion. These classes are simply wrong and if they can't run them correctly they shouldn't be run at all. In short, I feel as though I was lucky growing up without too much influence from religion. This isn't to say I dont have my own childhood trauma that I am still struggling with but I feel as though it isn't my fault that I feel this way, whereas religion teaches that it is your fault and the only way to feel better is to make you feel more guilty.
When my son was around four (he is eight now) or so we lived about a block away from a church. One Sunday morning we heard the bells ringing and he asked me what that noise was. I told him it was a church and that they ring the bells each Sunday morning. He asked me what a church was and I replied it was a place where people met to sing songs together and talk to God. I doubt he had a concept of what God was at the time but he asked no further questions. In hindsight I think I could have answered the question a bit better.
Back when I was a kid, I was really interested in animals, and I would read books about animals that would explain the advantage of a certain animal having a certain trait, and this was really interesting to me, so I would try to talk to my stepmom about it and I would say "do you know why this certain animal has this certain trait" and she would shut down the discussion by saying "because that's how God made them." It infuriated me to no end.
McFlingleson hello 👋🏼, interesting 🤔, I’m also very passionate about biology 🧬 and zoology; I remember a song along the same kind of line called “Why Oh Why (Why, why, why?”, at the end the parent explains they don’t really know the answer, however just as there is scientific truth, there is truth in what your stepmom said in “because that’s how God made them.”
Even many Christian sects have come to realize baptizing babies is a bad idea. It’s supposed to represent dedicating your child to god. The fact is, however, that’s not really your decision to make. Each person’s faith is their own. Making that decision for a child in infancy is pretentious and irresponsible. When I left Christianity, I replaced the “Golden Rule” with the Wiccan Rede. “An it harm none, do what you will” is a great summary of the foundation of ethics.
The problem is even if you don’t teach your kids about god their classmates and even worse, their teachers, will teach and talk about god. Especially if you live in the Bible Belt. I teach them to question what they’re taught. Everything. And do not make fun of other people’s beliefs. And like Louis C.K. says “when the Christians are around act accordingly”.
When a child starts questioning Santa it's time to come clean and praise them for their critical thinking.
If you never introduce the idea of Santa then it will never cross their mind.
@@Anonymous-md2qp To play devil's advocate, if it never crosses their minds to question certain aspects of the world, they may never develop a tendency to. In a way, I'm kind of grateful that I was given the opportunity to question the legitimacy of certain ideas. If I had not been raised to believe in Santa, I would have never been able to challenge that belief, which helped me learn the importance of critical thinking. (Not to say that this method should necessarily be utilized.)
@@bluedreamer6564 Questioning the world is a good thing and it should be encouraged. Children are inquisitive and ask many questions. I would never promote “belief” in something. The definition of belief is acceptance that something exists especially without proof. I prefer to show them how to test claims, research topics and examine reality. All I was trying to highlight with my first comment is that Santa isn’t something that a child will naturally ask about. It’s a character that has to be introduced by the parents. I would be completely honest about the Santa story. I wouldn’t deny them gifts, they would just be fully aware of where they are coming from.
@@Anonymous-md2qp I totally getcha. I don't think that the concept of belief is a good one to teach, either, for that very reason. I guess, what I was getting at, is that, if the concept of Santa will eventually be challenged, the concept of belief in itself with also be challenged. Like, being taught to believe in Santa, is exactly what challenged me to reject the idea of belief. So, at the end of the day, I wasn't really being raised to "believe" anything. To the contrary, I was being raised to eventually challenge preconceived notions. I might not have been so critical of the concept of belief, had I not been taught to believe something that my parents knew I'd eventually have to come to terms with the illegitimacy of. (Again, not suggesting that this is a method that should be utilized, just that it was personally beneficial to me, in certain ways. It's arguable that it could possibly cause trust issues.)
Probably no one has studied this but, I wonder if getting told about myths, ghosts, Santa or culturally specific other legends creates a stronger belief for a God in the invisible more than physical beliefs...
A person I once worked with stated he didn't like Sesame Street because it taught children to be self reliant and not rely on god.
able street Spot on, my argument precisely. The answer is always "god" works in mysterious way or some other non-answer.
It's the same about Mr Rogers teaching children to love who they are for who they are
@@chaosmarklar Certainly Mr. Rogers is a communist. Ha, ha, ha! Love the man. Got to see the Hanks movie about him.
That is how organized religion works.
@@chaosmarklarI agree, and Mr Roger's is a f@#$ing national treasure!
“Teach then how to think. Not what to think.” That’s brilliant
2 Spiffy hello 👋🏼 interesting 🤔, if you twist it around, isn’t that what they do and teach in classes these days, especially in evolution?
@@Daniel-cz7kd evolution is a theory, even tho there is evidence n prove its not taught as a fact like religion
ghozt man hello 👋🏼, very good, evolution is just a theory, I’m indeed addressing facts, what I’m also pointing out is the title has to do with God not religion; about what Hemant and 2 Spiffy say “Teach them how to think not what to think.” Teachers are doing the opposite since before Hemant put on his video.
Quick side note 📝 (macro) evolution is actually being taught as fact though it’s fiction.
People who are religious believe in magic. There is no magic in the world. There is only science and physics. Stop dumbing down your kids!
@@Daniel-cz7kd _evolution is just a theory_
And you're just an idiot who doesn't know what 'theory' means in science. Or 'evolution', for that matter.
_(macro) evolution is actually being taught as fact though it’s fiction_
Way to prove me right.
I'm not an atheist but this guy makes more sense than any pastor I've ever heard.
I'll take it!
Notice he's not trying to disprove anything about any given religion.
Solidarity with all. 🌹
i've been taught go to church or else pretty much.
Thank you, Pauly Mac, for not discounting Hemant's information just because you have different beliefs. We all know how important communication is.
Thank you for being honest enough to actually watch non-theist videos.
I'm an Atheist but I used to be a Catholic, I so wish as a child I never had religion shoved down my throat. I have and always will have emotional scars due to religion
dean r Scaring people is easy, and mean. Scaring children is easier, and meaner.
I was forced to go to Saturday church school and go to church on Sunday. ABSOLUTE waste of a weekend. I was still drained when I returned to school on Monday.
@@jaymz1999 sorry spelling error
@@Ascend777 sure is a waste of a weekend, I used to go to church twice a week when I was in primary school, as soon as I started in the public high school I told my father no more church.
Sorry to hear this. I'm in the same situation. It has happened to millions of innocent children. It is always child abuse.
I'm from the Philippines, a christian country. Like everyone is addicted to different kinds of fellowship and religions. Everytime I tell someone I don't believe in God, they look at me like the most evil person in the world. To be honest, people who go to church are the ones who judge others, they are those who are greedy and they are those who don't know the true meaning of kindness. I feel sorry for them really.
I don’t think you are evil
I'm from the Philippines, too. And even those who aren't really active in their religion will still think you're the worst just because you don't believe in God. Btw, if you haven't yet, you may want to check out 'Atheist Joy Philippines'.
Yram Nadlor you don't have to say to those strangers that you're an atheist or you don't believe that god exist, just keep silent, make your own business and enjoy your life. You yourself said so, philippines is a christian country, that itself is a huge red flag, don't mention to them that you don't believe in god, because saying to the strangers that your an atheist in a religious country is just like saying to the stranger in north korea that you don't believe to their supreme leader kim jung un, what do you think you would expect? They will understand you? Ofcourse they will treat you as their enemy.
@@gaz3606 you are right but at the same time, atheist numbers are growing, so...
Wait till the final judgement when Jesus tells them right to their faces.. I never knew you.
My sons don't know what a church is, they call big churches "castles"
What's a castle?
Your daughters observation is closer to the truth than most will ever realise...
@@sapereaude5560 Priests:*exist
Your daughter:"You are not a clown you are the entire circus"
@@sapereaude5560 She is actually correct.
then maybe teach him what a church is?
''''My best advice to anyone who wants to raise a happy, mentally healthy child is: Keep him or her as far away from a church as you can.''''' Frank Zappa
Mostly keep the kids away from a priest or pastor because we all know what happens
Also wise: Watch out where the huskies go and don’t you eat that yellow snow.
My mental health issues started at the rope young age of when I started going to a Christian school llllll
How are other people not fearful and angry for all of the people in hell and that they were only lucky to be born in AD otherwise nobody would’ve cared like wtf and your told to be thankful when you have nothing to be thankful for then just thankful to be born in AD but then I don’t believe in Jesus and then I’m going to hell........
So simple for some people lol
Heck, I've heard people say that their house pets are "Republican."
My dog is a “Republican” jk we know he’s not, my parents and I are all Democrats we just got it as a funny fridge magnet.
I always figured cats were Libertarian; no wait, anarchist is more like it.
I formally declare my feces are republicans the moment they leave my body.
My dog is a RePUPlican and my cat is a demoCAT
@@lynnmarler2157 Anarchist cats? Nah. "In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this.” Terry Pratchett.
I wish I had been spared from religion. I wasted 40+ years of my life believing I was being judged and watched, and made a lot of bad choices as a result. The freedom now is wonderful, but I had to arrive at it the hard way.
Huzzah, now do as thou wilt.
I agree with you totally! I put about the same amount of time in it as you did(40?))and have very little to show for it-if anything.Forty wasted years! Wheeew! I only became an atheist about 5 yrs ago,and I am going to be 65 yrs old in August.My intire immediate family are evangelical and conservative Christians,including my wife,due mostly to my influence when I was a believer.We've had a few arguments but now we just agree to disagree.It gets real frustrating sometimes.Especially when I hear how my grandkids are being indoctrinated.If I only knew then what...well,you know.
Same here. So many things i wouldve done differently had i not been conditioned to think that i was inherently broken and sinful or that I would be going to hell if I didnt believe the doctrine 100%. Maybe i wouldve learned so much more if i hadnt been satisfied with "God did it" or "God will take care of it".
oh man! wasted 25 years here, and that is still too much!
@@Ascend777 same here, still too much.
As someone who is currently losing my faith, I don't think I could ever raise my child in religion. My "deconverting" process has been nothing but painful and scary and I would not wish it upon anyone.
Hi, could you tell me some reasons why you are losing your faith. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent Christian, and frankly, I believe this guy does not use sound logic most of the time, especially when it comes to having a basis for the moral framework. Thanks
@@KingjaxThebest Yeah sure! It' quite a process so please bear with me, it'll be a pretty long reply.
Basically, I lost the two things my faith in God were based on: (1) a belief in the bible/gospels/resurrection story and (2) a personal relationship with God
(1) I was confident in the resurrection story, this was because the way I had been told the resurrection story was that historically it was proven that:
1. Jesus was a real person who lived
2. Jesus was crucified by the Romans
3. Jesus was placed in a grave
4. That grave was found empty
5. 500 people said they saw Jesus after his death
And I never thought to question these "facts" and them, combined with the unlikelihood of the alternatives to an empty grave and the persecution the early christians faced, made me confident that the resurrection story was true, and if that was true then Jesus really was the son of God and died for our sins (Kinda a Lee Strobel's Case for Christ style reasoning). What changed this was learning what other people accepted as historically proven. Which is none of the above points. Even for the first point, while largely believed, there are quite a few educated, intelligent individuals who hold a mythicism position on Jesus. That he was not a real person, but rather a made-up person that stories of various other people were all attributed to.
(2) My relationship with God would vary in strength, sometimes I would struggle to feel his presence and other times I felt the comfort more clearly. But whenever I couldn't really feel God it didn't bother me too much because I had such faith in the gospel. But then I lost that faith. And then someone close to me died and I was forced to struggle with the suffering question again (I've heard the free will and fallen world arguments, I just think they are garbage). And without the faith in the validity of the gospel, I came up empty. I was so mad at God, i wasn't able to pray and I lost that relationship.
So that's it. I lost the reasons I had for believing. Right now I don't feel I have a label religiously because I am at such a point of uncertainty. I want the truth, and I want to find it in the most intellectually honest way possible. Which I realized means I can't hope for one outcome, so I don't want to label myself before I find out what that outcome is.
Sorry for the long reply, hope it answered your question! I'd love any advice or resources. I also posted a more detailed version of this to reddit a while ago bc I was looking for advice, so check it out if you are interested in even more background, but this response hopefully covered the most important parts and the ones most relevant to your question. www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/gm7j5m/i_think_im_losing_my_faith_in_god_help/
Hang in there! Relying on myself has never felt so freeing!
@@justaperson6593 If I may give a bit of advice. They drill hell in deep. It will pop into your mind for a while. So just ask yourself, "Do I fear Thor's hell?" Of course not, that would be silly.
Once I realized that, "hell" never bothered me again.
@@justaperson6593 Hello... I just wanted to tell you that Jesus was indeed a real person..whether he was the son of God or not(or whether God exists or not) is what the world constantly argue on...
Also if you were really a Christian, I believe God is still waiting for you even if you leave Him. I feel the best thing is to be honest with Him. Tell Him that you lost someone and you don't understand why and it is very important that you wait to hear what he has to say.
I know what I'm about to say may not be the most comforting to you but God can always bring good out of any situation, nothing is too hard for him.
"There is no such thing as a religious child they are children of religious parents!" Richard Dawkins
Exactly. All humans beings are born non-religious. Religious parents begin the indoctrination process from the moment the child can speak. They are essentially installing software into their minds that the child never agreed to.
man of memes
Yeah, my kids learned about god when a friend asked them to go to church with them. They were curious and they were old enough, and smart enough, to handle the experience. They went and came back with questions. I did my best to answer, and we went to the library (this was back before internet is what it is now). My son started reading the bible. From the beginning. He's now atheist. He investigated other religions, and found similarities. Now he's a writer who pulls from ancient stories of all gods. I'm pretty proud of him.
My daughter is spiritual, she believes there might be a higher power and occasionally prays, that's okay as well, cause she is also very verbal about what she wants and needs. I'm proud of both of them.
Sounds like you did an excellent job teaching your kids!
One of my religion classes in Catholic high school was "world religions.". We spent an entire semester learning about taoism, buddhism, islam, etc.
Cool Dad good job 👍🏼
@@PhilLesh69 I would be interested in what you learned about these other religions and how they were compared to catholic beliefs.
Glad you are proud of your children. They both hold the opposite view about God, the creation and the meaning of life. Only one can be correct. If your son's view is true, your daughter has nothing to lose. But, if your daughter's view is accurate ( God of the Bible), then think about your son.. judgment day.. heaven or hell!
I remember when the microwave worked in mysterious ways.
Numerous things work in mysterious ways.
The washing machine 😔🤚
@@mysticwine Yes, but at least you can see the results and connect them to the things doing them.
@@diodrawz The great thing is that now we have TH-cam, so you can find out how a washing machine works, and how the fabric conditioner dispenser is like the "greedy glass".
I also remember when solar power worked in mysterious ways. Truly kids are too young to be introduce to religion, it could really messed them up.
"Everything becomes a group project where God just sits on the sidelines and gets all the credit." Good observation!
Yeah this always confused me growing up.
Should be subtitled "or send your kids to a religious school" as well.
I am in the Bible Belt and wanted to give my son a good education and I did a few walk throughs at religious schools, but I just couldn’t do that to him
Speaking predominantly for myself, it might actually be a good thing to send your kids to a religious school. How else can you expose them to full-force religious hypocrisy? Sure, it's probably best to hold off on the exposure, but they should definitely witness it at some point before college. I recommend South Park age at the earliest. The kids I've been teaching for the past few years sound like they walked out of a season or two - and that actually gives me hope for them.
To be fair, I have to give a big asterisk in that I got lucky going to a Catholic school that was run by a religious order of brothers who were fully committed to teaching earthly knowledge and the Platinum Rule above even the Bible. So yeah, you got to be REALLY selective on which school you send them to. If anyone's going to damage your kids, don't let it be you for sending them to the wrong religious school.
I had stepsisters who went to a religious school. They had a teacher that told them in the classroom that the cause of earthquakes is hell expanding, and that the reason there are earthquakes in California is because there are a lot of sinners there so hell needs to expand to accommodate them there more than in most places.
To be clear, the context in which I heard this was that everyone in my family thought it was absurd, but that was still where they were sent.
thanks Santa
Or a pray away the gay camp just in case it wasn't already clear.
Being an atheist just means that you don’t believe in a god. You’re good people. You do it for the right reasons. Keep up the good fight! ✊🏼
Except atheists have no recourse when things go astray. Wanna see an atheist become religious instantaneously? Put him in a foxhole!
@@mysticwine Absolute and silly logic, my father fought in the desert in the eighth army, with the LRDG, then in Italy and finally with the Italian and Yugoslav partisans, had plenty of very close scrapes and came through by the skin of his teeth. He says what he saw in the war made up his mind that there’s no such thing as a “god”.
@@mysticwine That’s absolutely not true but even if it were true that would be you admitting that your religion is best propagated through scare tactics. I know that it wasn’t intentional but I thought I’d let you know that you are mocking your own religion.
@@mysticwine And when you say we have no recourse when things go astray you’re inferring that we don’t have any way to figure things out? Or you’re just saying that we don’t have an imaginary thing to blame? It’s just so hard for me to understand but maybe you’ve never thought about these things before. Every time something has gone astray in my life I figure out a way to make things better. You may think that I have no ability because I don’t believe in a god but it doesn’t lessen my ability as a human at all. You and I can do the same things, you just think that you have an imaginary person helping you and I know that I don’t.
@Daniel Paulson 😄
People are slowly but surely kicking the religion habit/addiction.
I'm so glad to see the younger generation not accepting religion.
@@doneestoner9945 They've formed their own religion in colleges and it's ugly. They try to censor or cancel people with different points of view. Atheism does not make one above spouting dogma and going off on their own crusades.
matt S hello, you’re right, many are exchanging one religion for another religion so they can make their own religion, their own habit/addiction and their own rules🙂
Its not fast enought!
More like they are cherrypicking what they like of the spiritual supermarket of the world based on what they "felt they got" while on drugs
If God truly exist, wants us to know he exists, has infinite wisdom knowledge and power.. then he doesn't need ME to convince others of his existence. I'm pretty sure with his infinite power and his infinite wisdom he'd be able to figure out a better way, than to have flawed dumb humans talk 10.000 different versions of him.
Thank you for being a part of my self liberation journey!
AA1320 Hope you get there👍🏻
Atheism self liberates? I don't think so. Wanna see an atheist become religious instantaneously? Put him in a foxhole!
@@mysticwine YOUR GONNA GIVE ME FOXES!1!1!1! I LOVE FOXES
Perfect way to start the day
Perfect way to end the day, I'm sleeping now gn
Bs
I like the diplomacy in this message. So many atheists just use the CliffsNotes way to explain things, which are solid points but tend to patronize believers, rather than just inform. 👍
Funny thing is I do use my real name and I do tell people exactly the same things I say on the internet. I'm not subtle if people shove their crap in my face.
ME TOO ! ...............
I am forced to use a moniker on line because I live in a religious small town, and would jeopardize my safety and standing in the community if I "came out."
Good for you, although I'm lucky to live in the UK and apart from the very occasional religious nutter in shopping centres, religion is irrelevant.
@@jackthebassman1 Yup!
Yea same as well.
I tried, oh I tried to be honest with my kids. Then one day my eight-year-old daughter caught me off guard with, "Mom, what is oral sex?" Now you may be thinking that you'd respond this way or that, in a warm, wise and well-thought-out way. Well, the kid is staring at you and you don't have a lot of time to mull it over. So I said, "It's sort of like kissing on the privates." "Yuck," she responded and that was that.
Years later she told me that she'd found out on the playground (where everyone really learns about such things) and she'd been testing me to see if I'd answer honestly. Little twerp!
My smart-ass daughter grew up to be a self-described "pessimistic agnostic" and her brother calls himself a "Petersonian Christian" (Jordan Peterson.) I'm an atheist but, every now and then, when I missed tradition, I'd trot them off to the Unitarian church.
I used to ask my mum things I already know the answer to just to wee if she knows the answer😂😂
Dana Campbell Kids👍🏻
Good answer, and better than I could have done on the fly!
Grams and Gramps sitting on the porch, Rocking back and forth!
Gramps: "Kiss my under-parts, woman!
Grams: Lick my labia, old man!"
Gramps: "Lick my pisser, Wench!"
Five minutes of this go bye.
Gramps: "Ya know, Ma, this oral sex ain't all they said it was!"
Grams: "Well, they said I might get a sore throat and that there is happening!"
Gramps: Which one of them kids thought this crap up?"
Grams:All of 'em, I think!"
“Teach them how to think, not what to think” 🙌🏼
I mean, they have to know that it exists as a concept, such as another imaginary beings, such as Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, a decent boss
I had three decent bosses, so they are not mythical.
@@mikespangler98 : Yes, depends upon the person and their character.
@Eva Yes, and respecting other people's beliefs goes both ways.
@Eva People’s beliefs encroach on human rights and try to dictate how they live. They say that they are superior and that their specific rules are the only way humans should live. Religious people threaten me often with hell. I will never have respect for these people.
Religion was pushed on me as a child and it had a severely negative effect on me. I'm a naturally a creative person and I felt constantly guilty and ashamed for thinking and questioning basic things.
When I was really little, I remember being told that god can see through me and knows my thoughts. I had also been taught at church that god will be angry at me if I sin. of course, both these things together made little-me terrified of thinking what I wanted to think. I taught myself to think in the way the bible and church told people to act because I was so scared of god seeing I wasn't good enough, or perfect, and I would get hurt or shunned. It took me years to learn that god isn't always looking at my thoughts to find fault, I think I was almost 9 when I finally let myself think freely.
This wasn't the only way religion messed me up as a child.
Shortly after my parents divorced, (my mom had custody, and was getting only more and more religious) I remember my mom brought up god, and someway or another the conversation was brought to her listing the things she loved most/were most important to her.
I remember it went:
1. god,
2. me and my sibling,
3. other things.
It might not seem very significant, but a child hearing that their mother loves god more than them very soon after their parents separated, and hearing this while having difficulties with friends and school would hit them pretty hard. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time I would hear something like this. She would often bring up how much she loves god, ('and her children after that of course, she loves me so much, don't get her wrong!') be it subtly dropping it in conversation or bluntly stating it. I doubt she meant anything malicious by this, but because of that I grew up thinking that I was only ever second best, second place in the tier list of loved ones, only ever in the background of my loved ones lives. It may sound petty, I'm sure, but I grew up thinking I would never be the most important to the person I loved most. Even though I thought this as fact, I tried so hard to be perfect so I might just one day be important enough to my mom. I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense, I'm kinda just rambling here.
These are just two examples of how religion and being told about god at a very young age messed with me as a child, and while they might not be very important, they really hurt me. I'm still quite young and might not be the best for saying any of this, but I guess I just really needed to get all this off of my chest. If you read this, thank you, and I'm sorry for taking up your time. Have a lovely rest of your day/night!
Don't be sorry for expressing your very valid concerns and thoughts. Have you ever told your mom about your concerns about being 2nd place in her life? Based on the description of events religion may have been her way if grieving the loss of an important relationship.
Your tale also highlights the real trauma religion can cause children (or anyone else really) by constantly telling someone they are worthless garbage especially from those they trust. They will probably start thinking they are worthless garbage.
I do wish you and your mom the best have a wonderful day.
It's very clearly a horrific form child abuse and should be illegal.
The Platinum Rule....yeah, I've heard that mentioned before on FFRF's segments. It's a damn good idea. And, also saying things on TH-cam comments pages that you'd also say in person, and not hide your identity. A noble idea, but the trouble is, these comments pages attract a great number of trolls, and those trolls are more than likely to be christians hiding their identities behind fake user names.
I have run into those last people you mentioned also. You can tell who they are because they sound like broken records.
@@fredworthmn And in some way they are severely broken ! .........
Yeah, I have seen a lot of trolling from Christians over the years.
some people think their farts don't stink and want to be treated like royalty..
No thank you. i will never treat people the way they want to be treated.
@@xenxander All I can do here is click on the Thumbs-Up icon to your comment. It fits well with my egalitarian principles.
I 100% agree with all the points, yes even 10. So much of this toxic religious beliefs that my family followed caused nearly all my self-esteem and mental issues that were once at the point of causing me to be suicidal. No thanks to "God", I'm out of that suicide nonsense. I am also working hard to build trust with myself again through therapy. Hate that it took me 30 years to figure out I was broken because of broken religious ideas and not just because "I'm sinful and strayed from God". UGH even typing that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
The same here. I know how you feel. I went through unnecessary suffering because of being raised in an evangelical cult. I understand that my parents were just passing down beliefs that were passed down to them. I'm not resentful because they really thought that they were doing the right thing for me. It wasn't easy dispelling all of that religious nonsense that was programmed in my mind, but being free from all of that bullshit is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It was like being released from a life term incarceration, howeever a prison that was in my imagination, but seemed so real.
I spent the first 10 years of my life going to a Christian church and finally stopped going when I was 10. The only logical excuse I had at the time was that the music was too loud for me. 8 years later, I realized that I'm meant to be a witch instead and worship the ancient gods and goddesses, including my ancestral Norse gods and goddesses such as Thor, Loki, Odin, and Freya. Unfortunately, they're literally the only Norse gods I was able to memorize over the years.
Still sitting here under Mormon parents and am forced to lead effectively a double life just because my real identity would be rejected on the spot and I kind of need to eat.
As a theist, I would prefer teaching morality and leave dogma until they are older
@Daniel Paulson That is why I have NEVER in 65 years seen ANY "gods" or need for them ! ............
But who defines morality? If you're teaching morality from a religious text, then your instruction is already laced with dogma, innit?
@@avimohan6594 Godly things like: genocide, incest, murder, looting and raping, stone to death and all kinds of warm and fuzzy things. But remember to give your loyalty and work to "god", and of course your MONEY, because "god" is such a LOSER, he needs it ! ..............
But as a theist you have no moral system to teach them. As commandments do not constitute a logical system of oughts derived from an understanding of the nature of things and therefore of actions. Unless you’ve adopted a secular moral code that’s separate from your religious one.
@darth geekboy untrue, belive in a god doesn't inherently require you to follow any dogma.
what i was taught by my mum was be kind to kind people but if someone tries to mess with you you have all the rights to fight back
Damn am I glad to have been raised in an atheist household in a very atheist part of Germany. I was told about god and gods in general but more in the "people believe in that, learn about it so you can respect others better" not in the sense that I should thank that being for anything. Obviously because everyone in my family is an atheist.
Same here. The best part about it was that my parents and grandparents taught me "Don't mock others for believing in that stuff, even though you don't! Listen and learn and THEN form an opinion; but don't mindlessly attack them over it!"
Yea I mentioned to my then 21 year old cousin that I had doubts and she shamed me. She said, "Good girls don't question god." I was 15 at the time. But she's still this way. And she's lived all over the country. I don't understand how you can live in so many places and still be so narrowed minded.
Thats messed up. Asking questions is apart of humanity. Basically christianity tries to supress emotions, making you the dullest slice of bread on earth
I raise my nephew, and as a skeptical atheist I’ve been doing my best not to introduce him to religion until he’s older so he can make his own decision about religion when he’s old enough to understand. Sadly, his PUBLIC SCHOOL decided to tell him about Jesus and God. Now he’s got it in his head that because a teacher who is supposed to know everything told him about god it must be real. I don’t mind if he becomes a believer, but I wanted him to be old enough to understand then decide. We removed him from that school because they wouldn’t listen to us when we told them they shouldn’t do that, but it’s still stuck, and trying to explain evidence for god, and why I don’t believe was really difficult for someone so young. He just doesn’t understand it yet.
Just sit him down and put on Non-Stamp Collector, If that does not bring him to the ways of the Sith, then he is truly gone.
I'm one of those people that don't necessarily feel comfortable telling my kids the Santa Claus story because of that very reason you stated. I don't like lying to my kids. But my wife and I came up with a compromise that I think works very well.
We still talk about the Santa story, but I make sure my kids are in on it on day one. I talked about Santa like he's a fun character like Tom Bombadil in Lord of the Rings. And just have fun dressing up and giving out presents, as long as my kids know that it's me in the Santa suit.
And it seems to work quite well. The kids get to experience Santa, and I don't have to lie to them.
My kids didn't learn about santa until they went to school. Same with the Easter bunny and tooth fairy. 😐
@@FluffballKitties that's very likely going to be the route I'm going to take too.
Good luck! I've been downloading the different bibles to my kindle so when the kids are old enough I can show them all the different ones and they can decide for themselves. My oldest is agnostic, I never pushed religion on her, she came to that conclusion on her own. 😊
Putting the fear of eternal torment into a child’s mind should be illegal!
You are absolutely right!!! It is abuse!
As a child I was fearful to do what I knew my parents told me not to do knowing I would be punished for it. Thus I was kept out of alot of trouble & stayed safe. So how much more we should have a respectful fear of the Lord to serve Him & stay out of hell!!! I THANK GOD I was warned that hell is real & to do what's right in God's sight!
Then eternal torment will grow.
If there was more people in the world like you , the world would be a better place!❤️❤️❤️👍
@@leahanderson1576 yes if the world were full of God fearing, bible believing, full of the Holy Spirit children of God the world would be so much better! Sadly it will not be that way until Jesus come, then it will finally be Heaven on earth!
If I have kids I want them to be better than me. While watching this I considered a way to teach them about liar's. Teach them about how we know Earth is a sphere, then introduce them to flat earth TH-camrs, then teach them about how liar's.
Kids become who they are because of their parents. Religion is unnecessary. You can see that dogs and cats can show love to other animals, and you know they don't know what the hell a deity is.
@SigmaTauri2 I agree with you on teaching the scientific evidence. Also, I knew the apostrophe thing. Don't know why I did it other than the typo. I'll leave my error though as your comment provides a learning opportunity for others. To add to it the apostrophe show possession, i.e. Larry's car. Plural possessive you would add the apostrophe after the "s". It is early right now and I can't at present think of a good example for plural possessive.
Most flat earthers like religious people aren't intentionally lying . It's that their harboring a delusion they can't rationally justify . Their minds automatically resort to dishonest tactics to protect the delusion . Part of the delusion is it can't be wrong no matter how much it seems to contradict reality . And that's why it's so frustrating trying to reason with them and why holding religious delusions are so dangerous .
The Opinion of Matt hello 👋🏼, interesting 🤔 desire 💭; I’d like to ask, in your opinion does God exist?
@@Daniel-cz7kd Does God exist? I would first have to know what defines this particular God of your question to even answer this with anything other than an honest I don't know. 🙂
Do you think the specific God of your question does exist?
Love this! I'm a pagan who loves to learn about everything. And after a bad way from a church I was at when I was younger I refuse to teach my kids anything about religion. Let them choose it themselves
I was once shocked when my mom realized I no longer believed in god and asked me "Are you telling me that you go outside everyday without making the sign of the cross, *like an animal would*?".
Yes, she literally compared me to an animal for not making the sign of the cross everyday. I'm in good terms with her even now, and she has learnt to be more open minded. But that time I was shocked that my own mom would think of me like that.
Humans *are* animals--we're not plants or fungi. Thankfully, my folks were not overly religious, though they did drag me off to church on Sundays until about the time I was in junior high. I never believed in religion and have been questioning things (or looking for my own answers) for as long as I can remember.
@@ronaldlebeck9577 Yeah, by biology Humans, are animals. We have lungs, heart, brain, etc. If you see the animals most of them can understand and do something just like humans. We just have more brains and intelligence. We can speak and understand things even if it is a really difficult thing and impossible for animals to understand.
I know that what you mean is that your mom said that to her own son. What your mom wants during that time is that you have to be obedient. Maybe she has a hard time that day.
@@frostsmaker8966 I've yet to see a single trait in humans that some other organism doesn't already possess at least in a more underdeveloped form
Man, when my daughter asks me questions? I tell her good job, always ask questions, always want to know how the universe works. I want her critical thinking skills to be strong.
You sound like a great father and teacher! Kudos to you!
Don't expose her to this gibberish.
@@mysticwine :Exactly! Don't expose your children to religion as it is gibberish, because they will just be brainwashed.
@@anonymousjohnson976 they can be exposed just so long as they get all the information they need to come to an informed decision.
People told me I would go back to church once I had children because they need to be taught how to be good people. Nope. We’re all so much better off thinking freely. (Although I did go along with the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus narratives.)
Santa and the easter bunny have Nothing to do with Christianity. They originated from ancient pagans.
Every time my nephews come around telling me about "God" and "heaven" I just scream internally. They are 6 and 7 years old. They shouldn't be thinking that people go to hell just because some imaginary tyrant isn't getting the attention he wants. So I generally have to lie to them and tell them I believe just so I don't have to argue with my brother as to why I should be honest with them and not lie about my position. Once they get older I know this is going to backfire. I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad knowing what's coming a few more years down the road
When my parents told me Santa wasn't real, I cried for three hours and threw a tantrum asking why they lied to me. I was also raised in a religious family so of course I asked them if Jesus was real right after.
I was eleven then, now I'm 18 and I don't follow any organized religion. I fell out of belief in God along the way, but it definitely wasn't due to the Santa incident. It was do to literally everyone not giving me solid answers and shutting down my questions and me seeing some of their bigoted ideals.
The shame I felt going through that was much worse than any sort of sadness of realizing Santa isn't real. I felt as if my whole life was a lie and my entire world was crumbling down on me
I'm starting to think I was lucky to never of had a deep emotional investment in religion.
I ultimately reconverted during high school when I was suffering from depression. I tried asking god for guidance on what to do for months on end. But he was always silent. The only way for me to take that was there wasn't anything there to talk to but myself.
People tell you Santa Claus isn’t real is very unkind , I am forty five years old and still believe in Santa. The Fatman still owes me a bmx bike from 1988.
I can understand you not believing in Jesus because that Christianity stuff is just hogwash.
I born and raise as a Jehovah Witness and I can tell that it is really traumatic to grow up in a religion that demands all of you since you are a child, they demand to preach since the kid learn to speak and every time the childrens are baptized younger and younger, baptize in this cult is a everlasting comintment, because once you stop driking the kool-aid and decide to go out you loose your family, your friends and all your community. It's traumatic to grow up as religious child.
Greetings from México! 👍
It is traumatic. Im glad to hear you've gotten out.
Good video, as always, Hemant.
I just stumbled on Pensacola Christian College and as an atheist... wow... I had no idea religious colleges were a thing. Why are these institutions accredited? I'm astonished.
I survived a year there. Not sure how many of my friends stuck it out for four+years. It's truly a hell hole
Kelly Kobayashi Good for you, you have ethics unlike so many of religious community.
Not only accredited but in many cases they receive government, taxpayer dollars.
If you really want something to wash your eyes with, go to Frontier School of the Bible in LaGrange, WY. frontierbible.org ALL they teach is reading the Bible - and going to church - for 4 years. They do not study the Bible, nor look at historical contexts, or anything like that. They are not accredited and do not get government funds, but they are far from cheap. It seems to be a way to get homeschooled kids out of the house, but kept "safe" and away from much of society for 4 more years. It's a LONG WAY to any sort of typical teen or young adult events. Even the local people - mostly ranchers and a few other businesses don't interact with them much.
I had no idea that such things existed until I accidentally ran across them while traveling off the beaten path.
@@loriw2661 Yes that is one thing I am aware of and find frustrating. I grew up and still live in the province of Ontario (Canada). I had to go to catholic school until I left for college. It was the only option for french-canadians in my hometown at the time. I did get the essentials and most teacher were not keen on preaching (the were in similar shoes) but we all had to go to church for confession and other rituals, listen to prayers on the intercom and take the cateshism course until high-school. I remember some students couldn't participate in activities because they weren't baptized catholics (even though they might still be Christians). I feared the same consequences if I didn't do all the rituals (confession, communion and "confirmation"), so I kept my skepticism to myself until high-school.
As much as I did get a propper education (the rest of the curiculum was pretty secular if I remember correctly), it seems unfair that the government funds an institution that pounds a specific dogma on the young and innocent. Religious indoctrination should be a private matter, not a public one IMO.
Teaching children about God.
Could be much worse.
I was sent to catholic parochial school since kindergarten in the mid-1950s. Religious indoctrination was essentially integrated into every subject.
By the time I was in 4th grade (the earliest I rememberclearly) i had many questions. At first answers ranged to "don't question the Bible", "just have faith", "pray on it", "say 20 rosaries", ect.
Then came threats of damnation, repeatedly writing some religious nonsense for hours. The range of psychological punishments seemed infinite. Classmates were encouraged to mock and ridicule and shame.
Then the physical abuse came. Being forced to not go to the bathroom until I would defecate or urinate in my clothes and forced to wear the soiled clothes for hours. Again, Classmates encouraged to ridicule and shame.
Other abused were even more violent, such as being paddled with a board with holes drilled (enhances the pain), getting slapped in the face so hard it left finger and palm impressions and hurt ones neck. Other implements were employed in a daily basis such as having fingers, knuckles and hands hit hard with rulers with metal reinforced edges, oak rods were used in many body parts such as hands, arms, legs and back.
And these methods were always enhances by getting the other children to shame and ridicule.
Sex abuse by priests was bad. I'd heard of it. But no one seems willing to talk about the pure continual saturation of these sorts of abuse and torture at the hands of the nuns. For asking questions they couldn't answer.
Thousands of children were held prisoner in this unbelievable horror chamber. And the was nowhere to seek help. At least in my case and doubtless many if not most other kids' parents took part in the torture "If you got hit then you deserved it so here's more" was typical mentality.
Hours long denigration and shaming would go on until the middle of the night. Sleep deprivation after weeks of this torture would frequently set in. I know i was not alone because I saw other kids get the same treatments and done would talk about it.
So, teaching kids about religion I'd bad enough but there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of kids who were permanently traumatized at the hands of terrifying torture in the name of religious compliance.
When I was around like 6 or 7, my mom asked me if I wanted to be baptized and I just said no. So, I never got baptized.
I’ve told My kids about gods, unicorns, gnomes, trolls, wizards, demons, Mickey Mouse and many many more fairytale figures. I’ve told them that some people believe gods exist for real, the earth is flat, some people are shape shifting lizards, they can talk to dead people, read minds and many many other things.
I’ve raised My kids to think and to be free and the do and they are. Our world is filled with fantasy and reality. My kids know the difference and enjoys both. For what they are.
"Asking for help is great when they're talking to REAL people" --absolutely savage
Wanna see an atheist become religious instantaneously? Put him in a foxhole! He will learn 'asking for help' in a hurry.
@@mysticwine This is nonsense because it's a pretty good bet that not all atheists call out in foxholes. Those that do: out of fear of death ..probly; because of being convinced of an existant God ..probly not. And if you know your Bible then you know God does not accept that kind of belief ..same as a wishy-washy, "just in case" Pascal's Wager believer.
Parent: My child is Christian
Baby: YEAH- wait can I learn to speak first tho?😅 and maybe basic motor function?😅
♪♫Jesus loves me, this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong.
They are weak but he is strong.♪♫
I remember singing this song as a little child before I even knew what a Jesus was.
I had to grow up in Catholic school system and it was that system that poisoned my young mind. I should be able to sue them for what they did but the worst thing that happened were those residential schools. I'm so glad I wasn't part of that.
Is it okay to tell kids about the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
YES!!! YES!!! AND A THOUSAND TIMES YES!!!!! by doing that you are creating memories with them and the are loving you more as a mother or father (Sorry, im not english so it is hard for me to know if your name is a masculine name or a feminine name)
Probably and for much the same reason as Father Christmas. It's fun, it teaches them about deception (and religion) in a fun way and it teaches them that deception is not always a bad thing. It depends on the context. I mean every work of fiction is a deception but the world would be a poorer place without it.
Admittedly I was a cynical kid, something I've carried over into adult life, but I know that most kids were like me and went along with the deception long after we knew it was a deception and long after our parents knew that we knew.
I never really got why some atheists even worry about the whole Santa thing. It's not even vaguely comparable to religion... It's just story telling mixed with role-play and apart from the whole naughty / nice thing in December Santa doesn't make any real demands and doesn't seem that bothered about that one.
May FSM embrace you with his noodley appendages. Ramen.
this is easily your most thought out, and common sense video i have seen.
12 minutes of truth and fact,that will serve all humanity better than ANY religious indoctrination.
Mike D hello 👋🏼, interesting 🤔 point, you are correct with the religion, however the title is misleading, it supposed to talk about God not religion.
Back in the day, I managed the portrait studio at Marshall Field's Old Orchard. Some grandma brought her granddaughter in for a sitting but the girl wasn't having any of it. She was maybe four years-old and crying because she was scared. Grandma got right in her face and said, "God will be mad at you if you don't smile." It wasn't helpful, but I finally knew what it felt like to want to smack an old lady. Instead of doing that, I asked her to leave. After we both calmed down a little bit, the girl and I were both smiling. The portraits? They turned out great. No thanks to grandma. Or god.
Tell your kids about god, don't teach them to believe in god. The world is filled with people who believe in god and are willing to manipulate children to get them to believe.
If you don't tell your kids about religion, someone else will.
5:33
Kid:"So let me get this straight: First you told me about Santa Claus. Then you told me he's not real and you have been lying all the time to make be behave. Now you're introducing me to this Jesus Christ character and you're expecting me to believe it's real and not another lie to make be behave? How dumb do you think I am?"
Dad:"I told you it won't work!"
Mom:"It's all your fault. I told you it was a bad idea to start with Santa Claus. Now our child is an atheist!"
Kid:"What's an atheist?"
Father:"It's a person that doesn't believe in Jesus Christ!"
Kid:"There is a word for that? Wow! And how is called a person that doesn't believe in Santa Claus?"
Dad:"Uhmmm..."
Mom:"Please, stop! You're ruining Christmas!"
The first time I was exposed to the bible, I was about 7-8 years old. I remember my friend telling me that a person once lived to be over 900 years old and I was like "nuh uh". Then he told me that it was in the bible. So a few years after that, I've always thought that the bible was like the Guinness Book of World Records. And when a person would tell me that a person could lift a truck, I would be like "wow, he must be in the bible then".
I miss those days before I knew what religion was.
This was an interesting story. I believe the world's strongest man though is Mark Henry. He inducted quite a few people into the Hall of Pain with the World's Strongest Slam.
Also, if you raise an intelligent and curious child in a religious community, you have the secret recipe to Atheism
This is sort of how I grew up non religious. My parents didn’t shelter me from religion, but they didn’t actively tell me about it either. I just thought they were stories in the same way as fairytales. I was still fairly young when I realised that some people (even adults!) believed in it. My dad’s side of the family weren’t at all religious, but my Grandparents on my Mam’s side were very religious (their church was a bit weird, but not culty or preachy - they very much kept their religion to themselves). Discovering their belief was a shock. My Grandad in particular was a very intelligent man, and I struggled with that being the case, and yet he was religious. I remember my Mam telling me not to say that sort of thing to them, as they would be hurt by it. I never did, but I still find it hard, because in many ways I have a lot of my grandad’s traits.
I spent 36 years as a pastor in a major denomination. About 3 years ago I completely changed my mind about god and became a nonbeliever...long story but was the most freeing thing I ever did...
You should have never became a pastor pastors are called by God if you never heard God then you never should have been a pastor
As someone who was in Sunday school and also baptized and am now a atheist it was good for my Journey out of faith
You're still in faith. You just took it out of religion and placed it into science.
@@Quentin94 ?
Science is based on evidence, I thought.
Atheist again. You was born atheist
@@grotoy123 You've never been to space. Give me evidence that it is real.
@@Quentin94 there's numerous pictures, experiments, and even math that proves space is real. Are you a flat earther to ask such a thing?
I wasn't raised with religion and my childhood was super happy and awesome. Didn't even really get any kind of sadness or depression about life until I was confronted with these bigger issues but that didn't start until high school so at least was oblivious in my younger years
The diamond rule: _Treat Others The Way They Treat You_
I enjoy Hemant's videos most of the time because his humorous way reciting the Bibles stories, this video his maturity & insight was evident also.
A priest once told me what's your heart telling you I said to him my heart is busy pumping blood
what's it telling you, not what it's doing
You have to tell them; forewarned is for-armed.
Then have them read the Book of Numbers, and ask them if this entity would be worthy of worship.
As a parent I never ever use the justification, "Because I said so." If I need the conversation to end for whatever reason I will tell them, "Look, I have reasons, but for the moment I just need you to trust me. I will explain it to you later." And then if they want to know later I will explain it when I'm not two seconds away from jumping off a bridge because they are driving me nuts.
My 6 year old came home crying, saying jesus died for his sins! Luckily I could pull him out of that class and he could go to the library for that time they did religious studies, he is 24 now and not a believer!
The only rule I care about 1) Don't teach your kids lies are truth. That goes for all the others too, Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy etc etc. Realize that you are raising your children to think lying is right
I grew up fearing going to hell as a child and being told my disobedience was rebellion that deserved that hell. I would have nightmares about this and spent hours praying about it. I would go to confession whenever possible as soon as I had my first communion at age 8. As a teenager I knew I was a sinner that could do nothing right. My parents and the priests were always in the right and were to be respected and obeyed. It's not surprising that this upbringing set me up to be sexually abused by a priest. I don't blame my parents because they themselves were raised to believe in this crap. It was years before I was able to see reality and leave the church. I tried other religions but I just couldn't hand my mind over to some other pastor to be told how believe or act. My own children were raised religion free and grew up to be good people. They were spared a childhood living in fear or wasted by trying to please some deity in the sky. They have their own children now who are also religion free and are happy little guys.
I'm so sorry this happened to you. Religion is truly a form of child abuse.
An ideology should be followed because it’s consistent and logically sound, not because superstitious people forced their impressionable children to follow it.
I taught my kids to think on their own and question authority.
I once had, ahem, a situation when I was still Christian. One day, I asked my friends if they were religious. They both said no. And then over the next couple days I worried that they would burn in hell. Most stupid situation ever. Happy I left.
Funny how I was always worried that my friend/ family member's non- belief would send them to eternal torture, but never questioned whether the god that was supposedly "love" would send them there for merely not being convinced 🤔
@@Vanessa-bk4nv yeah.
Wanna see an atheist become religious instantaneously? Put him in a foxhole!
I’m not religious my kids are not religious and my Sundays are free.
Stop eating calendars...
/jk
“Treat others the way they want to be treated “
Some people think they are better than everyone else and should be treat that way. So I don’t think that’s a good idea,
I was going to say that too. Glad i'm not the only one thinking that's kind of a bad idea.
True, but you can't treat me the way you want to be treated either. I hate being praised. I find it insulting and uncomfortable. Should I just have to shut up and endure what I consider humiliation just because YOU like it?
Yup, my friend didn't introduce her son to religion. She let him discover it himself and, as far as Abrahamic religions go, he was not convinced. But what do ya know? He STILL knows right from wrong! Whoa!
I'm not gonna tell my future kids about God or my old religion UNLESS they ask.
We'll still celebrate Christmas, it will be a season of family, not Jesus's birthday.
Wanna see an atheist become religious instantaneously? Put him in a foxhole!
@@mysticwine Wanna see a christian lie? Watch them talk
Why's this video not getting a million viewers right now?
I need to know!
Skipo Jay hello 👋🏼, if you’re really asking, maybe cause it full of wrong teaching and lies and at least a contradiction.
@@Daniel-cz7kd No, it is not.
Kaninma hello 👋🏼, well then, please enlighten me and tell me what does Memant say and teach correctly and what I got wrong?
@@Daniel-cz7kd and how does it contradict and teach wrongfully, I believe he is speaking clearly and logically which is the best way to express.
Daniel I see you replying to other people in the comments, either you’re a troll or crazy
I personally think, that kids who are raised to be replicas of their parents either grow up completely rejecting their parents at some points, or they become uncomplete persons who can't grow out of the shape their parents put them in and are therefore unable to reconsider certain points and are destined to grow more and more out of touch with the times, the older they get.
And thank you for giving me more reasons to make my future kids atheists
My only experience of Sunday school was after a sleepover at a christian friend’s house. The “teacher” spewed fire and brimstone at us for an hour. My eleven-year-old self was absolutely horrified and disgusted that other kids my age were subjected to that stuff regularly. Serious mental health issues completely predictable outcome.
yeah, I really hated my mom for dragging me to Sunday School when I was a kid, but I still get annoyed at her talking about religion. Well, at least she's been there for me as a mom, and she's still there for me, as a mom. The religious aspect is just hella annoying.
I'm glad she didn't beat me, like most conservative parents do. And I'm glad that she doesn't even believe in beating kids. But the constant "it's God's plan" is fucking annoying.
My son is autistic and takes many things quite literally (much less so as he gets older). I didn’t know this when I quit church, but it sure makes me glad I never subjected him to the beliefs and stories I grew up with. Of course, I do want to thank one particular a$$h0le pastor. He decided to invite all the kids to the pulpit for a short teaching. Then he proceeded to be super rude to one particular kid who was being a kid (couldn’t sit still, wanted to ask questions). I got up and walked out and I haven’t been in a church since. That was the last straw for me.
1:35, totally agree with this one. Morality doesn't require God.
When I'm about to do something wrong, my heart can't do it. It is just wrong. It feels wrong. Not because of God.
On the other hand, people doing something really wrong but don't feel wrong because they are doing it in a religious way. So scary.
An example of this is terrorism, marrying someone you don't know, etc.
I'd rather my kid be blinded by science than duped by religion and its charlatans.
Many, many charlatans, but still one of them is true. It is our duty to find that 1.
damn man, you have some good upload schedule
great vid, thanks
If everyone was not religious the entire world would be better!
The World Would END!
@@Dark_Force_Of_Wishes how
Not really because it still wouldn't address most of the issues, however if people were more skeptical and logical and didn't try to kill eachother for their beliefs that would be nice.
My father is an atheist; but he made us go to Sunday School & Confirmation (in a Methodist church), so we would know the basics of what we were accepting or rejecting. He had been planning to be a Lutheran minister, but seminary prep school made him an atheist-- he knew his bible.
I appreciate the background knowlege that I have, which helps me understand the Christians that are currently running this country.
After a a few years as a Born-Again (I had to rebel against my parents somehow!), I'm not sure *what* I'd label myself now.
My late husband (who was Jewish, but not religious) & I took our kids to a Unitarian Church when they were little, but then stopped when they begged for a "day of rest" (Unitarians can be pretty cerebral, so Sunday School was similar to "regular" school-- I would have preferred they had those kids play more, instead of discuss concepts).
Sometimes I feel guilty that my kids don't have the background knowlege of why this country is the way it is, but I'm also glad that they seem to be completely shame-free, and *SO* kind to others.
I'm actually one of the rare kinds of people who was raised without being baptised or taken to Sunday School. The school system in my my state in Australia had a "Scripture" class once a week (starting in kindergarten) where people from outside the faculty would come and talk about Christianity, give all the basic Bible stories, etc. It was basically a way to try to indoctrinate the children through school and it is unfortunately allowed in public schools here. Since I had never been exposed to religion other than through these "classes", it took me a few years to realise what was going on and I wasn't interested. I was already interested in science from a very young age and the two just didn't seem to fit together. In year 3, I discovered that one could be exempt from scripture classes if you had a note from your parents, so I got my parents to write me a note to exempt me from scripture classes. Then i found out you needed a new note EVERY TERM (4 terms per year). So every term from about year 3 until I didnt have to take scripture any more in year 10, my parents gave me a note to take to my school to exempt me from scripture classes. This was entirely my choice as noone was forcing their beliefs on me other than the scripture teachers and a select few evangelical teachers who only let biblical videos be played in the school (again, nothing seems to be done about that here). As such, my knowledge of religion, biblical stories and religious beliefs was next to nil but I am still a good person. I'm honest to a fault, I volunteer help when needed and I try to treat people fairly. I used the time when not in scripture class to further my scientific studies in my school library and now I'm an industrial chemist, which was one of my dream jobs as a young child. In the end, I can say I followed my dreams and a lack of religion did nothing to prevent me from geting where I am or leading a good life.
My wife, on the other hand, was raised catholic but her parents weren't especially religious. When we met she still identified as christian but was definitely on her way out as a lot of her beliefs had already been challenged and all she saw of the religious community was infighting and grabs for power and influence. Very much a "holier than thou" attitude which is the complete opposite of everything Christianity claims to represent or strive towards. Eventually she realised that her faith seemed unreasonable and she no longer considers herself religious or spiritual at all. I think meeting me and seeing how much more free I was convinced her atheism can be a good thing. She still has troubles with the underlying fear of Hell and eternal damnation instilled in her by the church but she is getting through it. I try to help support her as much as I can but it's a lot like mild PTSD. She has had counselling but it doesn't really work for her so we deal in other ways and she is doing a lot better now. It didnt help that most of the counsellors were religious and one even tried to get her to come back to the church.
I discovered later in life that those scripture classes are optional and are supposed to be made available for those students who want to persue studies in their chosen religion, which I think is a fair thing to do. But when the student needs a permission note from their parents to not attend the class, that is wrong. It's also wromg that these classes are allocated time that would otherwise be ordinary class time. I don't mind them being available at public schools but they should be held either before or after school or during lunch breaks. They should also represent all religions but, from my experience, they only offered certain variants of Christianity (usually from various protestant churches that encourage young Earth creattionism). I never heard of any Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist classes at any of my schools, even though the act that makes the classes available says it should be for the student's chosen religion. These classes are simply wrong and if they can't run them correctly they shouldn't be run at all.
In short, I feel as though I was lucky growing up without too much influence from religion. This isn't to say I dont have my own childhood trauma that I am still struggling with but I feel as though it isn't my fault that I feel this way, whereas religion teaches that it is your fault and the only way to feel better is to make you feel more guilty.
If God IS real and he loves us, why does he give children to abusive people?
Good job man 👍
When my son was around four (he is eight now) or so we lived about a block away from a church. One Sunday morning we heard the bells ringing and he asked me what that noise was. I told him it was a church and that they ring the bells each Sunday morning. He asked me what a church was and I replied it was a place where people met to sing songs together and talk to God. I doubt he had a concept of what God was at the time but he asked no further questions. In hindsight I think I could have answered the question a bit better.
Wish I had found someone like you 50 years ago.
Back when I was a kid, I was really interested in animals, and I would read books about animals that would explain the advantage of a certain animal having a certain trait, and this was really interesting to me, so I would try to talk to my stepmom about it and I would say "do you know why this certain animal has this certain trait" and she would shut down the discussion by saying "because that's how God made them."
It infuriated me to no end.
McFlingleson hello 👋🏼, interesting 🤔, I’m also very passionate about biology 🧬 and zoology; I remember a song along the same kind of line called “Why Oh Why (Why, why, why?”, at the end the parent explains they don’t really know the answer, however just as there is scientific truth, there is truth in what your stepmom said in “because that’s how God made them.”
God needs your money but I'm not sure why ???
I have a better idea. How about "Don't brainwash Your kids"? Let them grow up and decide
Religion would disappear in a couple of generations if we banned childhood indoctrination.
@Bubbascuba you a good parent
@@Johnboy33545 Wanna see an atheist become religious instantaneously? Put him in a foxhole!
Even many Christian sects have come to realize baptizing babies is a bad idea. It’s supposed to represent dedicating your child to god. The fact is, however, that’s not really your decision to make. Each person’s faith is their own. Making that decision for a child in infancy is pretentious and irresponsible. When I left Christianity, I replaced the “Golden Rule” with the Wiccan Rede. “An it harm none, do what you will” is a great summary of the foundation of ethics.
I got some serious mental health issues from being raised in the church. It wasn't healthy.
This video ought to be on PBS and Discovery
The problem is even if you don’t teach your kids about god their classmates and even worse, their teachers, will teach and talk about god. Especially if you live in the Bible Belt. I teach them to question what they’re taught. Everything. And do not make fun of other people’s beliefs. And like Louis C.K. says “when the Christians are around act accordingly”.
I'm a 66 year old atheist and my parents could have written this script.
Raising kids is a very complicated thing.
If you dont have your life together, its best not to bring anyone new to this world.