Stories About Leaving Religion

Tags

bible, christian, christianity, church, college, community, evangelical, evidence, free, freedom, indoctrinated, islam, lgbt, liberal, lies, ministry, mormon, muslim, proof, religion, religious

Freedom from Lies

I am a Man who has taken it upon himself to think, think critically about what is presented to me as fact and fiction. In particular religion. From an early childhood I was indoctrinated into the baptist church, I was scared into being “saved” by a hell fire preacher at the impressionable age of 6. I was told to believe everything that the people of the church told me yet was never offered one bit of proof. [Read more]

Free To Be Me

It’s been refreshing to read that there are people out there that know how it is when you leave something that has controlled your thoughts, lifestyle, finances and belief in yourself for a long time. I live in Portland, Victoria, Australia, and left Christianity 15 years ago after 25 years of dedicated church life. I had been trained in a bible college to be a pastor and was about to embark on a promising ministry. But, at bible college I started to really examine and question my faith, and why I was in the church. [Read more]

In Deep Confusion

Words cannot express how excited I am that I’ve come across this website!! I have been dealing with so much over the last few months, and it is so refreshing to see that a lot of you here have had similar dealings with Christianity. A little over a year ago I decided to become a devout Christian for the second time in my life. The first time ended really badly, but i decided to give it another shot. [Read more]

Five-year Exodus: From Church to Freedom

I left the church in my 20s. I had started having doubts about the religious teachings being taught in my evangelical church. The hatred spewed forth from the pulpit was in direct contradiction to the “love thy neighbor” commandment we had been given during sunday school as children. How could we hate the LGBT community, and yet say that we love all those who god created? Eventually I was kicked out of my church for questioning these teachings, and slowly I lost my faith in god. [Read more]

I Need More Evidence

This morning, I was thinking of my third child, Sterling, and the scare I had with her in utero. When my pregnancy test confirmed her existence, I was absolutely elated. And even though I couldn’t see her, I knew she was growing inside of me because the pink strip magically appeared and it was deemed reliable to 99.9%. From that moment on, I loved her, talked to her, and bonded with her. [Read more]

My Journey in and out of Islam

I was brought up in a practising but liberal Muslim household. My parents are Pakistanis, both hailing from Muhajir families in Karachi. Even the most religious among the Muhajirs are often highly progressive and secular minded when it comes to politics and global affairs. My aunt in Pakistan, for example, who started wearing niqāb after the death of her paralysed daughter, has the same zeal for Farhat Hashmi (a popular female Wahhabi preacher) as she does for the secular, ethno-centric policies of the MQM. [Read more]

. . . and for something different . . .

40 Things You Never Realized Were Christian

1. There is a Bible verse on the bottom of every In-N-Out cup.
2. Same with Forever 21 bags.
3. Mary Kay Ash from Mary Kay cosmetics credits her success to their decision to “take God as our partner.”
4. The guy who founded eHarmony is a Christian psychologist.
5. The founder and CEO of JetBlue is a devout Mormon.
6. The founder of Carl’s Jr. started a tradition at company meetings where they say a prayer and recite the “Pledge of Allegiance” before they begin.
7. In 2001, Katy Perry released a Christian album under the name Katy Hudson.
8. Most U2 songs have Christian themes.
9. Sylvestor Stallone is a seriously devout Christian and has appeared on The 700 Club.
10. The movie Rocky is FILLED with religious references.
[See the rest of the list]