Atheist, agnostic, ignostic or any variation of those...

[tataraperz]

Just as a heads up, this thread is just for sharing our life experiences with others, and while i expect everybody to post their motivations and beliefs, i wouldn't like to see any debating in here.

According to wiki, i fall under Apathetic agnosticism/Ignosticism...

In my case, living in a country where almost everyone is roman catholic and coming from a family of catholics, i soon grew tired of it. I could not stand how much of two-faced catholic people are...

At young age i started questinoning myself for why to be catholic... it bothered me that fathers MADE their children become catholic, and how they put ideas in their heads since kids. I think this is a very bad tradition, which makes kids grow up into adults who blindly believe in the religion they have been shown, and that quickly put aside people who questions or opposes them.

In fact, people here are so untolerant about religion that in all the years i've been thinking and beliving the way i do, i have never told anyone that i do. I believe the feeling may be the same as being gay and "going out of the closet".

It sickens me just to think about it, people here don't care about anything and do terrible things everyday and don't even bother themselves with thoughts about their gods. They only come to their god when they are in need. It makes me laugh how the regular attendees to "Sunday Lectures" are in it's majority Old people. And at the same time makes me feel pity for them the way they think that by devoting their last years of life to their god will make up for the bads they've done.

You will only see people praying when they have someone in the hospital, you will only see them in churches when they are desperate and don't have anything else to recur to. Makes me sick to live in the middle of so much hipocrisy.

before anyone calls it out, yes i am generalizing. No i am not traumatized, i live happily. Just had to put that out about how i think of an aspect of my society.

[Zzyzx]

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Tatarapez,

Thank you for interesting questions.

From what i can read i suppose you are or were in the military. I got a personal question which i wouldn't be offended at all if you decided not to answer:

You are correct. I was a member of the 101st Airborne Division (Paratroopers) fifty years ago -- from 1958 to 1961 (and that experience had a profound influence on my life in the five decades since).

How did you felt when you were sent out in a mission?

Those were “peacetime� years – after the Korean War and before Vietnam “heated up�. My “missions� were on field exercises (war game training) only. However, they were made very realistic and challenging.

Most significantly, however, I was a rifle team member – trained to hit reliably at long distances. That skill remains (though with limited civilian application) – and I did manage to kill a wild hog not many years ago from 400 yards away with a single shot -- and really impressed my neighboring farmer who (unknown to me) did NOT want anyone to shoot wild hogs on his property (wild hogs are generally shot as a nuisance in Texas, where I resided at the time). He was “pissed� to say the least – until he said, “how the heck did you do that?� and we got to talking about long range accuracy (and he invited me to shoot hogs on his property).

Edited to add: The rifle team experience is a good part of the reason that I wear hearing aids now (courtesy of the VA).

I mean, did you had the same opinion about god since then?

I have been in much more challenging situations outside the military – and had no inclination toward any “god�. Though I must admit that jumping out of big, noisy, fast-flying airplanes in fright (err --- I mean FLIGHT, flight, I say) was a bit unnerving, especially at first. Even then, I had absolutely no inclination toward "gods" (though I was raised by a staunchly Catholic mother who really wanted her four sons to become "good Catholic gentlemen" -- with one of four as a possibility).

How did you cope with the pressure of something happening to you when out in the field?

I have also been an Ironworker (high steel) – before becoming a professor -- and a rock climber (and teacher of rock climbing) – while a professor. Those things were probably more dangerous than anything I encountered in the military.

Coping with pressure was NEVER an issue for me. I am NOT “fearless�, but am able to face my fears and conquer them – without any need for “gods� or other external support structure.

During recent decades I have structured my life to be free of pressure, stress and obligation (almost completely). That is much more pleasant -- particularly freedom from stress and obligation.

belief in any god,

I have observed NO difference in ability to “cope� between god-worshipers and non-worshipers.

thoughts of loved people

One thinks of loved ones. The woman I married while in the Army was petrified by the idea of me jumping, so never told her when I was scheduled for a jump and I promised her that I would not do any sport parachuting after I was discharged – and I kept my word.

drugs?

Not only NO, but hell no. I need no artificial courage.

I understand that when we face scary or very difficult situations we often prefer to believe that something bigger than us exists, be it destiny, something watching over us, or whatever we might imagine.

Some do some do not. The old saw “there are no atheists in foxholes� is pure baloney. In a combat situation I darn sure don’t want to be teamed with someone who prays instead of shooting (or performing his job) – or someone who looks forward to an “afterlife� as a “better place�.

[SteveC]

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I have been in much more challenging situations outside the military – and had no inclination toward any “god�. Though I must admit that jumping out of big, noisy, fast-flying airplanes in fright (err --- I mean FLIGHT, flight, I say) was a bit unnerving, especially at first. Even then, I had absolutely no inclination toward "gods" (though I was raised by a staunchly Catholic mother who really wanted her four sons to become "good Catholic gentlemen" -- with one of four as a possibility).

I too, have been in many challenging situations, and have never invoked god's name or attempted to use prayer.

One Christian deacon, who witnessed something that we parents accomplished, stated about one of these challenges, "If I hadn't witnessed all the blood, sweat, and tears, you parents put into this effort, I would have sworn I witnessed a miracle. You parents deserve all the credit."

It's amazing what human will power and a little luck can accomplish.

[Question Everything]

I was a born again Charismatic Christian who became an atheist because I wanted to know what God's plan was for my life, and I never got an answer. ("I'll do it, Lord, I'll do anything you want me to want me to do, Lord, please tell me what it is." Finally, I asked God to say something to me, anything at all, just so I would know that I was actually communicating with him.

It was then that I checked into the history of Christianity and the claims made by it to see what if anything real lay behind it all. The whole house of cards collapsed in a heap.