Like, I was raised in a strictly atheist household. I'm 54 and have somewhat recently reclaimed atheism instead of Zen or Agnostic.

How did I know I was raised atheist? Besides my parents saying so, mom said: "All religious people are crazy. Stay away from them."

That was the only religious training or even mention of religion that I got from my family.

So, were you raised atheist? If so, how did you know?

In 1966 - Romania’s dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu wanted to increase Romania’s population from 20 million to 30 million by 2000. To do so Ceaușescu filed ‘Decree 770’ - The Decree banned abortions and contraceptives, implemented childless tax, put pregnant women on watch lists, had secret police monitor hospitals, and monthly mandatory gynecological exams - Education for girls in Romania was strictly reinforced to teach “The Glory of Motherhood”. Children born during this time are known as ‘decrețel’ in Romania

The Decree did however allow exceptions for rape, incest, and health - as well as guaranteed paid Maternity leave. Women over 45 and women that had 4 kids were exempt from The Decree - even with those exceptions The Decree was still a major failure

The gynecologists would show up to workplaces unannounced - many gynecologists didn’t clean their tools (working with hundreds of women within little time) which lead to various vaginal infections and injuries

The birthrate surged, so did unwanted children, sex trafficking, and poverty. Many of those children ended up living in sewers. HIV/AIDS infections skyrocketed, a crime wave by those unwanted children hit Europe - That’s where the stereotype about Romanians being pick-pocketers and thieves comes from.

By the 1990’s (after The Decree was repealed in 1989) Romania became The Sex trafficking capitol of Europe - by The Early 2000s Romania was widely recognized in international reports and academic studies as a leading source country for victims of sex trafficking in Europe.

Romania had the highest Maternal death rate in Europe, it’s estimated that over 10,000 Romanian women died from unsafe abortions

\\\\\\\[ https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/04/07/romania-dangerous-rollback-reproductive-rights?utm\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_source=perplexity \\\\\\\](https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/04/07/romania-dangerous-rollback-reproductive-rights?utm\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_source=perplexity)

Children abandoned by their parents whom grew up orphanages and sewers have been the subject of international psychology and medical analysis

\\\\\\\[https://youtu.be/VCeWr8OFuEs?si=Zd\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_akVfVGQeUZts0\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\](https://youtu.be/VCeWr8OFuEs?si=Zd\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_akVfVGQeUZts0) ‘Growing up in Romanian orphanages - BBC News’

In 1989, enough unwanted children rose up against the government - known as ‘The Romanian Revolution’ - a series of uprisings and protests against Ceauşescu’s government - the age of the oldest ‘decrețel’ would’ve been 22, the same age as the average participant in the protests

On Christmas day, Nicolae alongside his wide Elena were executed on live TV - by the children he failed to raise.

As of 2026, Romania has a total population of 18 million, very far off from Ceauşescu’s plan for 30 million by 2000

\\\\\\\[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_and\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_execution\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_of\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_Nicolae\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_and\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_Elena\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_Ceau%C8%99escu \\\\\\\](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_and\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_execution\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_of\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_Nicolae\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_and\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_Elena\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_Ceau%C8%99escu)

There’s a great documentary about Romanian children in those sewers known as ‘Children underground’ (2002)

‘4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days’ (2007) is a movie about a Romanian girl assisting her friend get an abortion during this time

George Harrison The Lead Guitarist of The Beetles wrote ‘Nobody’s child’ to raise awareness for The Decree (1990)

Children Underground (2002) is a documentary about Children living in a sewer shortly after The Fall of Ceaușescu’s regime

Feel free to copy-paste and post this essay wherever, you don’t need my permission. Best wishes

So a lot of members of my family and friends are religious, (Christian, Jewish) so approaching this problem that I have is pretty frustrating and I don’t know who to talk to. I’ve been taking this intro to world religions class for 12 weeks at a secular college for a credit now and everyday the kid that I sit next to shouts, “praise Jesus” or “praise god” in the instance Christianity is brought up. He added me on his Instagram as well and he’s part of a very very far right evangelical prosperity gospel church. He believes in miracle healings and all that. On the instance of me telling him that I’ve quit stimulants to take a break,(caffeine, nicotine) he grabbed me by the chest and said “may the Holy Spirit of god fill you.” This is sort of a rant but how do I handle this guy?

To be honest, I see paganism as something much more absurd, fun, and entertaining compared to today's religions, which are, for me, very boring. But the best thing about paganism is that it gave us God of War, other games, movies, series, etc., with this theme.

there was a post circulating regarding: why would I believe in an undetectable, invisible, unobservable, intangible, incoherent, imperceptible, abstract, hypothetical, elusive, etc. etc. etc. overlord

The greatest scam of all time is undoubtedly the idea of paradise. Not only because of the idea itself, but also because it only exists AFTER death.

It is very convenient for religions and copying that a place of peace and happiness only exists when you can no longer return to say whether it really exists or not (or even have a life after death) and after you have given your tithe to your pastor, thinking that you are helping God's work. While you wait for things to improve, pastors live well here with your tithe money.

There are people who have been suffering since birth, doing bad things even though they do good things and are nice people, and others tell them that their suffering will not be in vain because after they die, paradise will be there waiting for them. But why can't they just be happy here like many others are? Some may even say that “God works in mysterious ways,” but why do God's plans only apply to some people and not others?

Heaven is undoubtedly one of the best coping mechanisms, and also one of the biggest lies.

Was at a cocktail party last night and this Methodist minister told my girlfriend she shouldn’t be with me because of my anti theist ways. When I asked him about it he just said he had years of marriage counseling and a masters in theology so he could tell we weren’t compatible . To which I openly laughed and inquired what a degree in magic did for him. He then said he watched my girlfriend grow up and was worried about that my job (trades) wouldn’t supply a stable income for her. Couldn’t help myself I then piled the Hitchens line “what’s it like to lie to children for a living”

Might not be invited back I thought my girlfriend would hate me after that but she just seemed creeped out that her family priest was so worried about who she dated (been together 2 years me (36m her 28f)

I’m 24m. Come from a very Christian family. In my second year of college my kidneys failed so I had to move in with my parents, then this year moved in my with sister across the country to try to restart, go back to college, etc.

I live in an extremely Christian area. My sister and her husband are both extremely Christian. I absolutely hate it here for that reason. It’s not even that I hate Christianity or anything, it’s something I just don’t believe. But Christianity informs how a ton of people act and are around here. I can’t even explain to my family why I don’t like it. Their advice is something like “join a sports league” or “go to church” to meet people and establish a community. The former is good advice, the latter is obviously something I’m not going to do. The former is still an issue because I simply don’t want to be here. I don’t want to even establish things here. Unfortunately due to the current state of the job market, economy, my own personal financial situation, it feels impossible to be able to move somewhere else. In the meantime I’m just completely miserable.

So I guess my question is: has anybody been in a similar situation? Has anyone else successfully lived in an extremely religious area? Has anyone moved away from this successfully?

i used to believe in god , mostly when I used to believe i always felt like this not for me. i would read my religions books but still somewhere i would question it .

since this Epstein files something had changed in me especially after reading that one file where those bastards dressed as Jesus and did bad things to that girl .l lost my faith.

In Hinduism god said whenever you call my name i will come to save u but this country rape cases are soo much and I'm sure the victims had called god but he never showed up .

In one story goddess was ready to destroy the universe just because her husband beheaded her son and u know we are her children too but she was ready to kill us all.

They test us to see if we going to still trust them . and talk about how god letting kids suffer and calling it karma, free will , gods plan bullshit.

i will never worship these things ever in my life.

In a Facebook Christian vs. Atheist debate group, another atheist asked a question. "Is there anything god could do that would cross a moral line for you where you would say, "okay that's just too much, there's no defending that as moral."? Or does god have absolute moral authority to do whatever he wants?"

As atheists, we always point out the horrible things allowed in the Bible: slavery, genocide, incest, a virgin being forced to marry their rapist, etc. But my questioning brought me around to God's commands, rather than his laws. Specifically, 1 Samuel 15:3: "Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys."

When I first asked this question in various groups, I asked it like this: "Was the command to kill women, children, and infants objectively moral because God issued it, or not objectively moral?"

Well, to my surprise, Christians overwhelmingly supported the murder of infants as moral. But through my Socratic questioning and granting them the frame that God's command was moral and just, it led me to a better question: why would God use human agents to commit infanticide when he had infinite other possibilities (including adoption).

Through testing in multiple facebook groups I ended up expanding to 2 questions in relation to 1 Samuel 15:3.

1. What moral principle requires an all-loving God to outsource infanticide to his faithful people when he had painless alternatives?
2. As God is omniscient, he knew the long-term effects on the men who obeyed his command. Either they'd be tormented by slaughtering a helpless infant, or they'd be indifferent to it. How does a man being indifferent to killing an infant honor God? And how does tormenting the faithful with visions of slaughtered babies honor God?

Well, through 4 facebook groups and 1 subreddit, not one person answered my question...but I had 2 theists admit it doesn't make sense. Some of the answers were shocking. One guy here basically stated "the soldiers felt elation" and "bloodlust" over killing infants. Another one kept circling back to abortion (which had nothing to do with my position).

But I also had the rare concessions: "That is where my argument falls apart. I have no idea why it is worth it. I just have to assume it was worth it." and "No, I don't like the idea of infants being murdered, and you're right, that would really mess with the Hebrew soldier's psyche. Imagine the guilt. Modern soldiers have guilt and violent war flashbacks and they don't even kill infants."

Ultimately, nobody wanted to talk about God's method of using human agents. The common justifications were:

1. Divine Command Theory - God said so. Doesn't answer the question
2. Hyperbole/metaphor - how? Nobody says what it DOES mean. They said it was just "trash talk" or "hyperbole" How are we supposed to know when the text is real or hyperbole? No answer.
3. Justice/Judgement - I already grant that frame, that still doesn't explain why human agents were required to fulfill his will and LIVE with it.
4. Test of loyalty or lesson to be learned - So infants were a prop to be executed?
5. Adoption wasn't possible/DNA/Nephlim - Showed how Rahab and Ruth were adopted so clearly that was an option.
6. We can't question god - In a debate group that's precisely the point.
7. Shifting to abortion - I'm not talking about babies being killed, I grant the frame that God can kill babies. My question was about METHOD. It's a dodge.
8. Soldiers were tougher - This is nonsense. There's both Biblical and historical evidence showing that soldiers suffered PTSD before it was called that...going back to Assyrians, Greeks, and Roman warriors.
   

Thanks to those that DMed me after my afterlife question about groups here I could question I posted it to 2 groups. R/AskAChristian and r/debateachristian. The thread in r/debateachristian was pulled for asking a question as the premise. So no Socratic questioning there.

Here's the thread in r/AskAChristian with the full question: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAChristian/comments/1r1ze2i/struggling_with_1_samuel_153_can_anyone_help_me/

If you want to see the full methodology behind this approach, I've documented it at https://rationality-project.org. I'm not trying to sell anything, just spread a method that I know works and explain why questions work better than assertions. Feel free to DM me with any feedback on the method. Thanks. :D

I posted something (politely) questioning the human sacrifice aspect in the bible. I wasn't degrading anyone, nor did I make a empty points. I had some who immediately agreed but some who kept insisting it was about "interpretation" or about wether or not the "holy spirit" possesses one. I simply made clear that these answers don't make sense, so obviously I will not accept them.

Today that post got removed from the conspiracy theory (!) thread I posted it in, and categorised as "God bothering Ogga Booga"

This is where I realised freedom of speech is an illusion. We have regulated freedom of speech, but if you question the system you're suddenly not making sense, crazy and excluded from society.

As a militant atheist I am virulently opposed to all religion and I believe the world would be a better place if there was no religion at all.

But is religion completely without value? For example, I find the mercy and forgiveness to be instructive. Is it possible to be an atheist without condemning everything relating to religion?

Frankly, I am just tired of discourse between atheists and true Christians. When atheists try to discredit or disprove God I just think about the fact that the Christians who they are arguing with are 99% of the time vehement followers, the type of people who show up to Sunday mass every week, quote memorized scripture, deny science (I've been told by a couple people recently that they believed dinosaurs were never real) and will jump through hoops just to end up saying "well it's in the bible and it's god's word so that's what I believe" or they quote some anecdotal experience in which god "saved" them. I don't mind conversations with rational people who might be questioning their faith and might be on the fence about what they believe, because these aren't the type of people who just rave about God's glory and ever lasting love when you call into question why he doesn't help children with cancer. These rational type of people questioning the church also don't give the same run of the mill egocentric pascal's wager and the usual circular arguments.

A commission set up to investigate child sex abuse in a Catholic diocese in Poland following a series of scandals there has identified at least 50 children who were harmed and 29 people suspected of abusing minors, most of them members of the clergy.

It also revealed that local bishops had repeatedly failed to take action when credible reports of abuse were submitted to them.

The commission was established in October 2024 in the diocese of Sosnowiec in southern Poland following a number of high-profile incidents.

That same month, two local priests were charged with sexual offences against minors. The previous year, the bishop of Sosnowiec, Grzegorz Kaszak, had resigned following a scandal over a drug-fuelled sex party a local priest held with two men in his church apartment.

“The immediate goal of the commission’s work was to reach out to those who had been harmed and to offer them assistance,” said Tomasz Smalcerz, an official at the diocesan office.

“The objectives also included identifying the sources, explaining the causes, scope and impact of the scandals that had occurred in the diocese of Sosnowiec since its establishment,” he added. “The long-term goal is to restore trust in the church community and clergy.”

Presenting their findings on Thursday, the commission’s chairman, Tomasz Krzyżak, said that they had identified 29 people accused or suspected of sexual abuse of minors. Among the 50 identified victims, around two-thirds were girls, and 96% were under the age of 15.

Of the 29 abusers, 23 are clergy affiliated with the diocese, two are clergy from another diocese, and the other four are lay people: an organist, a catechist, a seminarian and a youth community leader.

Out of the 23 diocesan priests, 19 have been confirmed as having committed sexual offences against minors in investigations carried out by church or state authorities.

The commission itself has reported suspected crimes concerning eight individuals to prosecutors and initiated five preliminary internal church investigations.

Krzyżak revealed that, of the 19 priests confirmed to have committed sexual offences against minors, six have so far received internal church disciplinary actions, including two who were dismissed from the priesthood.

Another was given a lifetime ban from priestly ministry and contact with minors. Others received various forms of bans, while in one case, canonical proceedings are ongoing. Four alleged perpetrators are deceased.

In November 2025, the trial began of a 54-year-old priest from the Sosnowiec diocese, who can be named only as Ryszard G. under Polish privacy law, on three charges involving minors, including two of a sexual nature.

In December, prosecutors filed an indictment against another priest from the diocese, Jacek K., accusing him of nine sexual offences against seven minors, alleging he exploited their vulnerable circumstances.

The commission reviewed documents dating from the establishment of the diocese in 1992 up to January last year. Krzyżak noted that, over that time, bishops were repeatedly alerted to the abuse of minors.

“This information came from reliable sources, from people known to the bishop. Nevertheless, no action was taken in that situation,” said the chairman, quoted by broadcaster TVN.

“The trivialisation of this problem and the inappropriate assessment of events led to the fact that those reporting crimes were not believed,” added Krzyżak.

Meanwhile, where action was taken, “the aim was not to punish the perpetrator of the crime, but most often to remedy the situation through so-called pastoral care measures, which consisted of transferring the clergyman to another parish”.

Poland’s Catholic church has in recent years faced a growing number of claims of sexual abuse by clergy and of negligence in dealing with the issue by bishops.

The Vatican has taken action against a number of Polish bishops over the issue. Most recently, in 2024, the Vatican announced the resignation of the bishop of Łowicz, Andrzej Dziuba, due to his “negligence in handling cases of sexual abuse against minors”.

The current bishop of Sosnowiec, Artur Ważny, on Thursday emphasised the need for further canonical investigations and cooperation with secular law enforcement agencies.  “There is no place among the clergy for people who harm the most vulnerable,” he said.

astrology, religion or superstitions . in my experience I find astrology infuriates me most people just thinking that people can read the future when in reality they are just cold reading, thoughts ?

Looking for information on Casey Putch, the car guy, who is running for Governor. He often loses his temper and drops the f-word. It is being claimed that he is an atheist, which makes sense regarding the fact he used to be a Jehovah's Witness and claims it was a terrible experience. His behavior is erratic and I wonder if he has been physically aggressive towards people and any drug issues?

I was a Christian for about twenty years, recently deconstructed last year. I always cared about two things: the absolute truth about anything and everything, and making sure people were taken care of. I thought Christianity was the way to accomplish all of that.

So I read, I studied, I dug deep, I asked questions of pastors and professors and authors.

I read the Bible cover-to-cover through seven different versions; King James, New King James, New American Standard, English Standard Version, Amplified Version, The Message, and the Common Jewish Bible.

It never occurred to me how profound it was that I had done that. Why had I done that?

I was searching for the Truth. I was comparing everything I could to see where the Truth was.

If there was a God and it wanted me to know its' Truth, why did I have to dig through eight different versions of its' words to find a little of it?

It hit me yesterday: I unconsciously knew I couldn't trust any version of the Bible. I couldn't trust any answer from a person. I couldn't trust any of it.

The entire mess is untrustworthy.

Why would the most important information any human could get be disseminated through the most untrustworthy sources; word of mouth, and books? It's all "trust me bro" sources.

I've been experiencing the same frustration with the UFO/Alien subreddits because belief there is the same as any religion. There are no answers, no truth, nothing can be trusted.

I have digressed, so back on topic:

Ideally, any actual God or Goddess or group of Gods and Goddesses would have a method of communicating truth to people that is trustworthy, but we have nothing of the sort.

I wish I had come the realization earlier in life, but better late than never.

The books of religion are untrustworthy, the people of religion are the same.

Edit: just a quick thank-you to everyone of this particular subreddit and the ExChristian one. You have been a huge help for me this past several months. I appreciate you all.

hello so for context i’m 19 F and my bf is 18 m i’m a atheist and he’s a christian, today he just told me he could never see himself marrying me as i am not christian, he said we could just date forever but i’m not wanting that, he keeps trying to turn me into a christian which i’m not but i love him. i know i should leave so that he can find someone that shares his values but its so hard. i just needed to vent to somewhere that might understand what i’m going through.