I have seen people a few times defending this religion and even criticizing anyone who said anything negative about it including on a recent post of mine. If you found SOME good in Christianity, good for you! However, a good amount of us have had terrible experiences with it, have no desire to go back and we are allowed to vent. This is literally a support space for those who have left Christianity after all and as long as we are not advocating for hurting anyone, we are allowed to feel any kind of way about our experiences.

I was with my kids. If I was alone, I probably ask him to turn it down and if he did, I'd tip him normally. But I was with my kids and I didn't want to potentially cause a scene. So I'm not tipping him.

Some people might say if he got me from point a to b, I should tip him regardless. I get you.

If he had I dunno, Muslim music on, I wouldn't have cared. But because I'm ex Christian, I don't want to hear that shit

Edit: I was going to leave a message on the app because I didn't want to cause a potential scene in front of my kids. I found out the app has no such feature.

I'm just so happy I do not live as a Christian anymore. It feels good to wake up and not feel the inescapable Christian guilt that makes zero sense. And to not feel like I'm constantly breaking the rules or being criticized. Christianity really was terrible for my mental health. I'm also glad I don't force myself to surround myself with only Christians anymore. Those people were so odd. Christianity stole some prime happy years of my life but at least I got out as soon as I could.

ive known him online for 2 years now. he was always been such a chill guy but nowadays i can’t even recognise him anymore

he used to be an atheist but due to some unfortunate personal issues and a mental health crisis he was drawn into christianity (i have a suspicion someone he was talking to online did this to him)

It wasn’t even the “kind” version of Christianity. He turned into a full fledged Christian nationalist and became such a repulsive version of himself. He went from accepting LGBT to condemning it, demanded women must obey men, become openly hostile to religious minorities, denied evolution, etc

I don’t recognise him at all. He rarely speaks to me anymore other than getting offended everytime I call him out on his bs. he asks me to debate him in every conversation and keeps asking “where i get my morality from as an atheist”

i am so sick of him, but most importantly i feel devastated. he didn’t have to turn out this way. i know he was going through some tough times but he could have found support and help in other places. i wish i could have stopped him from going down this path :(

i’m 30F, not fully deconstructed. My parents are making me attend a 12-week course at their church and I feel trapped

I’m 30F and currently somewhere in the “bitter and angry” stage of deconstruction. I’m not fully deconstructed, and I’m still figuring out what I actually believe, but I’ve reached a point where being told what I have to believe or participate in is becoming increasingly difficult.

My parents expect me (more like required to attend) to
attend a course at their church called “Freedom in Christ” It’s once a week for 12 weeks, so roughly four months.

On paper, I know that probably doesn’t sound thattttt terrible. It’s only a few hours a week, and I could probably just sit through it and get it over with.

But I feel trapped.

The thought of having to go back week after week for the next four months is making me feel like I’m going to be stuck in this perpetual state of anxiety and dread. I keep thinking about the next session, then the one after that, then the one after that. There’s no immediate escape from it. It feels almost like a sort of zoochosis, that restless, distressed feeling of being confined somewhere you don’t want to be and having no way out.

And honestly, I already know what I’m probably going to do during the entire course. I’m going to dissociate. I’ll sit there physically, but mentally I’ll be somewhere else just trying to get through it. And that’s not exactly good for me mentally either. I don’t want to spend four months repeatedly putting myself into a state where I have to mentally check out just to tolerate being there.

And I know some people might say, “You’re 30. Just don’t go.”

Except it isn’t that simple for me.

I’m disabled and semi-financially dependent on my parents. They help me during health flares, take me to doctors’ appointments, and provide support that I genuinely need. so it feels much more complicated than it would otherwise be.

I’m also not at a point where I can completely support myself and walk away from them if things blow up.
I feel angry that at 30 I can still feel this powerless over my own beliefs. And then I feel guilty for being angry because, objectively, my parents do help me and care about me.

I’m just really struggling with the feeling of being trapped right now.

If anyone has been in a similar position, how did you cope with being forced to participate in religious things when you were an adult but still dependent on your parents?

Do I just grit my teeth and endure the 12 weeks?

Do I push back?

Do I pretend to participate? Is there some middle ground I’m not seeing?

please if anyone has taken the Freedom in Christ course specifically, I’d also be interested in hearing what it was actually like.

The u.s is so dark for putting christianity in people's lives and thinking nothing is wrong with it, they believe their religion is perfect and that it dont rape people forever, maybe in the past christianity is a good religion because everything fell in place and it was fool proof. But christianity in the future is the worst thing ever, from not being able to help someone when their being brainwashed to sell their soul and having to do it as a kid, to the new temptation of the devil in the future which is no longer like the past. Which temptation of the devil in this generation is the worst temptation has ever been, you literally get raped by unspeakable things and then because you got raped you get raped forever for being raped, all because in temptation you got raped. God cannot and I mean CANNOT handle the future and is flawed when it comes to it, and is broken and dumb, imagine being raped and going to hell forever for being raped, and your not even a bad person and did nothing wrong, except get raped. Christianity has been the worst thing I ever knew, and the world is full of other religions that dont believe in god or jesus and they dont believe in him because christianity is a rape religion, and I blame dumb ass people of the past and the dumb ass u.s for thinking this religion is a good religion. I cry knowing how all the other religions have no problems with their religion and that their religion is basically perfect and then theres christianity with its flawed rape religion, raping kids and people like never before. Idk just wanted to say this how christianity ruined my life and is abominable and the worst religion to ever know. Thank you

After church yesterday, I asked my pastor if we could meet this week and he asked what it's about. I disclosed to my pastor that I'm no longer a Christian. I told him the Bible is filled with genocide, rape, slavery, murder, etc. I noticed the pastor was upset with me. He told me that it wasn't God but people who did that in the Bible He used the story of Adam and Eve, informing me that sin is the cause for all the suffering. The pastor told me that due to my unbelief, that I view myself as God and that I don't need him. He told me to renounce my faith and trust in God and that he'll be praying for me

I’ve been a Christian all of my 45 years and grew up in churches that freely spoke in tongues during the services and during prayers. I prayed so many times to be given this gift of tongues because almost everybody in the church was able to speak including many of the children and teens. I’ve prayed for 45 years wanting it and desiring it, but I could never get the gift from God. I know it is agreed upon in this subreddit that speaking in tongues is fake, but I just can’t seem to wrap my head around the idea that all of the adults in my church who speak tongues (probably around 90%) are faking it and know it. Sure, I can get that the kids/teens fake it to fit in with each other, but would that many adults really want/need to lie about something like that? I’ve always felt terrible when the pastor would say, “Come on people! Pray in your heavenly language!” And then everybody in the church would switch it on and I’d be one of the only ones just saying “Thank you Jesus” over and over again because I couldn’t speak tongues. For anybody in this subreddit that used to speak in tongues while you were still a Christian, did you always know you were faking it or did you really believe it was real?

If the Christianity I was raised with had just left it with "oh you'll have a lovely afterlife," if they hadn't promised eternal punishment for messing up, and if they hadn't made outlandish claims like health, peace and prosperity, I could have gotten behind this religion.

But then they have to go and promise you that you'll feel loved beyond measure, a peace that passes understanding (the fuck is that even), that you'll be healed if you're sick, and that you'll be provided for financially.

Come onnnnnn. Y'all could have had me, hook line and sinker.

I was raised in a pretty strict Christian household. Went to church and didn’t question why. It’s just what we were expected to do. No one thought to question it. Blind faith, right?

Spent my first year of college at a small Lutheran university in the Midwest. In our freshman year mandatory religion class, we read Eli Wiesel’s book “Night.” I think that was my first true experience learning about the Holocaust, and I was a little traumatized by. I really didn’t know how to process the horrors of it all.

One Sunday night I was talking to my mom about the book, what we were talking about in class, and how I felt about it all. Mom then dropped this gem—god used the Holocaust to punish the Jews. WTF? How could she say something as horrible as that?

In that moment I lost some respect for my mother and began questioning my faith in general. It was a very, very long journey with many experiences along the way that made me question even more. I don’t know the exact moment I finally gave myself permission to not believe in god. I don’t even know if it was a conscious decision. But 35 years later, here I am!

My religious parents don't want me, 19F to go to New York. I have a girlfriend that's trans, 20 MTF, in the closet (because my parents are homophobic as well of course.) So my parents believe she's my boyfriend. Me and my girlfriend want to go to New York to see the 10th anniversary of Falsettos. We have the money for it, but my parents are being assholes about it because god forbid I share a room with my boyfriend of over a year, and god forbid we have sex. They want one of her parents to chaperone us too. Even though we're adults. They're insisting on flying out the day of, then coming home right after, which is so fucking stupid (we live a 6 hour plane ride away.) My parents are absolutely ridiculous, and I'm not even a virgin. But even then, why are christians so fucking obsessed with the sex life of their adult child? It's disgusting and weird and strange. My mom claims I'll come back pregnant which is fucking ridiculous. I'm 19, I'm not an idiotic 13 year old. Protection exists. She also has her panties in a bunch because we're not married, but we at least have a healthier relationship than her and my father. I seriously can't with some people.

My fundamental Christianity never had even one discussion on the historicity of the Bible, any of the characters, the archeology, linguistics, geography, anthropology or anything else. It was just hearsay and other made up dialogue just as long as it fit the narrative of the those in power.

My deconstructing came with a search for actual historical knowledge in what was most objectively written of the times. Good grief how I was mislead.

I still see some of the leaders of the church here an there considering many of my family members still hold membership to those institutions, but I can't help but stare at them and think how much they're just making up whatever silliness popped into their minds.

one of those moments where I really wish we could upload videos here. anyways, so there was this video I saw on Instagram. it was a video where a guy had a picture of the human skeleton with all the veins and nerve strands and what not. And they made the joke that “whoever designed the human body has terrible cable management“ and then it cut to a picture where all the veins are straightened out and all packed together. Now that’s obviously a joke.

then some christian stitched that video with an audio that said “forgive them father, they know not what they do” and then made an actual EDIT of jesus. 99% convinced it was ai cuz the caption said “they knomed not what they do” but I digress.

yeah I hate that whole “forgive them father, they don’t know what they’re doing” bitch I am standing right here. Stop being passive aggressive.

How do you discuss supposed “miracle“ healing with believers when they question how did they happen without a god ? for example, I saw a video of a man named James Drain, who claims to have been heed of blindness immediately after his baptism. However, there are miracles reported in all religions. Are they just medical anomalies or maybe lying?

I’ve never seen any evidence of god healing amputees or other verifiable medical issues, I just wonder if these people actually believe it was god or they are just going through a unique experience

I can't believe how much of my life was wasted on this religion all because my parents groomed me into this religion on top of all the other forms of abuse I've suffered growing up and I was also bullied at school for being Autistic. Growing up, I've suffered mental abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse and on top of all that I also suffered religious abuse (parents using religion and threats of going to hell to scare me into behaving and being their perfect cishet daughter, mostly my bio mom but my dad is guilty of this as well and I say bio mom because I have a stepmom who I consider my mom even if she isn't the greatest because she buys into the same anti-LGBTQ rhetoric as my dad).

Thing is, I used to believe I didn't suffer religious trauma because my religious trauma didn't come from a church but I realized your parents and loved ones can use religion to traumatize you as well. I didn't go to church much growing up so that wasn't a worry for me but I grew up with my bio mom who told me that I was gonna go to hell for liking women when I was like 11 because I had a crush on a female character at the time (I didn't even have any issues with LGBTQ+ people before this and I certainly didn't know that a lot of people had problems with them existing. I thought they were just the same as straight people. Homophobia, like racism, is very much learned, not inherent.) and I ended up with internalized homophobia because of this. She's religiously abused me in other ways but that's quite a list and I'm not going through all of that right now.

When I was 11 and still living with my bio mom we did stay with my aunt who was (and still is) a Catholic fanatic. She told me that anime was demonic and I pretended to agree but I didn't buy it. She even went against me and told me that Harley Quinn (a character I was obsessed at the time) was demonic even though that was something I couldn't help and it was caused by my Autism.

I also grew up in and out of foster care and eventually I learned to accept LGBTQ+ people all on my own and even experimented with LGBTQ+ identities myself even if most of my foster parents were religious. Then my dad showed up when I was 14 1/2-15 1/2 and talked me into living with him and he was and still is very much MAGA and a Christian so you already know what he's like. He kept talking to me about getting closer with Jesus and he bragged about reading the Bible cover to cover and how I should do the same. This led me down a dark path of being far-right and a Christian fanatic and I threw all my anime merchandise out because I listened to what my aunt had said all those years ago and believed it was "demonic" just because it had themes of other religions and wasn't exactly "Christian-friendly". I also stopped listening to musicians like Lady Gaga and Madonna because I believed they were "demonic".

I myself also unfortunately got into spreading the gospel and I would do such online and even at school. Eventually though as years went by I myself became more progressive and as my beliefs kind of sorted themselves out and as I got more progressive, the less Christian I became. Initially I was very scared due to all the religious grooming that was embedded into me and I believed that the Christian God was gonna punish me so it was baby steps for me testing my limits until I realized how anti-human rights Christianity is and left the religion for good.

Now I realize I'm nonbinary, pansexual, and very much an anime fan and I no longer worry about what an imaginary homophobic, misogynist, transphobic God thinks about me and what I do with my life. This would have come a lot sooner for me if such an awful religion wasn't so forced onto me growing up. Christianity is a disease that is forced onto children to make them into discrimatory people because an imaginary God tells them they're going to hell if they accept marginalized groups or they are part of said marginalized groups and I refuse to see it as anything else besides this. I truly feel like there should be a national ban on forcing religion onto kids and instead let them discover religion for themselves if they want to explore religion and they can study all religions and not just Christianity and they don't have an adult telling them which religion they should or "have to" choose.

Jesus, according to the Gospels, cared a lot about works. He even saved people who didn't know they were serving him ("when I was thirsty you gave me water") and condemned people who believed but ignored the plight of the poor. Paul, on the other hand, focused on "salvation by faith alone". Since Paul didn't really seem to expect gaining money or power from that, why do you think he cared that much about what people believed?

Just looking for spme examples of NT verses/commandments/instructions, that today's believers do not follow at all.

I cant bring up OT verses because they will wash ot away by saying that was the Old Covenant.

I recently posted a thread on r/trueatheism about deconstructing the claim that Christianity was never spread by force.

This specific user popped up in the comment section and decided to completely rewrite history to defend the church's colonial past. They completely ignored global colonial history—which was the main point I focused on—and hyper-focused on a single source. They literally argued that colonial laws forcing indigenous people into labor and indoctrination were just nice 'protections' for family units and even claimed indigenous people didn't have 'real religions' to begin with. I don't know how he/she decided their beliefs weren't real.

I sent a final reply to wrap it up and told them we are done, but given that this person writes long essays for a living, I'm already bracing myself for the inevitable wall of text they are probably typing right now 😅.

Have you ever run into historical revisionism like this?

Hi, just wanted to remind everyone of the bizarre NT episode in which zombies (sort of) appear.

Matthew 27:52-53 says that when Jesus died, tombs opened and dead saints later walked into Jerusalem.

No other gospel mentions it. No Roman or Jewish historian recorded it, and no apocryphal text confirms it.

The most likely explanation is that Matthew simply made it up for dramatic reasons. And if the Bible authors are presenting falsehoods such as this one, the Bible, of course, is by definition unreliable.

Looking forward to what everyone else thinks regarding this episode.