I have a question, how do I remove myself from the christian faith?

reply to post by Astral Twilight


Why would you post that, I would have thought it obvious to your self.
I get a feeling you want people to talk you out of it.


I hope you find what you looking for

reply to post by Astral Twilight


you've already done it, you said you're an atheist.

maybe dig up the "atheist chat" thread and introduce yourself to the atheists here on ATS on it as a symbolic entrance into the non-theistic population.

Based on what you posted, you are already removed from the christian faith. There is no ritual that you have to perform to step away from any faith.

Unless you mean you wish to be away from all christians in general. And with that, I wish you luck. Short of moving to an indigenious tribe somewhere in the rainforest that has never been exposed to christianity or to a muslim country, you will be faced with christianity.

Either way, rest assured that just by denouncing the beliefs of christianity, you are no longer a christian.

reply to post by Astral Twilight


Why are you even asking this question? Can you not simply move past Christianity? If you truly want to you would. There's a fear though isn't there? Not instilled by anything but your own heart.

reply to post by depth om


or the concept of hell and the general cultural bigotry towards atheism that's rammed down so many of our throats for so long...

To de-programm yourself from the spell of christianity I can recommend engaging neither for NOR AGAINST Christianity as many of these atheists do it. By speaking out and fighting against christianity you are still part of the same paradigm that ascribes importance to christianity. By retrieving attention entirely such as you would do towards a subject which doesnt even exist, you release the bonds....not by spitting on the cross as the satanist would do, and not by lecturing, like an atheist would.

Everybody's born an atheist. It's only through brainwashing by parents and society that someone gets the religious delusion.

Congratulations on waking up! Read some books about it if it'll help. Dawkins is good, so is Hitchens.

reply to post by MajorMalfunction


and dennet, he's a great one too.

a few specific books i can recommend are the god delusion, unweaving the rainbox, god is not great, and breaking the spell

Good ones, MIMS. I'm currently reading Atheist Universe by David Mills. It's fantastic -- explains the hard science of the universe in really easy to read terms. Hint: the universe has ALWAYS existed.

reply to post by Astral Twilight


It's good question Astral. Certainly one of the things you can do is ask that the record of your baptism to be removed from the offical records in the church. Good luck with that one as it will bring you in to contact with those you want to remove yourself from.

I think your post begs a bigger question. What gives our parent the right to baptise us? I asked my mother this and her answer was "It was the thing to do" I have some friends who are born again, and no one in their church can be baptised until they are old enough to make the decision themselves. As part of a service they will thank God for the delivery of the child.

The worst thing of all of this for me, it that I now live in the town where I was baptised and drive past the church most days so get reminded of this huge injustice for me.

reply to post by MajorMalfunction


Everyone is born a child of a father.

Originally posted by depth om
reply to post by MajorMalfunction

 

Everyone is born a child of a father.

then who would the father of god be?

you see, that whole "infinite recursion" thing comes in to play when you make that statement

Originally posted by Freedom ERP
The worst thing of all of this for me, it that I now live in the town where I was baptised and drive past the church most days so get reminded of this huge injustice for me.

i'm in the same situation, the bus stop i go to twice a day is right next to the church where i was baptized.

[edit on 12/11/07 by madnessinmysoul]

reply to post by depth om


They sure are -- a flesh and blood person that passes on half their DNA to them.

Nobody is born to an invisible friend, no matter how many times somebody reads that myth in the bible.

Edit: Madness, from where does dust; everything, originate.

Every group of things is generated by one thing. It's template.



[edit on 11-12-2007 by depth om]

reply to post by depth om


that still creates infinite recursion.

1:god created the universe
god just is


2: the universe just is

which of these statements complies with reality?
the second statement clearly fits in with the first law of thermodynamics..

Originally posted by Freedom ERP
reply to post by Astral Twilight

 

It's good question Astral. Certainly one of the things you can do is ask that the record of your baptism to be removed from the offical records in the church. Good luck with that one as it will bring you in to contact with those you want to remove yourself from.

I think your post begs a bigger question. What gives our parent the right to baptise us? I asked my mother this and her answer was "It was the thing to do" I have some friends who are born again, and no one in their church can be baptised until they are old enough to make the decision themselves. As part of a service they will thank God for the delivery of the child.

The worst thing of all of this for me, it that I now live in the town where I was baptised and drive past the church most days so get reminded of this huge injustice for me.

thank you this is the answer I was looking for. I will call the church and ask for the records of my baptism to be erased. I think there were alot of unhelpful people out there. There are certain circumstances right now that require me to erase my records of ever being baptised and "not going to church on sunday" is not going to do that. There will be certain individuals checking up on me and I will definately make sure those records are removed, thanks again.

[edit on 11-12-2007 by Astral Twilight]

Why bother, Astral? I was baptized shortly after birth. My parents had been raised Catholic, but didn't go to church so I didn't even know about religion until I was seven when my bitchy aunt gave me a child's bible. Fortunately, my mother had been reading mythology to me and teaching me to read since I was three. I loved the bible because it was another wonderful source of fairytales. I learned the word and became an atheist at ten, but then started reading science books so logically became an agnostic at twelve. At eighteen when I couldn't justify being a Santa Claus agnostic to my very bright girlfriend, I switched back to being an atheist. I've been that for the last fifty-nine years and having been baptized a christian never got in the way of my life. I just ignored it, and so can you.

Sometimes when a christian is shocked that I'm not religious, I make the comment, "Oh yeah, I got baptized when I was a baby, but I got better."

Occam

I agree with Occam. If it will make you feel better to have your baptism records removed then go ahead, however those christians from your congregation and your family will still know where you are to check up on you.

You may think that people telling you to just stop going to church is bad advice, but honestly that's all you have to do. If you don't want to be Christian, don't go to church and don't celebrate Christian holidays. Why make it any more complicated?