I had that too! Totally forgot about that one.
I wasn’t an atheist, well, maybe I was, I wasn’t religious at all and never thought much about it, but it was that I was a Jew. Jews, at least in areas where there are virtually no Jews, either sorta go along with Xmas in some way or they resent it. I resented it. Americans of Christian descent don’t get how they are culturally Christian. It’s the water they swim in, so they don’t notice it.
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Yeah I had my one and only religious experience at like 6. I still vividly remember feeling really happy and really loved. Then some bad stuff happened and I realized that praying absolutely wasn’t going to help in any way. I was pretty much certain there was no god by the time I was 9 or 10. Which was extremely unfortunate with my dad being a pastor lol.
My parents expected us to be able to do two things: my dad expected us to play chess and my mom expected us to be musical. I haven’t played a game of chess in at least a decade and I no longer sing even when I’m by myself. Too many years of performing like a dancing bear for other people’s ego’s. Absolutely ruined those things for me if I ever enjoyed them at all… I was in boys choirs from 8 or 9 until 8th grade when I literally went to a private school run by a world class one. Despite spending 2-3 months a year singing a LOT of Christmas music for 5-6 years I still don’t hate it. Kind of weird I know.
When I was a kid, pretty much no one was like an avowed atheist. I don’t think that happened until college or at least like late in HS. Nowadays I think it’s common. I can’t remember my kids ever believing in God. Mermaids, yes; God, no. And I don’t think it’s particularly rare among the kids in this area anyway.
I’m starting to think that the one I showed might be the one the better off friends had. This one is oddly ringing a bell for me:
Try telling that to kids who didn’t have one 
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Man, I can’t tell you how many times I gave Oscar-worthy performances but no camcorders were present. I’m sorry you went through that.
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I’m a jew, too, but I liked it. It was like we had 2 occasions for receiving gifts. We went to a very reformed temple, also.
He was born with existential angst, which the doctor misdiagnosed as IBS for years
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Irritable Bored Social?
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I laughed, but let’s be really clear… I wasn’t born this way I was made this way lol. Don’t worry I’m self aware enough to know that I’m crazy.
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No, that didn’t develop until he started freebasing Sam Harris videos
LOL I had to google who that was. I became an atheist because I was taught that prayer worked as a small child… and then we were missionaries in Honduras and I realized that the poor people I was seeing were praying for help as hard as I was and none of us were getting what we were praying for lol.
So basically if you want to raise your kids to be Christians don’t be an abusive asshole AND give them first hand experiences with real poverty. You can convince them that it’s their fault and god doesn’t like them, but if you show them the larger picture as well that doesn’t hold up all that well. Plus I’m an off the charts disagreeable person so I wasn’t super inclined to believe stuff anyway.
My sweet summer child. It’s probably for the best. You don’t want to go down that road.
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I didn’t go through so much an agnostic phase as an “is this really something I want to endlessly debate” phase
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yep. that gets old. Have you ever suffered politics fatigue the same way?
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I still tell believers that I’m an agnostic lol. Which I’m a sense I am. I’m not truly 100% sure of anything. How do I know there’s no god?
I’m very certain that if there is a god he/she/it isn’t benevolent or involved in any way though. This could all be an obstacle course for all I know. A complex way to sort souls. Or a simulation. No matter what though I’m quite confident that my believing makes no difference.
I was born with it, but that has more to do with my instinct to assume I already know enough to tell you why you’re wrong. I’m insufferable lol, even to myself.
In all seriousness, sure. I’ve really come to value being able to hear each other out a lot more than ever hoping I’m going to change someone’s mind about something.
I see what you mean. I still refer to myself as an atheist, just a soft atheist. I think it more likely there is no god than there is one, but sure, I still have an open mind. I never decided to be an atheist. It’s just my honest conviction from where I am today.
Preteen atheists represent! I was vocal about it by 9th grade, converting some other yooths.
There’s a time, or there was, in every young atheist’s life when you realize you’re surrounded by idiots.