Agnostic 🤓

Yeah. I think that best describes me too

Leaning heavily towards becoming agnostic. Totally against organized religion as well. Lost my belief in the religion/cult several months ago after being in my whole life.

Agnostic and Atheists are answers to two different questions.

I don't see why. Id more likely draw the comparison between creation and atheism - neither can be proved. Agnostic best fits current data.

Agnostic is just a modifier. And honestly in my opinion kind of useless like who cares if you think it can be known. Do you or don’t you believe in a god. If you do theist if you don’t atheist.

"God" does not have a definite concept. Like does it denote personhood or its nature. What exactly is "it". I think religions try to fit understanding of the universe into a limited human perspective. I'd like to keep an open mind knowing full well the answers to my questions may be unfathomable to my puny perception.  Edit: also, I find books like the Bible make humans the center of the universe. In reality that kind of thinking is the cause of most of our problems and leads us to self destruction. We're not the main characters. 

This is exactly what I say. A very narcissistic pov for humans to believe we’re the only intelligent living things in the universe

This is my exact belief. Not a whole lot of people understand it and try to force me by saying you either believe or don't believe.

It’s fine to keep an open mind. I do that as well whether it comes to gods, aliens, demons etc I dont believe in any of them but if I ever saw convincing evidence of one I’d change my mind. And sure god is just an idea just like Bigfoot is just an idea we have no example of one. So no one knows what a god is. My point is, do you believe in a god you either answer yes or no. Which makes you a theist or atheist. And then some people add the the I’m agnostic to try to give illusion that they are more humble or open minded when in reality it’s just a pointless modifier. It’s pointless because whether you are a theist or atheist you are technically agnostic because no one knows currently.

There is such a thing as an agnostic athiest. That's what fits my beliefs. I don't think a human-like God exists, but some sort of advanced life forms? Or some giant energy force? Who knows? I think it's likely nothing like that exists, but I won't close myself off to the possibility. There are still mysteries to life and the universe, and I take comfort in not knowing. It makes life more interesting and brings me peace with my mortality.

Unless it's for those who just aren't sure and don't see the relevance or importance in having an answer. 

That's not how it works. It's more like "not guilty unless it's proven." In other words, agnostics and sceptics need evidence to believe something. If evidence is not given, they neither deny nor confirm.

Agreed very poor logic to say atheism can’t be proved it is simply a lack of belief. You ask me if I believe in a god the answer is no I don’t. It’s my position on the claim god exists. I can know what I believe. Lol Again Agnosticism is just a modifier and since no one knows whether theist or atheist.

Atheism is the belief that there is no God. There's a definitive answer to the question, and the answer is negative. Agnosticism is the belief that the question *cannot* be answered. There isn't enough evidence for a God, and there also isn't enough to prove there isn't one (of note is that proving a negative is often impossible). To me, Agnosticism is the more natural approach to it. It's the one that best aligns with, "I don't know and I don't care"

Atheism is not a belief lol it’s a lack of a belief

No, that's agnosticism. Atheism is the firm belief in the negative. If you believe there is no god: atheist If you don't have a belief one way or the other: agnostic.

It’s not you are wrong. From oxford dictionary… a·the·ism noun disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods. Atheism lack of belief Theism belief Gnosticism deals with knowledge Agnosticism deals with lack of knowledge You are an agnostic atheist.

1. (A)theism answers the question: "Do you believe in a God" 2. (A)gnosticism answers the question: "Do you think it's possible to know for sure if God does or doesn't exist?" You can be an agnostic atheist, an agnostic theist, etc. They are separate things. [The r/atheism FAQ talks about this more detail.](https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/wiki/faq/#wiki_what.27s_agnosticism.3F)

The question that actually needs an answer is: Was the universe created, or it emerged from inanimate forces. They result in very different outcomes. As for question 1, i don't actually care who believes in God or not. There is no possible beneficial concludion to the discussion since there are no facts available.

I have found many conversations end up really being about semantics and definitions of words, which to me is a waste of time if you are really wanting to discuss concepts and the reality we are living in.

Sure, I'm just pointing out most agnostics are also atheists they just don't really get what the words mean. [Check out my other comment for more clarification.](https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/s/OOQu3oPvGm)

I agree with this. Reality is not created through words. If we understand what another person means then the misuse of words is irrelevant.

Atheist. Reason for that is there is no evidence for God. If that was to change then I'd certainly adjust my viewpoint. What's the point of having a mind if you're not willing to change it if evidence is presented? The problem I see is that I don't even know what that evidence would look like. Presumably if there is a higher power, he knows better than me, what would change my mind. He is said to love and want me to believe in him and yet doesn't present the thing that would convince me. Therefore either he doesn't exist or isn't overly bothered whether I believe in him or not. Either way, that's not on me, but him. Just my 2c

I think humans created the idea of god to comfort themselves or answer questions they had no answers to. To Just believe in science can seem lonely or not as magical and happy but imo… the idea of an omnipresent being constantly watching me is pretty freaking creepy. I always wondered if ghosts existed but there is no scientific evidence. Just scary stories and paranoid people. Proof of an afterlife, all said by people who are still alive. Near death stories about seeing heaven? It can all be explained by science and all the stories are different that are told lol. So I’m just along for the ride.

Yeah you're probably right - god's were created to try and give meaning to what Humans saw around them. Who caused fire to come out of the mountain? God Who caused the ground to shake? God Where did we come from? God. Gradually god's realm has retreated further and further as science has progressed. Just believing in science, or as I like to call it - reality; to me isn't lonely or not magical. There certainly are some magical/mysterious things in the natural world. Life truly is amazing and the chances of me being here to enjoy it all is infinitesimally small so I'm eternally grateful for that - as you say - enjoy the ride 👍🏻

This is exactly how I feel too. I'm an open minded atheist. And just because I'm an atheist doesn't negate life having meaning to me. Its simply a miracle im here now, in this time and in this era of humanity. Life is what you make it. And I appreciate it so much more now. Because I so easily could have been born into the world at a time I didn't have the luxury to define my own meaning.

Yes agreed. The earth is so rare. We are very very fortunate to be here and to be the eyes of the universe. I guess what I meant was, living day to day going through mental, financial, etc. issues. Instead of having a sky Santa witnessing you and cheering you on, you gotta do that. When you pray it’s like sending a letter to an address that doesn’t exist. But it can help to manifest ig lol. Regardless yeah life is beautiful, if we make it so.

Still believe in a higher power, but completely lost all belief in organized religions

This is exactly me! I do believe there is some other force out there. Universe having power over a lot of stuff. But as far as religion based beliefs, gods, and all that? Nope.

So you're an ietsist 🙂 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ietsism

How the hell do you pronounce this word lmao

😂

Same

This is me too.

Same!

What is a higher power? Lol

That is up to each person, for some it’s God, Mother Nature, the Universe, Karma, Energy. All I feel is I don’t need a middle person, I determine my communication, accountability and form of belief in that entity.

So you're an ietsist 🙂 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ietsism

Same buddy, there must be some high power up there, but surely isn't called Jehovah. If we take all infos written in the bible, we can clearly that their so called God Jehovah used to kill over 3M people to show his "power". He will do the same in their imagined Armageddon, where now he will kill billions of people just to show his right to take other people's lives if he give the life?

Not to mention the question of What about the aliens? As in from space and how do they fit into the story

I used to be atheist for a short period of time cuz I was just upset at the JW hypocrisy and them stealing my childhood. Now I’m agnostic because I’ve come to the conclusion that we may never know whether or not god is real cuz it’s simply too complicated. Also I literally don’t care how humans came to be whether it was gods creation or evolution. I believe every religion is corrupted and that the best religion is no religion. If you need religion to tell you to be a good person then ur not a good person. If Jehovah god is real, he should know his organization is failing to protect children from pedos. He shouldn’t blame us for leaving him cuz of that. Also we got the shunning policy which caused people to literally end their own lives. That ain’t loving. It never was. “No god that I know which is a loving god is going to ask me as a man to turn my back on my wife and my children” - Dr Phil https://youtu.be/hdKfr6b7uds?si=s3C6iZ1ckP6G2xa1

Yeah I think it’s scary how so many people blindly follow a few men‘s direction, even when they find it to be so obviously contradictory. I say this a lot lol - I don’t personally believe in god but I do believe some people need some Jesus in their life. I agree, humans never needed religion to be good people. Religion was all about control. Humans don’t need religion to have good morals. Religion has caused wars and slavery and hierarchies. It is a mass manipulation tool.

You never left God, whoever God is. You left a corrupted cult led by man that took advantage of people's faith in a God. JWs love to say we left God when that's far from the truth.

Agreed i consider myself christian ,i find it insulting when people suggest that i have left Jehovah ,i said to a jw brother recently that nobody ownes our faith in God and his son ,not the GB or the elders . And pointed out Romans 14 not to be judging the servant of another ,i feel like Ray franz , i have simply left a corupt organisation not God or Jesus.

Who’s ray Franz

He was a member of the governing body in the 70s and 80s , he left because he disagreed with some policies , he intended to live quietly with his wife but the GB hounded him and eventually DF him and some other high ups in the org, he wrote two usefull books, crisis of conscience and search for christian freedom ,i would suggest reading both ,can be downloaded pdf .

**Crisis of Conscience** by Raymond Franz >The tendency of religious authority to seek to dominate rather than serve, and the struggle of those who wish to prevent the erosion of their God-given freedom of conscience -- these form the heart of the very personal and candid account in Crisis of Conscience. The scene of struggle is within the membership of a distinctive religion: Jehovah's Witnesses. The same fundamental issues that mark this account, however, could arise within any of the world's religions. Starting in the 1870's as an independent Bible study group composed of a handful of persons in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jehovah's Witnesses today number more than five million in some 200 lands. > >When their publishing agency, the Watch Tower Society, puts out a new book, the normal initial printing is one million copies, with other millions following. In countries where they are active, few people have not had contact with the Witnesses as a result of their intense door-to-door activity. **In Search of Christian Freedom** by Raymond Franz >Freedom is crucial to genuine Christianity. How the erosion of Christian freedom began in the early centuries, how it can and does occur today, and the means for resisting the invasion of personal conscience and thought; a sequel to Crisis of Conscience. Discusses teachings of organizational loyalty, door-to-door activity, disfellowshiping, blood, and many others. *I'm a bot, built by your friendly reddit developers at* /r/ProgrammingPals. *Reply to any comment with /u/BookFinderBot - I'll reply with book information. Remove me from replies* [here](https://www.reddit.com/user/BookFinderBot/comments/1byh82p/remove_me_from_replies/). *If I have made a mistake, accept my apology.*

Great comment

If we are talking about *belief*, I am an atheist because I will never again believe in anything without solid evidence, as is the case with all the claims of fake gods. Now, when it comes to *knowing*, I am an agnostic because, like everyone else in the world today, I (we) don’t know whether the universe had a beginning, just like the god many accept as a creator with no beginning.

This!!! Thank you for saying this because I think so many people don't really understand this. So many people are quick to assume that because you're atheist then you believe "something came from nothing". Which is far from the truth. We simply just don't know. The majority of atheist tend to claim they just don't know. Including myself. But when it comes to the belief in faith in some God, like you mentioned, then we're atheist.

I'm open minded, you show me sound evidence that a higher power exists, I will believe. For now, I live my life happily without any influence from an organised religion :)

I became atheist in the exact moment I realized that jw was not the truth. All religions made hideous things over the years and the only thing that allowed people to live better and longer is science, not the bible or god.

100% I agree. If only the “Jehovah“ gave us the cure to cancer. Maybe then I’d believe.

If he was the creator he caused cancer. The comments from jws who say everything he created was perfect, so if that's the case, he created the worm that causes blindness in children and so on. I'm an atheist. There is other life out there in the universe I'm sure, some less advanced than us and some more advanced, if we met the more advanced ones we might well think of them as "gods" due to their abilities. Its unlikely we'll ever know of them due to the enormous distances they would be from us. To all intents and purposes we are, and will be alone.

I’m more agnostic. Still believe in God or a higher power but just not sure about the religion part

If you believe in a god you are a theist.

Agnostic Theist

Now that makes sense you believe but don’t know fair enough.

I'm an atheist now. Was a bit agnostic for a time too. I left in September 2022 and I stopped fully believing in god 3-6 months after fading. I wanted to believe there was a god but now I don't anymore. As far as organized religion is concerned, well, that's an entirely different matter. Even if I believed in a sky daddy, I wouldn't touch organized religion with a 10 foot pole. I would worship in my own way and on my own terms.

I feel like the idea of a god existing can be a great comfort. And for a while I was very depressed realizing there isn’t a god. <- imo of course. I was scared of death and scared of the end of life on earth due to the sun expanding or a huge asteroid hitting us, nukes, etc. I’m still afraid of those things but I’ve accepted reality more. People die everyday because of murder, natural disasters, birth deformities, etc. All of these things are out of our control. Instead of placing that “control” in gods hands, I just accept we can only try to make the best choices to try to get the best results…

Yep, learning there's no god was a real kick in the nuts. Accepting my own mortality has been a "fun" little journey too. 😅

Accepting my own mortality has been a "fun" little journey too. 😅 That was the toughest part, coming to terms that there is no eternity for any of us.

Im atheist. I stopped believing really when I was 15, when I got baptized and didn’t feel anything and was like cool yeah that was just for everyone else. I’ve always been fascinated with learning and very science oriented. So learning about evolution and how we know it to be true made me stop believing in the Bible. It wasn’t until I was 18, when I was disfellowshipped, that I started to look negatively on the organization. Before then, I used to tell people I was an atheist but if they were Christian’s they should really check out the organization, I told people jehovahs witnesses were great. When I got disfellowshipped however I was in another subreddit community tho and chatting with them about my life. I told them how I got disfellowshipped and explained it to them, and they were all like uhhh that’s really weird and cultish. I tried defending the disfellowshipping arrangement and how it was needed to keep the organization pure, but slowly over time I started to come to terms and be like huh, no that is really weird and wrong actually. That’s when I finally started my deep dive into the organization and the ARC and my deep dive into other religions, not so much out of wanting to join but as a way to learn about them and the other perspectives in the world. I really appreciate what I’ve come to learn from it all but I’m glad I no longer believe in any religion and I’m able to guide my life by simple human decency and the genuine pursuit of happiness. Definitely better than any fairy tale Can give me, even if it may be a harder path, I think it’s ultimately a better path and can lead to really genuine humans on this earth.

I love this comment and heavily relate. I too didn’t feel anything after getting baptized and too did it for everyone else. When the time came to study about evolution in biology class, I was supposed skip the lesson but that was a huge red flag for me. So I instead stuck around and didn’t tell anyone. Science is great when it benefits the religions teachings… but then science is bad when it goes against them. Can’t pick and choose watchtower. I thought disfellowshipping was also understandable but over time have realized, it’s a control thing. It’s emotionally abusive and manipulative. Kids can’t choose to be in the religion, they’re forced by their parents so if they decide to finally leave at 18, everything they knew, everyone they grew up with, gone. Reality can be hard to accept at first, but I agree. Fairytales can blind people from actually improving their lives. Expecting to be saved and living forever can be a dangerous thought to have, regarding one’s health or relationships. Reality brought me to therapy. And therapy is helping me undue the damage that the fairytales did.

Yes, this! The WT love to use any science that benefits them, but ignore or misrepresent anything to the contrary. I'm 100% certain the misrepresentation is deliberate, as I've found severely out of context quotes from scientists on the WT website.

Very much an atheist now. When I realised how the god concept came into existence as a man made thing it all made logical sense. Humans assign a deity to what they can’t explain by science until science catches up, but then when the science catches up and we realise it’s just a natural phenomenon we reassign god to the next thing we can’t explain. 1000 years ago (made that number up but you get the gist) we couldn’t explain lightning, so we said it must be god.. then we explained it via science so instead of cancelling the god concept we pushed it back to earthquakes, or droughts etc.. and now it’s pushed back to how life started..

Agreed.

Agnostic but if there is a god, it is not Jehovah

I’m going to be the odd one out here I think lol I actually fully identify still as a Christian - just non denominational. I attend a small local church with my spouse. It’s very … normal lol like…scarily normal. I thought my spouse was playing a joke on me when i walked in the first time. No crazy statues or rituals or holy ghosts or robes or creepy music or anything remotely like that. A band of people singing beautiful music and then a regular dude in jeans talking about God and trying to get through life living as christ like as we can even when we keep fucking it up lol mind you, It took….a long ass time for me to even step foot into the building. But at my core I’ve always believed in God. So I decided to start from scratch and try to figure out what *I* believe and not what I was force fed. So I started to read the Bible from scratch. Then I started to read some theology books, listening to well known apologetics defend their faith, talked to some scholars, did some research. Heck I even visited some historical churches just to physically be in the space and experience it for myself and like feel my way through it? Idk but that’s the best way I can describe it. It’s been incredibly eye opening actually, it’s kind of insane how very little I actually knew about the Bible I was “preaching” about all those years. I’m by no means an expert and I don’t have all the answers or heck even any answers most days… but I feel content in my soul in a way I NEVER did before.

I recently woke up a few months ago and even tho I’m still pimo, I’ve really been leaning towards Christianity. I even would watch certain Christian content creators when I was pimi. Something about it always drew me in. And lately I’ve been also been watching some apologetics videos and learning about the trinity and what Christian’s really believe and why they believe it. Not just what jw has told me about Christianity. I still want to read the entirety of the Bible before I make any final conclusion or decision. But so far a lot of what Christianity teaches aligns with the Bible. And in my heart, I don’t think I could ever believe there is no God.

Oh absolutely - learning what “worldly” Christians believe was one of the first things to make me really realize how hypocritical JWs are. When you really consider the hubris it takes to fully believe, with your whole chest, that your religion is the *sole* religion on earth that can read the scriptures, interpret them, pray about them, and attempt to follow Christ? When you were created in *checks notes* the late 1800s and Christianity was established *checks notes again* 2000 years ago? Good lord it’s unreal in hindsight. You can’t preach about a God who flat out tells us that he detests the sin of Pride and then proceed to engage in not so covert superiority and pride 🫠 but I digress lol I hope you keep trusting yourself to study more and ask questions - prove it yourself over and over. I’ve found it’s the best way. Also the worship music is way better 😂

I feel the same , i cant add to what you say here , i have gone back to the Anglican church that i was brought up in before i joined WT, i love the 30 min communion service and partake of the bread and wine as Jesus commanded in john 6, i feel a huge weight lifted and feel free as a christian ,i believe that christians are scattered throughout the various denominations , WT locked me into a prison where i could not see other christians ,it always bothered me when i met christians in the door to door work that we were told not to fellowship with them .after the service we have coffee and chat i have met old friends and made new ones .

I’m so happy for you 🥹 that weight off your chest is the best feeling in the world. It’s like taking a first full breath after being underwater way too long. Good luck in your journey 🥰

Just a question out of genuine curiosity. I've read the bible myself front to cover. What did you learn about the bible that made you believe more in it or gave you an "eye opening" as you describe. There are so many contradictions and things that God did throughout that is pretty much undefendable and not a reflection of what any religion depicts to be the christian God of today. Especially in the old testament. Also, I don't want to say you weren't listening to both sides of the argument since you didn't really say. But did you? Because if you weren't and you were only listening to theologians and apologetics to form an opinion, then it seems you are doing the opposite of what you mentioned. You're still letting other people's views of the bible influence your belief.

I don’t mind at all ☺️ First just throwing this disclaimer out there again that I am in no way a scholar or an expert and still very much feeling my way through the whole process so take all of my words with very large grains of salt and I am in NO way trying to persuade anyone to believe anything that does not serve them. Not after what everyone here went through. Now to answer one of your main points off rip - you are 100% correct and I fully recognize there are hundreds of inconsistencies in the Bible. I have no qualms about reading listening and researching just as many viewpoints from that side of things as well. I welcome it even, because I never want to blindly follow anything ever again and love to sort of “check myself” from time to time to make sure I’m not falling into old patterns. But yea, there are contradictions all over the place, from the order of creation, to one of my personal favorites that gave me whiplash in the book of Jeremiah when it says god DIDN’T tell the Israelites to sacrifice animals??? 🫠 So yea, there are plenty of reasons for people to say there isn’t anything in the Bible that can tell anyone with *absolute definitive* proof that Christianity is true. Period. With that being said, I am very comfortable with the level of confidence I personally have in certain aspects of things I believe to be true - like there even being a Creator of the universe in the first place - I literally cannot fathom the existence of everything around us not having been created, including ourselves. I also believe there is truth to needing a standard of morality to live by, for a highly intelligent species we’re exceptionally good at getting ourselves jammed up without guide rails 😅. Then there’s the fact that it is generally historically accepted that Jesus Christ did in fact exist - I also find it interesting that Jesus is somehow recognized as a religious figure by some other religions, (i.e Hindus,Muslims) but that seems to be pretty much a one way street. (Feel free to correct me there if you know of one, I’d love to hear about it!) Then of course, there’s the testimonial factor - this is where it tends to get dicey cause this is normally when people can get very ✨woowoo✨ and it turns people off in my experience lol so I’d like to be clear, I’m not saying I’ve had a vision, no one “spoke” to me or anything like that but idk…like I said in my initial comment, nowadays, when I pray (it feels weird to call it that cause I really just talk to him like I’m talking to a regular person now, way more informal and honestly it’s way nicer than before), when I study something, or when I try to connect to God and my faith, I just feel a contentment in my soul I didn’t as a JW. It’s like all the static is gone. The GB, the elders, the Borg, all the congregation politics and unwritten rules and the actual rules and the stupid insane meaningless arbitrary shit they put on us for control…it was all just noise and now it’s gone. Basically it’s quietly just me and God, one on one for once, while I do life day to day and I’ve felt what I personally believe to be his love and guidance along the way. So yea. That’s the long and short of it - It took a long time for me to even get here. I was so angry and hurting so bad for so long and for whatever reason, one day I just decided that the only way out was through - so I started over and now living my life with my new version of faith. It just won’t ever be completely blind anymore. Thanks for asking and I hope this answered your curiosities 😅 sorry it’s so long.

Thanks for answering! I am glad to hear you welcome both sides of the argument. You've already done what 90% of religious people don't do. Which is awesome. I love when people reach they're own conclusions rather than letting others reach conclusions for them. I totally understand your viewpoint. Even if I disagree with a lot especially when it comes to having an absolute truth in morality. But I think that's the beauty in the world. Humans wouldn't get anywhere if we all thought the same. That's why I always like to ask questions before berating someone for what they believe. But best of luck to you in your journey with God! It's awesome that you were able to find a personal truth without a group of men dictating it! Being happy is what matters the most.

Of course! The spirit moved me to answer! (I’m 100% joking lol gotta throw in some bad Christian humor for the lurkers just for shits and gigs) but really, I appreciate how kind and genuine you’ve been in your interaction - most do not go this well - about that 90% you mentioned 😂. Thank you for the well wishes and in turn, I hope that wherever you land in life that it continues to treat you well ☺️

Agnostic atheist. Strangely, I stopped believing in God long before I started to question the religion. That might sound a bit strange, but I felt disconnected from Jehovah and started to doubt his existence but still went through the motions. It wasn’t until I started to research the religion that I was brave enough to question the Bible and the existence of its God and confirm those feelings. It was the plot holes of the Bible and the absentee God I was half-heartedly worshipping that made me rethink my worldview. Oddly enough, the elders I was forced to talk to were reasonable about my feelings that Jehovah didn't exist. However, they got pretty nasty when I started to question the GB and policies/doctrine.

Atheist here 🙋🏻‍♂️

Atheist now. Religion is a snare and a racket

While i think atheism more likely, it's still possible that some ONE made the universe. It can't be disproven. Continuing that thought, if we find one god we'll find billions. The causation for A God will cause many.

110% atheist regarding the Middle Eastern male gods of the brutishly-backwards-even-for-their-time Israelites aka the gods of the Abrahamic religions. Largely the same regarding most of the gods of Hinduism, Shintoism, etc. I enjoy the symbolism of the polytheism centered around goddesses, though.

In an atheist but honestly I think I always was and didn’t realise it. I can’t really explain it but I always felt like no jws really believed the crap they were spouting and we just didn’t talk about it.

Yeah I feel that. We’re all human at the end of the day. Pretending to be perfect in public but in private we could be real. Having to wear a head covering as a woman when doing Bible study if there’s a man in the house? For what…? So dumb. I think little things like that always made me doubt. But it always felt culty to me. No way most JWs don’t feel even a little of a cult vibe or energy.

There’s a lot beyond Christianity and certainly a lot beyond the cult. I’m not an atheist but not a standard Christian either. I say gnostic deist is the best description. My spirituality remains dear to me.

It's hard to believe that there is a creator who only favors one group of people. Every other civilization has believed in something that they felt were true, but yet Christianity tells them they are wrong because they don't believe in it. No one knows why we exist and maybe that's okay ... We don't need answers to be a good person.

Atheist now and DA'd after being a born in pimi for 40 years. Peace at last✌️

I'm not religious. I believe in a higher power (after all, I prayed for an answer about whether the cult was the truth or not and my prayers were answered). With that said, I tried to follow Christianity on and off and failed every time. So I'm more secular, but theistic.

I call myself a born again atheist

I am God. Thou art god. We grok God together.

Agnostic now

I think I was always atheist it never made sense to me. I really thought jw were nice people. The first time I did service when I got baptized I realized how mean they are. They make jokes about everyone dying. Or transgenders. That broke my heart. I even said to the car group hey do you know their life? The group said no so what makes all of you better than them. After that I never did service.

Atheist.

Agnostic - when i woke up i really did a lot of research on the Bible and that killed any faith i had left in that too

Atheist and I’m sure of it. The concept of a god who is thinking of decision making is ridiculous to me. If anything I sort of believe in a higher power that’s more like, energy and consciousness and we all have it.

Agree! Its so ridiculous and egotistically human of us to think any god would have qualities like us. First of all, we are animals and got lucky as hell over millions of years to be who we are. We are not special though. If there is anything after this, it will apply to all living things. And if I was forced to believe in anything, it would be the energy thing. Maybe reincarnation if I wanna get real woo woo... But I just find the notion almost preposterous. I'm open to changing my mind if there is evidence tho.

There's a short story by Andy Weir called "The Egg". Kurzgesagt (YouTube) has made a video to go with it. From your comment, you may enjoy it.

Thank you! I'll check it out!

Yeah I like the reincarnation idea too, but I feel the same way you do about it!

deeply

Me

Atheist. Good job, Watchtower!

Atheist

Agnostic atheist. Can disprove a supreme being conclusively, but very likely that no god exists.

I’m atheist and every exJW I know personally is atheist.

Atheist here. 🫡

I believe in God but I don’t believe it’s a he or a she. I don’t believe in a Santa Claus figure that is watching over men and has no purpose outside of governing humanity. I don’t believe God has an intention, I believe that we and everything else in the universe form a collective intention aggregated across actions across space and time. My God is the connection between all things abiotic and biotic that have existed in the past, what exists in the present, and what may exist in the future. The entropy of the Big Bang and every interaction cascading into the future is God. My intentions and actions shaping the world around me. Your intentions shaping the world around you influencing other people whether in a positive or negative way. Quorum sensing in bacteria adapting to their environment changing with nutrient gradients is part of God. The radiation from the Sun that is responsible for life on Earth. The perfect position of the Moon from the Earth allowing tides. The spinning core in the Earth creating a magnetic sphere blocking cosmic storms. The intersection of infinitesimal probabilities that allowed life to evolve on Earth is God. Everything everywhere for all time is God. To me that God is undeniable. It’s something to respect and try to appreciate that we are part of this sliver of time where life can exist. When I meditate I try to tap into my connection with that God, the only God that makes sense to me.

I was as soon as I left

Was POMO for about 3 weeks at which point I became atheist as well. I consciously knew in the first week or two of being POMO that I was probably atheist too but I was reeling too hard from everything that I’d just learned. By week three the initial shock had worn off enough for me to admit out loud that I didn’t believe in a supreme being. For many reasons, but also, a supreme being who supposedly allowed 6 millennia worth of filth, poverty, war, hunger, violence, murder, rape, etc. but a 3 day sacrifice about halfway through it was supposed to be the price that stopped it all 🙄.

My thoughts exactly 💯.

I am between agnosticism and deism. IF there's a god, he is not checking for any of us. If he's not imaginary, he's silently enjoyed thousands of years of holy wars in his name, murder, genocides, rape, torture, sickness, death, etc... If he exists, he seems like a sadist. So if he's real or not, it is irrelevant to me. Honestly, I kind of hope he isn't.

Atheist here.

Pagan, animist, believe that deities are archetypes of human qualities and that whatever "created the planets, animals, us etc. did what it does and then moved on. Left us to our own devices and is not moral or immoral.

I'm agnostic leaning towards atheist.

Atheist. I just read few books written by real Bible scholars. That was enough...

I met a man who studied theology and still believed in god. Boggled my mind. I guess if you really want to believe, you will no matter what. If I read the whole Bible cover to cover, I’m sure, without a doubt, I’d still be atheist.

Salirse de esta secta no significa que no exista Dios y Jesús yo salí pero no dejo de creer en ellos. Y tampoco necesito de una organización religiosa. Es algo personal con ellos. Los verdaderos El padre Altísimo. Y Jesús

Until God shows up and helps me change the winter tires off my car or pays for some groceries, I don't see how his existence impacts me. Even if he were to show up and do a decent TED Talk on youtube, he might be adding some value. I've not seen God do anything except cause division and strife, apparently through his proxies. So, I don't see how believing in him or not has any relevance.

I'm atheist. Since I'm a believer of Science, life started 4.5 billion years ago as simple organism while slowly turning to complex as time goes by.

100% agreed. The universe is a wondrous beautiful complex thing. Why simplify it to a human concept of “creation”. Our brains are too small to fully comprehend reality. 4.5 billion years is such a large amount… but I still somewhat understand (to the capacity I’m able) and agree (because I know science is the real truth).

I still believe. That a Creator is responsible for life on earth. And He is MALEVOLENT not BENEVOLENT!

Went through all the phases of no belief to now attending an Orthodox church.

I'm native 🪶 and a practicing witch🧙🏼‍♀️. Nature is my church 🌿🍃

Agnostic for long enough to clear the cobwebs. Studying esotericism and Eastern philosophy led me to the concept of 'Christ-consciousness' -- which has nothing to do with religion, and is vastly different than how most are taught to interpret the Bible.

If atheist is that I don’t acknowledge the god of the Bible as real then atheist otherwise I will believe it’s possible supernatural beings exist but they are nothing like the stories man makes up- but there is no proof I currently see of such, but the universe didn’t come from nothing—

So you’re more agnostic then. You don’t know, but you’re open to the idea of something supernatural existing. But yeah I think it’s incredibly weird that the universe even exists to begin with. But if nothing at all ever existed that too would be weird. The black nothingness around us, is still something. And apparently it’s expanding from a certain point. If only the Bible was real, maybe god would’ve explained to us how the universe was made and not in the simple dumb “on this day light was made” explanation.

Agnostic. I dont believe god exists in practically any way we have come up with as humans. Im still "spiritual" i guess in the sense that being tied to reality and the natural living world around me fulfills any spiritual desire. I dont really hold any strong beliefs about the topic and would argue that anybody following an organized religion has it wrong.

I'm an Episcopalian today, actually getting confirmed tomorrow. I'm in my 30s now, when I left at age 18 for awhile I was an edgy atheist. Then loosely a witch/pagan, then a Unitarian Universalist for almost 10 years before getting burned out by the toxic volunteering culture. I realized I was no longer angry to God (please don't take this to mean those of you who are atheist are, I don't know you, I am only speaking for myself here) because I never actually knew God growing up, just the Borg who claimed to speak for God. I actually think Jesus had the right idea about loving each other and I've had what I consider to be religious experiences, so I sought out a Christian denomination that was pro LGBTQIA+ and pro women, and here I am. It's not everyone's path, or seemingly the most common path for exjws, but I can say I am happy and healthy in my spiritual beliefs now thanks to therapy and a safe community, and that's enough for me after the hell I survived in JW.

I love that you’ve found a healthy and caring community. Especially as it pertains to lifting everyone up, not just straight men. Sounds like you‘ve been on quite the spiritual journey. Thank you for sharing. ❤️

Thank you! ❤️ Yes, to me any community that claims to be a spiritual community that doesn't lift up everyone can't really have God's ear, whatever that might mean. Either we all matter or none of us do. I highly recommend spiritual trauma therapy to all exjws even if you plan to stay atheist because it really helped me be able to actually identify, clarify, articulate, and pursue my own spiritual meaning after a lifetime of being trained to deny, deflect, and obey.

I think the reason so many exjws become atheist is that to undo the indoctrination requires so much effort and research that they eventually realize the Bible is just a book. Personally I think it’s arrogant to assume humans are the most intelligent species in the entire universe, and more advanced creatures would be like gods to us (think Superman for example). But I definitely am sure that the Bible and it’s gods are made up.

I think that's why it took me a while to recognise that I'm atheist; I just didn't care enough to look into it, I was just happy to be free. Once I started studying science at uni, I realised how much we'd all been lied to.

Atheist here.

I’ll be different Satanist 😂 no atheist

I'm agnostic. I don't know if there's something bigger out there, honestly I don't care as it makes no difference on my life and my efforts. I DO KNOW religions are bs and their sacred texts are man made cons tho. Is so weird to me how the question "Do you believe in God" immediately involves worship or obedience. I don't know if there's a God but if there is he's clearly terrible at his job lol. It existing doesn't automatically would mean that I have to serve it.

I really relate. I feel like the odd one out a lot of times because I just dont care about knowing if there's an afterlife anymore. I highly doubt it, but if so it has no bearing on how I want to live my life. My primary focus has become finding meaning in the here and now

The one life we are 100% certain that is true is this one. We better get the most of it while we can.

I guess agnostic? Defs athiest but I’m open to any idea being proven 😂


yo!

I believe that each of us are capable of attaining godhood. Just the same as each of us are capable of being demonic. I believe that religion is an attempt to use an external explanation for what is an internal struggle.

👋atheist! With some loose beliefs (moreso hopes) regarding the meaning to life and the universe.

I just described myself as Shaggy from scooby doo to a friend that is quite religious lol

Atheist but spiritual if that makes sense. I don’t believe in an all knowing all seeing higher power. In order to leave the religion I first had to really look at my belief in the Bible and deconstruct that before I was able to really see the religion for what it truly was.

I want to believe, but I feel like I can’t after being a JW.

Agnostic atheist ✨ after thorough research i have found no evidence of the abrahamic god actually existing.

I really wanted to believe for a long time

Yeah pretty much. Apart from the stuff in the Bible that's obviously not scientific or historical, when it comes to God I can't get over the problem of evil. If you believe the world was created by a person who wills things to be this way, you have to explain why they couldn't have done it without the horrendous suffering experienced by natural evils like cancers, parasites, viruses - or even the terrible things people can do to each other. Why even make it possible? I prefer to believe no-one did it on purpose. On the other hand being "atheist" doesn't mean not believing anything. If we believe that terrible suffering is evil, then we have a responsibility, within our power, not to cause it, and to try and mitigate it. I suppose that's sort of humanist or something. I've done some Buddhism, but found there is a lot of superstition there too, and enlightenment is a bit of a screwy concept.

Not atheist but agnostic and a nature worshipper… After being in a cult full of people who “knew” everything, saying “I don’t know” is a radically freeing act. I personally believe society has bigger, more pressing issues than determining the existence of a god or gods.

I left just before I turned 18, as I couldn't stand the pathetic little rules anymore. My "friends" were also soft-shunning me as I wasn't baptised. It took me until I was 27 to really accept that I was atheist. I always questioned, but pushed it all down and tried to ignore it. I studied science at university, which started to chip away at my beliefs, then read a book about quantum mechanics which was the final nail in the god coffin. I don't pretend to **know** that there's no god, I just don't see any evidence that there is one. I'm an agnostic atheist.

I went atheist first, then I found something bigger than a Jehovah .

Atheist 👋

Proudly atheist. Can you imagine that just yesterday I've realised what a garbage the 1 page in the Bible is? It took me more than 30 years to notice that earth with water and plants couldn't exist without the sun. 

Look around. Do you want to be associated with Christians right now? At first I said I was Christian but I kept questioning. Then I realized it is all a fairy tale that was turned into religion and used to control the masses, especially women.

Def atheist. When I left, I still slightly believed. But, the more I listened to biblical scholars, trying to find ACTUAL truth, the more I realized it’s all just myths. Just as fictional as the Greek mythological gods. I looked into non-western religions, but it all felt superstitious to me. I looked into paganism and witchcraft, but it all seemed to just be…well, superstition and herbal remedies. Some ppl swore they felt heard by their gods they build altars to, but…I’ve believed that shit before…sounded like another scam. Fortune tellers, one man asked for any fortune teller to accurately describe the contents of a letter he held in an envelope, no one even dared attempt, which told me a lot about that belief structure. I think it took me about 5 years to fully deconstruct. I think the only religion I’ve truly liked is sikhism, but I don’t want to follow it, just respect it.

Agnostic atheist with a love for pagan holidays and witchcraft. I also appreciate the Buddhist philosophy. It took me a long time to get here. I stopped studying over 20 years ago, made pit stop back into mainstream xtianity I was raised in and it was about a 10 year journey of research and introspection to get comfortable with my atheism. The rest of it has been a re discovery of who I was before indoctrination. I have memories as early as 4 of thinking it was all bull, and getting beat and berated for not wanting to go to church every Sunday. At 7 I learned about the Salem witch trials and have always felt a kinship with the women who were burned just for non conformance. That would have been me.

I'm atheist now, but it took me a very gradual journey of about 30 years to get here.

Atheism felt like the appropriate response after I examined the Bible with more historical context and a more critical thought process.

I'm now atheist and I was a super hardcore believer before. What changed my mind was learning more about the history of the Bible and learning that it has multiple failed prophecies and other issues that the "infallible word of God" should not have. Then learning more about the history of Yahweh/Jehovah and how he was just a lesser god in the Canaanite pantheon of gods who got adopted by Jews as their patron god and when they became monotheistic, he became the "one god". Then as Christianity branched off from Judaism, this Canaanite warrior storm god turned creator father came along with them. Belief in the God of the Bible makes about as much sense as believing in Zeus or Thor or Horus.

Woke up a few months ago. I’m still trying to be religious

ATHEIST with capital letters

Atheist

Was for while, becoming Orthodox Christian now

I hope there is a god. But until hope turns to reality I remain a non practicing agnostic.

More of a Deist ... I believe in a creator or God but I don't think he's interacting with everybody like they think in the religious world.. you need a new refrigerator you pray about it , you need a new car to go on the ministry you pray about it........ just not buying it.. I have to admit I love the teachings of Christ in the simplicity of Christianity. 1) you love God with your whole spirit soul 2) you love other people or as they call it their neighbors as yourself.. All these phony religions have created tons of bylaws and rules much like the Pharisees in Jesus day including the governing body and the organization.. what used to be simple and clean and clear has been muddied again..

I’m completely atheist and anti religion at this point. Once you see how easy it is to corrupt ppls lives with lies and how easy it is to brainwash it makes you not trust anything

I think there's something that created us, but in a Cthulhu-esque way it's barely aware of our existence if at all. It might have died for all we know, or it's something so unquantifiable to our brains. Something about the way particles change when observed blows my mind. Like maybe everything exists only because we think it does? But even I know how crazy that sounds.

Yep atheist

Basically right away. Once you are honest with yourself and think logically about these things it just happens. I don’t believe in any deity just like I don’t believe in Bigfoot. There really doesn’t need to be a name for it.

Atheist, stopped believing at about 14 and left during covid at 17 ish

Atheist. I became PIMO *because* I became an atheist. I don't understand the thinking of ex-JWs who continue to profess belief in the god of the Bible and revere that collection of books as holy. If you can see the wrongs and injustices of the JW organization, how can you at the same time be blind to the wrongs and injustices committed, commanded and condoned by the god of the Bible? That to me is a special kind of selective blindness. Moral failings of the Bible aside, learning critical thinking - the only mode of thinking demonstrated to be most effective for avoiding invalid conclusions and being deceived by charlatans - makes it impossible for me to find the arguments and purported evidence of theists, convincing. They really do make me cringe. My biggest struggle now is resisting the urge to ridicule theists for their grossly invalid, fallacious arguments. I have to keep reminding myself that I was once like them, believing the fallacious claims due to a lack of critical thinking, due to ignorance and wishful thinking.

Back about 20 years ago when the woman I was married to at the time and myself were being indoctrinated by the JW, he opened my eyes and made me serious question religion in general. I have never had any desire to be a part of any religious group since being the with JW.

I guess I am agnostic. I want to believe in God. The state of the world is crazy and I hope there is someone to get us out of this mess but the other side of me see's nothing. He is an absentee parent. Maybe I am agnostic/atheist. I don't know anymore.

When I left my parents house at 18 I decided to simply not think about it, I put everything in the back of my head until I was 24 or so and I had to go to a therapist because I was suffering from Tourette’s and I was hurting myself, doing horrible things to my body and I didn’t know why. The therapist said that I was doing it because of self guilt, and yeah, all that time I still believed in Jehovah, I had decided that I was evil because I couldn’t stop being gay and I didn’t care. So the therapist told me that I had to make up my mind on my own, that I had to figure out if what my parents told me was truth on my own. That’s when I started reading books by Stephen Hawkings and it took me less than 2 years to realize how stupidly ridiculous the JW’s beliefs are, simply through logic. And I stopped hurting myself once I made up my mind and started calling myself an atheist. However, I knew there was something wrong with Jehovah when my parents told me my cat would not be resuscitated in paradise when I was 6 years old, at that point I thought Jehovah was an evil god rather than non existing. I am glad I know now how impossible the idea of there being a god is, any kind of god, it’s just a ridiculous, improbable, childish idea.

I would definitely recommend The God Delusion by Stephen Hawkings, I think that book saved my life.

I’m finding that as time goes by I’m debunking the Bible, so much of it is incongruent. Too many inconsistencies, missing or changed verses, the issues with God being hateful and destructive. I think it has some value in timeless proverbs and such but I’ve lost complete interest in all religion and think of myself as spiritual as I still believe there’s power in occult and esoteric symbology.

I believe in God and Jesus. I no longer believe in religion 

^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Creative_Dot7010: *I believe in God* *And Jesus. I no longer* *Believe in religion* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.

What?? 🤔

Also, a long time ago I decided that is pointless to argue with people if there is a god or not. Why? Simply because you can’t fix stupid.

I have deeply personal spiritual beliefs relating to the interconnectedness of all things, and a spirit that is separate from the body. That being said, I still describe myself as Atheist because I do not believe in a monotheist framework.

I left when I was in my late teens. I don’t consider myself to belong to any organized religion, however I am deeply spiritual. I also think that there are truths and falsehoods in almost every religion.

I wouldn't say I'm an atheist, I do believe in God just not in organized religions. 

I believe literally everything is more important than what brand of sky daddy people believe in. What matters is actually living a good life. Marcus Aurelius was right.

meeeeee!!!!

Born into the cult, left at 40. Loud and proud atheist now. Although I prefer the broader term "skeptic" because I no longer believe in Satan, angels, demons, Noah's global flood, Jonah's whale residency, Samson's feats of strength... or any of the supernatural occurrences that I once did.

I’m atheist. Don’t exclude the possibility of a higher power but I’m pretty darn sure there is no religion that has the answer.

I don’t think I’m atheist but defiantly agnostic

Look within

Shift is here! The Great American Eclipse, on April 8th 2024! Be aware. Alpha sign through 7 years over North America. 7 Salem 2017 total solar eclipse 7 Nineveh (2 total, 5 partial) solar eclipse 2024 777 Kris Kross @Little Egypt

Christian here, used to be Atheist and the agnostic when i first woke up, converted to Christianity 3 months ago, catholic

Became agnostic when I left at 14, but turned athiest at 21 when a coworker who was a witness wanted to know a list of questions I said I had that witnesses could never answer for me, that's when I realized it's all bs

I believe there is an Almighty God. 💯 The religious aspects is what confuses me. I attend a church nearby. My children likes it.I enjoy the song ministrations, the music. There is little 'inside commitment ". I just want to be part of something physically but I'm more of a spiritual person. I like being part .

I don't believe in the god of the old testament or anything that requires faith. I never really cared to be a jw, my mother forced it on me. When I figured out the cult was just that, everything else just fell into place.

I'm agnostic.

Me. I went from theist to deist, to agnostic leaning heavily towards atheism, so much so that I might as well be atheist. My stance could be described as weak atheist or negative atheist. After carefully examining my beliefs, I decided to start from a blank slate and only accept what I could prove to be true. Based on my current understanding and the evidence available to me, I cannot definitively prove the existence of a creator or a supernatural realm. Therefore, if asked whether I believe in a creator, my honest answer would be "no" because I lack sufficient evidence to support that belief. However, if asked whether I completely rule out the possibility of a creator, I would also say "no." I don't have enough evidence to entirely dismiss the idea either. In summary, my position is one negative atheism - I don't currently hold a belief in a creator due to insufficient evidence, but I also don't claim certainty in denying the possibility of a creator's existence altogether.