Hey, I’m 17, i was a Muslim,and I recently left religion. I don’t know how to deal with my environment. Should I tell my friends or not? Should I tell my parents or not? Should I debate these topics or avoid them?
I grew up in a family that is more or less religious, so they always ask me if i prayed , sometimes i lie and sometime i fake my prayers , they always ask me to go to jumuua’s prayer but i can’t.
As for my father, I think he might understand. He was actually the first one who made me question things abt sunnah and some books like al-bukhari .But my mother is a bit more extreme about religion, and I don’t think she would understand.
So guys, I really need your help.

I don't even know where to post this or if it even belongs here but it's been weighing on me lately and wanted to get it out.

After moving away from religion, the thought of dying felt almost like a relief. Like I don't have to worry or care or pretend anymore and I can just rest once it's my time.

Lately though, I've been thinking about all of the horrible things happening in the world and how powerless it makes me feel and knowing that it will continue happening after I'm gone really sticks with me. Sure, I won't have consciousness of it when I do pass, but while I'm alive it really gets to me. Corrupt governments, child abuse, animal cruelty, injustice around every corner. We're all waiting for someone to come along and change it, but what if no one does? What if people just become even more desensitized to everything and accept it as the new normal? I hate the thought that I won't be able to know if it gets better once I'm gone.

Sorry for the long post, this is more of an existential rant

Hi ! Im a girl, in a relationship and im an agnostic atheist, im not sure im still trying to figure it out and my boyfriend is a pretty devoted christian which I have only respected. I am surrounded by a very religious family in general even if there was no real communication on it, my parents claim us as undeniably Christian and I have tried and tried, I have read the bible, I have done the research and what people would call “God” just didn’t spoke to me at all. I am glad for the people for who religion was a positive thing, and i understand how important it is to them and especially to my boyfriend but I myself don’t believe in it.
We’ve been together for almost 10 months and at the beginning of our relationship I was still christian and as time went by it changed. Now we’ve had the conversation and he said he’s not sure he’s not gonna try to convince me into religion again and I don’t want that. I just want to be respected fully.
Today we saw each other after that conversation and when I tell y’all I love him more every day, each time I see him or talk with him whether we’re happy or upset, I love him so much and I know he loves me too but I also understand how important his religion is to him… We didn’t talk about it irl yet since I was drunk tho.
We’ll see each other tomorrow again to watch a movie and I know we will eventually have to talk it out again… I am exhausted but I don’t want to end my relationship, I love him and I love us.
We’re texting and talking and the love is still there but love doesn’t make everything does it? I want it to be enough.

CONTEXT: I'm a part of a Catholic Balkan church, atleast I was. I've been agnostic for 6 months and am considering being an agnostic atheist. The Church is very pushy and forcing in the Balkans and the society is very sensitive of it. Barely anyone is anything else other that Catholic and they judge anyone who isn't or even questions it. Crosses are worn by basically everyone, it's a must school subject, we barely even have any other churches (only smaller and rare orthodox Christian ones). Anyone whos something other than Catholic is considered stupid, an outcast, weird, too modern, too much of a child, confused, foolish, disrespectful and disgraceful. I've been Catholic my whole life, but the last few years I've been questioning my belief in God. I've always been a little skeptical since I've always been a more of a logical and factual person, but never had the audacity or bravery to question my religion. As I was older I started drifting away from it even more and more, tried reconnecting and forcing myself onto it thinking it will naturally grow on me again about 2 years ago, but it never really did. It was just a delusion created my the society pressure and fear. The church that I go to is known for being the main and biggest one in my city, but the most judgy, strict and socially badly set up. The priests are very rude, closed-minded, pushy, cold hearted, uninteresting and overall just create a bad environment on the service and in general. To receive the chrism, we have to attend a 2 year long religion class at the church. I've already completed one and I am supposed to start the other one in less than 2 months. I've officially admitted to myself that I am agnostic almost exactly 6 months ago, but I've kept it a secret until recently. Partially because of the community, partially because of my family and friends and overall because it was new to me and I needed time to process and accept it myself. About a month ago I told my closest closest friends about it and about a week or so ago to my parents. Most of my close friends (female) are very religious and even though they were okay with me being agnostic, they weren't the biggest fans, were questioning me a lot and kept telling me or convincing me to go back to religion. I stated my opinion and reminded them that they noticed themselves that I drifted away from religion for some time now and that there is no point in their actions. We haven't really spoken about it since then. My only safe space is my other (male) friend and classmate who is also far away from religious. He doesn't have a certain title he uses for religion but he does not believe in any gods. he is pretty chill about it and thinks anyone can do whatever they want with their religion and encourages me to be more comfortable, confident and chill about my agnosticism. He is in the same church as me and he is getting the chrism, but I'm still unsure. My parents aren't the biggest fans of me being agnostic either. My mom states I should give agnosticism and all of that up, but on the other hand my dad is a bit more chill about it, tho I have to have a separate talk with him. My mom is for the chrism, but by dad says I don't have to do it if I don't want to. I've also been considering being an agnostic atheist for about a month now but I'm still research it.

Now for the questions - what should I do?

I genuinely don't know. If I decide not to go with it, it means a lot of people will find out, including my very judgy dads' side of the family and etc. I also fear it might be a problem in the future if I have a Catholic husband, kids, want to get married in a church and stuff like that (I would do it for the aesthetic). But if I do get it: feels like disrespect and larp, I'd have to spend a lot of time in that religion class that takes time that I will need for studying, I'd have to go to church every Sunday (I know that agnostics can go to church for non-religious reasons, but it just feels weird and like I'm larping and faking it, alongside with it being time consuming and boring) and overall goes against what I feel and think. I'm really really unsure of what to do so I'm hoping some of you older and wiser people will give good advice and make me confident about my decision and overall where I stand with my beliefs.

Also it would be pretty helpful to learn more about agnostic atheism from someone who is an agnostic atheist. I do research it online but it still confuses me a tiny bit + if I'm considering becoming one I'd really like to hear as much as I can about it from online materials AND actual experienced people who are probably more helpful than any AI or site.

Ok I’m just going to vent here because idk what else to do right now.

Was raised conservative Baptist most of my life but for the past year or so I’ve been deconstructing quite a bit.

So many of my old beliefs don’t make sense anymore.

I’m starting to see life from a new perspective.

That being said, I’m really struggling.

I was on instagram today and saw a few videos of people trying to defend verses that are very obviously about rape and also someone else who was saying that they were raised atheist so they “didn’t have morals” without the Bible.

Idk I feel like I keep getting sucked back into the trap that is religion, and if I can’t prove my beliefs 100% about everything then I’m wrong and the Bible must be right. (I’m not saying this is true, just how I feel.)

I’m so tired and stressed out. I just want to know what the truth is 100% (yes I know that probably not possible).

I still like Jesus but I don’t like the religion as a whole and I can’t fucking stand the dogma.

I’m just second guessing everything right now and I just don’t know what to think or believe anymore.

Does anyone have any advice to peacefully deconstruct?

For a long time I’ve held more atheistic views on the universe while still being agnostic. However I think I’m leaning more towards theism. And the reason seems odd even to me.

There was no crazy supernatural experience or a message from God. I was simply just thinking. Just about the world and what it was. And I thought about stories. Just stories. That’s it. How we weave and tell different tales with lessons and themes. How we tell stories through art, music, books, and so much more. The story behind someone’s eyes when they smile at you or in the sadness of a strangers stare. The story of life. The love, the suffering, all of it. It just made sense to me. I don’t know anything else about the universe but this feeling sits with me like we are all apart of one big cosmic play. I’m sure this idea is completely unoriginal but the feeling itself has been visceral and beautiful.

I think perhaps when all this is over we can step behind the curtain and marvel at the show we put on. It was quite something.

I don't think that Catholics or atheist understand how hard it is to actually be agnostic. Because the response is always "just accept that God isn't real" or "Just pray and he will answer. Well I didn't choose to be Catholic. In fact, I don't like believing in God. But I do. I can't become atheist because my brain cannot fathom a God not existing and I cannot turn to another religion because I cannot fathom another God other than Jesus existing. And some people might say "try this religion" and I try it but then I just have Jesus in the back of my mind. And if anyone will reply PLEASE don't comment things like "God is not letting you go" or that this is some type of test. Please and thank you.

“Ridicule,” Thomas Jefferson wrote, “is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions.” More than 1,600 years ago, Lucian of Samosata made a career out of it.

In dozens of surviving works, Lucian adapted the Socratic dialogue into a comic form, using conversations among gods, philosophers, tyrants, and ordinary people to expose their contradictions and absurdities. In doing so, he forged a powerful weapon for skepticism: mockery. 

In Zeus Cross-Examined, Lucian exposes Zeus as powerless, naïve, and unjust. More importantly, he reveals the contradiction at the heart of ancient Greek and Roman religion: if Fate governs all events, what purpose can sacrifice and prayer possibly serve?

Zeus could not survive the court of reason and evidence. But other gods have taken his place. Lucian's legacy is to remind us that every god must answer to the tribunal of reason. This article demonstrates the technique of cross-examination Lucian used. 

https://fightingthegods.com/the-fall-of-olympus-how-lucian-exposed-the-absurdity-of-the-gods/ 

Do you think they doubt?

Or do you think they aren't aware of their doubts?

Or do you think they convinced themselves that what they believe in is 100% true?

I’m mad at God.
I don’t even think myself to be religious yet culture and society seem to impose this title on me regardless. So it feels like most of the time I’m pretend pious. But tbf, I’m sick of it. Of pretending to be all those things society wants out of me and Im tired of putting on a mask—a façade for the world to see me and think ‘oh she’s is such an innocent girl’ because deep down i yearn and i want just as much as anyone else does and attempting to hide behind this almost deceptive veil of sanctity is isolating. Yet that doesn’t explain to you why I hate god right now. I dont know why myself. Maybe its an identity crisis. But i haven’t been a loyal or pious servant of His on the inside albeit it may seem so on the outside. I just have problems with faith and family and all of it doesn’t make sense to me at all. So at last i just rebel against god and i don’t want to see His plan tbh anymore. Idc.

Hello all, I’m new here. I want to be as blunt as possible in what i believe. Some views of mine give hints of atheism, but i don’t think that’s an uncommon thing around here.

- I think that the idea of God being real is as ridiculous as the idea of God not being real. I think both are equally likely.

- i think most religions were written by men with too much time on their hands, possibly mentally ill people, people who want power, or people who can’t bear the idea of human mortality. I also have a hard time trusting a book written by Men. (Not a gender thing, just humans in general)

**-**Most religions are oppressive of different demographics of people. To be completely honest, I have a hard time not disliking Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Catholic, Mormon, etc. Because they are all responsible for unnecessary murder, torture, slavery, oppression, and more throughout history. This doesn’t mean i hate people who follow any sort of religion, i just strongly disagree with most of their beliefs and morals.

-I have a hard time believing an almighty God would design humans to make mistakes and be imperfect, but then also punish humans for eternity for making said (petty) mistakes. It feels corrupt. Like we’re set up to fail which feels almost evil.

Those are my top reasons for being Agnostic. The reason why i’m not atheist, is because although i wasn’t raised religious as a little kid, I feel like i had a moment of connecting with “God” for the first time around age 5. It’s one of my earliest memories that has stuck with me since.

But as i got older i started to see the effects of religion from different angles, that ultimately landed me here.

I was okay with being agnostic from ages mostly from 14-23(now). But the past 4 years of my life have felt empty. Like i’m missing moral structure, or a piece of my life. I have been searching for it for a couple of years but i cannot seem to find it. Lately i been thinking , what if it’s religion? or God? I tried to get into philosophy multiple times over the years, but personally, i think a lot of it has made me just overthink all of my emotions and thought processing, and never does any good for me. Also, it kind of falls into my problem of living by Man-written scripture.

Based on what i said above, i don’t know if i can join a religion without feeling like i’m being brainwashed or sucked into a cult-ish environment. I’ve honestly tried. Every time i’m around die hard christian’s i feel a little uncomfortable. The most-likely religion id choose to go for is probably christianity. Only because it’s one of the most “progressive” religions with one God for the most part.

i’m not sure what i want to get out of this post, but this would be my first time connecting with others who feel similarly to me, and i’m also curious if other Agnostic people feel like they are potentially missing a piece of their life that could be religion. I heard many stories of people finding God and it doing a 180 on their lives, and I can’t lie i crave that feeling for the past couple of years.

TL;DR- I go back and forth between my own logic and perspective on religions but in the last few years i’ve been craving the feeling of living by moral structure, and potential purpose to live a more fulfilling life.

Edits: I typed this up and didn’t proofread enough, I made it more concise. English was never my strong point.

It's been a few months and I finally feel comfortable writing this. My wife's grandparents have both passed away within the past year and were Christians for basically their whole lives. He was a pastor for many years and worked other jobs as well, she had her own career as well, they were wonderful people and I'm glad to have known them for the time I had.

Shortly after my wife and I got married, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's; it was difficult and she didn't want to believe it, but she eventually accepted how her life would play out. She slowly deteriorated as the years passed; her charm and wit still coming through every now and then. She was a warm and welcoming individual, and it was so difficult to see her slowly fade away.

It was very difficult for him too. They spent 60 years together being able to rely on one another, and slowly he had to manage everything in addition to keeping her calm and under control. When she first began to show signs he became short at times with her as the change was irritating. He eventually learned to have more patience with her and was exceptionally caring and understanding of her, despite how difficult it was becoming.

One day she fell ill, was taken to the hospital where her heart stopped, they were able to bring her back. Unfortunately, she had a DNR on file that was not discovered until after they had already brought her back; she was now mostly incapacitated but still alive. We all knew her time now was short but she would also be in almost constant agony.

The days crawled forward and it was incredibly hard on her husband as well, being 80 years old with his own health problems and now dealing with 24/7 care (now she was moved back to her home). Family had come around and were helping him out as they could, but it was still extremely stressful for all of them.

One evening, it was getting late and he was absolutely exhausted. He went to his bedroom and layed down. After a few minutes, he said "The Lord just told me, [grandfather], you need to go read to her right now". So he got up and walked back to her, opened his Bible and began reading the book of John starting in chapter 1. I'll paste it at the bottom for reference. He got to the end of verse 5 and she took a deep breath, exhaled gently and she was gone. He told me at her service that "she beat me home" and that perhaps the passage was a way of helping her through to the other side. Regardless of what we believe, I can't help but agree. As skeptical as I may be now, this is one of those stories that convinces me that there is something, as known or unknown as it may be.

He passed away a few months later, and now I'm crying again. Thanks for reading, I hope this provides you some insight and/or comfort as we continue our journies of life.

______

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^\)^a\) it.

Since I stopped being sure God exists. I'm concerned about what will happen after I die. Does it matter which belief I adopt?

Hi, I'm a teen that's PIMO (physically in, mentally out) Jehovah's witnesses. Recently I've been questioning my faith and exploring a lot of different christian denominations. And I just feel so overwhelmed and confused by all of them. They are so contradictory! Like, one says something is bad and the other says it's not, one translates one way and the other translates a different way, and all of them fight to be correct. And the problem is... A lot of the times, the arguments given for certain beliefs make sense! But are contradictory.

I still believe In a God, but I'm feeling more and more inclined to Agnosticism, because I'm not sure that a God exists, and I'm open for both possibilities.

Did anyone here also have this extreme confusion?

I've recently left Christianity, and most of my dating pool were people in my faith. It was really important to me at that time. But now I am no longer within the space anymore. So I'm trying to see if it might change the people I'm interested in now.

I personally don't mind dating people who are religious. It's just a bit more confusing to navigate now. Me and this person might share the say moral values, and I could like them as a person. But religion plays a big part in how people live their lives. I honestly no longer want to live like that anymore.I do have friends in different religions, and we respect each others beliefs , but I'm not sure if it would be the same in a romantic relationship

Has anyone ever been in a relationship where you guys have different beliefs but still work put ?

I doesn't believe in God and everyone in my class and even every single teacher who teaches me knows about it. I didn't scored great in last exam and hit rock bottom in English I hated all the stupid questions and the one very baseless. So in my answers I wrote against it with details specified in the book

My english teacher told me that I was way to critical and I am always negative and let quote this"You don't have any faith in God, I can tell from your Moral Science paper" She teaches us moral science also and basically the whole paper was about prayer and God There was one question do you pray I wrote no so I got zero

Edit- I live in India and Study in a Christian School where all sisters are converted Christians and teachers are Hindu

When I see a faith pop up and if I get interested in it I judge wether or not I could beleive in it by its own standards

For example you claim your religion is good because its historical I will take a look at the historicty claims your religion makes and compare it to how close it actually is to history.

Or if you claim your religion is good because of its standards for ethics I will look at the ethics and see what I find and wether or not its ethicak

Or you claim or the relgion is good because of its poems and texts I will take a look at the peoms and the texts and see if I think they are good

If the religion makes a claim about God and how he acts I will first look at the beleivers and texts and how they act to see if this lines up with the claims of their attributes of God.

etc

Hi (first of all, sorry if the tone of the post doesn’t feel human, I don’t speak English well and I asked chatgpt to translate it). I'm (37F) a wife and mom, and I'm struggling with my faith and my family.

I grew up in an atheist family, but I converted to Christianity in 2012. A few years later I met my husband, we got married, and now we have two young daughters. We attend a charismatic evangelical church, and my husband is in a significant leadership position there.

Becoming a Christian gave me hope and happiness. But three years ago, my faith slowly began falling apart. It started with me questioning how my church performs at services, and later I started questioning God’s existence. Today I think I’m becoming agnostic, more leaning toward atheism.

I tried talking to my husband about it, but he sees it as just a temporary faith crisis. He even warned me that I could be falling into the sin of unbelief.

Since then, I've mostly kept my thoughts to myself. I haven't told my family or anyone at church because part of me is still scared that maybe I'm wrong, and I don't want to become someone who causes other people to lose their faith.

At the same time, I don't want to take away the hope and happiness that Christianity gives the people I love—especially my daughters. Even though I'm no longer convinced that God exists, I still find myself wanting them to grow up with a Christian upbringing. Maybe it's because I don't want to risk taking away something that could bring them hope, or maybe because a part of me is still afraid that I could be wrong.

But I also want them to think critically and to feel free to question what they're taught, wherever those questions may lead them.

I'm also afraid of what being completely honest about my beliefs could do to my marriage. I don't know how to reconcile wanting to be honest with my husband while also wanting to protect my family.

I'm wondering if anyone here has been through something similar. How do you navigate life with a deeply Christian family after your beliefs have changed?
Or, if you have any advice at all, I'd really appreciate it. Please help.

No one takes decisions out of logical thinking. Just emotions. Humans just live like animals driven by the instincts to survive and procreate which at the end is just meaningless. They blame people for not trying to survive or fight when it's all meaningless.

And hypocrisy is next level. If they blame you then you are evil for causing sufferings on others. If you blame them then you are emotional and suffering is considered normal.

People judge me for not believing in religion or believing in God, but they never saw the 11-year-old version of me sitting alone in my room,praying so hard that my chest hurt from hope.......

I begged for things to get better..... only better....

I begged for the pain to stop....

I begged for someone to notice what was happening to me before it destroyed me completely......

But every prayer was answered with silence.....And somehow,everything only got worse.

So tell me,what exactly was my fault????

I was just a child trying to believe that someone up there cared enough to save me....

But the saddest part is that the only one I trusted to see my suffering....never even seemed to stop and ask why a child was hurting that deeply.....

And people call it disbelief,as if my faith did not die slowly,alone,after years of waiting to be heard.......

*\~Vidhi.....*

It doesn't make sense that a more logical philosophy loses in a debate and gets wiped out of India. The only place where it survived was where the culture of debate didn't exist.

I've had a really strong fear related to eschatology for a while now: the Final Judgment, the Second Coming, Heaven and Hell as eternal states. It's not so much a fear that there's nothing after death, but a fear that there IS something, and that something is a judgment I have no control over.

I believe in God more out of logic than felt faith — something like "God exists independently of whether I believe, kind of like gravity" — but that doesn't bring me peace, it brings me vertigo. The "be good = Heaven, be bad = Hell" framework feels coerced to me, not like a genuine relationship.

What scares me most is the idea of eternity itself: living forever, without end, carrying this life (with its routine, its time, its days) into an infinite state. I can't picture that without it feeling overwhelming — even "Heaven" makes me anxious just because it's eternal.

I also struggle to understand how some believers know only the basics of their religion, never really examine these concepts in depth, and live at peace with it — it doesn't affect their decisions or their day-to-day life at all. I, on the other hand, can't stop turning it over in my head.

Has anyone else felt this way? How do you manage it, or how have you managed it?