losing faith | my departure from theism [cc]

A timeline of some key memories around my personal experience of religion, running from my earliest memories to my emergence into atheism.
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opening quote:
We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it and that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire.
— J. Robert Oppenheimer
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subtitles
Arabic: [anonymous]
Brazilian Portuguese: Aymar Pescador Jr
Bulgarian: Djeitko
French: Pierre Morot
Indonesian: Azzedine Al-Razi
Polish: Karol Chrząstek
Russian: Sergey Savelyev
Slovak: Peter Ščigulinský
Spanish: Spanish Subs, Mau Jo
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Note regarding the fallacious accusation that I distort Christianity in my videos.
There's great irony in the constant accusations I've had over the years that my critiques distort or 'strawman' Christianity. They don't. I convey what was explicitly conveyed to me by other Christians — messages I've queried with them, often in depth. I don't give my own interpretations — just the ones Christians give me. So when a Christian says I'm distorting Christianity, they're in fact accusing other Christians of distorting Christianity. By the way, the critiques in the video are specific to my childhood — I've of course countered other interpretations since then.

I won't accuse these Christians of shifting the goalposts — like strawmanning, an accusation of goalpost shifting is only valid if it's being done between the specific parties making the arguments. If one Christian puts forward one interpretation, a second Christian isn't goalpost shifting by presenting another different view — two different views are being presented by separate agents. By the same principle, if a Christian presents a view and I misrepresent that view back to that individual, I'm strawmanning. But if I accurately present that view, then other Christians come along and disagree with it, I haven't strawmanned them because I wasn't responding to them but to the first Christian. If I ever said 'All Christians believe X' and they didn't all believe X, then I could possibly be accused of strawmanning — but I don't use that language because I'm aware of the vast conflicting diversity of Christian beliefs. And that awareness originates from my experience as a Christian myself.
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Note regarding the false accusation that I’ve lied about my own thoughts/experiences.

1) Some theists have stated Christians don’t act in the hateful ways depicted. This seems to be based on 'no Christian I've ever met' reasoning. First, to suggest the tiny sample you've met represents every Christian is an obvious hasty generalisation fallacy. Second, even regarding the Christians you've met, you don't know what goes on behind closed doors. Third, try pretending to be an atheist sometime — it might be an eye-opener. If you want to be taken seriously, don't deny plainly evident realities. I can freely admit that some atheists abuse theists. It’s plainly evident reality. I’m not obliged to deny or defend them just because I'm an atheist.

2) Some theists claim my questions about Noah and the ark around age six were lies — I was too young. Wrong.

My brother and I were lumbered with a bizarre myth when we were born. Doctors told our parents that being identical twins we’d always lag behind other children — twice the brains meant half the intelligence. In fact, we showed the opposite pattern. Our father recalled a hilarious moment when a doctor gave us some puzzles and said it would be years before we could solve them — then turned to see we already had.

We scored consistently ahead of our age in reading and vocabulary. A head teacher once chastised our parents for helping with our work — she didn’t believe we knew the words we used. She then had to eat her own. In our 11+ exams, we both got 99% and were accused of copying each other. We were cleared when it was discovered we got different answers wrong — oh, and took the exams in different rooms. I could go on. Have a think what it’s like for naturally bright children to be repeatedly suspected and accused instead of encouraged. No surprise I later learned to coast in school — performing to an average level to blend in.

The water cycle wasn’t part of the formal curriculum until around age 8. But my interest in clouds led me to find out about it sooner. I know — unbelievable isn’t it. I was given a poster by a teacher showing all the processes. Noah and the ark was part of a school performance when I was around six, in which I sang a song called ‘40 days and nights’. The play and the poster led to my question about where the water went.

It’s ironic that theists who’ve accused me of lying expect atheists to believe their claims of gods’ existence for which they provide no commensurate evidence — but refuse to believe in the existence of bright children. They're headed for a real shock when they discover distribution curves.
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music © theramintrees

[j.andrew]

Growing up in a religious household, I was often warned that if I became too smart I would become evil. I left the faith two years ago and looking back it's terrifying

[inkeys]

"God has shown me your future. I see you doing great things for Christianity"
he was technically correct

[pikupikuseru]

"I was alone, in a house full of contradictions."
Ah... I felt that one.

[hydra]

I'm an ex-mormon. This video isn't what got me out of Mormonism, but it is the video that shaped my post-mormon worldview. It's been 7 years since I first watched it. I want to let you know how important it was for me, and thank you for making it.

[envy]

the most religious parents make the most unreligious kids

[patrickbritting]

I’ve been an atheist for a few months now, but since I still live with my parents, I am just going to play along with the whole belief and church thing until I move out.

[p.bamygdala]

For the first time in my 4 decades of life, I’ve found someone who had the same childhood as me. Thank you for your videos.

[mustacheofgold]

I live in the Netherlands and I've been surrounded by atheists nearly my entire life. Meeting someone who actually is religious is like spotting a deer in the wild. Hearing these kinds of stories genuinely shocks me. It's extremely different to my life experience and it sounds like it needlessly causes a lot of damage.

[nimchimpsky]

"The magic trick, once explained, can no longer deceive." Most memorable line.

[spoolofyarn]

PARENTS, PLEASE ECOURAGE YOU KIDS TO ASK QUESTIONS. EVNEN IF THEY BECOME ATHEISTS OR AGNOSTICS, YOU SHOULD STILL LOVE AND CARE FOR THEM.

[susanburger]

Stopped taking my children to church after they informed me that they thought it was boring and confusing.

[aojae]

One of my most distinct childhood memories is asking the question; "If jealousy is a sin, then why is god a jealous god?", the topic of the sermon earlier. I was probably four or five at the time, and my mother was deeply religious. Her hurrying me to the car, a deep look of concern on her face, was by far the tamest response to a religious question I'd get for years after.

[Kira.i.]

"I saw hell for what it was; a tiny idea casting a large shadow"


Damn

[Obama_OReilly]

"Hell is a tiny idea that casts a large shadow" -well put

[georgequilitz]

It's like handing a child a logic puzzle, then yelling at them when they try to solve it.

[proudbpagan]

I also got a slap to the face when I was a kid..we were getting ready for church one Sunday night, and i got frustrated bc they wouldn't hand over the Bible i treasured as a gift from the pastor for graduating kindergarten. I was so ticked off that i yelled out "Give me the stupid Bible!"...i felt my head snap sideways..my mom yelled at me and said "Don't you *ever* call a Bible stupid again!"

[bumblegoot]

I think that the pastor, misguided as he may be, was ironically correct in his prophecy that you would do great things for Christianity, more specifically Christians. By exposing the lies of the religion in these videos, you have saved more lives from it than you may ever know, including mine. Thank you.

[Tiger_Simple]

It saddens me that my mother and I used to get along like pb and J, back when she wasn't so religious we would spend hours talking about ideas, memories, and all the trauma her and I bared through together. But when we moved to Georgia, she became so enthralled in Christianity, and when I came out as being gay...she lambasted me. She threatened to kick me out of the family if I didn't "change my ways, " and said that I was blinded by demons caused by the past trauma I had endured at the hands of my biological father. She became violent and manipulative and made me work long hours in the fields (we're farmers) with no pay or medical help when I would get injured. It wasn't until I took her up on her word and left to be with my boyfriend that she somewhat changed her tune. It's so depressing to see that the almost two decades of great memories could be destroyed by a few phrases in a problematic book.

[brandonvestra]

"Atheism happened to me when I wasn't looking – theism happened to me when I wasn't thinking."

[danyanfish]

“Don’t look into evolution, it could lead you down a dark path” (translation) “don’t make decisions about reality based on the available evidence, it could lead you down a dark path”