Why Do People Leave Their Childhood Religions?

People often seem to follow the religion of their parents. But why? And why do so many people leave their religious upbringing too? The answer may have something to do with "practicing what you preach."

Special thanks to my friend and colleague, John Balch, who co-wrote this episode. He is a PhD candidate in religious studies at Boston University.

Follow me on Twitter: @andrewmarkhenry

[kristaliaastari]

I asked my mom when i was younger “if our religion says it’s the one true way and another religion says it’s the one true way how do you know which is right?” Her response was to say our religion wasn’t a religion it was the truth and then she grounded me for questioning it. That and the act of her burning a greek mythology book i had because of school pretty much turned me off to her “truth” I pretty much thought that anything that Is against learning is not something that I’m going to be in favor of.

[stefan]

Parents forcing they're religion to their children and not letting them choose their own faith makes them grew bitter of their childhood religion.

[justarandomgal]

I left my religion because I wanted to hear atheists perspectives from actual atheists as well as theological arguments from theologians because I wanted to strengthen my faith. Needless to say it had the opposite result of what I intended.

[beccahawkins]

"But you notice that the mushroom recommenders aren't actually eating the mushrooms themselves."

I knew it! Mario is a hypocritical evangelical at heart.

[updown]

I remember when I was like 6 or 7 my mom came into my bedroom on Christmas Eve. She was telling my brother and I that Santa brought us some cool gifts and I responded by saying "But mom, Santa's not real!" thinking that she'd tell me how smart I was for knowing that it was my parents all along. Instead, she got really tense and said "Are you calling me a liar?"

[AmberyTear]

I'm an atheist of atheist parents. However I abandoned something else they practice: authoritarian culture, nationalism and harmful superstitiousness (is that a word?). So it doesn't apply only to religious beliefs but to beliefs in general.

[michaeldriggers]

If you are in a foreign land unsure of what you can safely eat and you have two groups of locals telling you to eat different things, sidestep the problem and eat the locals.

[polyglot]

Interesting. I was raised strict Roman Catholic and have 3 siblings. Now adults, I am the only person in my family who still practices, even including my parents. Strange and lonely feeling at times.

[diegedankensindfrei]

I found the Santa myth most undermined by seeing the spoilt brat in my class, who always got in trouble, showing off that awesome present Santa got him - also I always got a good present even if I had got in trouble just before Christmas. Oh and sometimes Santa would leave me a note and I would think "Wow! Father Christmas and my Mum have very similar handwriting! What are the odds!?"

[hermannaxelschatte]

“In order to convince someone of something incredible, you have to be credible your self” basically walk the talk.
Excellent statement.

[scottpreston]

My mom's a Jew, my dad is Hindu, they taught me too much and I ended up an atheist.

[Captain_Titus]

I was raised Baptist’s by my grandparents although they never forced it on me. As I grew up I would ask questions about the faith that my grandfather answered. He’d always say that I should look for the answers myself and gave me my first children’s bible that I kept til my teen years ( cause I lost it accidentally) and it made everything easy to learn and understand and the pictures where actually top quality. But in my teens I also felt a lack of faith where I wouldn’t study or practice my faith anymore until I got into history. I don’t know about anyone else but when I found out how dark it actually was I became more interested. I am now a non denomination Christian and I’m always up for talking with atheist ( that don’t act just like the religious zealots they think all believers to be).
I do believe in a lot of scientific studies like evolution and I always saw science as a way for God let us progress and discover things for ourselves. God to me is like when your parents say you got to move out the house and have your own life, sure you can count on him but you have to make effort as well.
So to all the other Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Atheists I’ll still pray for all of your wellbeing and I hope we can come together as human beings just trying to make this world better before the day comes when we meet our ends.

[invalidavatar]

i stopped believing when I realized how much my parents were actually suffering for no good reason because of their faith

[kirashinji]

Being raised by abusive ultra religious parents made me realize religion doesn't make you a good person, so I stopped caring about it

[capitalistraven]

This is fascinating because I'm the research subject here. I left my church and eventually religion entirely essentially right when I became an adult. My view on why I left (which is entirely subjective) is that Christianity in general and my church specifically claimed to have a monopoly on morality, happiness and living a good life that were clearly false once I got to know more people. Not sure where that fits if at all in the model presented.

[SatyaVenugopal]

Most people: Products of their environment

Folks who start religions: "I don't wanna be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of ME."

[micahaalders]

5:01 "They may catch their parents in the act"
-Religion For Breakfast, out of context

[richNfitlife]

Funny thing happened after this video ended. An ad to buy a children’s book of the stories of the Bible played.

[sethcordes]

I remember being staunchly against religion as kid despite being put into religious schools. This changed recently though as I learned about philosophy and the deeper stuff about the basis of religions, I started to have more of a respect for it and for the religious people I know who arent trying to encroach on others.

[comradep]

I was raised by parents who were completely indifferent on religion, i think my grandmother told me about prayer one time when i was like 5. I grew up to be a devout Orthodox christian, guess I'm in the minority by quite a large margin.