Everything Changed When I Left Christianity: Dee the Humanist

Dee escaped fundamentalist religion, and she's working to help others do the same.

[DenNEE]

Leaving Christianity is one thing, overcoming it is another.

[MatthewBaran]

Deconversion was a long and painful process for me.

[ca]

Leaving the Baptist church has made me more accepting of others because I'm not interacting with them through the lens of the "saved" vs the "unsaved". I'm not thinking about the need to "share" my faith and just relate as humans! I feel so regretful because I'm old and retired, but I'm hoping it's better late than never!

[spectreskeptic]

Yes Yes Yes!! "Why do I believe what I believe?" That is question the I asked at embarrassing age of 48 that ultimately led to my deconversion. It can take years to get over the anger, guilt and lament of living a delusion. I love seeing people take this question on at such a young age. Every time it happens a bell rings and an angel gets its wings... clipped!

[freddyray]

Finally, when you relieve yourself of the shackles of ultra Christianity, you can allow yourself to fully think and explore life. All the power to you Dee, and everyone leaving the cult

[wendigo]

It's amazing and disturbing how similarly people speak about leaving christianity and other religions...and it sounds just so much like people who've left Cults like Jamestown and the Manson Family..makes ya think dont it?

[shaunpenne]

I was raised Catholic in Northern Ireland and I was very devout! I went to church every Sunday, I prayed and thought that God and Jesus were always with me and guiding me! Then one day and I do mean one day, I had a moment of clarity and said "This is Bullshit!" The praying, the going to church every Sunday or some times, a Saturday and the emptiness of religion suddenly hit me! I began to question everything and I decided enough is enough! In my country however, admitting you're an Atheist is akin to walking into a pub in Tiger's Bay, Belfast and saying "Hi, I'm Michael Collins!" Even on job application forms, if you say you're an Atheist, they still consider you either Catholic or Protestant because of your religious background! It infuriated me watching Christian preachers on the streets yelling in a stark monotone voice of how we're all going to hell or seeing a bunch of them marching through the city centre and descending on teenagers meeting with friends and pressing leaflets into their hands almost like Vampires moving in for the kill! Not everyone wants religion shoved down their throat and some people want nothing to do with it! Since I rejected Christianity and religion altogether, I feel better for it. I consider myself as a Humanist and as long as we continue to help one another, we're not doing it through a divine entity, we're doing it because we want to; because of our humanity!

[kenhoover]

This was excellent! Thank you Seth and thank you Dee. I am definitely going to check out her channel.

[fritzhaselnuss]

I feel the same way. I ve been non-atheistic for a long time before I stumbled upon the atheist community and as a lot of their views and arguments aligned with mine I considered myself an atheist but I m struggling for some time now if thats actually true. Instead I ve always felt like "live and let live" and "fairness to all" and see those things as integral things in my life and existence. I might not like relgions in general, especially the more radical ones but again, if I want to chose my actions and likes/dislikes freely I have to be ready to grant the same rights to everybody else around me even if that means they are into religious cults. What we do need tho is some kind of enforcable ruleset that allows for us all to live together without impacting each other with our opposite lifestyles.

Strict seperation between government and religion is a good first step (and face it, the US isnt anywhere close to that yet) but also dropping many of the religious special privilegues in regards to taxes and other things needs to be introduced and enforced

[onedaya_martian]

Virtual hugs to both Seth and Dee. You work is so important to the world.
Please continue to persist with your questions and answers, knowing that these outreach programs are liberating so many people !!

[ecpracticesquad]

It amazing how actually listening how other cultures and belief systems come to their conclusion can really open the eyes and minds of the sheltered faithful. I began losing my faith in high school. It wasn't until I traveled the world, as a member of the armed forces, that I really had my mind opened by other people and cultures.

[StarSong]

@ 4:18 I understand that only too well. The first two things that crumbled for me after I read the Bible for myself were the 6, 000-year-old creation and Noah's flood. Especially when I learned how radiometric dating really works rather that the lies, I had always been told.

[p.l.]

Once you start to “analyze”, religion doesn’t stand a chance.

[drfoxcourt]

I wasn't raised in religion. I find it curious that some Christians feel that they lose their identity. Is this because they identify through the community of fellow religionists? I find atheism liberating, helping me identify as an individual, apart from being a de-individualized piece of a religious group. Thank you on the part of thinking atheists everywhere.

[LouieLouie]

Great video, especially the question about the "losing identity" aftereffect.

[gleanerman]

The greatest burden to ever be lifted off my shoulders was christianity, I'm now finally free. Good for you Dee.

[begie]

Christianity is SO pervasive throughout our entire culture and the ethnocentric assumption that everyone is a Christian makes it nearly impossible to get away from. Drives me crazy.

[biggregg]

I have no regrets leaving wasn't ever that religious, but there is a bigger price that is paid that over time you come to realize.

[tamhunter]

I was losing my Religion slowly, then I watched one of your Videos and a few other Videos similar to yours, then became an atheist. Thank You Seth.

[RM-eged]

I was 12 when I realized that I didn’t believe. One day I just started to notice the level of hypocrisy both inside and outside of my family. I began to realize that people around me seemed to use god as a scapegoat for everything that happened in their lives. They never took responsibility for their actions. It was always “god’s will” and not their behaviour. I didn’t want to be a hypocrite like them.