My story is nothing special, nothing has happened for me to become an atheist. It just took some time to realise.
My mum is a Catholic and my dad is a Christian and they are both very strong believers in god. I was never Christened and never brainwashed into a religion. My path was not one forced out of rebellion.
I have not had a bad life compared to some. I do suffer from depression but that is about all. I did believe in god once. This I put down to being young and naive. I used to pray and just figured that he was too busy to listen. I used to be a sheep, and as stated on the front page of this website, only sheep need a shepherd.
I thought about it. A friend of mine shared similar feelings as we began to realise about the world. We had the same way of looking at things. Sometimes feeling we were watching a TV program and that we were not quite involved in what was going on around us.
This is when realisation come about. We started to see life as it was. That we are sentenced to die the moment we are born. Myself and my friend often talked to others about this but they didn't really see it. This is when we began to understand what religion is all about. Maybe it does have a purpose. The purpose being to keep everyone ignorant. To keep their minds off what life is. If they thought there was someone there to protect them, they wouldn't have to worry about what happened.
It is all false hope. How can there be so many religions who believe there is only one 'god' and it belongs to them and how can they all be right? What proof is there? Also, during one R.E. lesson, a Jehovah's Witness in our class was giving a speech. Two things made me laugh about this. One was that every time he was asked a question, he had a little handbook to look in. How can someone be told how to live their life? Also, he clearly stated that there were only around 100,000 places in heaven.
I sometimes pity people who do believe. They spend their lives being told about the wondrous places they go on to. They will never be disappointed I guess as they wont be conscious to find out that these places don't exist. I guess it keeps them happy. Maybe it is true, ignorance truly is bliss.
I do try to 'debate' this subject with people but at the end of the day, I respect others views. I respect them for sticking to something that they can't prove exists and I respect them for spending their whole lives caught up in something that is false. I often ask my friend Amy about her beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness. Some things scare me slightly. It scares me that someone will believe so strongly in something which is not proved to exist that they will even let their own child die. But again, I would never try to force my beliefs on to her as Jehovah's Witnesses do to so many others. I don't know if it is the same around the world but it certainly is here in England.
I find it strange how so many religions try to force themselves upon others, yet for an atheist to do the same, it would be unheard of.
I have my views, they have theirs. A few of us against the masses. If we all understood the truth though, the world would probably be worse off for it.
At 18, I have so much of my life left to live, it might be better if I believed in something, but I am destined to live my life realising it for what it is.
Vicki
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