I didn't think you were an A-hole from what you said. If I had, I would have told you. I keep half an eye on US news sources, so I knew what you were talking about.
What really set my lack of beliefs in stone was the staff at the YMCA. I was there on a voluntary basis, getting £55 a week as opposed to the £45 that I would have got from the welfare office. This is going back about six years now.
They held a prayer meeting every Monday morning where we discussed the week's business, then each member of the group would offer a prayer out loud, if they felt comfortable with doing so. I realised at this point that the idea of a God who listens to you, cares for you and whose son died for our sins just didn't sit right with me.
After a lifetime of being intermittently agnostic, I felt much happier once I'd rejected this so-called God. In more than half a decade I've never doubted or gone back on that view. I'd met Girlfriend before this realisation but she's of the same mind. If we ever have children - and that would be a long way off - I'd teach them to make up their own minds when their school tries to teach them about faith.
Re: In the Navy.
What really set my lack of beliefs in stone was the staff at the YMCA. I was there on a voluntary basis, getting £55 a week as opposed to the £45 that I would have got from the welfare office. This is going back about six years now.
They held a prayer meeting every Monday morning where we discussed the week's business, then each member of the group would offer a prayer out loud, if they felt comfortable with doing so. I realised at this point that the idea of a God who listens to you, cares for you and whose son died for our sins just didn't sit right with me.
After a lifetime of being intermittently agnostic, I felt much happier once I'd rejected this so-called God. In more than half a decade I've never doubted or gone back on that view. I'd met Girlfriend before this realisation but she's of the same mind. If we ever have children - and that would be a long way off - I'd teach them to make up their own minds when their school tries to teach them about faith.
I made an entry a couple of years ago on this matter if I haven't bored you stiff already: http://knaw.dreamwidth.org/2409.html.
I take from your response that you're of a similar opinion about religion? If so, how did you form that view?