I don't want to start any kind of big debate here or offend anyone.

With that being said I grew up Christain, with both of my parents taking my younger brother and I to church every Sunday. As I got older, my dad started working weekends and it was out mother taking us.

After my parents divorced, we moved out of our area, and no longer went to church. I still believed in God and said prayers ( I will admit not all the time). My parents remarried and my dad never really went back to church, although he still believes in God. In high school I would still go once and a while with my mother( maybe 5x a year).

I have had doubts or a very long time about God. Maybe not God himself, but the religion that surrounds him. There are many things that are in the bible that I find hard to agree with. And SO MANY judgemental people.

So many wars are over religion. So many people die over it. How can anyone feel its right(this is not my question).

However, I am comes to terms with my confusion and decided to end my relationship with God. I don't know if I should tell my mother or not, I know she will be disappointed. I talked to my now 18-year old brothre about it... and found out he was atheist as well.

So my questions are:
Should I tell my mother?
Are there other people that have been in this situation?
Are there communities out there for people like me? (i.e. scientific)
Or any other advise you can give would be great.

Also.. If you are not sure if you believe in God I recommend the documentary Religulous

1. Sure, tell your mother what you are thinking - unless you know that it would hurt her deeply.
2. Yes, even the most devout Christians have doubts.
3. Yes there are many communities out there for folks in your situation. I fear referring you to any of them because I am biased. Google the terms, you will find them.

Don't be fooled, Leann. Religulous is NOT a documentary. It is a parody.

Other advice, you ask? I've got one: Choose your sources carefully. Think about it. The fact that you mention Religulous makes me wonder why in the world you would refer to that "source" as a "documentary".

You are too young to make a big deal about this and get your family, especially your mother, involved.

You have a lot of reading to do on the subject, a whole lot. I recomomend Bart Ehrman's, a former Evangelical Christian and noted Biblical scholar, books about the Bible and GodAlmighty.

In the back of your mind, remember that there is the posibility of a God like Albert Einstein wrote about; it is a God that doesn't have anything to do with GodAlmighty of the Bible which is a Jewish myth.

Best wishes, :)

And why do you say that the God Almighty of the Bible is a Jewish myth? What is the basis for that statement?

Post that about Christians and get your head ripped off your neck by some very angry people.

I think you just managed to offend Jews everywhere - but that's just my opinion.

I realize that movie is very one sided. But it brings up some valid arguments. This is not something that I am on the fence about anymore; and I had made my decision about this long before I saw that movie.

Thank you both for your advice though :)

I also know that ANYTHING is possible. But I want to live my life on fact; not POSSIBLE fiction. I know religion helps a lot of people, and I hope it continues to do so. I also know it hurts a lot of people, and I hope that will end one day.

Because the truth is NO ONE knows. They may feel they are right, or hope they are right. But you can't know with 100% certainty.

I am VERY familiar with Bart Ehrman. Mr. Ehrman sometimes writes for an organization that I work for.

Beware of him just like you should beware of me. Bart Ehrman has an axe to grind and his opinion will NOT be without bias.

I don't think you should tell your mother right now. It would hurt her to know and will not hurt her not to know.

Is there such thing as Unbiast opinions or books on this topic. I am starting to doubt it. Lol

Great question, leann. I see now that my reference to "unbiased" opinions was silly :o

You are right. There may be no truly unbiased opinions

... so I'll amend and correct my advice: Read as much as you can about it from a variety of biases, then use your God given brain (haha, yes, that's a biased statement :) ) to make a decision.

No need to tell your parents. Religion should be a personal issue. I started like you, catholic upbringing and schooling then became atheist. The subject of religion never really comes up unless someone is trying to preach; when that's the case I walk away.

I am fully for people not telling their parents certain things. You have to base what you tell them (on personal matters such as this) on what kind of relationship you have with them to begin with.

Some parents handle things like this wonderfully (and are able and willing to truly help you - instead of judging you and making you feel bad), and others do not.

Only you can know how discussing this sort of issue would go.

I believe in some higher being, but I don't believe in organized religion because I think that it has caused so many problems and violence in the world. Just a few examples are the pope's recent comments about condoms doing more harm than good against AIDS in Africa, child abuse within the Roman Catholic church and violence and war in the middle east and Northern Ireland. Religion divides people instead of uniting them. I'm not sure if believing in God but not religion qualifies as being atheist or not. If anyone knows the correct term for someone who shares my beliefs, let me know. You don't have to tell your family everything, beliefs are personal and you don't need anyone judging you for things that are nobody's business but your own.

Oh man! You have just recounted my life. I went through the same thought process as you and I became atheist for 15 years or so. I came back to God when my wife conceived our first child.

I never told my mom that I had become atheist because I thought it would hurt her too much.

You didn't ask for reasons to believe, so I won't give them. Suffice to say that there are many people like you. Too many. I was also one once.

I would hold off telling your mother right now. If your basing your new found atheism on Religulous than perhaps you need to explore other avenues to find what you are looking for. You do not want to upset your mother if your not convinced that you are an atheist.

I went to catholic school for nine years. Was an alter boy for 5 of those years. Once I got old enough I thought about religion and just thought it made no sense at all. There could be a God I am not ruling it out. But I do not believe it is the way that was forced down my throat for nine years.

Very well put!

Your story is VERY common. It seems as though there is a movement in this country where people are waking up and saying to themselves, "I can think for myself". I don't have to accept everything that is being said to me when there is no evidence to back it up. I applaud your free thinking. There is no reason to tell your mother about this because it will only cause her worry and stress. From what I read, I wouldn't call you an atheist since you aren't convinced that there isn't a God of some sort, just not the religious teachings that were being forced on you. Just keep your mind open along with your heart.

Right on the money!

I usually don't like reviving older threads, but this one isn't that old and I think I may have some input here.

I submit to you, leann, that atheism is not what you want. I don't really believe, based on your background and what you have said, that you do not believe there is no God, which is what atheism is about. Instead, you are rebelling against organized religion (for some very good reasons) and that you no longer believe in the God as taught to you in churches during your lifetime.

I think that a more likely belief system is that of the agnostic. One who only believes what can be proven to them. Agnostics don't say there isn't a god, only that they have seen no proof of them. Or you may consider deism, which is what I believe in. A deist believes that some intelligent being created the universe as we know it. And then left that creation to exist and evolve on its own.

Neither of these two belief systems practice an organized religion like judiasm, christianity or islam. Adherents of these system, simply believe they way they do.

I think most people would like to believe in some sort of a deity and deep down they do. As the saying goes, "there are no atheists in foxholes". I doubt if there are very many pure atheists.

But I think the key here is the concept of organized religion. That we have to follow some dogma and ceremonies etc. to be good adherents to the religion one practices. I think that, more than a disbelief in the existence of a deity is what has turned you away from your roots. I have taken that same path. I believe in the "golden rule" and I believe that if I adhere to it, then whatever exists after death (if anything) will welcome me despite my antipathy and even disgust of organized religion.