[cozyk]

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 inteligent 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 diety 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.

I agree with you whole heartedly. This is what I was referring to in my post #18.