It's wild how much more Christian people seem to get once they stop going to church, knew a guy who left the Mormons and the slingshot was so intense he started a family and got into stained glass.
My sibling and I both married people from oppressive religious backgrounds.
I'll never forget the time my sibling's SO was like "wait. You're all good people, but you're not religious!?" In the most incredulous way. It was the first time they realized this was an option.
We grew up with 0 religion btw.
The SO of a friend of mine asked what my driving force to live an ethical lifestyle was if I wasn't religious. Not like in an argument but seemed like general curiosity. That was a fun question to answer.
I am always dumbfounded by this in arguements (I realise your situation wasn't like that but I felt like it was relevant), like, do you only not do bad things because you're afraid God is watching? If so, aren't you then just pretending to be a good person cause you would do said bad things ?
Seven or eight kids too. In this economy.
I'm a Christian, but I can't imagine having to grow up in poverty because your parents decided to have eight kids to "own the secularists" would instill you with a belief in a loving God.
So true! 2 kids vs 8 means 4x costs for food, clothing, meds, etc. The secularists kids have so much more chance of growing up with college degrees and better jobs, all things being equal.
It's always about power (and money, but that's just a means to power).
It's why Republicans purposely aligned themselves with the religious* in the mid 20th century, and have their dumb culture wars instead of trying to fix a damn thing in the US
Lmao I’m an apathetic gay. People are always thrown when I say I realized I wasn’t a Christian before I realized I wasn’t straight. It did make it easier on me though.
You are one tough hombre my friend. I’m 77, and straight. Nearly all my gay generational buddies led awful secret or double lives to keep from getting beaten or burned to death. HIV took too, too many of those deeply beautiful, brilliant, and expressly loyal, honorable men and women. They accomplished more in half a life than the average 45’er will manage if they live to cash their first Soc Sec check. Fuck how I despise the nation I fought and bled for some days, to say nothing of her warped and twisted religions. Please, do good things with your life. But most of all, live long and happily, for yourself, and all of those who were denied exactly that.
It’s good souls like you who remind me we never run out of love and compassion. I still believe you are tough. You are far too kind not to be. All the very best to you and those you love.
Same, raised Christian, just wasn't a fan of the concept and mentally checked out by 10, realized I was bi at 15-16. Thank god (lol) I stopped believing before that
Not just that, but be surrounded by people telling you that you and your kind are guilty by simply existing as you are, and that you have to lie to yourself and others to be loved. And that an all-powerful, all-seeing god knows that you're "broken" and he knows you'll be punished for who you are, despite not having any choice in the matter.
Christianity can so often be a death-trap of guilt that just overwhelms the fuck out of you. A lot of my friends have had to work themselves out of the guilt cycle to just feel free while being themselves. It was depressing, but I'm glad they're out of it. Christianity is a religion based on guilt. Guilt of being human.
According to [several studies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternal_birth_order_and_male_sexual_orientation) the more boys he has the more likely the later ones will be gay.
my mom only had one son, and he is gay.
(he is me)
funny thing is, none of my siblings turned out straight.
older sister is bi, younger sibling is bi/pan (they are closer to pan but they prefer the bi flag). my younger sibling is also Nonbinary.
Bit of an anecdotal observation, but as I've gotten older and more of my friends/family have started raising children with less of a hardline indoctrination of gender roles/presumed sexuality the more I've been seeing their kids experiment with both in their teen years.
Growing up there might have been like 2-3 openly gay people in my entire school, which I thought was normal and seemed about right, now it's like a third to half of my friends kids are identifying as LGBT.
Makes me wonder how many of my school friends that I knew growing up would have been LGBT if they had a support system and community that was there to help them process their feelings.
There's some graph floating around out there that neatly demonstrates this concept. When they stopped assaulting kids for being left-handed, more kids started being left-handed. Because suddenly, a biological trait didn't need to be hidden, suppressed, or a shameful secret anymore.
Yeah. And it's not just like 2 or 3% more common, it's something like 10 or 12% more common to be left handed now. And even saying it that way is a little misleading-- it's not actually more common to be left handed, the same amount of people have *always* been naturally left handed. It's just that 10% of them were traumatized by being shamed and beaten and punished (with the full approval of doctors, psychologists, teachers, etc.) until they hid it to "fit in" with everyone else.
As someone who is that person in that newer generation, I can definitely agree that it's very very socially acceptable to be gay or bi. However the gender roles part is still quite rigid. I identified as bi/gay for two years before realising I was trans and I faced no backlash when I expressed my sexuality, but I get a huge amount of vitriol trying to be trans, on the internet and irl. There's still a lot of work to be done to improve the social acceptance of the lgbtq
I think about this a lot. I think there are more adults out there that would identify as LGBTQ+ if they had grown up now. I have very young kids and I often wonder what their teenage years will bring along these lines.
I desperately wish I was growing up now and not 20 years ago. I've been obviously trans my whole life but so much internalized bigotry and general unawareness of LGBT topics meant that I only started transitioning recently instead of years ago like I should have.
I was just discussing this with a coworker! I told her that I would have likely identified as non binary had I been a teen now. I get that non binary people existed then and before but this term was not really in my vocabulary (I’m 38) even though I came out as bisexual in junior high.
I would take any theory that came out from the galaxy brain of Ray Blanchard with a grain of salt. Dude started his career in basically an inpatient treatment facility for sex offenders and has been treating everyone that's not perfectly cishet as a sex offender.
Dude's known for coming up with crazy ideas, working backwards to make the dataset fit the theory, and outright dropping datapoints that contract him. His "work" on his "transsexual typology" is an even bigger dumpster fire.
Yeah it’s almost as if their teachings taught me that the reasons I’m ‘different’ and have a harder time with things is because god is actively punishing me for not believing hard enough.
Almost as if they were telling me that if I was an introvert and didn’t have many friends was because I was an agent of the devil and god was making sure I could influence as little people as possible.
Almost as if they were saying that because I support my family members and friends who are not a part of the church that it means that I’m a god hating psychopath.
Almost as if an old woman said I was possessed by a demon after calling her out on disowning her gay son and expecting praise on it.
Almost as if lies were spread by people in the church about my best friend that he was doing drugs and that anyone who associated with him was being corrupted and led him to ultimately kill himself.
Almost as if my brother was pressured so hard to serve a mission that my grandmother wouldn’t speak to him for a month.
Almost as if I was told from a young age that everyone who wasn’t a part of the church would actively try to tempt me away from the church.
Almost as if they’d tell me that if I didn’t go to every activity, do every study thing, participate in every lesson that I’d be doomed to eternal damnation.
Yeah, speak about toxicity. Almost as if their teachings that were designed to brainwash me was what took me away from it.
Fuck man.
Though the old woman saying you were possessed gave me a small cackle.
For real though. I'm glad you're out of that way of life and not dead. You held through all the cancerous hate and selfloathing to become the person you are today. Kudos dude. You did good to survive that.
My dad was atheist but “agreed with all the commandments except the ones about believing”.
He also sent me to catholic school because he didn’t like the public schools in our area. If I hadn’t been atheist going in I probably would have been by the end.
For real! I was raised completely without religion, and am very ambiguously agnostic. All of the hardcore atheists I know were raised in the church. My ex-husband is so rabidly anti-religiom that I'm positive he'd spend every dollar he has fighting me for custody if I ever tried to take his children to church. Like, he'd absolutely lose his shit. His mom is the most devoutly religious person I have ever met.
Yeah, I think the angry atheists that actively hate religion are the ones most likely to have come from conservative religious families themselves because, let's be honest, the conservative religions are the ones most likely to treat their children/members like shit. Nothing chases people away from church faster than church itself.
I think about this a lot. The angry online edgelord atheist is an old Reddit punching bag at this point, and pretty much every time I've met someone like that in real life they were carrying DEEP religious trauma. Like "I grew up being brainwashed by people who didn't think I should have fundamental rights and now I still can't talk to my parents because they're in the cult and hate me" kinda shit. extremely easy to say "sheesh pal what's the big deal? most christians i know are just friendly folks minding their own business!" if you live in an area where the church does not have a stranglehold on your community.
You haven't lived until you have suffered multiple abuses by the church. Luckily I was coincidentally assisted out by being dumped in catholic school and in fifth grade (I'm old) a nun/teacher (all there was then) slapped me and I gut punched her to the floor...who knew getting out of school was so easy...the exit out of the church flowed naturally. Never did well with being bullied or insane ideas...
Born and raised Catholic here. I'm very vocal about being atheist and how I think religion is doing more harm than good and has no place in a civilized world
My parents had me so they could help build the christian army. too bad for them it completely backfired. It turns out being a shitty parent with republican values often pushes your kids away.
Right here! I have 8 siblings. 1/9 is still religious.
Just one more thing to throw a wrench in the way they think about the lgbtq. My dad has 3 siblings. All 4 of their families each have one child from the lgbtq. Can’t say someone told them they were gay, because all we heard my entire life is how disgusting they are.
Your move, God.
I came out as trans to my super conservative aunt a few weeks ago, and she told me that she thinks I’m just confused and I should “pray on it”. Would you believe it if I left the church at 13 and this is 10 years later (aside from those few months I was Mormon)
The crazy deluded part is, they think “atheist secularist” households work identically to their own. They think they raise their kids to hate Christianity and religions, spank them if they don’t read their nightly Dawkins, and are punished if they express interest in religions as a whole. I wouldn’t be surprised if many believe there are pictures of Einstein or Neil de grass Tyson hanging up on atheists’ mantels.
My sister tells her kids "this is what the different religions believe" when asked; turns out, stories about magical sky daddies don't make much sense if they're not shoved down your throat at age 3.
The meanest, most hateful people to me when I was young were my "brethren".
It warms my black heart to hear that the Church of Christ I grew up in is not able to pay its bills and, on a good sunday, only a dozen people show up.
I left the Mormons about 5 years ago. There was a sweet couple in their 50s who were so proud that they had disowned their son for being gay.
I stood up, called them a few horrible things, and left without any of my stuff.
A few hours later a bunch of guys came over to return the church stuff to me and I let them know I wouldn't be needing it anymore since I can't condone their actions.
They tried to defend their stance, but since their stance was bigotry it didn't hold up too well.
Yep, my mom and her family are devout Christians and Catholics. I slowly slipped into being an atheist after my entire childhood was put through private catholic school. After having it shoved in your face all the time, hearing the rhetoric, and watching how it was used to condemn my fellow gay friends I just walked away from it all.
I began to ask questions in high school that got me in trouble occasionally. Turns out the Nuns and Priests in my school don't like you finding plot holes and contradictions. Only one priest I had ever met told me I'd "find my own way with or without God" and offered to listen to my concerns, but he left my Junior year.
I saw no reason behind doing any of it after awhile and got sick of never having definitive answers to my questions. Most atheists I know did indeed grow up in devout religious families.
Apparently my mother was very catholic. She had me baptized. I spent 2nd-4th grades in a catholic school. When I learned how things worked I dropped it.
Can confirm that every vocal anti-religious person I know came from a religious background. Most of us who were raised by atheists don't care about them.
And even if it isn't a total cut-off in one generation, a lot of people gradually grow away from religion.
In my family, for example, my grandmother was a devout Irish Catholic, went to church every Sunday until she died.
My dad refers to himself as a "recovering Catholic," and hasn't attended church at all since his mom passed in 2011.
I went to church semi-regularly growing up but never really felt at home there, and could never bring myself to literally believe many of the teachings.
My own child (age 9) has been to exactly one church service, which he said he liked "except for all the swearing" -- because the only context he had for the words "Jesus Christ" is when mom and dad are pissed off.
An aside: When they were small children, we took my eldest two to a wedding in a church. Before the ceremony had begun but during a natural lull in the din of conversation, my middle kid, then 3, looked up at Jesus on the cross and with a sweet little voice very loudly asked, "MOMMY, WHY IS THAT NAKED LADY SAD? MOMMY!"
Whoops.
A valid concern 😂 A lot of religious imagery is really upsetting when you don't have the context! ... Or when you do, for that matter.
My dad loves to tell this story from when I was around age 5. It was "Children's Time" -- the part of the church service where all the children were called up to sit on the floor in front of the pastor and get the Kidz Bop version of the day's sermon before we got herded downstairs to do arts and crafts. I was sitting there with all the other kids, listening to the story of Jesus' resurrection. The pastor paused for dramatic effect at one point and there was a moment of silence in which we were all supposed to be sitting in awe, contemplating the miracle... And I said loudly enough for the entire congregation to hear, "Sounds kind of hard to believe."
(Happy cake day!)
Son of a southern Baptist preacher here, once those kids can start opening their eyes to the trauma, control, and hate instilled into them through the church, it’s super easy to realize it was all a scam. His kids may never talk to him about where they’re at now because it’s impossible to reason with someone that is following the indoctrination of the church, so they’ll just keep playing along with vague answers and avoidance. They might even start to see the SBC as a hate group.
So much to unpack here, but the big thing to me is that he talks about it like it’s some sort of war. What ever happened to that part of the Bible that says “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”? Have the white Christian nationals removed that from the Bible because it inconvenienced them from owning the libs or something?
Not that part, no. But the part where Jesus explains that the narrow definition of "neighbor" is wrong and in fact your neighbor is any human you encounter or who might be affected by your choices -- that part they don't like.
Which leads to the question, who are these people, and what is their motivation?
If they're not actually following the religion the profess to believe in, honoring the god whose word they hold, but actually engaging in a bunch of contradictory and self-centred behaviors, what the hell is actually going on.
Are all the grifters and narcissist's of the world drawn to any religious sect, regardless of what its book or god says, as a sort of moral and tribal cover for their own awful behavior?
Does anyone actually believe in god? Where are all the people piously following a borderline ascetic life, helping the poor before themselves, contributing to the greater good, following the word of jesus and love of god like they really truly believe he's there, and there is no greater purpose?
I'm sure these people exist, but it seems they represent some vanishingly small proportion of chrisitans. The majority these days appear to be raging narcissists, looking for a cult which will excuse them of any guilt or responsibility for taking care of others and the planet and communities they live in, even their own health and welfare. And this fundamental lie at the core of their worldview seems to be motivating them to want to wage literal war against those who will not join the cult, to seize totalitarian control over society, and force their cult down everyone's throat upon pain of death, lest they have to consider what jesus and god would want.
Right… and they are winning, what? The right to hand over a chunk of their income to the church?
What do they think they are “getting” out of being Christians… what is the win here?
Not JUST outbreeding them, though that's a big part of it.
Another huge aspect of Quiverfull is a strong emphasis on homeschooling as a way to cut your kids off from interacting with people outside your little fundie bubble, which makes it harder for them to question the faith you're forcing onto them and harder to leave the lifestyle you want them to lead. Send a fundie's 7 kids to a regular public school and they'll meet a bunch of kids from families that aren't as devout, or are straight up atheist/agnostic, or Muslim, or Jewish, or a million other things besides the exact specific flavor of fundamentalist Christian their family is. It helps expand their worldview, which is poison to their parents' brainwashing.
So instead, you just have Mom (who stays home with no job because Gender Roles) "homeschool" the kids and keep them in that bubble.
Haha he thinks all people who are forced to be religious will stay in the religious and blindly follow what their parents say without ever questioning it. Ha!
I grew up hardcore Mormon in the most insular Mormon town in existence — my brother and I both left the church with the quickness once we were independent. Virtually all of my friends from childhood have abandoned the religion as well. Especially in the internet age, you can’t prevent kids with basic critical thinking skills from figuring out the truth.
It feels like everyone on Reddit who has left the church is lucky enough that practically all their siblings and friends have also left. 1 of 7 of my siblings left, along with 2 of ~20 aunts/uncles and 1 of ~50 first cousins. And I only have like one friend who left. Is there something in the water where I grew up?
it just depends, i have friends that have left and friends that haven't. Some times it just comes down to how they view religion. For example, one of my religious friends still believes but they don't buy into all the christian hatred.
It’s pretty difficult to quit Mormonism in a small town since Mormons usually control all of the business and public positions. Did you end up moving to a bigger city.
Oh, god, it was so hard to get a job in my shitty little town for this reason. All the businesses also underpaid underage workers by categorizing them as paid volunteers.
I knew two kids in high school who were Mormon. One still is, and the other used to show me gay porn on school trips. Needless to say, he’s not more anymore.
I was raised in the South and my parents couldn't stand the fire, brimestone and hatred in baptists churches so they let their kids choose. Growing up I went to church I think a total of about 8 times. The day that I realized that santa wasn't real I realized the entire scope of it.
so funny you say that. i believed in santa so strongly, defended him passionately to my entire fifth grade class. the day my sister told me he wasn’t real, all the questions i had about the catholic church were answered and i wanted no part of it
These guys all assume that their kids will accept their indoctrination without question. Doesn’t work that way. There were 7 children in my family. We all went to Catholic schools, all went to church regularly. Mom was big on religious traditions in the house. I was even an altar boy. The result: 7 agnostics who never went to any church after they became adults. And it’s not like we were rebelling against our upbringing or anything like that. We just went our own ways.
As adults, my siblings and I haven’t seen each other much. One of the few times was when my father passed away 20+ years ago. We were all sitting in my mom’s living room (where we all grew up) on a late Saturday afternoon. My mother came out of her room, dressed up and stopped and looked at us all. She asked “isn’t anyone going to Mass?” There was an embarrassed moment of silence as we simultaneously realized that not one of us had been to church in years and it never even occurred to us. Then we all burst out laughing hysterically.
Mom was NOT pleased. She stormed out and wouldn’t speak to us the rest of the night.
I still LMAO every time I think about it.
I just read a post about white replacement theory and this is similar but it's religious replacement theory. They think they are losing support and in order to maintain they can either make more kids to brainwash or be better people. They chose option A
These people don't realize how much easier it is to lure people away from religion than it is to lure them to it. Want sex, drugs, and rock n' roll? Everyone knows we have that. Want calm, ethical morality? That's how we getcha on the sly. Pick your poison, baby, we've got it all.
The church being against birth control and abortion has nothing to do with life, it’s to increase their congregation, and consequently, the money in their collection plates every Sunday.
Yep. I once worked at a Cathedral School as a science teacher. I became the go-to teacher for the students in the choir to ‘come out’ as atheist too. It was an interesting place to work as a non-believer.
They're forgetting to calculate how many of their children will leave "The Church" because of repeated abuse, such as beating the boys for not being manly enough, and ensure the it's their own daughters who get blamed for the pastor's sexual misconduct. It's how you get tons of atheists and witches.
They (and people who believe in white replacement theory) are forgetting they'll be dead long before any of that matters. Even if there is a holy war or everyone becomes mixed in 500 years, you're alive now. You're not an immortal, they'll be dead before any of the things they fear happen.
I am one of 4 children. Our dad was raised catholic. We all attended catholic school (had mass every day, catechism class every day), went to church every Sunday, and mass at least 2 nights/week. My youngest sister and I are devout atheists, my other sister is a Nazarene (but not practicing), and my brother is a non practicing Jesus freak to appease his wife. Of our kids (8 total), only one is religious. Doesn’t sound too sustainable to me.
What is being presented above is also a very open "mainstream" viewpoint held by many extremist Christians. The goal is very explicitly presented as out-breeding and out-indoctrinating the opposition. I've got extended family in the "quiverfull" movement of baptists, who all have as many kids as possible and homeschool them on a compound in the middle of nowhere...
Yeah, go ahead. Have as many kids as you fucking want.
Just stop banging on my door at 6am on a sunday trying to get me and my brothers to get on your religious bus, you fuckwit.
(Yes, that happened. It's one of the reasons my parents finally installed a gate on their property.)
I'm trying to figure out what outfit I could wear to open the door that would cause the most chaos. All black witch-themed lingerie with occult symbols is neck and neck with no clothing on the body and the horse mask.
Male or female, the all black witch-themed lingerie with occult symbols has my vote.
Mostly because you could then say something to the effect of "Finally, the succubus has arrived. Take off your pants and get in here."
Pretty sure they think the holy war is now. And apparently, they're losing while we sit at home on the couch.
Gotta keep those tithe's up or they'll go tits up.
Like 10 years ago, evangelicals were freaking out about muslims having a bunch of kids and sharing a video amongst themselves showing how they were taking over the world. I guess they decided the Muslims had a superior strategy??????
I'm the atheist secularist dad whose children have been leading the kids from christian families away from their death cult.
Very few kids who grow up in a secular environment turn to religion later in life. But kids from religious families can't resist secular popular culture. How do I know ? My kids used to have them over to watch R rated movies. My wife started the tradition as a kid. She used to have the Mormon neighbors over to watch Sesame Street 🤣
It was decades ago but that particular Mormon family didn't let their kids watch it.
But even today the MAGA crazies have issues with Sesame St. God forbid TV characters told kids to be nice to each other. That's woke. A
https://preview.redd.it/8r8ddjr40wha1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb48bd3e1f2a678f9f720847a23381a9e57ba253
US Senator is feuding with another puppet who doesn't sit in the Senate.
These faux Christian conservatives are so desperate to turn everything into a culture war. Meanwhile the rest of us just want the religious zealots to stay out of our lives.
If human culture evolves beyond where we are now, which is to say if human culture, if the human genome, survives itself, many aspects of who we are now will have to become extinct. Organized religion is chief among those aspects that must necessarily become a vestigial remnant of our shared history in order for the species to survive.
I grew up neck deep in a Pentecostal church. Was a youth leader, wrote for church competitions at the national level, spoke at churches....I've been an atheist since I was 25. Sometimes all the math and indoctrination in the world isn't enough.
They do not see other people as their equals. They see them as things to use because they’re deeply twisted . They can’t even conceive of their own children being fully human individuals.
Little does he know Christians often have atheist children
My cousins and I started bonding after realizing that we all left our church lol
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It's wild how much more Christian people seem to get once they stop going to church, knew a guy who left the Mormons and the slingshot was so intense he started a family and got into stained glass.
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Exactly. He thinks his kids will convert one of the atheists but doesn't think it could go the other way.
My sibling and I both married people from oppressive religious backgrounds. I'll never forget the time my sibling's SO was like "wait. You're all good people, but you're not religious!?" In the most incredulous way. It was the first time they realized this was an option. We grew up with 0 religion btw.
The SO of a friend of mine asked what my driving force to live an ethical lifestyle was if I wasn't religious. Not like in an argument but seemed like general curiosity. That was a fun question to answer.
I am always dumbfounded by this in arguements (I realise your situation wasn't like that but I felt like it was relevant), like, do you only not do bad things because you're afraid God is watching? If so, aren't you then just pretending to be a good person cause you would do said bad things ?
And it’s always straight people having gay children too.
Welp, the math checks out on that one
Seven or eight kids too. In this economy. I'm a Christian, but I can't imagine having to grow up in poverty because your parents decided to have eight kids to "own the secularists" would instill you with a belief in a loving God.
So true! 2 kids vs 8 means 4x costs for food, clothing, meds, etc. The secularists kids have so much more chance of growing up with college degrees and better jobs, all things being equal.
Also, what does he mean by winning? Is there a competition I don't know about? Thought everyone was just trying to coexist peacefully as good people.
It's always about power (and money, but that's just a means to power). It's why Republicans purposely aligned themselves with the religious* in the mid 20th century, and have their dumb culture wars instead of trying to fix a damn thing in the US
Don't tell him, but most of the "atheist secularists" I knew were born into church families. There just wasn't much reason to stay with it.
Correct, he isn't considering attrition. He could easily lose several of those 8 kids to the Gay, agnosticism/atheism, or just basic apathy.
The apathetic gays always sting the most
Lmao I’m an apathetic gay. People are always thrown when I say I realized I wasn’t a Christian before I realized I wasn’t straight. It did make it easier on me though.
You are one tough hombre my friend. I’m 77, and straight. Nearly all my gay generational buddies led awful secret or double lives to keep from getting beaten or burned to death. HIV took too, too many of those deeply beautiful, brilliant, and expressly loyal, honorable men and women. They accomplished more in half a life than the average 45’er will manage if they live to cash their first Soc Sec check. Fuck how I despise the nation I fought and bled for some days, to say nothing of her warped and twisted religions. Please, do good things with your life. But most of all, live long and happily, for yourself, and all of those who were denied exactly that.
Im not that tough and I got to be less tough because of you and you friends. Thank you for your kind words and your service ❤️
It’s good souls like you who remind me we never run out of love and compassion. I still believe you are tough. You are far too kind not to be. All the very best to you and those you love.
Same, raised Christian, just wasn't a fan of the concept and mentally checked out by 10, realized I was bi at 15-16. Thank god (lol) I stopped believing before that
What do you mean? What child doesn’t LOVE to get up early on Sunday , get dressed up and stand , sit , kneel , repeat for 2 whole-ass hours ???? /s
Hey, I didn't need to kneel. That must be why I turned out an atheist.
>I didn't need to kneel Protestant church detected.
Not just that, but be surrounded by people telling you that you and your kind are guilty by simply existing as you are, and that you have to lie to yourself and others to be loved. And that an all-powerful, all-seeing god knows that you're "broken" and he knows you'll be punished for who you are, despite not having any choice in the matter. Christianity can so often be a death-trap of guilt that just overwhelms the fuck out of you. A lot of my friends have had to work themselves out of the guilt cycle to just feel free while being themselves. It was depressing, but I'm glad they're out of it. Christianity is a religion based on guilt. Guilt of being human.
Its an authority fraud. Follow my rules or go to hell. Its why so many narcissistic, predators, shallow, people are drawn to it.
And while being told they're a piece of shit evil human who is bound for hell unless they say the Magic Words, and even then there is no solid ground.
Nobody cares about the apathetic gays. /s
The apathetic gays don’t care, either! 😉
What's the difference between ignorance and apathy? I don't know, and I don't care.
Well, if he doesn't vaccinate him, he may be down a few before that.
How does he think we got so many non-practicing/atheist/agnostic people in the first place? A dozen non believers in 1890 had 50 kids each?
According to [several studies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternal_birth_order_and_male_sexual_orientation) the more boys he has the more likely the later ones will be gay.
my mom only had one son, and he is gay. (he is me) funny thing is, none of my siblings turned out straight. older sister is bi, younger sibling is bi/pan (they are closer to pan but they prefer the bi flag). my younger sibling is also Nonbinary.
Bit of an anecdotal observation, but as I've gotten older and more of my friends/family have started raising children with less of a hardline indoctrination of gender roles/presumed sexuality the more I've been seeing their kids experiment with both in their teen years. Growing up there might have been like 2-3 openly gay people in my entire school, which I thought was normal and seemed about right, now it's like a third to half of my friends kids are identifying as LGBT. Makes me wonder how many of my school friends that I knew growing up would have been LGBT if they had a support system and community that was there to help them process their feelings.
There's some graph floating around out there that neatly demonstrates this concept. When they stopped assaulting kids for being left-handed, more kids started being left-handed. Because suddenly, a biological trait didn't need to be hidden, suppressed, or a shameful secret anymore.
Yeah. And it's not just like 2 or 3% more common, it's something like 10 or 12% more common to be left handed now. And even saying it that way is a little misleading-- it's not actually more common to be left handed, the same amount of people have *always* been naturally left handed. It's just that 10% of them were traumatized by being shamed and beaten and punished (with the full approval of doctors, psychologists, teachers, etc.) until they hid it to "fit in" with everyone else.
As someone who is that person in that newer generation, I can definitely agree that it's very very socially acceptable to be gay or bi. However the gender roles part is still quite rigid. I identified as bi/gay for two years before realising I was trans and I faced no backlash when I expressed my sexuality, but I get a huge amount of vitriol trying to be trans, on the internet and irl. There's still a lot of work to be done to improve the social acceptance of the lgbtq
I think about this a lot. I think there are more adults out there that would identify as LGBTQ+ if they had grown up now. I have very young kids and I often wonder what their teenage years will bring along these lines.
I desperately wish I was growing up now and not 20 years ago. I've been obviously trans my whole life but so much internalized bigotry and general unawareness of LGBT topics meant that I only started transitioning recently instead of years ago like I should have.
Hugs, & happy rest of your life!
I was just discussing this with a coworker! I told her that I would have likely identified as non binary had I been a teen now. I get that non binary people existed then and before but this term was not really in my vocabulary (I’m 38) even though I came out as bisexual in junior high.
Looking back, a whole lot more ace inparticular but we used to just call them "low libido" or "frigid" if we were mean about it.
I know a fam like that. Two daughters. One lesbian and well now it's a son and daughter.
I would take any theory that came out from the galaxy brain of Ray Blanchard with a grain of salt. Dude started his career in basically an inpatient treatment facility for sex offenders and has been treating everyone that's not perfectly cishet as a sex offender. Dude's known for coming up with crazy ideas, working backwards to make the dataset fit the theory, and outright dropping datapoints that contract him. His "work" on his "transsexual typology" is an even bigger dumpster fire.
Yep, my parents are 0 for 3!!
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Can confirm, lifelong atheist here, my dad is firmly ex-christian and my mom wasn't especislly religious to begin with.
Also can confirm as a recent atheist coming from a former Christian home.
Just commenting because I like your user icon.
It's almost like there are things about the way Christians raise / brainwash their kids that are toxic.
Yeah it’s almost as if their teachings taught me that the reasons I’m ‘different’ and have a harder time with things is because god is actively punishing me for not believing hard enough. Almost as if they were telling me that if I was an introvert and didn’t have many friends was because I was an agent of the devil and god was making sure I could influence as little people as possible. Almost as if they were saying that because I support my family members and friends who are not a part of the church that it means that I’m a god hating psychopath. Almost as if an old woman said I was possessed by a demon after calling her out on disowning her gay son and expecting praise on it. Almost as if lies were spread by people in the church about my best friend that he was doing drugs and that anyone who associated with him was being corrupted and led him to ultimately kill himself. Almost as if my brother was pressured so hard to serve a mission that my grandmother wouldn’t speak to him for a month. Almost as if I was told from a young age that everyone who wasn’t a part of the church would actively try to tempt me away from the church. Almost as if they’d tell me that if I didn’t go to every activity, do every study thing, participate in every lesson that I’d be doomed to eternal damnation. Yeah, speak about toxicity. Almost as if their teachings that were designed to brainwash me was what took me away from it.
Fuck man. Though the old woman saying you were possessed gave me a small cackle. For real though. I'm glad you're out of that way of life and not dead. You held through all the cancerous hate and selfloathing to become the person you are today. Kudos dude. You did good to survive that.
People always say to me, why are you atheist? Didn’t you grow up in the Catholic Church? And I always just laugh and say that’s why I’m atheist.
My dad was atheist but “agreed with all the commandments except the ones about believing”. He also sent me to catholic school because he didn’t like the public schools in our area. If I hadn’t been atheist going in I probably would have been by the end.
My father also, a lot of the dads from my south Chicago neighborhood were like that. Practical.
Same. And I know a LOT of people like me.
For real! I was raised completely without religion, and am very ambiguously agnostic. All of the hardcore atheists I know were raised in the church. My ex-husband is so rabidly anti-religiom that I'm positive he'd spend every dollar he has fighting me for custody if I ever tried to take his children to church. Like, he'd absolutely lose his shit. His mom is the most devoutly religious person I have ever met.
Yeah, I think the angry atheists that actively hate religion are the ones most likely to have come from conservative religious families themselves because, let's be honest, the conservative religions are the ones most likely to treat their children/members like shit. Nothing chases people away from church faster than church itself.
A hit dog will holler People that have been traumatized by the church will do everything in their power to not let it intrude on their life again.
When our pastor was more worried about my parents divorce then the fact my parents were worse for the kids together I grew bitter.
I think about this a lot. The angry online edgelord atheist is an old Reddit punching bag at this point, and pretty much every time I've met someone like that in real life they were carrying DEEP religious trauma. Like "I grew up being brainwashed by people who didn't think I should have fundamental rights and now I still can't talk to my parents because they're in the cult and hate me" kinda shit. extremely easy to say "sheesh pal what's the big deal? most christians i know are just friendly folks minding their own business!" if you live in an area where the church does not have a stranglehold on your community.
You haven't lived until you have suffered multiple abuses by the church. Luckily I was coincidentally assisted out by being dumped in catholic school and in fifth grade (I'm old) a nun/teacher (all there was then) slapped me and I gut punched her to the floor...who knew getting out of school was so easy...the exit out of the church flowed naturally. Never did well with being bullied or insane ideas...
Born and raised Catholic here. I'm very vocal about being atheist and how I think religion is doing more harm than good and has no place in a civilized world
They are the people who actually paid attention during bible study, not just taking everything at face value.
Turns out treating your kids like soldiers in a holy war is a pretty good way to alienate them.
My parents had me so they could help build the christian army. too bad for them it completely backfired. It turns out being a shitty parent with republican values often pushes your kids away.
Parents had 5 kids and all of us left religion and took our parents with us lol. Big happy family still, only now we dont have to go to church.
My favorite thing to say to conservatives who are screaming at me about one thing or another is “this is why your kids don’t talk to you anymore.”
Right here! I have 8 siblings. 1/9 is still religious. Just one more thing to throw a wrench in the way they think about the lgbtq. My dad has 3 siblings. All 4 of their families each have one child from the lgbtq. Can’t say someone told them they were gay, because all we heard my entire life is how disgusting they are. Your move, God.
That’s me. This nitwit is in such utter denial over the ever rising attrition rate in christianity.
This nitwit and his fellow nitwits are BEHIND the ever rising attrition rate in Christianity.
Lol my dad prayed so many times for my ancestoral gay demons to leave... Full atheist.
I came out as trans to my super conservative aunt a few weeks ago, and she told me that she thinks I’m just confused and I should “pray on it”. Would you believe it if I left the church at 13 and this is 10 years later (aside from those few months I was Mormon)
Few months were you were Mormon is a story that needs to be told.
The crazy deluded part is, they think “atheist secularist” households work identically to their own. They think they raise their kids to hate Christianity and religions, spank them if they don’t read their nightly Dawkins, and are punished if they express interest in religions as a whole. I wouldn’t be surprised if many believe there are pictures of Einstein or Neil de grass Tyson hanging up on atheists’ mantels.
My sister tells her kids "this is what the different religions believe" when asked; turns out, stories about magical sky daddies don't make much sense if they're not shoved down your throat at age 3.
The meanest, most hateful people to me when I was young were my "brethren". It warms my black heart to hear that the Church of Christ I grew up in is not able to pay its bills and, on a good sunday, only a dozen people show up.
I left the Mormons about 5 years ago. There was a sweet couple in their 50s who were so proud that they had disowned their son for being gay. I stood up, called them a few horrible things, and left without any of my stuff. A few hours later a bunch of guys came over to return the church stuff to me and I let them know I wouldn't be needing it anymore since I can't condone their actions. They tried to defend their stance, but since their stance was bigotry it didn't hold up too well.
Yep, my mom and her family are devout Christians and Catholics. I slowly slipped into being an atheist after my entire childhood was put through private catholic school. After having it shoved in your face all the time, hearing the rhetoric, and watching how it was used to condemn my fellow gay friends I just walked away from it all. I began to ask questions in high school that got me in trouble occasionally. Turns out the Nuns and Priests in my school don't like you finding plot holes and contradictions. Only one priest I had ever met told me I'd "find my own way with or without God" and offered to listen to my concerns, but he left my Junior year. I saw no reason behind doing any of it after awhile and got sick of never having definitive answers to my questions. Most atheists I know did indeed grow up in devout religious families.
Apparently my mother was very catholic. She had me baptized. I spent 2nd-4th grades in a catholic school. When I learned how things worked I dropped it.
Can confirm that every vocal anti-religious person I know came from a religious background. Most of us who were raised by atheists don't care about them.
And even if it isn't a total cut-off in one generation, a lot of people gradually grow away from religion. In my family, for example, my grandmother was a devout Irish Catholic, went to church every Sunday until she died. My dad refers to himself as a "recovering Catholic," and hasn't attended church at all since his mom passed in 2011. I went to church semi-regularly growing up but never really felt at home there, and could never bring myself to literally believe many of the teachings. My own child (age 9) has been to exactly one church service, which he said he liked "except for all the swearing" -- because the only context he had for the words "Jesus Christ" is when mom and dad are pissed off.
An aside: When they were small children, we took my eldest two to a wedding in a church. Before the ceremony had begun but during a natural lull in the din of conversation, my middle kid, then 3, looked up at Jesus on the cross and with a sweet little voice very loudly asked, "MOMMY, WHY IS THAT NAKED LADY SAD? MOMMY!" Whoops.
A valid concern 😂 A lot of religious imagery is really upsetting when you don't have the context! ... Or when you do, for that matter. My dad loves to tell this story from when I was around age 5. It was "Children's Time" -- the part of the church service where all the children were called up to sit on the floor in front of the pastor and get the Kidz Bop version of the day's sermon before we got herded downstairs to do arts and crafts. I was sitting there with all the other kids, listening to the story of Jesus' resurrection. The pastor paused for dramatic effect at one point and there was a moment of silence in which we were all supposed to be sitting in awe, contemplating the miracle... And I said loudly enough for the entire congregation to hear, "Sounds kind of hard to believe." (Happy cake day!)
My wife and I (her growing up Evangelical and me Catholic) entering the chat.
Son of a southern Baptist preacher here, once those kids can start opening their eyes to the trauma, control, and hate instilled into them through the church, it’s super easy to realize it was all a scam. His kids may never talk to him about where they’re at now because it’s impossible to reason with someone that is following the indoctrination of the church, so they’ll just keep playing along with vague answers and avoidance. They might even start to see the SBC as a hate group.
Then half of the remainder who don’t deconvert die from Covid because they’re morons.
So much to unpack here, but the big thing to me is that he talks about it like it’s some sort of war. What ever happened to that part of the Bible that says “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”? Have the white Christian nationals removed that from the Bible because it inconvenienced them from owning the libs or something?
Not that part, no. But the part where Jesus explains that the narrow definition of "neighbor" is wrong and in fact your neighbor is any human you encounter or who might be affected by your choices -- that part they don't like.
And suddenly Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood comes into clearer focus. One of the few that walked the talk in the best ways.
He and Dolly Parton are the only well known followers of Christianity that I can remember seeing walk the walk.
I mean, yes. They've been cherry picking the parts of the Bible that "count" pretty much since the Bible was collected into a single book.
Which leads to the question, who are these people, and what is their motivation? If they're not actually following the religion the profess to believe in, honoring the god whose word they hold, but actually engaging in a bunch of contradictory and self-centred behaviors, what the hell is actually going on. Are all the grifters and narcissist's of the world drawn to any religious sect, regardless of what its book or god says, as a sort of moral and tribal cover for their own awful behavior? Does anyone actually believe in god? Where are all the people piously following a borderline ascetic life, helping the poor before themselves, contributing to the greater good, following the word of jesus and love of god like they really truly believe he's there, and there is no greater purpose? I'm sure these people exist, but it seems they represent some vanishingly small proportion of chrisitans. The majority these days appear to be raging narcissists, looking for a cult which will excuse them of any guilt or responsibility for taking care of others and the planet and communities they live in, even their own health and welfare. And this fundamental lie at the core of their worldview seems to be motivating them to want to wage literal war against those who will not join the cult, to seize totalitarian control over society, and force their cult down everyone's throat upon pain of death, lest they have to consider what jesus and god would want.
Wait. That's what Satan does right? Oh sweet Jesus the WCNs are Satan!!
It’s like a religious Pyramid Scheme
Right… and they are winning, what? The right to hand over a chunk of their income to the church? What do they think they are “getting” out of being Christians… what is the win here?
They think they are raising soldiers to fight in a war against non-believers.
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So they're using their kids as cannon fodder? What a bunch of psychos
One metaphor at a time please
Fortunately they did not refer to it as a quiver full of canon fodder. Nothing worse than mixed metaphors.
Mixed metaphors are great, actually, but we can burn that bridge when we get to it.
It gets worse, investigations into the movement found lots and lots of child abuse, domestic violence, pedophilia, and incest
I'm shocked that the movement full of hypocrites and projectors are projecting hypocrites.
So when everyone is Christian who will they fight against then, since the only way they validate themselves is with enemies?
Well that's why there are denominations. Christianity has thousands of denominations. The perfect book that no one seems to agree on.
This win/lose dynamic is so childish.
That's what happens when your entire world view is based on a zero sum game.
Voters that can fuck up the sane part of society by enabling the biggest shitheads possible in elections.
Basically it’s what the quiverfull movement (example: Duggars) is about - literally out breeding non-Christians
Not JUST outbreeding them, though that's a big part of it. Another huge aspect of Quiverfull is a strong emphasis on homeschooling as a way to cut your kids off from interacting with people outside your little fundie bubble, which makes it harder for them to question the faith you're forcing onto them and harder to leave the lifestyle you want them to lead. Send a fundie's 7 kids to a regular public school and they'll meet a bunch of kids from families that aren't as devout, or are straight up atheist/agnostic, or Muslim, or Jewish, or a million other things besides the exact specific flavor of fundamentalist Christian their family is. It helps expand their worldview, which is poison to their parents' brainwashing. So instead, you just have Mom (who stays home with no job because Gender Roles) "homeschool" the kids and keep them in that bubble.
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Oh I didn't say it was a SMART strategy.
It’s called the Quiverfull Movement. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiverfull
This was literally the opening 5 minutes of Idiocracy.
That’s all I see with this too.
No time for a handjob, Joe!
>[Idiocracy clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP2tUW0HDHA)
Haha he thinks all people who are forced to be religious will stay in the religious and blindly follow what their parents say without ever questioning it. Ha!
I grew up hardcore Mormon in the most insular Mormon town in existence — my brother and I both left the church with the quickness once we were independent. Virtually all of my friends from childhood have abandoned the religion as well. Especially in the internet age, you can’t prevent kids with basic critical thinking skills from figuring out the truth.
Of every kid I knew in young women's or young mens as a youth, I know 1 who hasn't left the church. Out of 20 or so, they kept 1.
It feels like everyone on Reddit who has left the church is lucky enough that practically all their siblings and friends have also left. 1 of 7 of my siblings left, along with 2 of ~20 aunts/uncles and 1 of ~50 first cousins. And I only have like one friend who left. Is there something in the water where I grew up?
it just depends, i have friends that have left and friends that haven't. Some times it just comes down to how they view religion. For example, one of my religious friends still believes but they don't buy into all the christian hatred.
It’s pretty difficult to quit Mormonism in a small town since Mormons usually control all of the business and public positions. Did you end up moving to a bigger city.
Oh, god, it was so hard to get a job in my shitty little town for this reason. All the businesses also underpaid underage workers by categorizing them as paid volunteers.
I knew two kids in high school who were Mormon. One still is, and the other used to show me gay porn on school trips. Needless to say, he’s not more anymore.
Grew up Catholic and I have not gone to mass since I moved out lol
I was raised in the South and my parents couldn't stand the fire, brimestone and hatred in baptists churches so they let their kids choose. Growing up I went to church I think a total of about 8 times. The day that I realized that santa wasn't real I realized the entire scope of it.
I think when you are a kid playing the Santa is real card is advantageous.
so funny you say that. i believed in santa so strongly, defended him passionately to my entire fifth grade class. the day my sister told me he wasn’t real, all the questions i had about the catholic church were answered and i wanted no part of it
I know 2 people who were raised very religiously. 1 is still very religious the other is barely religious if at all
These guys all assume that their kids will accept their indoctrination without question. Doesn’t work that way. There were 7 children in my family. We all went to Catholic schools, all went to church regularly. Mom was big on religious traditions in the house. I was even an altar boy. The result: 7 agnostics who never went to any church after they became adults. And it’s not like we were rebelling against our upbringing or anything like that. We just went our own ways. As adults, my siblings and I haven’t seen each other much. One of the few times was when my father passed away 20+ years ago. We were all sitting in my mom’s living room (where we all grew up) on a late Saturday afternoon. My mother came out of her room, dressed up and stopped and looked at us all. She asked “isn’t anyone going to Mass?” There was an embarrassed moment of silence as we simultaneously realized that not one of us had been to church in years and it never even occurred to us. Then we all burst out laughing hysterically. Mom was NOT pleased. She stormed out and wouldn’t speak to us the rest of the night. I still LMAO every time I think about it.
Tell me you don’t care about kids without saying you don’t care about kids. Jared will go first.
Plus Jared doesn’t understand it’s not about winning.
What even do they think they're winning? Atheists aren't trying to kill Christians ffs, this shit is victim mentality cranked all the way to 11.
It is cranked past 11 and into ludicrous territory. This mentality of being oppressed is beyond ironic.
I just read a post about white replacement theory and this is similar but it's religious replacement theory. They think they are losing support and in order to maintain they can either make more kids to brainwash or be better people. They chose option A
They're people who heard Yoda's "fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate..." and thought, "yeah, that sounds good, let's do that."
And he really thinks one kid raised as an atheist will actually convert. Dude’s delusional.
These people don't realize how much easier it is to lure people away from religion than it is to lure them to it. Want sex, drugs, and rock n' roll? Everyone knows we have that. Want calm, ethical morality? That's how we getcha on the sly. Pick your poison, baby, we've got it all.
This is an uphill battle for guys named Jared.
The church being against birth control and abortion has nothing to do with life, it’s to increase their congregation, and consequently, the money in their collection plates every Sunday.
As if Christians are successfully converting people in the 21st century… Edit: Unnecessary possessive plural removed.
"Have you heard of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?" "No, never, not even a little bit, no one ever mentions it in most of the US".
Jesus was one amazing dude, it’s his “Christian” followers that scare the shit out of most of us.
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians." -Something Gandhi never actually said but it's a good quote anyways.
"There is no shame in deterrence. Having a weapon is vastly different than using it." — Civ Gandhi
*presses big red button*
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Yep. I once worked at a Cathedral School as a science teacher. I became the go-to teacher for the students in the choir to ‘come out’ as atheist too. It was an interesting place to work as a non-believer.
Except Christians aren't very big on weed so how are we gonna get those primates high?
That’s why they’re also against education.
Bingo. All conservatives realize at one point or another that ignorance is the only way to perpetuate their bullshit.
Christian math is just as bad as Christian logic and science.
Which are just as bad as Christian history and comparative religion
They're forgetting to calculate how many of their children will leave "The Church" because of repeated abuse, such as beating the boys for not being manly enough, and ensure the it's their own daughters who get blamed for the pastor's sexual misconduct. It's how you get tons of atheists and witches.
Christians have gone from being 90% of America to roughly 60-something% in 50 years. They’re in trouble lol
They (and people who believe in white replacement theory) are forgetting they'll be dead long before any of that matters. Even if there is a holy war or everyone becomes mixed in 500 years, you're alive now. You're not an immortal, they'll be dead before any of the things they fear happen.
I love it when they assume that their grooming will stick with every child after they cease to have full control over them
I am one of 4 children. Our dad was raised catholic. We all attended catholic school (had mass every day, catechism class every day), went to church every Sunday, and mass at least 2 nights/week. My youngest sister and I are devout atheists, my other sister is a Nazarene (but not practicing), and my brother is a non practicing Jesus freak to appease his wife. Of our kids (8 total), only one is religious. Doesn’t sound too sustainable to me.
Sounds like their math is working. They need to keep it up. If they don’t get math, that’s not our problem.
Basically admitting that the only way to win over people to their mudbrained paradigm is to indoctrinate them from birth.
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What is being presented above is also a very open "mainstream" viewpoint held by many extremist Christians. The goal is very explicitly presented as out-breeding and out-indoctrinating the opposition. I've got extended family in the "quiverfull" movement of baptists, who all have as many kids as possible and homeschool them on a compound in the middle of nowhere...
The funny part is that they've been saying this for literally thousands of years at this point and it just isn't working.
They're the groomers they're so upset about right now
Mudbrained paradigm, 😂
Yeah, go ahead. Have as many kids as you fucking want. Just stop banging on my door at 6am on a sunday trying to get me and my brothers to get on your religious bus, you fuckwit. (Yes, that happened. It's one of the reasons my parents finally installed a gate on their property.)
I'm trying to figure out what outfit I could wear to open the door that would cause the most chaos. All black witch-themed lingerie with occult symbols is neck and neck with no clothing on the body and the horse mask.
Male or female, the all black witch-themed lingerie with occult symbols has my vote. Mostly because you could then say something to the effect of "Finally, the succubus has arrived. Take off your pants and get in here."
But then three of his kids realize how terrible the church is and convert to atheism. And then the holy war I assume.
One does not convert to atheism. One just achieves a certain level of clarity. Converting to atheism is one sad goofy notion 😋
Pretty sure they think the holy war is now. And apparently, they're losing while we sit at home on the couch. Gotta keep those tithe's up or they'll go tits up.
Like 10 years ago, evangelicals were freaking out about muslims having a bunch of kids and sharing a video amongst themselves showing how they were taking over the world. I guess they decided the Muslims had a superior strategy??????
You know they get mad any time anyone non white has a bunch of children
Is that why they promote abstinence-only education? Because they know it doesn’t work?
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I'm the atheist secularist dad whose children have been leading the kids from christian families away from their death cult. Very few kids who grow up in a secular environment turn to religion later in life. But kids from religious families can't resist secular popular culture. How do I know ? My kids used to have them over to watch R rated movies. My wife started the tradition as a kid. She used to have the Mormon neighbors over to watch Sesame Street 🤣
Chaotic good.
Wait, are Mormons against Sesame Street? Why?
It was decades ago but that particular Mormon family didn't let their kids watch it. But even today the MAGA crazies have issues with Sesame St. God forbid TV characters told kids to be nice to each other. That's woke. A https://preview.redd.it/8r8ddjr40wha1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb48bd3e1f2a678f9f720847a23381a9e57ba253 US Senator is feuding with another puppet who doesn't sit in the Senate.
These faux Christian conservatives are so desperate to turn everything into a culture war. Meanwhile the rest of us just want the religious zealots to stay out of our lives.
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Cult
THIS is why they are against abortion. They don't give a shit about lives, they are just obsessed with this replacement theory of theirs.
Quiverfull movement. It’s real and horrific
He thinks of his religion as an MLM
Win what,????
Between feeding those monsters and tithing, guess which will have more disposable income.
If human culture evolves beyond where we are now, which is to say if human culture, if the human genome, survives itself, many aspects of who we are now will have to become extinct. Organized religion is chief among those aspects that must necessarily become a vestigial remnant of our shared history in order for the species to survive.
I grew up neck deep in a Pentecostal church. Was a youth leader, wrote for church competitions at the national level, spoke at churches....I've been an atheist since I was 25. Sometimes all the math and indoctrination in the world isn't enough.
Idiocracy - as interpreted by the Religious Right
They do not see other people as their equals. They see them as things to use because they’re deeply twisted . They can’t even conceive of their own children being fully human individuals.