just out of curiosity, ex-Christians,?

Things just don't make sense in christianity. I realized after awhile that whenever you had any questions that 'they' couldn't answer, (and I was guilty of this too when I was one) they would say: 'It's god's will... works in mysterious ways....who are we to question.... blah blah blah'.

So, with pure logic and reasoning, I came to the realization that, hmmm.... it seems that no one really knows anything (god being mysterious and all) yet they want me to believe in this god. Further, I am to go to church and give money.

Here's a question for you: If god really existed and favored his children and is happy that s/he is being worshipped, then why is every religious institution always asking for money and always in debt??... and don't say it's because of cheap wo/men... if god were truly omniponent, then the coffers would be overflowing.

Also, you say you're deepening your understanding through both sides... reading scriptures. Therein lies the problem: the 'scriptures' is a bunch of men-made baloney.

Ever wonder why they say you have to go to church every week? Why the wo/men's study groups; kids church; choir; boys/girls clubs etc?.... it's called brain-washing. Why you're told not to associate with non-believers? Those people don't want you to think for yourself.

The 'church' is a political structure and its goal is to generate revenue for an elite few. I know, your preacher/pastor etc isn't paid or is paid little... ever think that those people do it because they're megalomaniacs?...narcissists? want the spot light?

I had a good evolutionary background, but really went away from religion in my first philosophy class during college. I recall on the first day, the professor asked us to think whether there was any good, logical reason to believe that a God existed, and honestly as someone with a very skeptical mind set I realized I couldn't. It just seems so non-parsimonious: I really find evolution over billions of years to be a much more sensible and plausible mechanism for what we have around us than having a God show up first.

We do know evolution happens (plenty of facts for that), so having a God show up right at the start that is hypothesized to be omniscient and omnipotent just does not make sense in a scientific worldview (I have a PhD in Evolutionary Paleontology, so I'm very familiar with the evidence on the evolution side, and also am very committed to objective observations and consideration of evidence). I have definitely moved further from religion as I've acquired more of a scientific worldview from years of intensive study.

I do know people who happily make religion and science both work for them, which I admire--they just believe that there are supernatural explanations for things, which is not something that I personally can see a reason to think. I never doubt my decision, but I often think it would be very nice to believe and have faith--it is a great comfort to a good many people, and again, I don't think it overlaps at all with science so I do not find them contradictory. I just can't buy supernatural explanations when the natural world is so incredible. I don't feel that I need it. I am happy that other people have it to turn to, though, just so long as they don't try to incorporate it into a science classroom!

I'm not sure when it started, but over the course of a few years (leading up to when I was 17, when I just snapped and everything fell into place) my faith began to dwindle as I realized that evolution and scientific explanations made more sense in my mind. The whole process was accelerated once I realized that most of the wars throughout history were religious based.

But the final push was when my girlfriend was told she could not date me just because I was in a different denomination of Christianity.

That's when I said "What that frak is going on with the crap. I'm out."