But here is where things get a bit fuzzy,at least for me. I do not believe in any religion and the idea of a 'Big Daddy' in the sky to whom I must aqueous is so much silliness. Yet I have had experiences which I cannot exactly categorize. Some might call them spiritual. Richard Dawkins for example would suggest I had imagined them. Well I didn't imagine them. I was not searching them out either. I never went any religious anything as a child so it's not 'returning' to indoctrination either.
Very good model for discussion. In my case, the motion has been clockwise probably from RELIGIOUS QUESTIONING (early years) to SELF-THINKING INDIVIDUALISM (teens, and early 20s) to AGNOSTICISM (after age 26 or till present)
I am now 58 and so not much change over most of adult life
great work and circle of beliefs, I was raised a Catholic and at age 15 was on a road to the uncertainty and now I've created a video on youtube entitled, "Sharing art, music and friends part two" I'd like to know what the feel of the video and the message make you feel about a possible new category in your circle of beliefs. Please comment on my video too. Take care, Rocco
But soon something about church just bored me to tears. I was in libraries and book stores most of the time and kept finding science and fantasy more interesting than that church mom had us go to every saturday.
Eventually when I was old enough, I just stopped going.
Habits lingered from that part of my life, but with more exposure to the real world I let go of these fetters.
I adopted the "I don't know if there is cheese at the end of the maze, I'll find out when I get there."
I started out with non-belief because no one around me really talked about religion, we had a forest behind our house and I fell in love with nature and science at a young age as it were, so I rarely thought about religion.
It was just never really brought up.
Then at the age of seven mum tried to raise us in the SDA church. I went along with my mother for a while, but knew something was wrong.
As I got older I tried to over rationalize the concept of God.
Yea, my experience was very similar to yours. I am pretty much at the same place you are on the wheel, although I am certain there is no god because of lack of evidence and the impossibility of negative proof as I mentioned before. The atheist label fits me. But it is silly in a way to label me based on the lack of something (belief).
My experience growing up in the UK was I simply wasn't exposed to religion at all, no-one really mentions belief or disbelief. much here.
However since I developed thoughts of my own, 10 or 11 years old I have been what you describe as a confident Athiest and in the subsequent 30 years not moved at all.
very interesting vid, thx! I think that belief is an expression of our personality. I was raised atheistic, I searched support in religion and couldn't find it. Have you ever heard of the MBTI? This classification of personality is based on the work of C.G.Jung. I link my self-thinking individualism (with tendencies to both religious questioning and ambiguous agnosticism) to my INFJ personality. I think that an INTJ/ ENTP personality may relate to agnostizism. Please let me know what you think.
i wasn't raised with a religion, but i did hear about a god when i was growing up. keep in mind that i was overseas in Germany, i found that religion wasn't in the top 10 important things over there. from my age of 5 to 8 i was wondering if there was a god or not. then i got moved to the US mainly, the bible belt. i found that people can be bigots. why would a god who creates man in his own image send his "children" to punish the ones who he gave free will? i am not as much atheist as uncaring.
My early childhood didn't involve much religion, fortunately. When I was 6, I met some Baptists, got dunked in a river once; got locked in a cold garage for several hours for stealing a brownie- I still think it was worth it. When I was 12, I met some hardcore Catholics and got switches for something I did, I forget what it was. I never believed what those people said but I was always afraid of what they might do if I made them angry. At 16, I was a Confident Atheist. I have been ever since.
1-14 Confident atheist, 14 christian/creationist, 15+, pothead/self thinking idividualist (there's not enough evidence either way, bring on the sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll, and have fun while others worry about trivial things that we have no way of knowing)
I don't know where else my circle of belief may go, I haven't tried LSD yet. :P
One of my mom's friends believed god was a mouse when he tripped.
moderationist by 5 questioning at 8 selfthinking at 12 skiped back to a polythiestic version of moderation borderlining orthadoxy at 14 till present day. but in the time 12 to 14 it was all over the board.. sometimes changing daily and i questiond so much that now ive asked everyhting i can think of asking my self anything els.. im 16.. what a wild ride...
Excellent! Very good model. My life story is very similar in terms of the clockwise momentum. I would say that that there was a lot of gradual change along with a few big jumps. Although, the big jumps were probably more awareness of the change, than the change itself, if you take my meaning. I have many times wondered if I had been raised in a different environment, how would that affect my beliefs along these lines. Too much to say too few characters, five stars.
As for my experience on the wheel, my early experience was very similar to yours, only starting closer to religious moderation and not going back towards moderation. Right now I'd say I'm sitting on the free-thinking individualism side of agnosticism.
I think you do a great job explaining beliefs and changes in them as well as presenting the general 'methods of believing' without polarizing or demeaning any particular group.
Using the terms that you've laid out... I grew up in a self-thinking individualism setting. At about age 7 my family fell on hard times and I was thankfully taken in by a friend of mine and her family. For 2 months, they provided an indisputably religious orthodoxy setting and it overtook me. In fact, I made it my business (as a 8 years old) to find a place to worship without my family present. I grew religiously moderate until I became 12, when I decided to educate myself in any religion my
local library could provide the details on. So that would imply the religious questioning section. Ultimately, I was swayed by another religion quite different than the first, which puts me between religious orthodoxy and religious moderation. At 18, I jumped to ambiguous agnosticism and have been there since.
to the believer of god..what is your ideas of a god ?...make it precisely clear !...and to the athiest...if you don't know what (precisely) god is..how can you deny the existence of god ?..when you combine the way of the scientist and philosopher's thinking method..soon or later..you'll find the truth ...good luck !
Excellent video! I was born into a non-religious household, went to church briefly as a child, but never had any faith. I studied scholastic philosophy at university in Belfast and came the same old agnostic. Now I admire Dawkins' militant atheism and could describe myself as "confident atheist".
With me it would go Born to 10 religious moderation. 12 to 16 religious questioning. 16 to 19 Religious orthodoxy. 20 to now 30 it has been Self thinking Indivdualism. So for now I think there is a power out there and I have no clue what it is LOL.
I've had some problems putting the environment I was raised in in context. It's sometimes hard to know from the outside, and because of the nature of it all, its hard to do that.
I was never raised with religion, so until about age 15, I was always somewhere between confident atheism and ambiguous agnosticism. Then suddenly I jumped to Religious orthodoxy and quickly shifted to Religious moderation (in an attempt to reconcile my faith with my reason). Recently, I've shifted fron religious moderation to somewhere between self-thinking individualism and ambiguous agnosticism, largely on the self-thinking side.
Please make a third part to this video with conclusions!
I started out from birth as an atheist (as we all are), and was taught religion as a child (religious orthodoxy). I skipped religious moderation and went straight to religious questioning as soon as I was old enough to think for myself. After looking at the evidence around me with a rational mind I went straight back to atheism, the default position from birth. I followed the circle clockwise, but did it in confident leaps rather than smaller steps.
It's often been said that that's a critical part of a person's life, but after I made this video and listening to others, I know it with new found confidence. Thanks.
Very orthodox then somehow more moderate to border fundamentalism and then atheist. It was actually the fundamentalists that compelled me to serious dig and find the answers that I otherwise wouldn't have bothered to do.
Nice model. I cannot remember a time I fell into either religious orthodoxy or religious moderation (even my first experiences with religion caused me to question it). Probably age 5 to age 13 I would have been largely freethinking individualist, then agnostic for five years or so, then gradually becoming more atheistic in college.
Started out moderate, became more orthodox, then straight to confident atheism, then over time back so spiritual independent then atheist agnostic and now I am somewhere between that and confident atheist
But here is where things get a bit fuzzy,at least for me. I do not believe in any religion and the idea of a 'Big Daddy' in the sky to whom I must aqueous is so much silliness. Yet I have had experiences which I cannot exactly categorize. Some might call them spiritual. Richard Dawkins for example would suggest I had imagined them. Well I didn't imagine them. I was not searching them out either. I never went any religious anything as a child so it's not 'returning' to indoctrination either.
wetlazer 2 months ago
Very good model for discussion. In my case, the motion has been clockwise probably from RELIGIOUS QUESTIONING (early years) to SELF-THINKING INDIVIDUALISM (teens, and early 20s) to AGNOSTICISM (after age 26 or till present)
I am now 58 and so not much change over most of adult life
ZeroSheFlies 1 year ago
great work and circle of beliefs, I was raised a Catholic and at age 15 was on a road to the uncertainty and now I've created a video on youtube entitled, "Sharing art, music and friends part two" I'd like to know what the feel of the video and the message make you feel about a possible new category in your circle of beliefs. Please comment on my video too. Take care, Rocco
zazzaret1 1 year ago
It was only within the past two years that I realized that I really didn't believe in a god.
And when I found this, I felt kinda relived.
After that I began to research more and talk with others more.
So I would say that I have gone full circle cause I well know what people mean when they say "Everyone is born Atheist."
sabertooth1980 2 years ago
But soon something about church just bored me to tears. I was in libraries and book stores most of the time and kept finding science and fantasy more interesting than that church mom had us go to every saturday.
Eventually when I was old enough, I just stopped going.
Habits lingered from that part of my life, but with more exposure to the real world I let go of these fetters.
I adopted the "I don't know if there is cheese at the end of the maze, I'll find out when I get there."
sabertooth1980 2 years ago
I started out with non-belief because no one around me really talked about religion, we had a forest behind our house and I fell in love with nature and science at a young age as it were, so I rarely thought about religion.
It was just never really brought up.
Then at the age of seven mum tried to raise us in the SDA church. I went along with my mother for a while, but knew something was wrong.
As I got older I tried to over rationalize the concept of God.
sabertooth1980 2 years ago
Most of the time I am religiously apathetic.
cryingsoftly 2 years ago
bravo!
very well done. :)
XenMonkey13 2 years ago
Yea, my experience was very similar to yours. I am pretty much at the same place you are on the wheel, although I am certain there is no god because of lack of evidence and the impossibility of negative proof as I mentioned before. The atheist label fits me. But it is silly in a way to label me based on the lack of something (belief).
sonnygll 2 years ago
Very interesting vid.
My experience growing up in the UK was I simply wasn't exposed to religion at all, no-one really mentions belief or disbelief. much here.
However since I developed thoughts of my own, 10 or 11 years old I have been what you describe as a confident Athiest and in the subsequent 30 years not moved at all.
jaocheu 3 years ago
very interesting vid, thx! I think that belief is an expression of our personality. I was raised atheistic, I searched support in religion and couldn't find it. Have you ever heard of the MBTI? This classification of personality is based on the work of C.G.Jung. I link my self-thinking individualism (with tendencies to both religious questioning and ambiguous agnosticism) to my INFJ personality. I think that an INTJ/ ENTP personality may relate to agnostizism. Please let me know what you think.
challengeyourbeliefs 3 years ago
i wasn't raised with a religion, but i did hear about a god when i was growing up. keep in mind that i was overseas in Germany, i found that religion wasn't in the top 10 important things over there. from my age of 5 to 8 i was wondering if there was a god or not. then i got moved to the US mainly, the bible belt. i found that people can be bigots. why would a god who creates man in his own image send his "children" to punish the ones who he gave free will? i am not as much atheist as uncaring.
hiphopguy0 3 years ago
My early childhood didn't involve much religion, fortunately. When I was 6, I met some Baptists, got dunked in a river once; got locked in a cold garage for several hours for stealing a brownie- I still think it was worth it. When I was 12, I met some hardcore Catholics and got switches for something I did, I forget what it was. I never believed what those people said but I was always afraid of what they might do if I made them angry. At 16, I was a Confident Atheist. I have been ever since.
Piscivorus 3 years ago
Mine was almost exactly like yours, but is currently between ambiguous agnosticism and self-thinking individualist.
jaywolfe82 3 years ago
My life so far has been...
1-14 Confident atheist, 14 christian/creationist, 15+, pothead/self thinking idividualist (there's not enough evidence either way, bring on the sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll, and have fun while others worry about trivial things that we have no way of knowing)
I don't know where else my circle of belief may go, I haven't tried LSD yet. :P
One of my mom's friends believed god was a mouse when he tripped.
WeszWesWesley 3 years ago
moderationist by 5 questioning at 8 selfthinking at 12 skiped back to a polythiestic version of moderation borderlining orthadoxy at 14 till present day. but in the time 12 to 14 it was all over the board.. sometimes changing daily and i questiond so much that now ive asked everyhting i can think of asking my self anything els.. im 16.. what a wild ride...
dragonddff 3 years ago
excellent presentation
Abdulmelik2007 3 years ago
Excellent! Very good model. My life story is very similar in terms of the clockwise momentum. I would say that that there was a lot of gradual change along with a few big jumps. Although, the big jumps were probably more awareness of the change, than the change itself, if you take my meaning. I have many times wondered if I had been raised in a different environment, how would that affect my beliefs along these lines. Too much to say too few characters, five stars.
quintessential37 3 years ago
I think I started out as a free thinker and now I am an atheist. Religion has never done it for me.
RobDeManc 3 years ago
As for my experience on the wheel, my early experience was very similar to yours, only starting closer to religious moderation and not going back towards moderation. Right now I'd say I'm sitting on the free-thinking individualism side of agnosticism.
I think you do a great job explaining beliefs and changes in them as well as presenting the general 'methods of believing' without polarizing or demeaning any particular group.
Gasekura 3 years ago
You hit that right on the head buddy!
captainmutiny 3 years ago
These videos should be taught in schools... Brilliant 5 stars!
Canteatpancakes 3 years ago 2
Using the terms that you've laid out... I grew up in a self-thinking individualism setting. At about age 7 my family fell on hard times and I was thankfully taken in by a friend of mine and her family. For 2 months, they provided an indisputably religious orthodoxy setting and it overtook me. In fact, I made it my business (as a 8 years old) to find a place to worship without my family present. I grew religiously moderate until I became 12, when I decided to educate myself in any religion my
EndlessVoids 4 years ago
local library could provide the details on. So that would imply the religious questioning section. Ultimately, I was swayed by another religion quite different than the first, which puts me between religious orthodoxy and religious moderation. At 18, I jumped to ambiguous agnosticism and have been there since.
EndlessVoids 4 years ago
I passed through three stages ending in Atheistic certainty.
raltaki 4 years ago
to the believer of god..what is your ideas of a god ?...make it precisely clear !...and to the athiest...if you don't know what (precisely) god is..how can you deny the existence of god ?..when you combine the way of the scientist and philosopher's thinking method..soon or later..you'll find the truth ...good luck !
Aiwanforyou 4 years ago
Agnostic till 7, Mormon moderate 8-11, questioner 12-13, victim of witch hunt 14 (yes, witch hunt), Satanist 14-16, Agnostic rebel and malcontent 16-26, agnostic/atheist 27-30, strong atheist/anti-theist from Sept 11, 2001, Atheist/outspoken anti-theist/rationalist/scientist since 2006.
Canaximander 4 years ago
Excellent video! I was born into a non-religious household, went to church briefly as a child, but never had any faith. I studied scholastic philosophy at university in Belfast and came the same old agnostic. Now I admire Dawkins' militant atheism and could describe myself as "confident atheist".
MightyMelmoth 4 years ago
With me it would go Born to 10 religious moderation. 12 to 16 religious questioning. 16 to 19 Religious orthodoxy. 20 to now 30 it has been Self thinking Indivdualism. So for now I think there is a power out there and I have no clue what it is LOL.
samanthakayee 4 years ago
I've always thought there was power in having an awareness of the unknown.
InReasonWeTrust 4 years ago
I was raised in what seemed like a religious orthodox household, but now I realize it's a religous moderate household. It's been that way since.
I don't know if this plays into anything, but I have the intention of trying to keep myself as close to being a religious moderate.
Great model by the way!
41Ram 4 years ago
I've had some problems putting the environment I was raised in in context. It's sometimes hard to know from the outside, and because of the nature of it all, its hard to do that.
InReasonWeTrust 4 years ago
Exactly the same, just 4 years earlier.
mvogt 4 years ago
I've wondered about what affects the rate of change too.
InReasonWeTrust 4 years ago
I was never raised with religion, so until about age 15, I was always somewhere between confident atheism and ambiguous agnosticism. Then suddenly I jumped to Religious orthodoxy and quickly shifted to Religious moderation (in an attempt to reconcile my faith with my reason). Recently, I've shifted fron religious moderation to somewhere between self-thinking individualism and ambiguous agnosticism, largely on the self-thinking side.
Please make a third part to this video with conclusions!
TheTransmundane 4 years ago
Interesting life passage. Different than most I think.
InReasonWeTrust 4 years ago
You are quite right.
I'll send a message with my story.
vishva8kumara 4 years ago
I started out from birth as an atheist (as we all are), and was taught religion as a child (religious orthodoxy). I skipped religious moderation and went straight to religious questioning as soon as I was old enough to think for myself. After looking at the evidence around me with a rational mind I went straight back to atheism, the default position from birth. I followed the circle clockwise, but did it in confident leaps rather than smaller steps.
serotoninwraith 4 years ago
Nicely said. Thanks.
InReasonWeTrust 4 years ago
That is me almost exactly. I went further back at about 18 through 21 to the religious orthodoxy.
DayfallKat 4 years ago
It's often been said that that's a critical part of a person's life, but after I made this video and listening to others, I know it with new found confidence. Thanks.
InReasonWeTrust 4 years ago
Interesting deviation from my own pathway. Thanks.
InReasonWeTrust 4 years ago
Very orthodox then somehow more moderate to border fundamentalism and then atheist. It was actually the fundamentalists that compelled me to serious dig and find the answers that I otherwise wouldn't have bothered to do.
Rhonda9 4 years ago
I started out with religious moderation and went clockwise towards agnosticism and atheism. I guess I'm in between them now. Great vid!
KT45 4 years ago
Thanks
InReasonWeTrust 4 years ago
Nice model. I cannot remember a time I fell into either religious orthodoxy or religious moderation (even my first experiences with religion caused me to question it). Probably age 5 to age 13 I would have been largely freethinking individualist, then agnostic for five years or so, then gradually becoming more atheistic in college.
Samanalysis 4 years ago
Interesting passage.
InReasonWeTrust 4 years ago
Started out moderate, became more orthodox, then straight to confident atheism, then over time back so spiritual independent then atheist agnostic and now I am somewhere between that and confident atheist
TristanPEJ 4 years ago
Amazing!
InReasonWeTrust 4 years ago