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Why are so many people still religious even though all this heaven and hell stuff is clearly a lie?
Why do they believe stuff like heaven and hell? It just seems so perfect that all of our sins will be tallied and good people will go to heaven while bad people will go to hell.
If we just look at the real world it's obvious many things are imperfect. Why would it be different after death.
It feels like a children's story when you think about it. So why are people still religious?
https://redd.it/1xq6fjv
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I heard a Christian's bizarre 'proof' the sun isn't a god
"How can the sun be a god if it didn't create itself?"
I was quoting that old George Carlin speech about how Paganism makes a lot more sense than Christianity. Exhibit A: The Sun. You can see it almost every day, it's right there and doesn't require faith to believe it's real. It's a good speech, worth googling.
Someone replied "How can the sun be a god if it didn't create itself?" Followed by a string of the crying-laughing emojis. So I asked why that's relevant, who said that gods have to create themselves? Why should that be a requirement for being a god?
They said "Well obviously if the sun didn't create itself then it can't be a god! Logic isn't your thing I guess? Back to school for you!"
I said there's no reason to think a god needs to have created itself. That's just taking one claim about your own specific God and using it to disprove other god claims. You might as well say "The sun isn't a god because all gods have beards".
He just rambled about how the sun can't be a god if it was created. Someone else helpfully asked "Is jesus a god?" and got the Christian to agree that Jesus is a god AND that Jesus was created through the virgin birth AND that the father is not the son. Therefore Jesus didn't create himself, therefore Jesus is not a god according to his own logic." Then he resorted to just "You need to pray more and jesus will explain this to you, it's not complicated."
Brainwashed.
https://redd.it/1xq6lvb
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deserves, while also finding a way out of the loneliness I've experienced in a society that, despite being free and open-minded, can sometimes feel indifferent and emotionally hollow.
I know that this might sound a little naive or cheesy to some people, but I've always had this dream of marrying someone from South Asian culture. Someone whose cultural background wouldn't be too different from mine, unlike any girl from here in Italy, someone with the same vive as me, someone with whom I'd naturally share a similar outlook on life, but who wouldn't necessarily come from my own country of origin, Bangladesh.
I always imagined someone from Pakistan, India, or Nepal. Pakistan would obviously be my first choice, partly because I speak Urdu and partly because I've always found that language particularly attractive, even if i never liked the biggoted and oppressive culture that they have toward womens.
Don't get me wrong, Bangladesh is also home to many beautiful women, and I've been fortunate enough to meet quite a few of them. But I'm deeply fascinated, almost intoxicated, by the idea of a love that brings two people and two cultures together, transcending the boundaries that separate societies despite their differences.
And when I met that girl, I genuinely thought I'd finally found everything I'd been dreaming of.
But destiny had other plans, and somehow, she slipped away from my life.
https://redd.it/1xpx7fd
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How can people GENUINELY believe in Christianity?
Coming from an ex-christian who left the religion after being in psychosis, i really don’t understand how people could genuinely believe in christianity. I’ve actually met people who think the Adam and Eve story happened and is true. To me, the Christian god makes as much sense to me as Santa Clause does. People couldn’t understand something, so they decided to create a “God” as a solution. Plus, the bible just seems really outdated to me. We’re in 2026, we have access to so many stuff that can prove that so called events that apparently happened in the bible are actually impossible.
I personally think its because of fear mongering. It gets taught to them while they are young and vulnerable, and most times if they choose not to believe they get threatened that they will get punished for eternity. Just wanted to hear other people’s thoughts on this and their speculations.
https://redd.it/1xpecgy
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Struggling. Scared of loss.
I know heaven doesnt exist, but I badly want it to. I just dont want to face the reality that everyone in this life, our beautiful consciousness, is just this momentary, fleeting thing confined to our bodies. And once theyre gone i really wont see them again. It will really be the last time. And everytime i think too hard about the reality of the situation, i get so upset and emotional. I like to imagine theyll be beside me, watching down, looking out for me, the thought gives me comfort. But they wont be. Theyll really be gone. Actually. I just dont have it in me to come to terms with it. I need to cope somehow, that ill see my loved ones again somehow. I cant. This is very distressing to me. How do you guys deal with it. I just cant. Everytime im reminded about the inevitability of it, i just cant. I wish an afterlife was real. So badly.
https://redd.it/1xpz64b
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At some point in the future someone will think of you for the very last time, that is when you cease to exist!
I just heard this on a podcast (the infinite monkey cage). Does this unsettle anyone?
It makes me wonder about what existence actually means?
https://redd.it/1xpwvw2
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I am growing more exhausted of loved ones in my life who are Christian
I used to be more open to people in my life who are religious but I am growing more sick of it.
I feel hurt by stuff people who are always Christian who try to comfort me through hard times. I just lost my sibling and so many people have told me that theyll “pray to Jesus/God for me” or “You will see him again in Heaven” or variants and it makes me so upset.
I am atheist and do not believe in God or afterlife. Even if I was religious, I’d be a Jew (my mother’s background) or shinto (my father’s background)… I just am so frustrated by it because I cant be like “Actually no I will not see my brother again because there is no afterlife for us” without sounding like a huge bitch so I just suck it up and smile
https://redd.it/1xpwmyn
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Carl Sagan talking to Dennis Prager
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rJLaYf4lXfk
https://redd.it/1xprcpe
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‘Theocrat’ Sen. Moreno attacked El-Sayed for not believing in Jesus. El-Sayed just made history.
https://ffrfaction.org/theocrat-sen-moreno-says-abdul-el-sayed-is-unfit-for-office-due-to-muslim-faith/
https://redd.it/1xpsa7l
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Harmeet Dhillon is OUT at the DOJ. She spent her tenure treating Christian privilege as a civil right.
https://ffrf.org/news/releases/ffrf-welcomes-civil-rights-head-dhillons-resignation
https://redd.it/1xpnv85
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None of the religions people follow today existed for nearly 99% of human history
There are about one or two dozen religions left in the world that people still follow today. This includes the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, plus a few secondary ones like Baha’i and Druze, with Judaism being the oldest, and the four Dharmic religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, with Hinduism being the oldest. Both of the two oldest ones are around 4000 years old.
Homo Sapiens have been around for about 300000 years, and the majority of humans who ever lived were not part of any of these religions and died never knowing about them. None of these religions that claim to be the truth were around for nearly 99% of the time that humans have existed. For most of history it was animism and polytheism that were dominant until monotheism slowly became more popular once Judaism and Zoroastrianism established it.
It’s honestly absurd. By the logic some religious people like Christians and Muslims use, we as humans have been given a test from God to worship him and follow his rules and guidelines, but he waited thousands upon thousands of years before finally giving it to us, and in the meantime other humans just got to do whatever they wanted. Why is it fair that only people who are alive now have to follow this test while most people who ever lived did not?
Obviously they’ll just say that God sent other messages prior and humans corrupted it to create their own religions, but that’s not really what the historical evidence supports, and it’s also a contradiction if that’s the case. Supposedly the Bible/Quran being well preserved proves they are from God since he protects it, but God’s word already got corrupted in the past and false religions spread. Which one is it?
It’s pretty clear that the people who created these religions had no clue how old Earth actually was or how many humans had lived prior to them.
https://redd.it/1xpjmtu
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Priest who served at Grayslake church removed from ministry over allegation of inappropriate physical contact
https://www.lakemchenryscanner.com/2026/11/05/priest-who-served-at-grayslake-church-removed-from-ministry-over-allegation-of-inappropriate-physical-contact/
https://redd.it/1xpeh5s
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Kenyan Starvation Cult Pastor Sentenced To 200 Years. He murdered 191 people, all but one of them children, instructing members of his cult to starve them to death so they could “meet Jesus”.
https://www.joemygod.com/2026/11/kenyan-starvation-cult-pastor-sentenced-to-200-years/
https://redd.it/1xpg5ka
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Why do theists not understand what atheism is?
I see so many theists primarily on Reddit and Twitter and while not all of them are like this, there’s a very large amount of theists who like using these phallacies and fundemental misunderstandings of what atheism and agnosticism is:
\- The belief or assertion that atheists know god is self-obvious but refuse to worship him and are willingly ignorant, often to avoid responsibility or be free to sin
\- The classic ”why would anyone not believe in god” group that seems to genuinely not understand how anyone could become atheist, which is just honestly offensive? Like I could understand how someone could become theist even if I think theism is ridiculous, to say that no person could choose atheism is just flat out wrong and offensive
\- The assumption that atheism functions like an organized, centralized religion with its own teachings, many of said claimed teachings themselves being horribly inaccurate such as ”atheists worship science like the church” and ”atheism teaches there is no such thing as morality”
\- That atheists just need to wait for god to show himself, which feels like just dodging the question to be honest
I’m sorry about the half-ish vent but it’s difficult to speak to a theist when they don’t even have the correct interpretation of what you’re trying to say
https://redd.it/1xpbroe
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If there are no atheists in foxholes, then…
By that logic, there are no people of faith in hospitals. If they really believed their god stories, they’d count on him instead of healthcare.
https://redd.it/1xpbsl1
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Why is it that when an animal or beloved pet passes away, and sometime later one randomly appears, people take it as a “sign”
What I mean is This: Let’s say you have a dog and you love it and it passes away. A couple days later you see a dog wondering about and decide to take it in. Why do people take such things as a sign? This is something that I never really understood and I’m hoping someone can explain this.
https://redd.it/1xpmcua
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I’m an atheist and I broke up with the girl I love because of religion
I’m a 32M. About two years ago I met a girl who changed my life. I didn’t believe in love like this until it happened to me.
Some context first. She comes from a very conservative family and is religious herself, a sincere believer. I was raised religious too, but over the years I stopped believing. I’ve been an atheist for a long time. I don’t hide it, but I’m not the “debate you in the comments” type either. I just live my life.
When we met, it clicked immediately. We had the same weird sense of humor, we could be ourselves without being judged, and being around her felt peaceful. She told me I was her first relationship ever. She’d never dated anyone, not even as a teenager, and I took that seriously. I never wanted to be someone who wasted her time.
Early on, I was honest about my beliefs. She knew from the start. I told her I would respect her faith completely, and I did. I never mocked it, never argued against it, and never tried to pull her away from it. I went to her family’s gatherings, kept quiet during the religious conversations, and respected her prayers and fasting. When we talked about the future, I told her I was okay with raising our kids with her religion. I meant it, and I still do.
But the more serious we got, the more the same issue kept coming up. To her, my disbelief was something that could still change. She’d say “I just want you to be guided.” I understand where that comes from, but over time it felt like she loved me in spite of who I am, not as who I am. Every few months it would blow up. We’d argue for days, break up, miss each other, and get back together. We did this more times than I can count.
Two weeks ago we broke up again, and this time it feels final. She said she chose God and her path over me. I don’t blame her. If her faith means that much to her, I’d never ask her to give it up.
What hurts is this: I accepted her exactly as she is, and I couldn’t get that back. I’m not angry. I’m just sad, and honestly a little lost.
So I’m asking people who’ve been through this:
1. Can a relationship like this actually work, or are we just delaying the inevitable?
https://redd.it/1xphsv8
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Hi I'm looking for ex Muslim friends from south Asia
​
Hi, I'm 23 and I grew up in Italy, but I'm originally from Bangladesh.
I've always been somewhat sceptical of religion, even as a child. Growing up in Italy, I was fortunate enough to be exposed to an open-minded society, which played a significant role in shaping my worldview and eventually led me to become an atheist.
Despite that, however, I never let go of some of my conservative South Asian values, such as loyalty, purity, love, and family. I also chose not to drink alcohol or engage in intimacy before marriage.
Honestly, I've noticed that this is quite a rare combination to find. Usually, people who aren't religious tend to become completely Westernised, while those who are religious are often radical and, quite frankly, insufferable. Finding a healthy balance between the two seems to be incredibly rare.
In fact, I've never met anyone quite like me in my entire life, neither in Bangladesh nor in Europe.
However, this January, I met a girl from Pakistan on Instagram. It was completely random. We started talking, and gradually, our minds began to connect. We soon realised just how similar we were. Neither of us had ever met anyone else quite like ourselves before. From that moment on, there was an instant connection, we could litterally read each others thoughts, and I started falling for her.
Unfortunately, she wasn't as fortunate as I was when it came to her upbringing. She came from a strictly conservative Muslim family in Pakistan and was constantly under pressure from the religious and patriarchal society surrounding her. She already felt overwhelmed by having to hide her atheism from the people around her. After we started talking, she also had to hide me texting her. On top of that, she was studying medicine (MBBS), which meant dealing with considerable academic pressure as well.
I could tell that everything was becoming a bit too much for her to bear. That's why, whenever I tried to get closer to her, she would push me away. Nevertheless, I was willing to do whatever it took to make sure we could eventually be together. I was even prepared to travel to Pakistan, marry her, and bring her to Italy.
But less than a month ago, she blocked me without giving me any explanation.
I honestly don't know why. Maybe her parents found out about us, and I'm genuinely worried about her. Maybe she simply wanted to put an end to everything, even though she had promised me that she would tell me if that were ever the case. Perhaps she just needs some time, or maybe she's waiting to see how patient I can be.
The truth is that I simply don't know, and the doubts, and the uncertainties are killing me.
But honestly, now I'm slowly starting to let go on the hope of hearing from her ever again.
However, this entire experience has made me realise something: I've spent most of my life feeling isolated because people who share my particular combination of values and beliefs seem so incredibly rare. I've never really been able to establish a genuine connection with someone who understands this side of me.
She was the only person I'd ever met who truly understood me in that way.
That's why I want to find more people like myself. I'd also love to make female friends, preferably from Pakistan, who could offer me some guidance, help me understand her circumstances better, and perhaps even help both of us navigate this situation if I ever get to hear from her again.
There's also another aspect of my personality that I'd like to share.
I've always imagined myself marrying a South Asian woman who shares my mentality but feels oppressed or restricted by the society she lives in. Ideally, someone from an educated upper-middle-class family.
The idea was that I could marry her and bring her to Italy, giving her the freedom to build the life she wants while also finding someone with whom I could genuinely share my life. In a way, I used to think that I could change two lives at once: I could help her escape an oppressive environment and give her the freedom she
Cornwall ex-church leader on trial for 'overly tactile' behaviour
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/former-cornwall-methodist-leader-steven-11226807
https://redd.it/1xpejye
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The Cult that Drove a Whole City Insane: A Story about the 16th Century Anabaptists (via Kurzgesagt)
I absolutely love this channel, and they don’t typically tackle religion. Their content is usually science, medicine, tech, and society.
But this video went deep on a pretty damning historical exposé about a niche Christian cult that appeared in Europe in the 16th century. A fun fact they include at the end, is that this sect is the predecessor of modern day Mennonites! It also helps that Kurzgesagt’s content is well-researched, gorgeous, and 100% AI-free
Enjoy: https://youtube.com/watch?v=QQXCC6o\_LHU
https://redd.it/1xpslll
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I never thought this would happen
Hey guys how’s it going.
I grew up Muslim most of my life in a Somali household and was a on and off practicing Muslim. Just last year I thought to myself “I pray, fast and do other religious stuff but why TF am I doing this again?”. I wanted to read something about how religion is not really true and the only famous atheist I knew was Christopher Hitchens so I listened to his ’God is Not Great’ audiobook. It opened my mind and then I read books from 2 ex Muslims and that opened my mind even more. All of a sudden I’m reading books and listening to lectures on the Enlightenment such as from the Great Course ‘The Birth of the Modern Mind: The intellectual History of the 17th and 18th centuries’ by Alan Charles Kors, and ‘The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790’
I’ve also been binge watching Neil DeGrasse Tyson videos I didn’t realise science could be this magical. I really thought delving deep into my own skepticism would give me anxiety and depression but it‘s weird it gave me so much energy to learn more. I love my parents because they grew up in a different time but I can never go back to being this naive religious person ever again.
I will say this I’m not a fully atheist person yet because I still believe there is something out there. It may not be the God that I grew up knowing but I believe there is something beyond us.
https://redd.it/1xpq4cz
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Man refused life-saving treatment because of his Jehovah's Witness religion - days after his death the rules changed.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx5ynly549njo
https://redd.it/1xpwsgl
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‘Secularist’ Christian pastor Sen. Warnock stands up for secular democracy against Christian nationalism.
https://ffrfaction.org/secularist-sen-warnock-calls-out-fellow-sen-morenos-christian-nationalism/
https://redd.it/1xpsg1f
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Two openly non-religious candidates elected to US Congress: Chris Rabb (D-PA) is the first ever openly atheist member of Congress. Fred Wellman (D-MO) is also non-religious and overcame extreme gerrymandering to win his seat.
https://www.cfequality.org/news/number-of-state-legislators-who-openly-identify-with-the-nonreligious-community-climbs-past-100
https://redd.it/1xps7q0
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Christian friends who are conflicted with politics
I live in Texas. Recently, we flipped blue. I have some friends (mainly one) who is getting upset about it on Facebook (Yes. I know.) I have this one specific friend who is upset because he's Christian and doesn't like how Democrats won Texas. I don't know if it's relevant, but he's black.
Here's he problem I have with it. He was somewhat fine with the Republican status quo because Republicans at least had "Christian values" with them, but he was conflicted because of how harsh Republicans can be. He knows that the modern day Republicans are making things difficult. Things cost more. They are supporting a war (and violence and murder is a sin), they actuvely ran on hate (hatred is frowned upon in Christianity) and they used fake narratives. And the president is a pedophile and there are pedophile protectors and sex offenders in his office.
I know he feels conflicted about it like a lot of hardcore Christians, but it sounds so stupid when you look at it.
"Geez! The Republicans are making things more expensive, gasoline prices are up because of a war, they don't care about children's lives so long as they continue to get support from gun lobbyists, they don't care about the cost of living with groceries and health insurance going up because they are siding with big financial institutions where the rich get richer, BUT THE DEMOCRATS SUPPORT GAY AND TRANS PEOPLE! SOME MUSLIMS ARE DEMOCRATS! ABORTION! ARGH! WHAT DO I DO?"
This is how stupid they sound. To some degree, it's laughable. But to another degree, it's concerning.
https://redd.it/1xpnspn
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Taliban Burn over 600 "Immoral" Musical Instruments
https://consequence.net/2026/11/taliban-burn-immoral-musical-instruments/
https://redd.it/1xpk3wb
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West Virginian Youth Pastor Gets Five Years In Child Prostitution Sting. Messages shown in court revealed that Elbert Goins arranged to pay $100 for thirty minutes with an eleven year old girl.
https://www.joemygod.com/2026/11/youth-pastor-gets-five-years-in-child-prostitution-sting/
https://redd.it/1xpgsfd
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The blue tsunami was a blow to Christian Nationalism. Throughout the country, voters rejected politicians who wanted to put conservative Christianity into law.
https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/the-blue-tsunami-was-a-blow-to-christian
https://redd.it/1xpftmq
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Texas Democrats Eye End to Bible Reading Mandate as 564-Vote Race Threatens GOP's 32-Year School Board Grip
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/texas-democrats-state-education-board-majority-564-votes-1830658
https://redd.it/1xpc988
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Religious "nones" shatter white evangelical dominance at the polls
https://www.axios.com/2026/11/06/white-evangelicals-shrinking-electorate-republicans
https://redd.it/1xpa76f
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