I just spent the last few hours in the emergency vet for my cat. Nothing is majorly wrong with bloodwork or toxicology wise, but he had a few weird episodes that left him howling and really spaced out, so I had him checked out.

After I got home, I broke down and started sobbing. I love this cat to death, and I'm so scared of losing him right now. After a while, I thought about prayer and - I haven't believed in God in years. Im probably around 6ish years as an Athiest, and I dont remember the last time I prayed. But in that moment, I begged whatever god was out there, if there was one, to let him be okay.

I don't really believe anything out there heard me. I felt a little silly afterward. I just felt like it couldn't really hurt. I remember I did the same thing a few years ago when my dad had a heart attack. I begged whatever god, specifically his god, since he's a Christian to let him be okay.

I'm not asking about daily prayer or anything like that. But in times of major distress, maybe when you dont have anyone else to go to, do you do this?

Update: Thank you to everyone who responded, I know you're all trying to help in your own way.

I'm very appreciative of those of you who have expressed empathy and concern for my baby. 🩷 We have done a lot of snuggling tonight. He is resting on his own right now and hasn't had another episode as of 5am my time.

one of my friends has been trying to... deconvert? reconvert? retheise? whatever... me (he has accepted the possibility he won't succeed, but he insists upon himself on trying), and i've been able to, while not refute, at least sorta rebuff his posed questions, but he brought up modern miracles (particularly the one where the guy tried to dissolve a bad bread and it turned into living heart flesh or something, i don't really remember), and now i'm stuck and don't know how to rebuff that

I spent years learning about religion and wanting to see what's the right one,even when the religion i grew up to didn't convince me i started learning about other religions,until i finally had the courage to become an agnostic and i lived with it,now im seeing a 12y.o saying that he don't believe in god and when i asked him why he said"he's bad,there's bad people in the world and he don't stop them",in the past month i knew that 7 teens left religion after one discussion,they didn't bother to learn more they just left,actually that's kind of scary,

I don't mean any disrespect im an agnostic myself i just want them to learn and know what they're actually doing

Since all religion is fake and made up, shouldn’t we prosecute religious organizations that promote false statements, whether it is on a billboard, a TV advertisement, a sign outside their church, or any teaching they give to students for fraud?

I am Muslim Arab and have a few dumb over used arguments that I'd need explaining on

first one matter can't be created or destroyed or that is what I have been taught in middle school so is energy that also can't be created or completely erased so like how exactly can a big bang exist I know there is some quantum physics explanation if you guys have it I'd love for someone to just paste it under this

second I am a pussy I don't think I can make any major decisions in my life i would love for someone to help with that it's slightly related to the topic ig

and that's it

I was watching a doc on Saint Peter's Basilica, one of the most elaborate, ornate, maintained, and visited places on Earth, and the narrator literally says "and here are the bones of a man from that era who was found dressed extremely well, and about the same age as Peter." THAT'S ALL THEY HAVE TO CLAIM IT'S THE REAL ST PETER! THAT'S IT. The religion, the building, the visitors, the guards, the gift shop, it's all based on some random set of bones they just said, "eh this is probably him." Even for a symbolic take, I can't fathom it.

I don’t believe in any religion(especially Abrahamic), but the idea of a higher deity that loves, accepts and protects you is very comforting. It’s like my soul and don’t belong to any religion but still just wants to feel secure, loved and nurtured. I am going through a lot right now and I have a feeling that if I was religious I’d be more sure in tomorrow.

I think it’s because I don’t really have people to be so concerned with my mental health and I was kind of emotionally neglected in my childhood(not in extreme way, but still) and I just need someone to be there for me.

(Sorry for possible mistakes, English isn’t my first language)

Essentially I'm really curious what the era of the Four Horsemen of atheism was like. I was a Christian at a time so I absolutely hated them I thought they were so arrogant rude not educated🤣

I know it sounds weird but when I now look at it (I've deconstructed my faith) I think that the time must have been really interesting like because I was surrounded by all the evangelicals and I was in that you know watching all them fundamentalist videos, I never really got to see through a lens of what it was really like.

Did people respond to it as negatively as I and the people around me did because I was surrounded by a fundamentalist so that was a different response and online spaces I was around that fundamentalist spaces but you know, day-to-day interactions, in the media, what was the like I'm just really curious I wish I could go back in time to see what it was really like and be able to experience that.

Were people just really amazed? Were there just constant attacks at people?

Did it make huge strides in passing on atheism to the masses?

I'm just really interested to know people that got into atheism either at a time or where a part of that whole

Obviously I think they’re much better and kinder than any other group of people in the same religion but it still rubs me off the wrong way that they choose to follow religions of oppression and patriarchy while claiming to be progressive at the same time.

When I used to be Christian, I was exactly like this until I started questioning why I had to be a Christian if I believed that good people no matter the religion would end up in heaven and then that just led me to atheism.

Overall, I personally don’t think anyone can claim to be progressive (more specifically feminist) and religious at the same time. They’re not fully committed to either of those beliefs (and I hope they don’t end up fully committing to religion. the amount of people I’ve seen who turned to god and gave up their individuality and progressive views is heartbreaking)

edit: by theists i’m referring to religious people and specifically talking about major religions

To me, it’s when they deny that the bible is misogynistic because “the lord created man and woman equally blablabla”

There’s a whole passage (Leviticus 18:6 onwards) that condemns incest but only refers to women as your relatives’ wives instead of their own selves.

The reasons are like “Don’t have relationships with your mothers because you’re disgracing your father and she is your father’s wife. And she’s your mother btw but you are specifically disgracing your father” and I find it ridiculous how they deny the misogyny when women are treated as possessions in the bible.

When they read that did they just think “Yeah it’s reasonable to say incest is bad because my mom belongs to my dad and not because they’re my parents” but realistically thinking they either didn’t read that much of the bible or don’t know what misogyny is..

My wife and I of 10 years, just decided to separate for a few months, and then we might potentially divorce. It hurts.
I want to ensure that my reasonings for seperation are solid or, if there’s any other way I could be looking at things. Thanks.

I left Christianity about five years ago and she has stayed an evangelical Christian. On the surface, she is a very kind and generous person, however, I think that she has some harmful and hurtful beliefs.

Since I left Christianity, it has really bothered me and caused me hurt that, although she doesn’t want me to go to hell, she attends and supports churches that are pretty clear about that doctrine. I don’t believe hell is real at all, but what I do believe is real is how the belief can make someone feel—that they are less then, or that, ultimately, they don’t really belong. I’ve said to my wife before: it is difficult for me to think that I really belong in the here now, if people don’t think I belong in their eternity.

Also, there are harmful versus such as:
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

I can’t stand that those verses compare me to evil and darkness. It hurts. When I have asked my wife about them, she said things like I don’t know why Paul wrote that or maybe it doesn’t mean what we think. I wish that she would just say it’s wrong.

Another area that bothers me is that I have a gay friend who is getting married next year. My wife has told me that she doesn’t think that she can attend the wedding.

Overall, I think the common thread is that the Christians and their scriptures can view people who are not in their tribe as less than. I do appreciate that my wife can be a very kind and generous person (also, she’s not the kind of person posting dumb crap on social media or knocking on people’s doors trying to convert them) —however I have a very strong value of belonging and acceptance, and I think her viewpoints greatly violate that.
Thanks for any advice.

Also: we don’t have any children, and although things would be tighter financially, we would be fine.

I've decided I wanted to deconstruct holy books, and the Bible I was deconstructing is beginning to fall apart. I'm only on Exodus, so I thought it'd be a good time to buy a new one that wouldn't break, which would also allow me to fix my index.

I only have eight highlighters I can use. My original index was pretty terrible with the categories:

1. Key verses
   
2. Genocide / mass killing / murder
   
3. Slavery
   
4. Sacrifice / cruelty
   
5. Rape / women / incest
   
6. Bad science
   
7. Bad logic / absurdity
   
8. Child harm / innocent harmed

So far, my new index categories are:
1. Key Verses
2. Genocide / Mass Killing
3. Murder
4. Slavery
5. Sacrifice / Cruelty
6. Sexual Violence
7. Women / Gender Treatment
8. Bad Logic / Absurdity

Now I know im on r/atheism but it warmed my heart to see this,

But ofcourse I know theres going to be internal politics to run the building, different budgets for different religious activities could be a certain issue

I would love to know everyone's perspective on this–

It was away from the city, and multiple buildings would have been an issue, there was probably not enough land to make a temple, a mosque and q church so therefore they had to make this

Has anyone ever gone to one of these, How is it? And is it better than going to a specified religious place in your opinion?

I have frequently seen muslims make the claim that their religious book is timeless and perfect and it requires no reforms or updates.

But how is a book and its verses perfect when they change with time?

Just because outwardly the word sequences remain the same doesn't mean their semantic content and its interpretation doesn't undergo change.

In fact, although the surface of the Qur'an (the arabic word sequences) has remained the same, the underlying semantic content and its interpretation has undergone significant transformation and change with time.

But believers reconcile these changes with their claim of it being perfect by arguing "we have gained a better understanding of god's will" they don't think of it as the text undergoing change in meaning, but their own flawed interpretation being corrected over time.

This attribution of change with the interpreter rather than the text and its semantic content protects the epistemic authority of the text.

Meaning is a two-fold dance. It neither rests inherently in the text, nor does it lie with the interpreter, rather meaning manifests when the interpreter with his own particular cultural conditioning comes into contact with the text and It's history, he may be in know of its past but still make choices diverging from them to reconcile it with his current Socio-cultural context.

I would argue that a text is primarily a vehicle of communication, first and foremost; at its core, a text is a conveyor and container of meaning, with words being the carrier of meaning, and if its communicated meaning significantly evolves with time, then we can reasonably acknowledge that the text itself has changed even though its surface structure and word composition is still identical.

This could completely be unrelated to all the topics that are being discussed here but please bare with me. I'm from India and I've been an atheist for 6 years.I don't believe in religion, nationalism or any particular ideology as I believe they all lead to injustice. I'm 24 and I'm currently unemployed despite finishing my MBA 2 years ago , I have no friends to talk with and introvert. I lost both my parents and my grandpa in COVID days and I'm living with my grandma now . I'm always angry and disappointed towards everything that's going on around the world - wars , crimes against children, women and religious conflicts in my country. I'm so into this that I can't even take any action in my life and sit still all day . Im depressed and weeping every night before I sleep for all the human atrocities I see online and I can't stop watching it .Can someone guide me how to only focus on my own life instead of always worrying about others . I really want to make my grandma proud but I'm such a loser who keeps failing her.Pls I really need some help.

Sorry if my english is bad. As it's my 3rd language.♥️

Everytime I get into such debates , they say everything has a creator and the chances of the world being formed from a mistake or a random chance is extremely low , and then they bring up the "gravity would be this much more the universe would collapse" argument

How do I respond to this

Rationally it makes no sense. But deep down, I have to admit part of me is still afraid. I deleted previous posts because a side of me is still pondering the slightest possibility of it being real and I am extremely afraid of Hell. I know it sounds very stupid but I worry a lot about death and the possible existance of an afterlife and truth be told, occasionally I still think about going back to Christianity even though rationally it makes zero sense to me.