80+ Reasons Why I Left Christianity

When I was just three years old, I told my mum that I wanted to make the prayer. I wanted to accept Jesus Christ as my saviour and lord so that I could be saved, like her. So, off we went to a dimly lit bedroom down the hall. Sitting on the bed next to mum, I prayed with all my little heart. Later, at 8 years old, I doubled down on my prayer to be saved because I wanted to be sure that God had written my name down in his book of life. For it is said that anyone whose name is not recorded in the book of life will be cast to eternal torment in hell after they die.

This was my introduction to Baptist Christianity, and these religious beliefs strongly influenced my life and decisions until my mid-20s. I am now 29, a happily married parent, and an atheist. The beginning of the end of my faith wasn’t easy. I had to contend with investigating my doubts, losing my immortality and heavenly father, and rediscovering my entire identity, including my values and beliefs. Eventually though, the dust settled, and now I feel much more at ease and peace than ever before. I am content in appreciating my life and knowing that one day I will pass on to peaceful rest as my body returns to the universe.

This article is my thank you to all those who helped me find my way. My hope is that someone out there will find it useful and thought-provoking. Perhaps even a step in their journey.

Please note, there are some heavy and potentially triggering topics discussed below, particularly in respect to death, women, disabilities, homosexuality and animals. Take care and be kind to each other :)

What is wrong with Christianity?

Christianity is harmful. It is:

• Patriarchal — women can’t lead and must submit to their husbands.
• Dismissive of the human body and the planet — don’t need to look after them when the world is temporary.
• Anti-LGBTQIA+.
• Sex-negative — purity culture, marriage only, masturbation frowned upon.
• Anti-animal — teaches to control, use and eat them and that humans are more valuable.
• Sometimes physically dangerous — e.g. Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t allow blood transfusions.
• Anti-therapy — e.g. increasing faith and reading the Bible will solve problems rather than seeing a trained psychologist/psychiatrist/counsellor, and Christian counsellors giving untrained and harmful advice.
• Against critical-thinking —questions are discouraged in favour of faith, even despite contrary evidence, which can lead to fundamentalism and passing harmful laws based on the assumption of biblical truth and morality. It can also lead to trusting God’s plan instead of actively helping yourself, e.g. not using contraception and trusting God’s plan for childbearing, or not leaving an abusive marriage.
• Distrusting — e.g. scientists are liars, society is conspiring against Christians, and anyone questioning the Bible is of the Devil.
• Exploitable — war, sexism, racism and slavery have all been justified with the Bible throughout history.
• Divisionary — religion divides the world rather than uniting it peacefully.
• Wasteful — time and money spent on pastors and churches (businesses) could be spent actually helping people.
• Emotionally abusive — e.g. you are sinful and deserve to be punished eternally, you are helpless without God, you’ll never be good enough, you must give up everything for God and put yourself last.
• Scary —teaches the world is only getting worse, will end soon (apocalyptic prophecy), you may be left behind when Christians are called in the Rapture, the Antichrist will behead Christians for their beliefs, and that demons, hauntings and possession are real.
• Stressful — instils guilt and fear of eternal torment in hell for you and your loved ones if you are not “right with God”.

What is nice about Christianity?

Serving God provides a sense of purpose and belonging. It’s comforting knowing that God is always looking out for you. You can look forward to heaven, including seeing passed loved ones again. However, life can be full of purpose and peace without Christianity too. One life is enough and is precious. Passed loved ones live on with us in our memories. You are wonderful and deserving of love and self-forgiveness. Community gives us purpose, belonging and support. You are capable of overcoming challenges and thriving in life without relying on an imaginary God.

God provides an extra reason to be good. Religion has led to the formation of many charitable organisations. However, non-Christians still have plenty of reasons to be good (and generally desire to be), and there are many non-religious charities. There is no evidence that countries that are mostly non-religious have more crime, unhappiness, instability or less charity.

Church offers a community and venue within which to be uplifted, socialise and support each other. Church and religion can also turn around lives that are spiralling out of control with substance abuse, depression and/or violence and crime. However, secular drug and alcohol rehab programs, social workers and youth guidance counsellors, partners, friends, family, workplaces, hobby groups, sports and other community organisations can offer these same benefits and results. There are many non-religious reasons for people to change their lives for the better.

Leaving Christianity is nothing to be scared of

• You’ll still have lots of purpose in life — to love, to enjoy and to do good. Family, friends, jobs, hobbies, goals and adventures are still there for a fulfilling life.
• It’s not depressing knowing there’s no afterlife. It makes it more precious while you’re here.
• If you become an atheist, you’ll still be the same person at heart and life will go on as normal. It takes a lot of strength, honesty and time to work through de-conversion, but it is absolutely worth it.
• If atheism is too much of a change, even being agnostic, spiritual or believing a universal god or higher power is better than being Christian, as it allows you to fully and honestly follow your heart and mind, rather than being restricted to outdated and harmful biblical/religious ideas. You can still believe in a personal creator god who looks out for you, and believe in heaven, without believing in the Bible and Christianity.

Benefits of giving Christianity up

• No guilt for being a “bad” Christian including not going to church or “doing more”.
• Stand up for women’s rights and the LGBTQIA+ community.
• Don’t have to stress out about friends and family going to hell. It’s not real.
• Don’t have to reconcile science with myth and defend it to others.
• Keep up with the times and base decisions on evidence rather than blind faith in a 2,000+ year old compilation of religious writings.
• Stop making pastors and churches rich. Support charity and community organisations that focus 100% on what counts.

Summary of reasons why Christianity is false

• Science is incompatible with the Bible.
• Evolution is proven and renders intelligent design false and unnecessary.
• God doesn’t show himself and there is no evidence for God outside the Bible.
• Christian theology is full of problems that require a lot of faith to resolve. For example, how can we have free will and no sin in heaven?
• Biblical ethics and God’s behaviour are completely unacceptable. What loving God would drown all his creation?
• There are billions of genuine atheists, agnostics and believers in other religions around the world. This means hell is unfair. Eternal hell is a horrifically unjust punishment for otherwise good people.

Ethics

God commanded the Israelites to kill men, women and children. “This is what the Lord Almighty says… ‘Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” 1 Samuel 15:2–3 NIV. There are many occasions in the Old Testament (OT) when God tells his chosen people to drive out or kill their enemies. This is horrific and cannot be explained away with “divine justice” or faith.

God killed everyone in a flood, including innocent children. God killed people for simply touching or looking at the Ark of the Covenant (1 Samuel 6:19, 2 Samuel 6:6–7). God killed teenagers for calling a prophet bald (2 Kings 2:23–25). After hardening the Pharaoh’s heart, God killed all the Egyptian firstborns as punishment for enslaving the Israelites. How can we follow such a murderous and manipulative God?

God accepted slavery. “The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai… ‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.’” Leviticus 25:44–46 NIV. Belonging to others as property and not being allowed freedom is terrible. Given the difficulty of other rules that God gave the Israelites, God could have easily asked the Israelites to abolish slavery in favour of employment and better rights for workers. God could have easily made the Israelites successful in business in order to compensate for no longer being allowed to sell slaves. With an all-powerful God, there was no reason slavery had to be kept.

God gave primitive, barbaric laws like animal sacrifice to the ancient Israelites. This was unnecessarily cruel to animals and reflects human superstition more than the eternal wisdom and desires of a creator of the universe. The rituals prescribed are similar to those practiced in voodoo religions and by witch doctors. “Take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. Slaughter it, take some of its blood and put it on the lobes of the right ears of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then splash blood against the sides of the altar…Then he and his sons and their garments will be consecrated.” Exodus 29:19–21 NIV. “‘If the offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, you are to offer a dove or a young pigeon. The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off the head and burn it on the altar; its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. He is to remove the crop and the feathers and throw them down east of the altar where the ashes are. He shall tear it open by the wings, not dividing it completely, and then the priest shall burn it on the wood that is burning on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.’” Leviticus 1:14–17 NIV.

God touted the importance of virginity, particularly for women, and the OT law was violent and extremist. “If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.” Deuteronomy 22:20–21 NIV. There is nothing wrong with responsible premarital sex. Even so, this is a very dangerous command to give to humans. Men will abuse this in the name of God. There is no way to accurately verify virginity (the bloodied cloth is very unreliable). Also, based on this command, raped women who didn’t report the rape would never be able to marry, which punishes the victim. Adding to the victim punishments is a terrifying verse for women further down in Deuteronomy 22:28: “If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.” Despite the wording, this is typically explained as still up to the father to accept or decline the marriage and “merciful” to women who would otherwise struggle to marry because of their loss of virginity — a problem propagated by the Bible. Either way, women lose.

The Bible teaches that sex is meant for a married husband and wife only. It teaches that sex is ideally for procreation but also for love, and should be kept pure. Jesus taught that if you even “look at another woman lustfully”, you have committed adultery with her in your heart. For these reasons, premarital sex, masturbation, pornography and non-vanilla sexual acts are generally considered sinful. This creates a lot of shame and issues around sex for many people and can negatively affect relationships. To limit sex so much can also be a huge missed opportunity. Exploring what you like is a healthy and enjoyable part of life.

Kids conceived outside of wedlock were not considered holy, even though they did nothing wrong themselves. There is a consistent biblical theme of punishing subsequent generations for the sins of their forebears. “No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.” Deuteronomy 23:2 NIV. According to Genesis, because Eve ate an apple, the first act of disobedience, God decided to punish every future woman by giving them agonising and dangerous childbirth. This shows no love or intelligent design.

God declared that dwarves and hunchbacks couldn’t be priests. This is oddly physical rather than heart/mind-oriented (the opposite of Jesus’ teachings). “The Lord said to Moses… ‘No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; no man with a crippled foot or hand, or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles. No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God.’” Leviticus 21:16–21 NIV. This is supposed to be symbolic of the perfection required by God and how he cannot accept any trace of sin. However, it fails to show any godly love or wisdom and carries on the terrible theme of punishing innocents. Like many, it is a very human-sounding command.

God puts women beneath men for leadership and assigns harsh gender roles. “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing — if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.” 1 Timothy 2:11–15 NIV. “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.” 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 NIV. Some Christians say these pronouncements were just relevant for that time/place in history. However, God never encouraged any societal changes to improve equality, and God could have “inspired” Paul and Timothy to word these verses better for future generations at least. For Christians that agree with gender role/complementarity teachings, how far do these different gender roles extend for society? Women’s leadership opportunities in business, government and other aspects of life are left up to Christian males (spiritual leaders) to decide, taking cue from these biblical examples. They are harmful ideas of inequality for women if agreed to by Christians. Women are demonstrably fully capable of equality and offer so much to society.

God calls homosexuality detestable and punishable with death. “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” Leviticus 20:13 NIV (OT). “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.” Romans 1:26–27 NIV (NT). The only harm of homosexuality in society is the emotional trauma from the condemnation of it. Gay and queer relationships are no less successful than heterosexual ones. Further, homosexual parents are just as good as heterosexual parents. There are some Christians however who consider these homosexuality teachings as applicable more to Greek pederasty (of the time period), lust and sexual assault, rather than of loving, God-following relationships, and therefore do not consider LGBTQ+ relationships, marriage and parenting sinful. Despite crossdressing prohibitions in the OT, transgender people are likewise considered not to be sinful or defiant by some Christians, but instead to be authentically following their God-given identity. Unfortunately, if God actually supports LGBT+ people, and women’s equality, God did not make this clear at all in his holy book, and because of this he has caused immense harm by misleading his followers, leading to suffering and deaths.

Philosophy

Morality is subjective and consensus can change over time; it doesn’t come from the Bible. Lying is a sin (absolute), but if a particular lie would save lives, would it still be a sin (subjective)? Context is important in judging morality. “Thou shalt not kill”, yet God also commanded the Israelites to kill others. Slavery and discrimination against women are no longer acceptable in society. Abortion, surrogacy, women pastors, divorce and even LGBT+ support are examples of morally polarising topics for Christians interpreting the same Bible today. Christians generally search for and follow pastors and congregations who share their own pre-existing moral beliefs. God and the Bible don’t give us morality, we decide it for ourselves.

Jesus’ teaching of the golden rule (do to others as you’d have done to you, a maxim that predates Christianity) and the judgement of Christians by their fruit (Sermon on the Mount) defers morality to our human judgement. Jesus often overturned legalistic applications of law and tradition in favour of compassion for humanity, teaching that we need to apply discernment and love. Christians may argue they can feel the Holy Spirit guide them in this, but it is more likely they are imagining this spirit. Especially with many claiming this guidance despite direct contradictions amongst each other. The “not a true Christian” phrase gets a lot of use in claiming others are incorrectly interpreting God’s will.

Without God and the Bible, non-Christians still have morals and a conscience that guides their actions. They still have to face the consequences of their actions, good or bad. Atheism doesn’t lead to spiralling hedonism. Society generally teaches morality very well without need for the Bible. Honesty, integrity, responsibility, kindness, patience and humility are all examples of virtues you could easily see taught and posted in secular schools. Ironically, it’s actually Christians who have no need for morals as they will be forgiven by God for anything they do, except for leaving the faith.

The morals and decrees described in the Old Testament were made up by fallible humans. What reason do we have to trust that the Israelites actually heard from a real god and faithfully conveyed his intent? We no longer accept new reports of God’s will. Why do we make an exception for the Bible?

Most Christians follow their own version of Christianity with their own values. They don’t read the Bible, or they simply ignore the difficult parts and call it “faith”. Especially the OT. They may as well just believe in a generic higher power.

God seems to be restricted by the physical world. For example, he needs physical blood sacrifice in order to forgive. More likely it was just older ritualistic ideas that lead to animal sacrifice in the OT. Then Jesus’ death was adapted as the final blood sacrifice — a human sacrifice.

Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sins doesn’t make sense. God could just choose to forgive us. It wasn’t about justice because the wrong person was punished. It wasn’t about wrath and consequence because Jesus only suffered punishment for three days, not eternally like hell would be for us. If it was about proving power, it has to be taken on faith anyway.

Why does God have a chosen people that he revealed himself to and came for — the Israelites? He was only a locally known god initially.

Genesis says God created us in his image. I think we created God in our image. Why would the infinite God look or act like us? He’s very human-like in terms of his rules and changing his mind. God can be seen getting angry and yet being talked out of it on multiple occasions. For example: “‘I have seen these people,’ the Lord said to Moses, ‘and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.’ But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God… Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.” Exodus 32:9–14 NIV. God also felt that he had made a mistake by creating humans and decided to drown them all in a flood. Meditating on it further however, he decided to try again and instead use the flood to restart life on Earth after finding one man that he liked — Noah. Perhaps feeling guilty about it afterwards, he then promised never to flood the whole Earth again. “The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created — and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground — for I regret that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” Genesis 6:6–8 NIV. “Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.” Genesis 9:14–15 NIV. Long after the Fall, God changed his mind about vegetarianism: “Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.” Genesis 9:3 NIV.

Sin and The Fall do not explain the incomprehensible amount of natural and random suffering in our world. It’s more likely that this world is natural than designed. What loving God would give children cancer as part of a plan or punishment? If he’s truly omnipotent, this is unnecessary and evil. Humans can inflict enough suffering on themselves.

There are so many problematic questions Christians have to deal with in their theology. Why would the Christian God naturally eternally exist (and to the exclusion of others)? Why doesn’t he show himself? Why does he allow natural disasters? Are babies saved if they die? How could Jesus be both God and human simultaneously? How is predestination fair? How is eternal hell fair? Why can’t people change their allegiance in the afterlife? How can we have no sin in heaven yet still have free will and be ourselves? How can we trust that a particular biblical canon is correct and unchanging?

Christians often assume God doesn’t show himself because then humans would have no free will to choose him. They would be “robots” following him. This is not true. The devil and fallen angels knew and followed God personally in heaven, yet they still chose to and were able to rebel. Even if we were compelled to follow God due to knowing he is real, at least then most of humanity would be following God’s “perfect” revealed laws, and God would know who the true/pure-heart followers are anyway.

God could have created a world where meat isn’t nutritious or tasty so that animals wouldn’t suffer being harmed endlessly.

God could have created a world where sex isn’t so desirable so that only people who wanted to be parents would do it. If he designed this to test us, that’s just cruel, especially considering the results of children in broken homes. If he wanted more humans, he could have just waited longer or created more of us — there are trillions of planets to create us on after all. Often, terrible parents have no trouble procreating while good potential parents are left infertile. The fact that sex is so desirable only further proves evolution.

Everything has a magical reason according to Christians. When something good happens, it’s God. When something bad happens, it’s because of sin, the Devil or a test. It’s often said that God answers prayers as either: yes, no or wait. You’d get the same answers praying to a rock.

Building a religion where “belief” leads to salvation is very convenient. Many people will believe anything, especially if it leads to heaven and they don’t have to do anything.

Christianity’s success in spreading is supported by its ease of conversion and adherence (a prayer and faith mindset, available to all peoples, not just Jews), its monotheism (other gods must be left behind), its promise of forgiveness and heaven (hope for a better life, particularly for the poor), its missionary roots (the Great Commission, and particularly Paul’s missionary work), its support from Emperor Constantine making Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century, its supposed miracles, its teaching of God being beyond understanding (which deals with any theological issues), and the threat of eternal hell.

Jesus couldn’t perform many miracles or preach with respect in his hometown because the people there knew that the real Jesus was just an ordinary man. People had to “believe” to be healed (like many faith healers today). If he really was God, there should have been no doubt by those who knew him when he grew up. “Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.’ He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.” Mark 6:4–6.

There is no secondary evidence or reason to believe in angels, demons or a heavenly realm outside of the Bible. Doesn’t it sound like fantasy?

What created such a complex and powerful God? Which is more likely to have always existed: physics or God? Physics and the universe are at least observable.

Christianity teaches a very strange cosmology. An all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving God magically always existed. He creates a pale blue dot of chaotic life in an enormous and otherwise lifeless universe (the Bible doesn’t mention humans or creatures on other planets or galaxies). He sends his half-human, half-God Son to die physically so he can forgive “sins” that we can’t help committing because of Adam and Eve. We go to hell or heaven forever after death among other creatures like angels and demons. God never shows himself but requires belief for you to be saved.

The universe is massive and filled with innumerable planets and stars. If God bothered to create so much, why not spread us out and create more of us instead of leaving us on this tiny speck? It’s more likely we’re a natural occurrence in a huge universe than the centre of God’s creation and attention.

Our existence is just a tiny blip within an infinite (or massive) amount of time and space. Given this and the physics we observe, it’s statistically probable and perhaps inevitable that eventually all the right things would line up to create life and evolve. And now we’re intelligent enough to be self-aware and ponder it. Only in a universe where this is possible could we even ask the question. This is known as the anthropic principle.

Beauty in our world is simply perception, it does not make a designer any more likely than nature.

Atheism isn’t arrogantly presuming knowledge of everything in the universe and fully concluding there are no gods. It is saying the balance of evidence is currently against known gods. Agnosticism says there’s not enough information and/or the evidence for and against is balanced.

There have been some horrific communist dictatorship regimes that have infamously subscribed to atheism and persecuted religious belief, unfairly giving atheism a bad name. Non-tolerance of religious freedom is outside the scope of atheism. Atheism coexists with theism/religion in secular societies. Atheism is merely a statement that supernatural gods do not exist, and it was not the cause of the cruelty of these regimes. Democracy asks us to vote in favour of leaders who support morals, laws and decisions we agree with. Dictatorships allow those in power to decide these without anything to stop them. This is where the danger is. Such power can lead to atrocious outcomes regardless of Christian or atheist underpinnings. Many countries that have large non-religious and atheist populations are very peaceful.

You have to accept a massive number of supernatural possibilities to believe in the Bible. If you can accept so much on faith, you then need to give equal consideration to other supernatural gods and beliefs, and there is no real way to decide the truth of them, except by feelings which can be wrong.

Hell

Conscious eternal hell is a horrifically unjust nightmare. Many good people would be sent there, including people you know and love. For not choosing Jesus and for the hundred or so years of “sins” during their lives (even though they can’t help it), non-Christians are tormented forever and ever in the afterlife (centuries, millennia, trillions of years, eons…), with no breaks or any hope to escape. It is permanent and unbreakable. This is an unimaginably terrifying and evil punishment for God to inflict on non-Christians who never even knew he actually existed.

What about people who grew up in a non-Christian family? Or those who didn’t believe the right thing by accident? Or those for whom science and reason sincerely hindered the way?

Even if hell was just ceasing to exist, or living forever separated from God and not being “happy” because of it, how is that fair? People can change, especially with evidence and help. There’s got to be at least one person that could change their ways in the afterlife.

If part of your reasoning for being a Christian is fear of hell, what about all the other thousands of denominations and religions throughout the world and history that you’d be condemned in? Is that even true belief anyway? Is it worth it? This is known as Pascal’s Wager.

The threat of hell, being left behind in the Rapture to be beheaded, and the danger of thinking critical thoughts against God and Christianity, have caused immense anxiety amongst many children and adults throughout the world. Christians cannot deny the existence of religious trauma from theological sources (not just physical sources). Testimonies from people who have experienced this are available widely on the internet. These are not healthy doctrines to teach children.

Psychology and belief

Growing up in a religious household is likely to make you follow that religion, regardless of which religion it is.

How can you tell the voice of God from a voice in your head? People don’t really encounter God at church, they just imagine it. Music and shared belief can be powerful. You can have the same strong feelings of emotion and connectedness outside church/religion, as in it.

Why would God give us the strange gift of “speaking in tongues” (proven gibberish) for our personal edification? See 1 Corinthians 14. Ex-Christians have reported feeling guilty and not-worthy at the time for not being able to do this, and having faked it for years instead. Sometimes Christians even encourage others to speak gibberish initially to “get things started”.

When Christians are asked why they believe, it’s almost always a familial/cultural, emotional, fear of hell/death, or unproven supernatural reason rather than rational and evidence-based.

Many people feel spiritual, supernatural and life altering experiences from other religions and non-Christian beliefs and practices. Christianity is not unique in this regard. No evidence of miracles, healing, resurrection, or prayer effectiveness has ever been found, yet people still believe because they want to.

There are many people who fraudulently claim to be able to do magical, miraculous things, and there are many people who wholeheartedly believe them. Jesus was no different. His followers were not objective observers. They could easily be tricked into believing things, or have conscious and/or unconscious reasons to believe they saw more than they did. Even respected, well educated people can fall victim to charisma and a good story. And stories get exaggerated with each tell, particularly with word of mouth as in Jesus’ day.

Christians often believe in a conspiracy that scientists twist theories and evidence to fit atheism and that all non-Christians know the truth deep down and want to be selfish and sinful instead, which isn’t true. Scientists simply and honestly seek better understanding of our world and follow the evidence wherever it leads. If evidence led to a super powerful intelligent designer, scientists would accept and document it.

Confirmation bias (only accepting information that agrees with your views), belief perseverance (maintaining a view despite evidence to the contrary), compartmentalisation (keeping conflicting ideas separate in the mind), rationalisation (e.g. watering down the idea of hell), childhood indoctrination, family and social pressure, desire for it to be true and faith provide the opportunity for belief in religions like Christianity.

God is narcissistic and abusive. He requires constant praise and worship from his subjects whom he punishes for disobedience and as tests of loyalty — see the book of Job for example. He tells us that he “loves us” but constantly has to stop himself from murdering us and sending us to hell forever when we don’t do everything perfectly as he asks. Christianity has not always been a force for peace in the world. Look at what the Catholic church alone has done throughout history: gatekeeping salvation for power and wealth, waging wars — the Crusades — in the name of God, and persecuting heretics in the Inquisition. The Bible has often been used to justify slavery, racism and sexism. Christians remain sinful despite years of practising their faith and inheriting the Holy Spirit. Many Christians leave their churches because of hypocrisy and abuse. Many elements of Christianity resemble cult indicators: faith without question, no other source of truth, apocalyptic fears, those who leave are wrong/evil, documented abuses in the media, former members commonly report similar grievances, financial and work contributions are required and followers are never “good enough”. Consider also: “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, even their own life — such a person cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:25–26 NIV. Christianity preaches faith and love, but is also divisionary and judgemental. There is a common phrase amongst ex-Christians: “There is no hate like Christian love.” Non-Christians are told they are going to eternal hell for their choices. Teenagers have been shunned, threatened and thrown out of home by Christian parents because of their differing beliefs and identities.

Christians have a defeatist attitude. Any responsibility for looking after the planet is shrugged off because God plans to destroy this sinful world anyway and heaven is all that matters. “It’s in God’s hands.” Many Christians want to hasten the end times.

Christians take to heart harmful ideas that the world is only getting worse, the “end times” are near in their generation (despite saying this for 2,000+ years), they are helpless without God, getting closer to God is the true solution for any problem including mental health, they will be increasingly persecuted for their beliefs (to death even), and that they deserve punishment and will never be good enough (for God). There is stress about being responsible for the salvation of others. There is a constant mental battle between: “I’m saved through faith” and “I must be better and turn away from sin, otherwise I’m not truly saved”. There is also a strong stigma around reading critiques of Christianity and doing any serious questioning because that may lead you to eternal hell (“don’t think too deeply about it, just have faith”). Atheism actually offers a much healthier mindset and more hope.

The Bible

If God inspired the Bible’s authors and the canons (the selections of books considered truthful and relevant for inclusion in bibles), why couldn’t he inspire it to be less confusing and troublesome? Is this really what a creator of the universe would leave us as his perfect unchanging book to guide us? Why are there so many different ideas about Bible interpretation? The earliest Christian followers had conflicting ideas. Various denominations have developed since: Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, Pentecostal, Adventist, Baptist, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Church of Jesus Christ and LDS (Mormon) and many more. God hasn’t made it clear, and everyone thinks their version is right, even within the same denomination.

Jesus, the Son, is very different to the Father in the OT. Adapting Judaism into the new Christianity gave the religion authority but also complications with reconciling the two.

The Bible is full of contradictions. For example, no-one can see God and live (Exodus 33:20), yet Moses spoke with God face to face, like a friend (Exodus 33:11), as did Jacob when he wrestled with God (Genesis 32:30). Details between the gospels conflict. Human sacrifice is condemned, yet God sacrifices his own Son, asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac and causes Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter. Eye for an eye in the OT, yet turn the other cheek in the NT. Humility is a virtue, yet God asks for eternal worship and glory. The same Bible can be used to argue for and against many things depending on your preferences and verse selections.

Why would Jesus say that his kingdom would come before some of those listening to him had died, yet the kingdom still has not come? This was later interpreted to mean seeing the Transfiguration, the resurrected Jesus and/or receiving the Holy Spirit, but Jesus’ words don’t sound like that. “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” Matthew 16:27–28 NIV. “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away… Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” Luke 21:8–32 NIV. No wonder the apostles didn’t bother writing anything down until they were old.

Why didn’t all of the apostles write books? Why didn’t they carefully preserve Jesus’ teachings when he actually said them instead of 40–140+ years later? Only a few apostles wrote books (often via disciples of their own) when they realised Jesus wasn’t coming back soon enough. A large part of the NT is from Paul who only saw Jesus briefly in a vision/hallucination and the rest of his information is second-hand.

For most of the twelve apostles, their lives and martyrdom after Jesus are only church traditions and legends. There are no substantial historical records.

The only sources we have for Jesus’ resurrection and ascension (and indeed all his words, actions and miracles during his life) are from a few apostles and their disciples in the Bible. There are no sources outside the Bible that report Jesus’ miracles or resurrection. Instead, it is reported that Christians believe in a “mischievous superstition” (see Tacitus). There are no third party accounts of other major miracles either, such as in Matthew 27:52–53 NIV: “The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.” There are many more likely natural explanations for what happened than resurrection. The holy people resurrections and the tomb guards story, both of which appear only in the gospel of Matthew, are widely regarded by scholars as a likely attempt to fictitiously add credibility to Jesus’ resurrection. An apostle/disciple or other party may have moved Jesus’ body, and the empty tomb may have convinced the remaining apostles further of Jesus’ divinity. The apostles may have then seen visions and competed with each other for authority. People who lose a loved one often report seeing them and talking to them again. Particularly so with the religiously inclined. Even if the apostles saw Jesus’ body in the grave, they may have still believed in the resurrection experiences they had.

There was great financial gain to be made from continuing a cult in Jesus’ name and proclaiming a resurrection had been witnessed. In Acts chapters 4 and 5 we see that the disciples had organised a cult so that followers would sell all their property and belongings and join a commune. If they did not sell everything they had, and kept anything for themselves, the followers would be murdered, as happened to Ananias and Sapphira. “For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need… Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? …’ When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened… About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, ‘Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?’ ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘that is the price.’ … At that moment she fell down at his feet and died.” The disciples and writers tried to spin the commune as providing for the needy and following Jesus’ example of giving up everything to follow God, but it’s clear what was actually happening.

There are prophecies in the Bible that never came true (e.g. Isaiah 19:23–25), some that came true but can only be verified by the same source (the Bible), and some that were written during and after the events they describe (e.g. Cyrus the Great) yet are still applauded by Christians as “prophecies’’! Sometimes they could easily be predicted. And many prophets were told they were “false” once their predictions didn’t come true. Most of the claims about Jesus fulfilling prophecies are cherry picked based on vague psalms or verses, and some don’t even have a messianic context. Jesus himself and his followers could fulfil some of these claims; simply by riding on a donkey into Jerusalem for example, or traveling to certain places and saying certain things. Jesus also did not come in power like the Jews expected from their interpretation of scripture.

The apocalyptic book of Revelation is quite a trip. Dragons, beasts and strange creatures with eyes all over! Revelation causes Christians to be irrationally anxious of being left behind by the Rapture, sentenced to death for their beliefs, and of getting the “Mark of the Beast” which is prophesied to be the only way to pay for goods when the Antichrist appears. In modern times, the Mark is popularly interpreted to be a computer chip implanted in the right hand or forehead. Dragons are not limited to Revelation either. A giant fire-breathing sea serpent called Leviathan is mentioned in Isaiah, Job and Psalms too. See also the strange heavenly creatures: cherubim, seraphim and ophanim (a.k.a. thrones). As a kid, whenever I found the house empty when I didn’t expect it, I panicked that the Rapture had taken my family to heaven and left me alone on Earth because I was a bad Christian. This experience is shared by many other Christians and ex-Christians.

The Bible requires very careful reading and is easily subject to misinterpretation. You constantly have to consider historical culture and writing styles, translations, theology and overarching themes, which parts are still relevant and which parts are figurative, to the point that it loses some value. It is very difficult to understand many verses, and scholarly/pastoral guidance is often required.

If the Bible were true, we’d expect it to contain scientifically accurate information and moral advancements revealed by God that humans couldn’t possibly have known at the time. Instead, it reflects the authors’ ignorance. We’d expect that scientific evidence would neatly line up with the Bible and non-Christians would be forced to consciously ignore the truth. Instead, the amount of faith required for Christianity is inordinate.

Science and history

Christians sometimes say that science can’t be used to ask questions about gods and religion, but that is not true. Science is merely reason itself, and requires thinking clearly and fairly. Science can investigate and accept “rare” events (supernatural becomes natural) and can judge morality because it is conducted by humans who can feel good and bad moral effects.

Many miracles would be required to support a literal interpretation of Noah’s flood. Land, air, freshwater, insect, bacteria, climate-diverse and carnivorous animals could not have been collected from across all continents, and fit, fed and survived peacefully for months on a boat with Noah and his family. Most other animals and plant life would have been wiped out in the flood, leaving no food afterwards. The final and strangest miracle is that God removed all evidence of this worldwide flood from the geologic record. Noah’s ark has never been found despite extensive searches, and there is no evidence that it will be found anywhere. It could have been a smaller, local flood and an exaggerated work of literature, rather than an actual account of events.

The ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh is much older than the flood story in the OT. It has a similar story of a divine worldwide flood sent to kill everyone except for one man who was asked to build a massive boat for his family and some animals. The story however has multiple Mesopotamian gods. The gods were in disagreement and were scared of the storm — quite different to the biblical God. Archaeologists have found bits of the Epic of Gilgamesh all over ancient Israel. It is highly likely that the Israelites borrowed and adapted their flood story from this, rather than wrote the “true” account later.

Linguists do not consider the tower of Babel with its account of one original world language and the instantaneous establishment of separate, unique languages (by God) to be a credible historical event. There is no evidence for it. There are earlier Sumerian and Assyrian stories it may have been inspired by.

Jonah could not have survived inside the belly of a whale for three days.

Many Christians already say they’re not sure about creation in six days as literal. The Earth and human race are much older than the Bible suggests (typically stated at around 6,000 years).

Dinosaurs roamed the Earth long before humans did. Why would a perfect, all-knowing God create dinosaurs only to wipe them out later but still before The Fall?

Research studies show that prayer has no effect.

No hauntings or demonic possessions have ever been proven, nor do they have any credible evidence. Most are outright frauds. Mental illness is not demonic possession or due to lack of faith.

If healing worked when people went up the front at church or when they prayed, why are there still so many up the front each week? If God is constantly curing illnesses through prayer and faith-healers, why can’t he re-grow an arm or a leg?

It seems unlikely for a God that invented genetics to start the human race from one family and inbreeding (twice). The same God later says it’s a sin to have sex with your relatives.

Evolution has been extensively validated. It has withstood the test of time and critics. It is reasonable to believe in natural processes leading to life as we know it, in fact more so than a designer. Many biological designs are good enough for survival and reproduction but certainly not “perfectly designed”. There are clear indications of common descent. Evolution isn’t a linear process, and portions of species can diverge while the rest remain relatively unchanged. Natural selection is only one of multiple evolutionary mechanisms. Genetic mutations can produce useful new functions. New species of plants, insects and worms have been observed arising while subjected to various forms of selection. The fossil record contains many transitional fossils. Primitive eyes and light sensing organs exist in the animal kingdom showing that there are transitional forms of complex organs. Eyes have even evolved independently in various organisms. Simple computer programs can generate useful complex designs from random mutations and selection criteria, copying evolution. Despite the evidence, Christians choose not to accept evolution as it defies the Genesis account, the doctrine of original sin, and even the need for God at all.

The Big Bang wasn’t a small, destructive explosion, it was a massive inflation of our universe. Gravity clumps matter together into planets and stars. Abiogenesis (the origin of life) may be a rare phenomenon but is not impossible, and multiple theories exist for it. Amongst the more than trillions of planets, life started on Earth and evolution took place. It isn’t a random chance that our world seems orderly and tuned “just right”. It was natural, slow processes that led to it. Even though we don’t have all the answers and some of our scientific ideas may yet prove incorrect or inaccurate, we are always learning more. With everything we know so far, saying it had to be God (especially the Christian one) or God hiding his tracks, requires far more explanation.

Archaeology and modern scholarship have found many issues and no evidence for the large-scale Israelite Exodus story.

Luke’s census story for Jesus’ birth is historically incorrect.

The earliest biblical texts are from the 8th century BC (2,800 years ago), with most written during and after Israelite captivity in Babylon in the 6th century BC. In Babylon, the Israelites would have been exposed to other religious ideas including Zoroastrianism which scholars find likely influential. The Israelites’ god Yahweh was part of the Canaanite pantheon of gods, alongside El (the most high), Baal, Asherah and others. Israelite tragedies were assumed to be the result of not following their chosen god Yahweh closely enough. Scholars believe that the Israelites were originally henotheistic (following one God whilst acknowledging others), but starting with king Josiah in the 7th century, they elevated Yahweh above El as the supreme god and adopted monotheism. After liberation from Babylon by Cyrus the Great in the 6th century, the Hebrew Bible was then compiled to appear as though monotheism was practiced much earlier than it actually was. Judaism claims to reach back 4,000 years, starting with Abraham. In comparison, nearby Egyptian and Sumerian religions predate even this, with surviving records from 4,500 years ago. Other ancient peoples around the world record alternative religious ideas, such as the Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime and Indian Vedas. God could have mysteriously chosen the Israelites to record and spread the “truth”, but it seems more likely that the biblical God and creation myths evolved naturally like many others.

The fact that there are so many varying religions and beliefs throughout the globe and history indicates that gods are a natural part of humankind’s imagination and an early attempt at answering existential questions.

Concluding thoughts

When you view the Bible as part-history, part-made-up, it makes far more sense than it being the divine revelation of a god. By leaving religions like Christianity behind, we can stop limiting ourselves to ancient human ideas and instead free ourselves to make progress for a better and kinder world. In my experience of leaving Christianity behind, it’s absolutely worth it. It wasn’t easy at first though.

Leaving Christianity can be a very tumultuous time mentally. It took me more than a year to fully even out and I experienced depression at times whilst processing everything. But now on the other side, I’m so glad I found my way out. If you are a devout Christian and have a good emotional support system, I’d urge you to try imagining that Christianity is not true. Just pretend that it’s not true for a day or a week, make your own arguments for why it’s not true, and see how you go. I promise you won’t be struck down by lightning! (A real fear of mine when I did this.) Christianity strongly discourages such open-mindedness and freedom of thought, which is why this exercise is important.

For more related content, I recommend reddit’s r/exchristian and r/atheism forums. Atheism is not viewed favourably in some parts of the world, so please be safe. Stay kind :)

Postscript — Values I try to live by as an atheist (we’re not monsters!)

• What goes around comes around. Do not be greedy. Always seek non-violence. Avoid destructive behaviours.
• Practise humility, respect, tolerance, patience, kindness, honesty, generosity, responsibility, self-control, bravery, forgiveness and love for all, including yourself.
• Uphold the scientific method. Strive to be wise. Accept that you can be wrong.
• Hedonism and materialism do not bring true happiness.
• Be productive, creative and form meaningful relationships. These bring true happiness.
• Stay positive. Enjoy and make the most of your life.
• Despite the difficult things we have to endure, life is worth it and we can continue to make it better.

Following are some internet memes I’ve come across that I found quite interesting for picturing Christianity from a very different viewpoint. Apologies for the abrasive/offensive wording, please be warned!