Leaving Christianity
I grew up in a religious house. We went to church every Sunday; my mother was director of the CCD program; my brothers and I were even altar boys. This wasn't all just ceremony. I sincerely believed in God and Jesus, and thought I could feel His presence when I prayed.
But as I got older, I began to question my religious beliefs, and eventually realized that I'd been mistaken. There was no moment of epiphany. The gradual realization came after several years of research and intense self-reflection. During the course of that transformation and afterwards, I wrote a lot about my thought process and reasoning. I collected, chopped up, edited, and reassembled many of those writings, and then added a bit more to create this book.
I realize there are already essays and even entire books on this subject by philosophers and famous scientists who are much more well-known than me, but I figure it doesn't hurt to add one more voice. Perhaps it will strike a chord with some readers, and help them to see things differently. Even for those not questioning their faith, I would hope this book shows the thought that goes into abandoning one's religion, and allows them to at least respect and tolerate, if not agree with, atheists.
This latest Fourth Edition is a major revision, with a lot of editing, purging, and new material, correcting some of the short-comings in the previous edition, and hopefully creating a better overall book.
Read the Book
There are three ways to read the book – a paperback, an ePub, or a PDF. The cost of the paperback is barely above what Lulu charges to print it and makes a great gift. The ePub is great for iPhones or small tablets, and free for a limited time. The PDF lacks the flexible layout of an ePub, but you can view it on just about any platform. And the PDF will always be free.
 Paperback Buy now on Lulu $7.99 |
 ePub free for a limited time |
 free |
Note on Printing the PDF
The pdf file is formatted to be able to print out as a booklet on 8.5" x 11" paper if you want to make your own hard copy. If you don't have a printer with auto duplexing, Adobe Reader still has the option to print booklets -- in the Print dialog box, under Page Scaling:, choose Booklet. Other PDF viewers may offer similar capabilities, but I can't cover every single one here.
Additional Information
I tried to make the book long enough to be informative while keeping it short enough that it's not overwhelming, but I've written quite a bit more about religion, both here on this site and on Quora. While not all of those other essays are as polished as this book, you might still find something interesting. Since I already have a page on my blog with recommended reading for religion, I'll just link to that here:
Prior Edition
For archiving purposes, I've maintained an online copy of the previous edition of this book. It was a collection of standalone essays in an attempt to both document the process I went through and explain my then current beliefs, with only light editing to preserve my views from throughout that transition. I think the current edition presents a much more unified, coherent message, but some folks might still find those old essays interesting.