Atheist self injurers
 

I know there is a Christen self injurers thread and on this site I see a lot of "god bless" and what not.(I don't mind, because I know it's well intentioned.) but I was wondering if there where any Atheist self injurers on here. Statistically, I'm sure there must be but I would like to hear from them.

Where you ever a believer?
Does your self harm have anything to do with you being/becoming an atheist?

Personally, I was once a believer, I had even posted a few time on the christen SIer thread. A big problem I had with the religion was my sexuality. I struggled with it for a long time. And started self injuring as kind of a punishment. Eventually it became a way to cope, just to focus my attention on something else, sometimes as a way to justify my pain, like the pain I feel emotionally may not be real but this pain is, no one can argue that. I still self harm for these reasons. At the time I left my faith for emotional reasons, eventually I did my homework and saw that it just doesn't make any sense to believe in any god.

So yeah, share your stories. =)

I'm sort of Atheist, I certainly don't identify with a specific relgion. But at the same time, I believe in the posibilty of an after life and some phychic mediums, so I'm not all the way atheist. I think that relgion can be a sorce of insperation and comfort, and at times I wished that I believed, but I never have. Like you, I don't mind 'god bless' And even use it myself at times as a form of wishing someone well. I don't think that my SI has anything to do with my lack of beliefs, and I don't think it would be any different if I believed, maybe I'd just dam myself more for 'sinning' or something.
The subject of sexuality and relgion is a difficult one. However I've meet a christian reverend who was accepting of gay marriage, and depending on who your talking too, some seem to manage modern christainiusm and homosexuality. Depends weather they follow the bible to the letter(ie take it very literally), or just more the main ideas.

Atheist all the way. My parents tried to bring me up as a Christian, but I never truly believed. My self harm and my beliefs are entirely unrelated.

I'm an atheist; I've believe religions are mythology. I've never believed, and my self-harm is not related in any way to my not believing in God.

I used to believe, go church every sunday etc, but since my mum died ive stepped back. I dont believe if there was a god he would have took her. So im kind of hating him i suppose by not believing. My self harm and beliefs weren't connected, also i keep asking myself if there was a god why are there always so many bad things happening to good people and the bad people get away with it. Anyway bit off subject but yeah! x x

This, pretty much.

I never have been and never will be religious in any shape or form.

I'm atheist. My mum made me go to church for a long time. I'm not atheist because I self harm, nor do I think my beliefs and self harm are related. However, my mums religion, and how she is because of it probably didn't help.

Atheist born and bred :D To be honest, organised religion and I were never going to get on. I'm fascinated by the evolution of organisms and such, prehistoric life, and to top it all off I'm a massive gay :D Recently I came across a letter I wrote when I was in Year 2 (aged 6). It was a complaint against the fact we had to sing hymns in assembly, and I didn't believe in God. I was a right stubborn git when I was little :D

I'm an atheist too. My SH is completely unrelated to my beliefs.

Also an Atheist, always have been, always will be. Again unrelated to SH :)

i dont understand the point in this thread.

There is a christian self harmers thread because having religious concepts to factor into your feelings and your behaviours can, im sure, add an entirely new level of stress and emotion to being mentally ill or with struggling with self harm.

I dont understand how being an atheist is in any way related to your feelings about self harm??

Perhaps im looking at it very one dimensionally.

Can i also remind everyone that there is a rule about mocking peoples religions and i think this thread has the potential to come very close to crossing that line.

agreeee.x

this.

Being an atheist contributes to the way I feel about the world, and therefore adds to my depression and self harm. I know that there is no real point to life, nobody put me here for a purpose, nobody is sitting up in the sky watching me and promising me a nice afterlife or whatever, so I feel no real reason to live, hate life and therefore this contributes to that fact that I suffer from depressionand anxiety, and I cut myself as a part of that.

I've always been an atheist and am very strong in my atheist beliefs.

If you read my original post I do mention how my atheism and my SI have to do with one another. I also mentioned that my religion was a factor in my self harm. I shared my story and I wondered if people had any similar stories. And I don't understand why you think that having an atheist thread will immediately turn into a mock-all-the-religion fest. If there can be a Christian thread there can be an atheist thread. Also it's very hard to find secular support anywhere(in the US at least.)

Thats the pattern of things here on ryl. A vast vast majority of ryl users are atheist or agnostic and it has lead to some tensions with the christian minority.


(This sounds like I am writing about the middle east)

ok i understand.

so its more like a 'i had religion but now i dont because of x y z' rather than a 'yo if you dont believe in anything post here' kind of thing.

My original scepticism was because of this line in your first post: 'eventually I did my homework and saw that it just doesn't make any sense to believe in any god'
I was concerned that the thread may turn into a 'people who believe in god are silly because if god existed, x wouldnt have happened to me'

Agreed.

Whilst the first post is more about the struggle with religion, but the majority of posts in here are just "I'm an athiest" type, not really to do with or even supporting the OP. I think having this thread is a bit of a dangerous road to take, why not have a thread for the other religions, or for the agnostics?

I understand the desire to have secular support, but I don't think there is a need to have a thread dedicated to it, when the vast majority of support on RYL (with the exception to the Christian thread, obviously) is not religious in nature.

I believe SH doesnt discriminate

There were two direct questions in the OP, and as far as I can see, most of us were simply answering those questions. :notsure: