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Comment by Graeme_Pietersz on Ask OB: Leaving the Fold · 2008-11-10T05:34:39.000Z · LW · GW

I have been there - and back.

I was brought up with Christianity, became an agnostic in my twenties, and eventually became a Christian again.

Firstly, (if God exists), He wants you to be honest. You must think things through with intellectual honesty, and you must not deceive others.

If He does not exist, then surely you cannot sustainably build your life on pretending He does, or that you think he does.

Every thinking Christian has thought all this through, so I think the Christians in your life will be a lot more sympathetic than you think. Even if they came to a different conclusion, they will have followed much the same lines of thought.

Your family love you for yourself, not your beliefs. They will cope.

When I married I was a agnostic and she was a Buddhist (brought up one, but her family are quite tolerant despite being from a country where many Buddhists are fundamentalists). She became a Christian, some time later I did. We never had problems with each other or with our relationships with our families.