Losing My Religion

Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion
Phil Zuckerman
Religion


I’m just gonna put it out there: I’m an atheist. Up until I was about fifteen, my parents had to force me to go to church. Pretty much every Sunday, they shook me awake, I put on a dress (that I had no problem with, I practically live in dresses and skirts), and then spent the next few hours thinking about God. They also made me go through confirmation, a horribly long process during which me and my friends had to do tasks and bonding exercises with the pastor before we stood in front of the whole church and were sanctioned “members”. And once I began a member, I stopped going. It was glorious. And kind of made no sense to me. I mean, I spent all those years going, put all that time into confirmation classes, and then I’m a full-fledged member and I don’t have to go anymore? The reality was, once I become a member, my parents stopped bugging me to come with them (it probably also had something to do with the fact that I was getting older and more insistent about staying in bed Sunday mornings).

The title of this book intrigued me since I am one of those people who rejected my religion. I wanted to hear about and read about why others did, too. And I was not disappointed. Phil Zuckerman does an excellent job breaking down why and how different people all over the world turn their backs on their religion. He conducted countless interviews and uses them to paint a fascinating portrait of a group of people greatly misunderstood. I worried at first that the book might be a little dry, but my worries were unfounded. I read this book in a day, that’s how good it was. While the subject matter might be uncomfortable for most people, I think everyone would be wise to pick up a copy. It gives a better, deeper understanding of why a lot of us these days are atheist or agnostic. Zukerman breaks these reasons down into individual chapters, devoting each to a different reason why people left their faith. Some examples include Stopped Making Sense, Misfortune, and Sex and Sexuality. There are more, but I found those ones the most interesting.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, religious and non-religious alike. We can all learn something from it.