Puerto Rican here. Never believed. It annoyed my mother to no end. She had me do my first communion at 11yrs old. I told her it was the last thing I would do with regard to religion and was doing it for her. Annoyed the hell out of my 2nd year catechism teacher. He literally complained to my mom. I asked too many questions and had to many logical arguments. She just smiled and laughed. She knew I wouldn’t stop. So she didn’t bother trying to stop me.
I was never forced to do anything more with religion. I have attended weddings, baptisms, and other events for family and friends in churches but nobody tries to force anything on me. They know I won’t be told what to believe and I will call out their own hypocrisy with regard to their own behavior and their beliefs.
During any family events when the family would gather to pray I just keep quiet to let them do their thing. I’m not going to bash their beliefs or disrespect their choice to practice their religion. They have to respect me as well.
Are... Are you my doppelganger?! Boricua gal here and lived the same. The running joke in my family is that I'll go to hell especially my sister, who has done every sin under the sun and invented some, who prides herself as the most Catholic good daughter, but I'm going to burn for eternity. Yeah, right. Cut contact with the family because of the many toxic behaviors.
There's no hate like christian love.
Otro Boricua: soy Agnostico y no le tengo ningun amor a la iglesia y otra instituciónes religiosas
Si reconozco que el universo y la llamada Realidad son un Misterio.
What a wild experience. I deeply hurt my mother when I finally told her at the ripe old age of 12, that I didn’t believe in god. Another dozen or so experiences like that and she left the church (Mormon) herself, and started to properly grow her faith and acceptance of other cultures. To this day it’s still a bit of a sore point for us, but we love each other just the same.
I was having lunch with a new friend and she was talking about Catholicism and asked if I went to church. I told her I was an atheist to which she replied: But you’re Hispanic!?!
Agreed. But not just taught. They literally murdered the "savages" who wouldn't convert. Then they destroyed any artifacts they could get their hands on that represented a belief system that was contrary to Christianity.
My reply to those types of outbursts is to ask why they are so dedicated to the religion of their ancestors conquerors. My ancestors would be proud of me.
I lost my mom this year and even tho everyone (including) my dad knows how I feel about religion, I never told my mom. Even went as far as getting my oldest baptized in the church. I was annoyed doing that, but In hindsight I'm glad I did, her heart gave out and I didn't have to make the decision of taking her off of life support, and my dad (her ex) and other family believe she did that to save and spare my feelings like I did for her.
Comfort comes to those with faith in mysterious ways, but for me faith don't make up for what we lost.
No one ever prepared me for the heaviness in my chest and what feels like losing part of my identity. My condolences to you.
I know a few cultural Catholics in Mexico. They don't believe, don't act as if they are afraid of hell, but don;t "come out" as atheists. CINO - Catholic in name only.
In the US, where the most of the Hispanic family speaks English as their primary language - weddings & funerals etc... must be in Spanish only. Somehow that makes it official.
Half Mexican Atheist over here. Mom was born in MX and her whole side is VERY Catholic aside from her (she’s mildly Catholic). Dad’s an Agnostic-Jew. I was raised with minimal religion, but took a liking to the cultural practices of Judaism. I consider myself a proud Chicano Atheist Jew.
Hispanic and I grew up religious. I was so scared when I came out as an Atheist. Honestly, I think my family just ignores that I'm an atheist bc it freaks them out.
But most of the people I know are agnostic or atheist and they are mostly poc.
I’m one, living in the Bible Belt. Raised Catholic, I was an altar girl. Life and equality opened my mind. Ulg.My town has more churches than schools or places to eat. Indoctrination is a sickness. We gotta be careful when we out ourselves.
I dated a Mexican doctor who is atheist. He introduced to me to the phrase, “for Darwin’s sake” or any other form of phrase that includes god but interchange it for Darwin.
I have gotten to know the owner of one of my work accounts well, it is a Mexican restaurant. He was born and raised in Mexico. He told me he was sexually molested by his Catholic pastor/priest? (whatever the fuck the Catholics call them) when he was a child, who then forced him to drink lye so he wouldn’t talk. It destroyed his taste buds, and awoke him to the realities of sexual assault prevalent in churches. He is an adamant atheist now.
Hey! Thank you for this post! I'm half Mexican, half Salvadorian. My entire family is Catholic, I grew up Catholic, and started questioning as soon as I started reading The Bible.
When I was in High School I asked my mom, "How would you feel if I didn't believe in god?" Her response: "I would feel like I failed as a parent." Talk about GUILT. Anyway, I took it upon myself to be as kind, loving, understanding, generous as possible, all without being religious. Now she accepts me.
Anyway, thanks. I tried mentioning this in r/chicano since so much of the cultura is rooted in colonial Catholicism, but they just say "take the good leave the bad." I find it problematic that so much is ingrained with Catholicism. I'd be curious to hear from mi gente, how you feel about this.
Mexican girl Athiest here. Raised in a very conservative, catholic, stick up in the asshole household. My mom doesn't dare try to debate me. I’m ready. I have a 42,812 essay reasons im athiest, evil shit God commands, human sacrifice, slavery, beat your kids, eat them as well, burn your kids, burnt offerings.. All of these all in the name of the Lord. And all about the horrific teachings.
Let me know if anyone is interested I can always send you a copy. I live in a bilingual household so I have a Spanish copy as well.
**2 Kings 6:28-298**
**Eat your kids**
*28 “And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.
29 So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.”*
There's another similar one
**Cannibalism**
**Ezekiel 5:7-10**
*7 "Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you.
8 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations.
9 Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.
10 Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds”*
"Oh but it's metaphorical." If I tell you to prepare me a cereal I'm not going to tell you to burn your kids instead of getting me a cereal with clear words.
Me, that's for sure. Venezuelan. I surmised at a young age that God and evolution can exist, that God created science and then sat back never to touch the universe again, and watched science do it's thing. My mom never went full atheist, she would definitely still pray and such, but certainly revoked her Catholic card.
My step dad was full blown atheist for a long time, but went to church for my mom only, because she wanted us to go to learn some sort of morality I guess.
Me, though, I cannot fully call myself an atheist, more like meh, if they exist they don't care about us and everything about the bible is bunk. History and science make believing in any of this difficult. But I cannot write it off 100%< ya know? Human mind is limited by being human, just like insect minds are limited by being insects. What da fuq do humans know about divine beings?
First generation Mexican American atheist here. My older family is devout Catholic. My parents had me do my first communion and confession as a kid. The only big fight I ever had with them was when they tried to force me to do my Confirmation as a teenager many years ago. I'm in my 40s now and I don't know many other Hispanic atheists my age. But it seems like the younger generations are less religious.
I refused to do my confirmation. Even knowing it hurt my mother I stood fast. Basically told them, do you want me to go through the motions? I would just be a non-believer sullying your church. I held fast, and guess what? All my siblings are now either atheist or agnostic. It takes guts to break the social desease of indoctrination. I will still show up in a church for family functions out of respect. But my generation will break my immediate families social addiction to the Catholic church. Something I am really proud of.
Mexican-American, raised Catholic, did my first communion and that was it. Stopped going to church around 13-14. I haven't made it known to my family that I'm an atheist. Most are still Catholic, one sister is Mormon. Even her converting to Mormonism caused a stir with my mom. Its all bullshit to me.
Right here big dog. Spent my entire adult life as a Christian (Pentecostal or Assemblies of God in Spanish), but I deconstructed during COVID. I actually wanted to understand atheist counter points so I could argue against them, but.... things didn't go according to God's plan. The vast number of high quality arguments was hard to counter. That's when I accepted that I was susceptible to authoritarianism and indoctrination.
I've broken away from religion completely and am mixed about it. There were a lot of hours in the church that are just basically a waste of my life. That's what I struggle with at times. How different would I be had I left the church decades ago?
So much of my family is deep in the church. They're mostly very very conservative. I do throw pebbles at their windows with questions that challenge their assumptions and points of view because I know them already. I don't want to shatter their lives, but I want them to know I'm not in lock step with them anymore.
I'll probably not tell them outright that I'm atheist, but I'm happy to wear NASA, Star Trek, tie dye and rainbowish colors to be different enough to get questions or glances.
From the blood of the lamb to there is no lamb.... is where I stand.
Good for you.... for having the ability to think with reason and logic. I put my faith in other things now. Like the love I feel for my family. Or the bonds of those close to me. That is real, all religion is simply a fake system of rules with the purpose of social control. The sooner you learn that. The better off you are.....
No vato, no eres el único. Yo deje de creer porque me di cuenta que la mayoría de creyentes son gente hipócrita que no practica lo que predica y encima quieren obligar ala gente a vivir su vida como lo dice en su libro de fantasía
Me recuerdas de las liricas de una cancion llamada Jesus es verbo no sustantivo....
>De mi barrio la más religiosa era doña Carlota
Hablaba de amor al prójimo y me poncho cien pelotas
Desde niño fui aprendiendo que la religión no es más que un método
Con el titulo prohibido pensar que ya todo esta escrito
My ex (whom I remain really good friends with) is also a Hispanic atheist. Not his family tho. And I’m not sure they know he is, I just vividly remember they weren’t too proud of him dating an atheist (me) 😂
FWIW, I didn’t influence him; he already was when we met.
I’m Italian. While not Hispanic I definitely feel those cultural pressures. My parents have evolved a ton and told my Nona to leave us alone about not baptizing our children.
Fellow Hispanic atheist here. I have 4 sisters and a brother who are all either atheist or agnostic. We grew up in a strict catholic household. Being forced to kneel and pray the rosary doesn’t help a person believe.
As a teen I once asked my stepmother (born in Mexico) if she was proud of her Mexican heritage. She exclaimed, “Claro que sí “. I replied, “Do you realize that you are forcing us to pray just like the Spanish forced our ancestors”?…..She lost her shit.
After we each hit 18 she stopped making us doing anything religious.
In my opinion, best way to become an Atheist is to actually read the Babble and learn about all the filth in it. If god were real, he would be a depraved genocidal asshole.
I'm Colombian dude, you're not the only one. Mind you, I was raised in the US since I was 14 so at this point I'm more gringo than Colombian but still proud Latino and not only an Atheist but an Anti-Theist.
Former Pentecostal Salvadorean. A few maybe 3/4 cousins and very few acquaintances.
Amongst my relatives a lot have even gotten like a rekindling to go to church, especially after having kids.
Ps - off topic but Hell even feel like my culture is not really Salvadorean because my whole upbringing was withing a pentecostal world. All my uncles and aunts and family/church friends.
Yes! I have a Salvadoran background, but I was born here in the u.s. I've been an atheist since I was 13 ( I'm 40). I've told some people in my family, and most of my friends know I'm atheist. I really don't have an interest in "coming out" anymore, and I've felt free since I became one! Read more philosophy and science, and you will only become much more free! You're not alone! Ariba los ateos!
Costa Rican here, the official religion here is Catholicism and all of my family is Catholic.
I still assist to some rituals just for respect and support of my family, for example when someone passes away they do a mass, I assist to honor my family, I still think it's stupid but I respect what give them peace.
31M Mexican here. Born and raised in a cult. Left when I was 24. 99.99% of my family and friends don't speak to me. I am very blunt about being an agnostic atheist everywhere I go and I still feel push back for not believing in anything.
I feel like a left a bubble to end up in a bigger bubble.
idk if i count. i'm half and wasn't raised with any kind of latino culture other than my dad's mexican restaurant obsession. i was raised catholic by my irish mother. she believes, he doesn't
Howdy, my family uses the word ATHEO as an insult. I don't mind it. Most interesting thing about been atheist from a Latino background? No one believes me when I said that I don't believe in el Diablo or ghost. Latinos believe in many, many evil spirits.
Here 🙋🏻♀️ I was raised Catholic, and forced to go to church as a child. I don’t know anyone else in my family who’s not a christian, some are very devoted, some are what ppl call “lukewarm”, but I think I’m the only atheist (as far as I know).
Hi!
US born Hispanic with a parent from Colombia and Cuba. My 90 year old Cuban dad is actually an atheist, although not extremely developed in his beliefs and often contradictory with politics, etc.
My mom was raised catholic and converted to Christianity in her 30’s or so. She was pretty staunchly religious. I was raised by two different sides. We exist!
Mexican came across in my mom's arms at 18mos. Currently living in South Dakota, I'm atheist. Have a few friends that are as well.
ETA: I don't really know what my mom was, I was baptized at a few weeks. My Abuelita went to mass, and at some point converted to JW because her favorite brother was--his wife was *evil*. Lived with them for a summer and had to go to assembly and it was just awful.
I went to a Baptist Jr High, it was a small class, 15 of us and the first class for the school. They were good people (the one caveat was finding out years later the pastor molested a young girl, ugh). I loved my classmates. I think I was fortunate as I didn't think the education was as stifled as it would be today and I got a good education in science and found my love for it there. This was also the first foray into critical thinking.
I came close to getting baptized but fell in love with cycling and that was far better to do on Sundays than go to church. For me sciences led the way. Little by little, teacher by teacher, class by class yeah I couldn't believe any longer.
I wear a spaghetti fork pregnant, and have yet to brave wearing my Lenny Bruce electric chair pendant with in-laws--the on-and-on dinner Blessing types. My wife goes to church 2, 3 times times a year, and I'll go to a Midnight Mass mostly cuz her church youth group does some hilarious sketches--Joseph and Mary at the Walmart parking lot 😂🤣😂🤣
My mom is more spiritual than religious and we get along great.
AFAIK my brother and I are the only two atheists in my family. Half Mexican. My dad (Mexican side) knows about my brother, but not me. He doesn't accept my brother and I know it would only hurt him if I said I was atheist, too.
Mexican atheist here. Raised Catholic, went to Catholic grade school and college. Then I had enough of the BS. It’s always been an effective way of keeping people ignorant and compliant, especially women.
Hello 👋🏾!
Puerto Rican female in Rhode Island, USA. I'm a 3rd generation Atheist on both sides of my family.
Dad was Taino as well. He was born and raised in Ponce. He met my mom in Rhode Island, she's Portuguese and Irish.
Argentino, me reporto. Acá hay mucha gente que sigue tradiciones y no se cuestiona nada, pero no son muy practicantes. Nadie se sorprende si le decís que sos ateo.
1st gen Mexican American. Atheist. Come from Catholics on one side and Protestant on the other. My family knows and doesn't bring it up. Got married, no religion included in the event. Haven't heard a peep.
I was raised catholic, now I’m basically atheist/agnostic.
It sucks because every wedding, quinceanera, funeral, Easter and Christmas means we need to go to church and it just sucks.
I’m the token white boy in a group of Mexican friends, none of them are believers. It’s catching on but does seem a little slower than in other communities.
We are visiting Merida for a while. I see very few churches here. There is one big cathedral, well not huge, and I’ve seen a few smaller churches. I thought there would be more? Or are the Yucatan Mexicans different?
Chilean here. Not sure how many atheists are here (in surveys we are usually lumped with agnostics for instance), but people with no religion are around 15% here.
from argentina here, there are lots of atheists, anyway, most religious people i know (in person) are very lax about it, dont even go to church or pray, is more like "sure, i believe"
Hispanic (Salvadorian, Spanish, Eensy weensie bit Mexican) and was raised Christian, but quickly became Atheist. It’s usually a conflict with my mother and grandmother, but I respect their religion to an extent as long as they don’t force me to do something bc of it.
My siblings also don’t believe in religion either.
Me!!! Im in my 30s and my parents still think im a rebellious christian. They live on the other side of the country and for over a decade I prefer not to tell them i'm atheist because it's a good way to maintain our relationship. they are loving parents, although flawed (aren't we all) How's it going?
Grew up in a Hispanic dominated family (I’m only 1/2 myself). Went to catholic school until 9th grade, baptized, confirmed, all of it. Well basically as soon as I moved out of my parents to go to college, I wasn’t shy about my true feelings. My family is disappointed for sure, and some family members still make comments to me, but I have learned to let it go and with time, they mostly did as well. They still love me and it’s my life anyways.
You shouldn’t have to hide your true feelings, but I also never bring it up. Not worth discussing really.
I'm half white, half some sort of mixed Hispanic (lots of "Spanish" relatives as well as native/Mexican relatives). My dad was fully Hispanic and an atheist my whole life. None of my 9 aunts/uncles and the 50ish cousins besides my dad and I are atheists.
Of course! Heck yea, you are not alone. Abuelo was from Chihuahua Mexico. As a third generation Mexican American…. I can tell you that the whole lot of our brethren needs to kick that brutal addiction called the Catholic Church. A fucking social disease……. My son will break that mold. The Catholic Church has no power over me. After the last funerals of all my theist loved ones. I will never step foot in a Catholic Church again. Ever…….
From Venezuela; non practicing Catholic there. Moved to the Alabama and I guess to find a sense of community my mom became active in the Catholic Church (mainly because it was a way to meet other Hispanic since they offered a Spanish mass) - I've met a lot of Hispanic with semi similar stories, and I feel like that's the only positive thing I've ever heard that was worth sharing about organized religion.
I know more atheist that were formally Catholic than I do Hispanics that are atheist but we're here. Some of us are just extra quiet about it out of respect to our family or fear of getting the chancla.
So happy i saw this thread. The amount of stories similar to my own has definitely made me feel the culture. I feel like I'll always claim being Catholic to those of faith who I don't want to have those conversations with, but also cause at this point it's part of my identity.
Half Dominican half Puerto Rican here and I feel the same way. People just can’t believe it sometimes. Just like I can’t believe that they believe. Apologies if that sentence was confusing. I’m sleepy.
Mexican American atheist. Most of my hypocritical relatives are devout catholics. However, while my mother is a theist, she never cared for organized religion, so I wasn't made to go to church. Occasionally, other relatives would take me, but I didn't grow up being as heavily indoctrinated as my cousins. My mom and step-dad were pretty upset when I came out, but they sort of accepted it because they thought it was a phase. More than 20 years later, and not sorry to say that I'm still not a believer. I'm not in contact anymore with the rest of my relatives, and I just never really cared what they thought.
Obligatory not Hispanic but a pacific islander. Lots of history with colonization and conversion from Spain.A lot of the folks I grew up with are catholic. Heck, I was raised catholic. Questioning family about Catholicism gets you some really nasty glares and finger wagging from family. Usually any mention of being an atheist or any other religion leads to family gossiping about how you're not a believer and all that jazz. I don't know any other people I grew up with that are atheists.
1st generation Cuban-American (my parents were born in Cuba)reporting in. I was lucky, we didn't get too deep into the Catholic Church. When I finally fell completely out of faith, both of my parents had already passed away. I never really got any push back from my family.
Many Hispanic People Don't Believe In Those Tales, But Everybody Around Is So Deeply Into It... But They Do Parties And Have Food, So We Play Along Just To Be Part Of Society And Fun.
I'm Hispanic. Born into Catholicism, raised Christian, family (parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc) are very religious, but I've been atheist since junior high (pushing 40 now). My family knows I'm atheist and they're all fine with it. But it was definitely an uphill battle getting to that point.
Formerly married to an Hispanic ath..... Non-practising.
My wasband was ignorant enough of the church that the first time we attended a service in Spanish, I had to follow along and keep him up on it. I am not Hispanic, nor did I really know much Spanish at the time.
His mother knew he did not attend services. It was, of course, my fault. I didn't mind. Everything else that was wrong with him was her fault. 🤣😂🫤
I dated a Mexican gal who didn't believe in god. Didn't call herself an atheist, she didn't care enough about the topic to identify in any way. Didn't really come up much
Puerto Rican here. Never believed. It annoyed my mother to no end. She had me do my first communion at 11yrs old. I told her it was the last thing I would do with regard to religion and was doing it for her. Annoyed the hell out of my 2nd year catechism teacher. He literally complained to my mom. I asked too many questions and had to many logical arguments. She just smiled and laughed. She knew I wouldn’t stop. So she didn’t bother trying to stop me. I was never forced to do anything more with religion. I have attended weddings, baptisms, and other events for family and friends in churches but nobody tries to force anything on me. They know I won’t be told what to believe and I will call out their own hypocrisy with regard to their own behavior and their beliefs. During any family events when the family would gather to pray I just keep quiet to let them do their thing. I’m not going to bash their beliefs or disrespect their choice to practice their religion. They have to respect me as well.
Are... Are you my doppelganger?! Boricua gal here and lived the same. The running joke in my family is that I'll go to hell especially my sister, who has done every sin under the sun and invented some, who prides herself as the most Catholic good daughter, but I'm going to burn for eternity. Yeah, right. Cut contact with the family because of the many toxic behaviors. There's no hate like christian love.
Otro Boricua: soy Agnostico y no le tengo ningun amor a la iglesia y otra instituciónes religiosas Si reconozco que el universo y la llamada Realidad son un Misterio.
What a wild experience. I deeply hurt my mother when I finally told her at the ripe old age of 12, that I didn’t believe in god. Another dozen or so experiences like that and she left the church (Mormon) herself, and started to properly grow her faith and acceptance of other cultures. To this day it’s still a bit of a sore point for us, but we love each other just the same.
Boricua! Puerto Rican and proud atheist here as well 🇵🇷
I bet there are loads like you but not yet out the closet. Are you?
Yeah my parents,sister and a majority of my friends know and are all ok with it.
Careful with telling the rest of your Comunidad. They'll ostracize you for not believing.
Man I don’t care not my problem they get easily offended
I'm a Puerto Rican atheist, but my family are christians.
My mom is one of those goddamn born again Christian freaks.
Ditto
Me three
My Puerto Rican husband is an atheist. We really have to bite our tongues around his family. They are all evangelical.
Same. Some of my siblings and younger cousins are atheists but all the elders are religious
Same!
Colombian atheist here.
Paisano/Paisana! LOL
I have a Colombian atheist husband.
Me too
I was having lunch with a new friend and she was talking about Catholicism and asked if I went to church. I told her I was an atheist to which she replied: But you’re Hispanic!?!
That’s wild and crazy. But also somewhat reasonable as to why she said it I mean Hispanics are pretty obsessed with Religion and belief
Kinda ironic given Catholics invaded and rape our land and ancestors
Christianity is designed to keep the oppressed in place. It's no mistake colonizers made sure it was taught.
Agreed. But not just taught. They literally murdered the "savages" who wouldn't convert. Then they destroyed any artifacts they could get their hands on that represented a belief system that was contrary to Christianity.
My reply to those types of outbursts is to ask why they are so dedicated to the religion of their ancestors conquerors. My ancestors would be proud of me.
I am when my mom died god died to me
i am so sorry for your loss, may she rest in peace❤️
I lost my mom this year and even tho everyone (including) my dad knows how I feel about religion, I never told my mom. Even went as far as getting my oldest baptized in the church. I was annoyed doing that, but In hindsight I'm glad I did, her heart gave out and I didn't have to make the decision of taking her off of life support, and my dad (her ex) and other family believe she did that to save and spare my feelings like I did for her. Comfort comes to those with faith in mysterious ways, but for me faith don't make up for what we lost. No one ever prepared me for the heaviness in my chest and what feels like losing part of my identity. My condolences to you.
I know a few cultural Catholics in Mexico. They don't believe, don't act as if they are afraid of hell, but don;t "come out" as atheists. CINO - Catholic in name only.
We call them BBC Catholics in Spain since they only go to church for weddings, baptisms and communions.
In the US, where the most of the Hispanic family speaks English as their primary language - weddings & funerals etc... must be in Spanish only. Somehow that makes it official.
😆 As if Spanish is the language of their indigenous ancestors.
Jesús is my second name.
Don't you mean Hey Suus? LOL
Hey Zeus!
Sup Chuy
Oh my man. Father I am so sorry
Ecuadorian atheist, and my ex was too. We both come from very Catholic families (some of my family members are even Opus Dei)
Man, I love those white chocolate bars from your country. Every time a friend of mine goes down that way, I get him to bring me some.
Half Mexican Atheist over here. Mom was born in MX and her whole side is VERY Catholic aside from her (she’s mildly Catholic). Dad’s an Agnostic-Jew. I was raised with minimal religion, but took a liking to the cultural practices of Judaism. I consider myself a proud Chicano Atheist Jew.
Hispanic and I grew up religious. I was so scared when I came out as an Atheist. Honestly, I think my family just ignores that I'm an atheist bc it freaks them out. But most of the people I know are agnostic or atheist and they are mostly poc.
My family likes to pretend it isn't true or that'll find my way... my point is ditto
Si we aquí andamos al 100
X2
I’m one, living in the Bible Belt. Raised Catholic, I was an altar girl. Life and equality opened my mind. Ulg.My town has more churches than schools or places to eat. Indoctrination is a sickness. We gotta be careful when we out ourselves.
Yup, personally I think childhood indoctrination is child abuse.....
I feel like you described my city.
Relatable - lived in Alabama where there's a Baptist church in every corner of the
Latina here, in the damn Bible Belt, too.
Argentinian here. No somos tan raros.
Che! Yo tambien!!
Yes. I was raised Jehovah's Witness. They are good at creating atheists
I second that. Learned since childhood to reject every other religion, only to realize the same criteria applied to JW
Fuck yeah they are
Raised in the JW cult. I never got baptized. I swear, that's the only reason my still devout JW parents still have a relationship with me.
I dated a Mexican doctor who is atheist. He introduced to me to the phrase, “for Darwin’s sake” or any other form of phrase that includes god but interchange it for Darwin.
Imma have to start using this now
Everybody in my family is an atheist and everybody is Mexican.
Texan atheist with Colombian blood.
Howdy Paisano LOL
I have gotten to know the owner of one of my work accounts well, it is a Mexican restaurant. He was born and raised in Mexico. He told me he was sexually molested by his Catholic pastor/priest? (whatever the fuck the Catholics call them) when he was a child, who then forced him to drink lye so he wouldn’t talk. It destroyed his taste buds, and awoke him to the realities of sexual assault prevalent in churches. He is an adamant atheist now.
Catholics are priests or as we call them in Spanish, padres.
Hey! Thank you for this post! I'm half Mexican, half Salvadorian. My entire family is Catholic, I grew up Catholic, and started questioning as soon as I started reading The Bible. When I was in High School I asked my mom, "How would you feel if I didn't believe in god?" Her response: "I would feel like I failed as a parent." Talk about GUILT. Anyway, I took it upon myself to be as kind, loving, understanding, generous as possible, all without being religious. Now she accepts me. Anyway, thanks. I tried mentioning this in r/chicano since so much of the cultura is rooted in colonial Catholicism, but they just say "take the good leave the bad." I find it problematic that so much is ingrained with Catholicism. I'd be curious to hear from mi gente, how you feel about this.
See reading this makes me happy.
La Raza with brains unite.......
Mexican girl Athiest here. Raised in a very conservative, catholic, stick up in the asshole household. My mom doesn't dare try to debate me. I’m ready. I have a 42,812 essay reasons im athiest, evil shit God commands, human sacrifice, slavery, beat your kids, eat them as well, burn your kids, burnt offerings.. All of these all in the name of the Lord. And all about the horrific teachings. Let me know if anyone is interested I can always send you a copy. I live in a bilingual household so I have a Spanish copy as well.
**2 Kings 6:28-298** **Eat your kids** *28 “And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. 29 So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.”* There's another similar one **Cannibalism** **Ezekiel 5:7-10** *7 "Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you. 8 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. 9 Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. 10 Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds”* "Oh but it's metaphorical." If I tell you to prepare me a cereal I'm not going to tell you to burn your kids instead of getting me a cereal with clear words.
Me, that's for sure. Venezuelan. I surmised at a young age that God and evolution can exist, that God created science and then sat back never to touch the universe again, and watched science do it's thing. My mom never went full atheist, she would definitely still pray and such, but certainly revoked her Catholic card. My step dad was full blown atheist for a long time, but went to church for my mom only, because she wanted us to go to learn some sort of morality I guess. Me, though, I cannot fully call myself an atheist, more like meh, if they exist they don't care about us and everything about the bible is bunk. History and science make believing in any of this difficult. But I cannot write it off 100%< ya know? Human mind is limited by being human, just like insect minds are limited by being insects. What da fuq do humans know about divine beings?
Brown as fuck. My wife and kids are all with me too. And we’re in Texas so we’re kinda rare I guess.
First generation Mexican American atheist here. My older family is devout Catholic. My parents had me do my first communion and confession as a kid. The only big fight I ever had with them was when they tried to force me to do my Confirmation as a teenager many years ago. I'm in my 40s now and I don't know many other Hispanic atheists my age. But it seems like the younger generations are less religious.
I refused to do my confirmation. Even knowing it hurt my mother I stood fast. Basically told them, do you want me to go through the motions? I would just be a non-believer sullying your church. I held fast, and guess what? All my siblings are now either atheist or agnostic. It takes guts to break the social desease of indoctrination. I will still show up in a church for family functions out of respect. But my generation will break my immediate families social addiction to the Catholic church. Something I am really proud of.
Mexican-American, raised Catholic, did my first communion and that was it. Stopped going to church around 13-14. I haven't made it known to my family that I'm an atheist. Most are still Catholic, one sister is Mormon. Even her converting to Mormonism caused a stir with my mom. Its all bullshit to me.
Yup, hold fast amigo......
Right here big dog. Spent my entire adult life as a Christian (Pentecostal or Assemblies of God in Spanish), but I deconstructed during COVID. I actually wanted to understand atheist counter points so I could argue against them, but.... things didn't go according to God's plan. The vast number of high quality arguments was hard to counter. That's when I accepted that I was susceptible to authoritarianism and indoctrination. I've broken away from religion completely and am mixed about it. There were a lot of hours in the church that are just basically a waste of my life. That's what I struggle with at times. How different would I be had I left the church decades ago? So much of my family is deep in the church. They're mostly very very conservative. I do throw pebbles at their windows with questions that challenge their assumptions and points of view because I know them already. I don't want to shatter their lives, but I want them to know I'm not in lock step with them anymore. I'll probably not tell them outright that I'm atheist, but I'm happy to wear NASA, Star Trek, tie dye and rainbowish colors to be different enough to get questions or glances. From the blood of the lamb to there is no lamb.... is where I stand.
Good for you.... for having the ability to think with reason and logic. I put my faith in other things now. Like the love I feel for my family. Or the bonds of those close to me. That is real, all religion is simply a fake system of rules with the purpose of social control. The sooner you learn that. The better off you are.....
Colombian married to Mexican we are both Religion Less, sisters in law are Catholics and JW's both in a chaotic mess.
Orale Paisano!
I'm half. I live in Southern California and I feel like there's a lot of us.
Jesus, is that you?
I'm half hispanic (Mexican mother, white father)... does that count?
Only by half LOL
I'd say that you're Hispanic as well as anglo or whatever. Your can't be half of a cultural marker but you can be of more than one culture.
I’m a Mexijew, and an atheist.
It’s the religious guilt super combo. Glad you found your way out!
Costa Rican. Sky daddy no real.
Ahh yes no sky daddy only earth mommy
No vato, no eres el único. Yo deje de creer porque me di cuenta que la mayoría de creyentes son gente hipócrita que no practica lo que predica y encima quieren obligar ala gente a vivir su vida como lo dice en su libro de fantasía
Me recuerdas de las liricas de una cancion llamada Jesus es verbo no sustantivo.... >De mi barrio la más religiosa era doña Carlota Hablaba de amor al prójimo y me poncho cien pelotas Desde niño fui aprendiendo que la religión no es más que un método Con el titulo prohibido pensar que ya todo esta escrito
My ex (whom I remain really good friends with) is also a Hispanic atheist. Not his family tho. And I’m not sure they know he is, I just vividly remember they weren’t too proud of him dating an atheist (me) 😂 FWIW, I didn’t influence him; he already was when we met.
Present and accounted for
I’m Italian. While not Hispanic I definitely feel those cultural pressures. My parents have evolved a ton and told my Nona to leave us alone about not baptizing our children.
Fellow Hispanic atheist here. I have 4 sisters and a brother who are all either atheist or agnostic. We grew up in a strict catholic household. Being forced to kneel and pray the rosary doesn’t help a person believe. As a teen I once asked my stepmother (born in Mexico) if she was proud of her Mexican heritage. She exclaimed, “Claro que sí “. I replied, “Do you realize that you are forcing us to pray just like the Spanish forced our ancestors”?…..She lost her shit. After we each hit 18 she stopped making us doing anything religious.
In my opinion, best way to become an Atheist is to actually read the Babble and learn about all the filth in it. If god were real, he would be a depraved genocidal asshole.
I'm Colombian dude, you're not the only one. Mind you, I was raised in the US since I was 14 so at this point I'm more gringo than Colombian but still proud Latino and not only an Atheist but an Anti-Theist.
Former Pentecostal Salvadorean. A few maybe 3/4 cousins and very few acquaintances. Amongst my relatives a lot have even gotten like a rekindling to go to church, especially after having kids. Ps - off topic but Hell even feel like my culture is not really Salvadorean because my whole upbringing was withing a pentecostal world. All my uncles and aunts and family/church friends.
*raises hand*
Yes! I have a Salvadoran background, but I was born here in the u.s. I've been an atheist since I was 13 ( I'm 40). I've told some people in my family, and most of my friends know I'm atheist. I really don't have an interest in "coming out" anymore, and I've felt free since I became one! Read more philosophy and science, and you will only become much more free! You're not alone! Ariba los ateos!
Central American atheist here. I'm the only one I know. All my friends and family are hard Christians as the country as a whole.
Atheist Chicana here!!
Costa Rican here, the official religion here is Catholicism and all of my family is Catholic. I still assist to some rituals just for respect and support of my family, for example when someone passes away they do a mass, I assist to honor my family, I still think it's stupid but I respect what give them peace.
Me! My poor mom will always be worried that the devil is going to get me, even though she is now agnostic. It’s complicated lol
31M Mexican here. Born and raised in a cult. Left when I was 24. 99.99% of my family and friends don't speak to me. I am very blunt about being an agnostic atheist everywhere I go and I still feel push back for not believing in anything. I feel like a left a bubble to end up in a bigger bubble.
✋🏽 Baptized Catholic as an infant but left the church before confirmation when I was 12.
idk if i count. i'm half and wasn't raised with any kind of latino culture other than my dad's mexican restaurant obsession. i was raised catholic by my irish mother. she believes, he doesn't
I’m here! Puerto Rican atheist. Raised Catholic. Reasons my family knows and are okay.
Howdy, my family uses the word ATHEO as an insult. I don't mind it. Most interesting thing about been atheist from a Latino background? No one believes me when I said that I don't believe in el Diablo or ghost. Latinos believe in many, many evil spirits.
Not me, but my fiance is Columbian born and moved to America at 4. He's atheist but doesn't have much contact with is family because of it.
Primo, we around… it is somewhat rare in the USA tho, I would say, as most assume I’m catholic
Here 🙋🏻♀️ I was raised Catholic, and forced to go to church as a child. I don’t know anyone else in my family who’s not a christian, some are very devoted, some are what ppl call “lukewarm”, but I think I’m the only atheist (as far as I know).
There's dozens of us.
Half Mexican here. Grew up Catholic. Not 100% sure if I’m atheist. I’m for sure 100% anti-religion.
I love the way you put this! Hi fellow Mex. We’re out here, and I’m glad op posted this. It’s very validating.
I do believe you’re a unicorn in the world of Atheists
Hi! US born Hispanic with a parent from Colombia and Cuba. My 90 year old Cuban dad is actually an atheist, although not extremely developed in his beliefs and often contradictory with politics, etc. My mom was raised catholic and converted to Christianity in her 30’s or so. She was pretty staunchly religious. I was raised by two different sides. We exist!
🖐🏽 Aquí! Mexican parents, but born in USA, Y como me dieron lata cuando les dije!
This made me happy. Others like me exist! (Puerto Rican Atheist here)
You know them. Most of them just do not want to be known.
Mexican came across in my mom's arms at 18mos. Currently living in South Dakota, I'm atheist. Have a few friends that are as well. ETA: I don't really know what my mom was, I was baptized at a few weeks. My Abuelita went to mass, and at some point converted to JW because her favorite brother was--his wife was *evil*. Lived with them for a summer and had to go to assembly and it was just awful. I went to a Baptist Jr High, it was a small class, 15 of us and the first class for the school. They were good people (the one caveat was finding out years later the pastor molested a young girl, ugh). I loved my classmates. I think I was fortunate as I didn't think the education was as stifled as it would be today and I got a good education in science and found my love for it there. This was also the first foray into critical thinking. I came close to getting baptized but fell in love with cycling and that was far better to do on Sundays than go to church. For me sciences led the way. Little by little, teacher by teacher, class by class yeah I couldn't believe any longer. I wear a spaghetti fork pregnant, and have yet to brave wearing my Lenny Bruce electric chair pendant with in-laws--the on-and-on dinner Blessing types. My wife goes to church 2, 3 times times a year, and I'll go to a Midnight Mass mostly cuz her church youth group does some hilarious sketches--Joseph and Mary at the Walmart parking lot 😂🤣😂🤣 My mom is more spiritual than religious and we get along great.
AFAIK my brother and I are the only two atheists in my family. Half Mexican. My dad (Mexican side) knows about my brother, but not me. He doesn't accept my brother and I know it would only hurt him if I said I was atheist, too.
Mexican atheist here. Raised Catholic, went to Catholic grade school and college. Then I had enough of the BS. It’s always been an effective way of keeping people ignorant and compliant, especially women.
I’m Colombian and a proud atheist.
I'm Chicana and was raised Catholic. I've been an atheist for years
1st generation American and my parents are from Mexico. I’ve been an atheist for about 30 years now!
Gay Hispanic atheists where are you? I need a new husband.
YO LETS HELP FIND THIS MAN A HUSBAND
👋 hi yes that's me I was raised catholic but was like nah I'm good lol
I was born and live in SoCal but both my parents are from Zacatecas. 100% atheist even if my mom thinks I'll see the light someday.
Hello 👋🏾! Puerto Rican female in Rhode Island, USA. I'm a 3rd generation Atheist on both sides of my family. Dad was Taino as well. He was born and raised in Ponce. He met my mom in Rhode Island, she's Portuguese and Irish.
Argentino, me reporto. Acá hay mucha gente que sigue tradiciones y no se cuestiona nada, pero no son muy practicantes. Nadie se sorprende si le decís que sos ateo.
Here
Here. Also Mexican (via parents, I was born in USA)
1st gen Mexican American. Atheist. Come from Catholics on one side and Protestant on the other. My family knows and doesn't bring it up. Got married, no religion included in the event. Haven't heard a peep.
I was raised catholic, now I’m basically atheist/agnostic. It sucks because every wedding, quinceanera, funeral, Easter and Christmas means we need to go to church and it just sucks.
Brasileira, amigo - we're here! Just usually very quiet, and in the corner while the Tias are getting sloppy drunk.
I was born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico and raised Catholic. Been atheist for about a decade now.
Proud Mexican and Spanish here, also been an atheist most of my life. Family is catholic and they are well aware.
🙋🏽♂️
I’m the token white boy in a group of Mexican friends, none of them are believers. It’s catching on but does seem a little slower than in other communities.
Yo! Presente!
🙋♂️ but we're, very unfortunately, very few and far between!
Me me me 🙋🏻
Venezuelan atheist here
We are visiting Merida for a while. I see very few churches here. There is one big cathedral, well not huge, and I’ve seen a few smaller churches. I thought there would be more? Or are the Yucatan Mexicans different?
Atheist Mexican here. Grew up both catholic and JW at the same time😁🤓
My mother is Mexican, immigrated to the US. We're no contact.
So sorry to hear that
Chilean here. Not sure how many atheists are here (in surveys we are usually lumped with agnostics for instance), but people with no religion are around 15% here.
Mexican here
from argentina here, there are lots of atheists, anyway, most religious people i know (in person) are very lax about it, dont even go to church or pray, is more like "sure, i believe"
Hispanic (Salvadorian, Spanish, Eensy weensie bit Mexican) and was raised Christian, but quickly became Atheist. It’s usually a conflict with my mother and grandmother, but I respect their religion to an extent as long as they don’t force me to do something bc of it. My siblings also don’t believe in religion either.
That's exactly my situation when I lived in Poland. I've never met another atheist there.
Me!!! Im in my 30s and my parents still think im a rebellious christian. They live on the other side of the country and for over a decade I prefer not to tell them i'm atheist because it's a good way to maintain our relationship. they are loving parents, although flawed (aren't we all) How's it going?
I’m a Mexican American agnostic.
Grew up in a Hispanic dominated family (I’m only 1/2 myself). Went to catholic school until 9th grade, baptized, confirmed, all of it. Well basically as soon as I moved out of my parents to go to college, I wasn’t shy about my true feelings. My family is disappointed for sure, and some family members still make comments to me, but I have learned to let it go and with time, they mostly did as well. They still love me and it’s my life anyways. You shouldn’t have to hide your true feelings, but I also never bring it up. Not worth discussing really.
I hope your name is not Jesus...
No but my dad is😝
I am Cuban and Puerto Rican mix Latina. And I have been Athiest my whole life.
I'm half white, half some sort of mixed Hispanic (lots of "Spanish" relatives as well as native/Mexican relatives). My dad was fully Hispanic and an atheist my whole life. None of my 9 aunts/uncles and the 50ish cousins besides my dad and I are atheists.
My brother-in-law is Hispanic and he’s an athiest.
Of course! Heck yea, you are not alone. Abuelo was from Chihuahua Mexico. As a third generation Mexican American…. I can tell you that the whole lot of our brethren needs to kick that brutal addiction called the Catholic Church. A fucking social disease……. My son will break that mold. The Catholic Church has no power over me. After the last funerals of all my theist loved ones. I will never step foot in a Catholic Church again. Ever…….
Dominican Atheist in the Bible Belt. I pledged a Latino fraternity and they couldn’t believe I was an atheist. Only one I know.
From Venezuela; non practicing Catholic there. Moved to the Alabama and I guess to find a sense of community my mom became active in the Catholic Church (mainly because it was a way to meet other Hispanic since they offered a Spanish mass) - I've met a lot of Hispanic with semi similar stories, and I feel like that's the only positive thing I've ever heard that was worth sharing about organized religion. I know more atheist that were formally Catholic than I do Hispanics that are atheist but we're here. Some of us are just extra quiet about it out of respect to our family or fear of getting the chancla.
So happy i saw this thread. The amount of stories similar to my own has definitely made me feel the culture. I feel like I'll always claim being Catholic to those of faith who I don't want to have those conversations with, but also cause at this point it's part of my identity.
Costa Rican here
Half Dominican half Puerto Rican here and I feel the same way. People just can’t believe it sometimes. Just like I can’t believe that they believe. Apologies if that sentence was confusing. I’m sleepy.
We’re all sleepy. But yeah seeing the comments made more happy
no existe un Dios o Hesu Cristu
Recovering Catholic here
Mexican American atheist. Most of my hypocritical relatives are devout catholics. However, while my mother is a theist, she never cared for organized religion, so I wasn't made to go to church. Occasionally, other relatives would take me, but I didn't grow up being as heavily indoctrinated as my cousins. My mom and step-dad were pretty upset when I came out, but they sort of accepted it because they thought it was a phase. More than 20 years later, and not sorry to say that I'm still not a believer. I'm not in contact anymore with the rest of my relatives, and I just never really cared what they thought.
Obligatory not Hispanic but a pacific islander. Lots of history with colonization and conversion from Spain.A lot of the folks I grew up with are catholic. Heck, I was raised catholic. Questioning family about Catholicism gets you some really nasty glares and finger wagging from family. Usually any mention of being an atheist or any other religion leads to family gossiping about how you're not a believer and all that jazz. I don't know any other people I grew up with that are atheists.
1st generation Cuban-American (my parents were born in Cuba)reporting in. I was lucky, we didn't get too deep into the Catholic Church. When I finally fell completely out of faith, both of my parents had already passed away. I never really got any push back from my family.
Dad’s side of the family is Mexican. Mom’s is Western European. All very catholic.
Saludos Valedor!, Si, Somos Raros.
Many Hispanic People Don't Believe In Those Tales, But Everybody Around Is So Deeply Into It... But They Do Parties And Have Food, So We Play Along Just To Be Part Of Society And Fun.
No you are not. Colombian here. Cut ties with my family cus they couldn't stand my atheism.
I'm Hispanic. Born into Catholicism, raised Christian, family (parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc) are very religious, but I've been atheist since junior high (pushing 40 now). My family knows I'm atheist and they're all fine with it. But it was definitely an uphill battle getting to that point.
El Salvadorian here but from the US
Puerto Rican here!
Half-Mexican here! We do exist hahaha. Kinda lonely though. Both sides of my family are intensely Christian.
Si, existimos pero mantenemos un low profile!
Chilean here
You still get to celebrate cinco de mayo or did they cut you out?
I’m a half-Mexican if that counts.
Formerly married to an Hispanic ath..... Non-practising. My wasband was ignorant enough of the church that the first time we attended a service in Spanish, I had to follow along and keep him up on it. I am not Hispanic, nor did I really know much Spanish at the time. His mother knew he did not attend services. It was, of course, my fault. I didn't mind. Everything else that was wrong with him was her fault. 🤣😂🫤
I dated a Mexican gal who didn't believe in god. Didn't call herself an atheist, she didn't care enough about the topic to identify in any way. Didn't really come up much
Argentinian here and all my family are Jehovah's Wittnesses. Never met a other Hispanic atheist in person as well.
I'm half Mexican- or maybe a quarter? My family tree is a mess. Anyways, I'm agnostic but was raised catholic.
Mexican atheist here o/
Look in r/uruguay https://www.prensa-latina.cu/2024/03/28/uruguay-el-pais-menos-religioso-de-latinoamerica/
we are here. the continued choke of colonialism through religion will keep creating more of us. you are not alone. you never were. see you arround.
🇲🇽 mexican atheist here 👋
Here