Finding my moral compass

A letter from Ian

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I am a fully convinced ex-Christian, and have been for a couple of years. Before my de-conversion I was from a fundamentalist evangelical background and had lived in it all of my life. Whilst life is much better with a free mind I do have some challenges and difficulties resulting from my journey out of religion.

I suppose it is the matter of a "moral compass" that I am not sure I can trust- or perhaps one that I have never learned to use.

I have known morality as a set of rules imposed- instead of feeling equipped to make good moral judgments as I work through life. This was all very well when I wholly accepted the regime in which I lived, and I had no real choices because everything was simple and proscribed for me.

Now I feel weighed down by the burden of having to work things out- and more to the point I feel I keep making bad decisions. My Christian friends see this as my natural moral decline after losing my relationship with "the Lord". I see it as a result of being cast suddenly into a moral universe where I am truly responsible, without ever learning the skills to navigate it properly.

Is this just me? Any thoughts and or encouragements? Does it get easier?

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