Have your beliefs about something that you feel/felt strongly about ever done a complete U-Turn?

Yep. I trained to be a Priest before realising that the whole God myth was fabricated by ambitious men. I smartened up and joined the Navy. (Besides, I liked women too much and didn’t fancy little boys. I would not have fitted in.)

BTW, I am not talking about religion per se – I am talking about career,

Yes, I was a Christian until a little over a year ago. I first had a u-turn in accepting scientific cosmological models, then evolution, then the non-existence of gods I’m not trying to start a debate here, just stating the change in my beliefs, then finally that I could live a fulfilling, successful life without religion.

I have also had a major change in my political opinions, from a conservative democratic stance to my current ideas that capitalism is outdated and in need of serious fundamental revisions.

In college, I was introduced to ideas about cultural hegemony, colonialism, and third world/minority perspective that really turned me on my head having come up more or less in a southern (U.S.) bubble of white privilege or white “normativeness.” That was also the time that my religious beliefs started to give way. In times since, I have thought I’ve had major changes in belief, but when I look back I realize that they are usually just deeper iterations of or more specific understandings that can be traced back to the basic lens change from my college days.

I was against home schooling and I did a total 180 when I was in my mid 20’s.

My political beliefs thirty years ago were somewhat to the right of Atilla the Hun. As I’ve grown older and begun to think for myself (I was a military brat, then a career officer) I’ve become sometning of a leftest-green-libertarian. I’ve also come to have little concern for conventional notions of “respectability”. Until six months ago, my life was governed first by family tradition, then by an obsession with the happiness of a lady I worshipped. I never concerned myself with any meaning of life as it applied to me personally. Now I’m alone and the concept of life seems ridiculous. What’s the point? Eat, breathe, reproduce and fight?

I used to believe in Santa, now I know that not to be true, sigh.

My u-turn involved my beliefs about men with long hair. my hair has never been long and probably never will be, now that i am in my 60s. here is an incident that changed my mind:

I was on the side of the road. my police motorcycle had broken down and i was waiting for the Metro tow truck. car after car passed me by. one car stopped behind my bike. a man got out of his vehicle. he had long hair, almost down to his waist. he was wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt. he said. “sir, are you okay? is there anything i can do to help you?” to be honest, i was shocked. we had a short converstation and he departed. that day, at that moment, i realized that i needed to rethink my evaluation of people. this guy had long hair, but he was still a good person inside. my u-turn occured at that moment.

“You Can’t Judge A Book By Looking At Its Cover”. so true.

@DarkScribe our histories seem to co-inside. I was raised in catholic school and entertained the notion of becoming a priest, at least up to the point where I discovered sex. My father insisted that I attend college and I did until I was old enough to join the Navy. I never regretted that move or my children and grandchildren. I too would have been very unhappy as a celibate and priest of a religion in which I no longer can believe.

@Leanne1986 my turning point happened when Reagen was running for president, Up until that point, I was an enthusiastic Republican and even held minor political office. When I saw the hypocrisy and prejudice at the convention I quit the party and registered Democrat. I would have registered as an independent but in my home state you can’t vote in the primaries if you have no candidate in your party.

The president was my commander and chief from Johnson through Carter, I hated most of them but they were my ultimate boss. I became active in politics when I saw it screwed up so badly during Carter’s term. Unfortunately, he replacement was even worse and less democratic. It appears that Eisenhower was the last president that really cared for the Republic and its citizens. I hope that Obama can reverse that trend.

yes

I used to have a strong distaste for Christianity and religion in general. I was very outspoken about what controlling, loudmouthed, self righteous assholes Christians, and their contemporaries, were.

Then one day I took a step back and looked at the big picture. I saw that I was being just as big a controlling, loudmouthed, self righteous asshole as the folks I was railing against. Who the fuck am I to tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t believe. I realized that some of life’s cheesiest, simplest axioms hold true. The main one being Live and Let Live.

I have now become a controlling, loudmouthed, self righteous asshole who tries to point out to folks, arguing topics that will never have a resolution, that they need to calm down, shut the fuck up, and start noticing and enjoying life outside of their comfort zone.

I’ve had many beliefs that have changed and I’ve come to understand that when I reach a critical mass of new/previously unknown information about just about anything, I change my mind. This includes my political beliefs and my religious beliefs.

yes, about children… I used to hate them..then I had my own..

@lynneblundell . . . Don’t you still find other people’s children, um, distasteful?

I don’t think I’ve ever held any strong beliefs too hard… I’ve always been apathetic when it came to that. But I’m sure I’ve turned many beliefs around. I love it when someone changes my view about something. I consider that the most successful an argument can be. I don’t need to be right about what I know to feel justified, I just need to have faith in that I learned what I know honestly. And that means valuing my perspective more than my presumptions—which means always being ready to change my beliefs to suit a wiser point of view.

I used to be strongly anti-gay marriage. I am not strongly pro-gay marriage.
The change happened when I began fact checking the claims of both sides.

@ucme It was a devastating discovery. :)

@thriftymaid Yeah & to think only last christmas was I dealt this crushing blow ;¬}

@ucme Are you SURE? Maybe he was downsized, and his toy making company outsourced to China? I believe all the Elves and Reindeer were union. And now all are cold and homeless. Some lucky elves have gone into acting in Hollywood movies.
Sigh,....It’s the economy, it’s hitting everywhere.

Almost everything has done a 180 in my Departments of Beliefs.
Religion, politics and government, death, emotions and feelings, foods-all the crap chemicals that get “approved and used”, personal care products and all the crap and synthetic chemicals they put in that, Healing, and wellness and sickness, people, career, everything.
I’m NOT in Kansas anymore ToTo. And the Wizard went 180 too!
I think the most important thing that 180’d was my belief in myself….for the GOOD!
GQ

@OneMoreMinute I heard a rumour he’s actually Tom Hanks in disguise.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land ,, Just because we can’t figure out the reason for existence doesn’t mean there isn’t one. And the fact that many people hold obviously unreasonable beliefs with respect to the subject bears no witness on whether there is or isn’t.

Ok, that’s as cheery as I can be. You’re on your own.

@Blondesjon erm…yes, yes I do…sssshhhh ;-) sometimes x

@ucme Ho Ho Ho!
Merry Christmas!

Yeah, I used to think gay people were cool but then I listened to ezywho and understand now they will cause the apocalypse…
~

Kids….. up until the age of 29 I was totally against the idea of having kids. Babies literally creeped me out, & I just couldn’t see anything interesting, or fun, or worthwhile about having a child. The whole experience from beginning to end seemed pretty horrific to me.
However, I’m now 33 & really would love to have a child at some point in the not to distant future.
My mind was changed when I met a certain girl….. I realised it wasn’t that I didn’t want a child, just that I didn’t want a child with any of my partners up till that point.

Yup!
I was raised with ‘New Age’ beliefs’ then converted to Christianity . . . which was a HUGE mistake. I converted to Christianity because I truly believed in it – I feel for the sales pitch. I came to my sences – now I’m on the first path I took once again.

@Marnie does that mean that you went back to crystals and meditation or did you take a non-religious path?