Atheists, if you believed before, what made you stop believing?

Question

I'm border line agnostic/atheist, and i stopped believing in the bible and values of christianity, due to theories on religion such as marx's and it really made sense to me and i could really understand religion's real function in society.

What made you stop believing in religion?

Answer 1

I was raised as a believer..but once I started researching the scientific evidence of creation, the bible seemed like a "fairy tale" It has too many silly contradictions.. One that got me the most was the "rib" thing.. that's not true, many other things don't make sense.

I studied Marx... yes he did make sense, I agree with you.

I was told to believe regardless of the facts, that I should discard any other thoughts because that was the whole idea... to "just" believe.

My daughter passed away from cancer and a very young age. I realized then that religion was just a "crutch" ... No god came to help, and No, I will not meet her in a "heaven", as there isn't one.

I'm fine with believing I'm going "nowhere" when I die.

My values and ethics have not changed just because I became an Atheist, I don't need a god to be a good person.

Answer 2

I'm not an Atheist but want to answer this one anyways. There are plenty of good reasons to give up on organized religion (especially Christianity and the Bible) but those are all man made institutions, the Bible is flawed because it's written by men. Organized religion is twisted because it's run by twisted men. God is hardly the influence in most religions nowadays, it's about money and power. But, I don't blame God for that, just men's stupidity and how easily man can be corrupted. I still believe in some form of a higher power though, I think there's more to life then what we see. It's just something I feel...must be that "faith" thing people are always questioning.

Answer 3

Well I still believe.

But then I still believe in Santa Clause (serious here... I believe because I AM him... and NOT just at Christmas time)

However the reason that I've been given by dis-believers who once believed is: When you reach a certain age... You make up your mind for yourself.

I personally with each new MYSTERY believe that there HAS to be some "irresistible force" guiding the universe. I look at "life cycles" and the "Human Brain" and the "motion of the planets" and the "Immune system" and the more I GET about how COMPLICATED it all is... the less I believe it's an accident.

OTHERS however go the other way. The more they find that can be explained by LUCK or SCIENCE... the less they believe.

As a believer I (personally) respect each person's right to believe or NOT. I don't spend ANY time trying to convince others of my point of view... BUT I don't allow ANYONE to try to convince me either. My BELIEFS and OPINIONS are based on MY OBSERVATIONS. I don't need anyone pointing out the OBVIOUS.

Answer 4

When I saw, experienced the moral equivalence of Christian churches and political parties. Religious organizations seem to focus too much on wedge issues and not enough on actual helping of people. The fact that organized religions like any Christian sect want to hide from you is that you have the capability to be as good as the bible says you can *without* ever reading it or believing it. Any material spiritual change in your life is completely your own doing but organized religions by and large want you thinking they had anything to do with it.

BTW, Marx was talking only about religion, not god, not a desire to be a better person. Religion, like a political party, is there simply to give you a standard selection of answers to standard questions. President? our guy. Polygamy? no.

Answer 5

I was raised Southern Baptist. My path to atheism started by reading the entire Bible and doing extensive research about Christianity's origins. I studied other religions, philosophy and science for awhile. Now I am an atheist and have never been happier in my life. Science is much more beautiful and awe-inspiring than BS myths.

http://www.tufts.edu/as/wright_center/cosmic_evolution/docs/splash.html
http://www.godisimaginary.com

Answer 6

I was sixteen. I had read the Bible but all that stuff didn't add up, cause I was also taking biology and physics, etc., classes in high school.
To the guy who wrote the huge answer right after mine, do you really think people are going to spend the time reading that whole thing?
One of these times I'm going to write a huge answer castigating the people who write huge answers, and then I will suffix it by say "Am I boring you?"

Answer 7

I made the mistake of actually reading the bible instead of the little bible story pmphlet the kindergarden teacher passed out and asked her about it in class. Guess what happened. Yes I got punished. Luckily we had a human being for a school principle so after I had been beaten on by the teacher nothing more was done to me.

Answer 8

I was a Catholic, and I thought I knew all about the religion then...
I had to take a Catholocism class and in that class I actually learned what they really believe in and I thought it was ridiculous and irrational I think I got in trouble for laughing at one of the lectures my teacher was giving and also started thinking about the religion and I stopped believing

Answer 9

Well, I'm not atheist but do not participate in organized religion after doing some readings and research:

http://www.davidicke.com/content/category/6/23/42/

Answer 10

My biggest problem with religion and God was the obvious conflict with science.

After formulating my own thoughts about God, I came across Deism and my views fit Deism to a tee. it was like a boulder dropped off of my chest.