Atheists, share your story?

Question

Were you ever religions and turned away? What did it? Are you still searching for something? Or were you always an athiest? No rude responses please, be civil, im just curious

Thanks for your responses, very interesting, and respectful. Maybe the late night crowd is a better bunch.

Answer 1

I come from a religious family and I went through the motions. I read the bible, I attended sunday school, I taught vacation bible school. I sang in the choir and I was an acolyte. I loved it, the social aspects, the singing, the fun. I figured I was a believer, never gave it much thought really. I did what I was told to do and I was told what I was to believe. When I asked questions, I was told "have faith and all will become clear."

Well, it never did. No matter how much I read, searched, discussed or prayed about, I never received any answers... nothing obvious anyway.

I clung to agnosticism for several years, unwilling to take that step into atheism, know how lonely it would be. I continued to search, read and try to understand.

The day I said, "I'm an atheist," outloud, I felt free and warm and elated, like a huge burden had been liften from my heart and I was no longer blind. It was so freeing... lonely, but freeing.

You wouldn't believe how many times I hear, "But you're too nice a good a person to be an atheist." How sad is our culture that people feel the need to say this. What do they think an atheist is? Someone who sacrifices small animals in the moonlight? LOL! I just live my life the best way I can, giving and caring about others.

While I'm lonely, I'm very happy and satisfied with where I am in my life, both emotionally and spiritually.

Answer 2

At one point i was christian
it was what i was taught to be
I used to go to church i was in catholic school etc etc
questions would come up i was curious about things about god about christianity etc etc things no one really had answers for
my mother was a different religion at one time
then she became a mormon
So i became a mormon
but the more i was around the mormon religion the more it made less sense seemed all together "stupid"
i had questions no one had answers and when someone did have an answer it did not seem logical and what not
so i stopped going to church i stopped believing in religion
i used to think to myself about god religion i would come up with these questions and sit there and think to myself trying to find answers
why this why that
what really did it for me is
the bible is sexist
christianity is sexist[i am now a feminist]
men have certain roles in christianity all while women have their roles
there have been movements for women to become priests in mainstream christianity but that was shot down by the church
eve was made from adams rib
or my favorite a passage from the old testament "men shall not wear womens clothes and men shall not wear mens clothes"
women now wear pants not to long before guys can wear dresses and skirts[tis a nice thought]
i held onto god
then god went away to like santa claus
my step dad is into metaphysics so he got me into that stuff
i looked at some stuff seemed kewl but did not stick
i read different things nothing stuck with me
now i just do not believe in religion though i do enjoy reading different religions and what not

Answer 3

Not an atheists but i am agnostic....I was raised in a southern baptist church...I started to find myself curious about other religions, so i started to read there books. I also started to look into truly ancient religions and found that Christianity especially stole a lot of there customs from other religions. This happen when the Romans were trying to get rid of pagans. Noel is the same as Christmas it was a ancient winter festival the Christians even stole the name noel. Then i started to realize that Christianity is a rather new religion its only like 2000 years, so how could anyone know if it is right. I look at it like what makes the christian God any different from Zeus or Horace no one knows.If Jesus was born today would he be worshiped or locked up in an sanitarium?..............................................................................................when it comes down to it religion is only doing one thing. They are selling after death life insurance...

Answer 4

We all start out as atheists. It's the default. Later we are taught to follow a religion.

As for me, I was raised as a Roman Catholic. When I was ten I started asking questions and the answers I got from my religion teachers and priests seemed silly and fake to me. When I was twelve I dropped the idea of following a god altogether.

It made no sense to me and even as a child I wanted more evidence than "because god did it" and "because the bible said so". That may have worked for me when I was six or seven...but then I grew up and stopped believing in santa clause, fairy tales, and gods.

Answer 5

I think I have always been atheist. But I was about 12 or so when I came to terms with it.

I never went to church and God was pretty much a non-issue in our house. I certainly heard a lot about the idea from friends but zealots always turned me off and it always, even among non-zealots, seemed like little more than a 'good story' to me. It was when I was confronted with the idea that some people - a lot of people - _seriously believed_ in that that I realised I was 'different' in some way...

It was strange at first. No one likes to be 'different'.

Answer 6

I had religion rammed down My throat from a very early age. Then I learned how to ask questions. Have You ever seen someone You loved die because of religious dogma and superstition? Prayer wont fix everything, especially not when the patient needs an operation! Give Me a surgeon with steady hands over those of "God" any day!

Answer 7

I started out like most people started out; a blank slate. My parents exposed me to vast quantities of EWTN and Nickelodeon via TV, and I figured out they were both fictional at the same age.

Later, when I was a teen I started to develop religion again. So, I asked for a Bible for Christmas, sat down to read it, and turned back into a true atheist. Too full of prejudice and hate and vengeance for my tastes in a moral system. Besides, Greek mythology was cooler.

Answer 8

I have answered this before. I used to be a xtian and now I am an Atheist and always will be. I was a believer for many more years than I have been a nonbeliever.You can look at my Q and A if you want to know why.

Answer 9

I was raised Catholic but have been an agnostic, then atheist, from the time I really gave it serious thought, around 12 or 13.

no great tragedy or sense of abandonment, theism just never seemed logical or rang true to me.

Answer 10

i was born a muslim until late teens.
then i gradually turned away cos i started to see things logically. it seems that my eyes had opened to a new world. seeing things in a different perspective.
i now believe in myself, my own capability at my own decision. no need to refer to something else or being afraid if i did something wrong, i will be sinned.
i am comfortable with who i am cos i dont need to be limited to a guideline to live my life.
i really think everybody should live life to the fullest. no offence though....