Atheist: At any point in your life did you believe in God (any form) or a higher power other than yourself?

Question

Even if it was for a fleeting moment, or as a child, or during a difficult time in your life.

Yes or No is fine. I understand by answering the question as an Athiest you have your reasons for not believing in God.

Answer 1

Yes.

Answer 2

I didn't 'believe' - I considered the God hypothesis as an idea since so many people in the world seemed to accept it and I thought about it and thought about it.

Ultimately I rejected it as veridically worthless and I don't understand why so few people do the same. That was even before I developed a love of science. Now I wonder why I credited the notion at all, except as a child I was very fascinated in ancient mythologies - mostly Greek since that was the easiest to get stories of. Religion is just a myth that hasn't gone out of fashion yet.

Answer 3

I was raised as a Lutheran. I slowly deconverted from the last years of high school through the early years in college. Since I've been an atheist (20+ years now), I've never had any urge to believe he exists, even during difficult times.

I think becoming an atheist because of "a difficult time in your life" is Christian wishful thinking. I know many atheists, and none of them became atheist because of bad things happening to them. The closest to that was someone I know who was already questioning religion and realized after 9/11 how baseless and harmful religious belief is. Though, even in that case, it was the bad things religious people did, not personal difficult times that clinched it for him.

Answer 4

As a child I believed in the Roman Catholic God. And as a teenager I searched for another Higher Power, without actually thinking I'd find one.

Answer 5

Yes, when I was a child. Because I believed what grown-ups told me. But I learned pretty early on that there was nothing going on there. And fortunately I didn't have anyone scaring me out of my wits from an early age.

Well, there was one vicious, spiteful old bag when I was five, and she made us pray in class in a circle with our eyes closed. One day I kept my eyes open to see what happened. And of course nothing happened. She opened her eyes and asked me if I'd had my eyes open. I said no, I'd just opened them.

She's almost certainly dead now. At moments like this, I regret there is no hell.
_

Answer 6

I was raised to be a Baptist. I early on rejected that. I have searched for years for a religion that I could believe in but found nothing there. Yes I have had moments- when each of my children were born I knew it was a miracle after all look how we get them!!

Answer 7

Perhaps I believed in Jesus as a man, but I always identified with his god nature which I saw in myself. I knew his message wasn't that he was a god it was that everyone all of mankind were gods. Since the Universe is eternal and people are its physical expression 'you' can never really die. Of course other people and society are constantly trying to remind you that you are not a god because their concept of god is a supernatural superpowerful being

Answer 8

I don't think I'm a higher power, and, no, I've never believed in a god.

Also, no, I've been in lots of difficult times in my life - almost died once - and I didn't think of a deity.

Answer 9

I did when I was little because that was all I knew and that was all I was taught. But even at a young age I had doubts and asked questions that could not be answered.

Answer 10

Maybe when I was very Young say 5 years old, but I learned quickly to differ between myths and facts.