To atheists:why and when did you turn away from God?

Answer 1

i suppose when i think about it i never really believed in god. in my mind i suppose i may have said i was Christian and i believed a god exist but then my dog died. i know it sounds childish but for a kid without many friends and who grew up with the dog for your entire life it hits you kinda hard. he had brain cancer and when i actually did pray that god save my one and only friend in this world he only got worse. his seizures got more frequent and i still remember my father having to restrain jack (my dog) during one of his episodes. then while on a family vacation my dad got word from the vet that there was nothing that could be done and jack was in pain so my father gave the word to put him down. prior to that i prayed and prayed he would get better but he didn't. had my dad not given that word he would have died a painful death. from there i started to doubt my faith in a god and soon thereafter i lost it, i was 14 at the time. i stopped taking communion when i went to church because it felt like a lie to me. that was probably when i was around 15.

Answer 2

Correction: I turned away from the hypothesis.

I was about 16 or 17 when I decided to stop taking all of the stuff about God I had heard for granted, and did some of my own research. The more of the Bible I read, the more I was baffled. "The people at church believe THIS?" I thought. So I turned to people from my then-congregation and started asking questions. Not a single one could give me a satisfying answer about WHY they believed that these incredibly outlandish claims were true. That was the final nail in the coffin.

You know, even today I am still waiting for a satisfying answer to that question:

"Why do you believe in God?"

Until I get one, I seriously doubt I will ever give 'returning' to theism any serious thought.

P.S. It also should be pointed out that like most children, my parents' religion was forced on me against my will. I firmly believe that invading a child's developing sense of reality and individuality with a conformist religion that defies all logic is child abuse.

Answer 3

I don't remember the exact moment, or even year.
I questioned his existence even when undergoing the normal brainwashing that we call religious education as a youth. I was probably agnostic by high school, and then after my 1st engineering degree- it was pretty much settled.

It wasn't until much later- perhaps when I was about 30, that I had a sufficiently complete understanding of humanity and why so many people toss rationality to the wind and believe in the supernatural.

Answer 4

was an atheist for quite some time, i felt sorry for myself and couldn't reconcile the intellectual questions that arise in christianity and from one religious text. when i went to college and started studying philosphy, i became interested in God again, and started studying religions and philosophies, then i could see where the rationalizations of my youth kinda blinded me and gave me tunnel vision. i could finally see that the sages talk of a middle path that leads to progressive realizations. now i don't know exactly what God is, but i know something is there, kinda like we are watching a parade through a hole in the fence, we can only understand in part

Answer 5

I didn't turn away from God per se, I turned away from religion (but then again, I'm agnostic). I simply say that as a person who looks upon the universe with a critical mind, I cannot say if God exists or doesn't exist.

Answer 6

Let's see.... I was on the corner of 5th and Ivy and immediately took a right hand turn.

But seriously, there wasn't a exact moment, more of period of time where catholic priests molested young choir boys, and the evangelists continued taking money from the believers and building bigger homes. Too much hypocrisy to me!!

Answer 7

When I realized that religion is a "followers" complex. No religious organization has all the answers, and the ones that claim they do are just as petty and hypocritical as any other organization. Rather than follow, I chose to blaze a trail and be a leader unto myself. Blind faith is no more a virtue than poor planning.

Answer 8

No god exists that I might turn away from, and I was in between 16 & 17 when I realized that gods don't exist.

Answer 9

You can't turn away from something that you don't think exists. I never consciously went "I should turn my back on God and become and Atheist."
I stopped pretending to believe in god at around age 12, though.

Answer 10

When: ~17.

Why: Reality conflicted with claims made by believers and the bible.

I never "turned away" from god. I just stopped believing.